In the news: your weekly round-up

Top stories

Calls to scrap single-phrase Ofsted judgements rejected by DfE. There are “significant benefits from having an Ofsted overall effectiveness grade”, according to the DfE’s official response to the Parliamentary education committee [Schools Week]. 

Support from GovernorHub Knowledge: Remind yourself what the current inspection framework means for your school, and monitor how your school is doing.

School suspensions set to reach record figures for a single year. Around 264,000 suspensions were recorded in spring 2023, the highest number on record for a single term and around a 75% increase on pre-pandemic figures for spring 2019, according to the latest data [BBC news]. 

Support from GovernorHub Knowledge: Get to grips with your procedures for sitting on a suspensions and exclusions panel.

75% of primary schools have seen a cut in teaching assistant (TAs) numbers. The proportion of schools cutting teaching staff, TAs and support staff have all increased this year, according to the annual Sutton Trust school funding survey [Schools Week].

Support from GovernorHub Knowledge: Find out what’s involved in the process for reorganising your school’s staffing structure, and what your role is.

This week's headlines

Schools Week

• No progress 8 replacement for the next 2 years
• Ministers told to focus on recruitment schemes that will make a difference
• Trusts struggling to close gender pay gap
• Only 7% of primary schools opted out of Key Stage 1 SATs this year
• Ministers considering new spot-check measures on school land sales
• Schools with poorest intakes most likely to see progress 8 scores drop, new analysis finds
• Academy commissioner team costs rise by 40% following restructure

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• Government decision on pay rises to depend on ‘challenge’ from School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), says Keegan
• Persistent absence rates continue to rise, DfE data shows
• Schools providing complaints management training amid rise in parental grievances
• Labour promises to reform the PE curriculum and boost access to team sports
• School leaders underline that converting school space for childcare will require funding
• MAT leaders warn that any teacher pay rise will be “unaffordable” without extra funding
• MPs launch inquiry into the gender attainment gap

BBC News

• Over 85,000 additional free childcare places needed in England, says DfE
• Call to embed environmental knowledge and skills into the school curriculum
• Nearly a quarter of 5 to 7-year-olds have a smartphone, according to Ofcom

The Guardian 

• Primary schools cutting teacher numbers amid budget pressure, National Foundation for Educational Research survey finds
• BBC bitesize to use AI to personalise education services

The Independent

• Calls for changes to school holidays to help tackle poor GCSE results in the wake of COVID-19

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