Education is often considered a particularly polarised area of policy -- with much unnecessary chopping and changing as governments and ministers come and go, wanting to make their mark. Yet, while there has been a lot of surface area turbulence the broad trends in policy have been remarkably stable for 35 years. The English school system has moved from one that was run locally, with little central engagement, to one in which council's role has been largely hollowed out. In this paper, the authors starts with a brief history of policy reforms going back to the 1980s to set out this surprisingly consistent journey over the past few decades, as well as the bumps. The author then investigate how much difference these changes have made. What does the best available evidence say about academic performance? Are pupils more likely to progress to further and higher education? How have different demographic groups fared, like those from low-income families that many reforms have, in theory, been focused on? The author also looks at changes in other areas of children's lives, how these interact with their experiences at school, and how that's changed the role of schools and colleges. The author concludes with some of the big questions the new government will need to consider as it develops its own plans for education at a time when spending is tight, and the munificence of the New Labour years will not be repeatable. Given this, what should they prioritise and how can they make sure they are learning from the history of recent reform efforts?