Energy cost crisis: A third of schools planning deficit budgets 3 May 2022 A third of schools are planning for a deficit budget by the end of next year as a direct result of soaring energy costs.
Call for £75m to end school breakfast club 'lottery' 27 April 2022 One in five schools in England offers no breakfast provision for disadvantaged pupils, with cost and staffing the most commonly cited barriers.
Deep concern at falling leadership retention rates after FoI revelations 27 April 2022 A Freedom of Information request has revealed the concerning extent to which middle and senior leaders are quitting our schools.
Climate change strategy: Carbon literacy training, sustainability leads & emissions reporting for schools 26 April 2022 Carbon literacy training is to be rolled out from 2023 as part of the Department for Education’s plans to ensure a sustainability lead in every school by 2025.
Curriculum coverage fears ahead of GCSE and A level exams 20 April 2022 Only 29% of teachers working with pupils due to sit GCSE or A levels this year say they have covered more than 90% of the curriculum content.
Teachers want to see maximum class size limits 20 April 2022 Teachers are to lobby for a maximum limit on class sizes to be introduced in schools across the UK.
School attendance data: Government 'pretending that the pandemic is over' 20 April 2022 The latest school attendance figures have been stripped of any data on Covid-related absence as ministers try to “pretend that the pandemic is over”.
Call for contractual changes as teachers clock up 57 hours a week 19 April 2022 Teachers are now working an average of 57 hours a week thanks to more time being spent on pastoral care, administration, data, and assessment.
Increasing mental health, socialisation, and speech problems among pupils 18 April 2022 Poor pupil mental health is now prevalent in schools compared to pre-pandemic with teachers also seeing increased problems with socialisation and speech and language development.
Almost one million children in 'food insecure' households 6 April 2022 More than one in four children across the UK are living in poverty, with almost one million living in “food insecure” households – and the situation is set to worsen as inflation soars.
'Reckless in the extreme' – school leaders issue free testing plea 5 April 2022 “We continue to hear a sense of deep frustration from school leaders as they struggle to deal with the significant and on-going disruption caused by Covid – while the government removes every measure they have for controlling it.”
New-look National Tutoring Programme must 'deliver on its moral imperative' 4 April 2022 The new-look National Tutoring Programme (NTP) must address regional disparities in provision and ensure clear targets for reaching low-income students, it was said this week.
Devil in the detail: Cautious reaction to SEND Green Paper 30 March 2022 There has been cautious welcome to ideas set out in the long-awaited SEND Green Paper but exasperation that it has taken so long to get to this point.
Narrow and 'lacking in ambition' – White Paper fails to inspire 30 March 2022 The government’s Parent Pledge will be a “tall order” to deliver and risks being seen as nothing more than a “policy gimmick”, while the elephant in the White Paper is the lack of targets to close the disadvantage gap.
'There is nothing for free' – schools urged to audit cost of events, fun activities, and trips 30 March 2022 Research has revealed just how little access disadvantaged children actually have to fully enjoying school events such as fairs, fundraising activities, and non-uniform days. Pete Henshaw takes a look
Plea over axing of free tests as Covid infections spike once again 23 March 2022 School leaders have urged the government to continue to make free Covid tests available from April 1 after the recent improvement in infection rates proved to be a “false dawn”.
Teacher recruitment: The subjects struggling to find enough trainee teachers 23 March 2022 The teacher recruitment crisis is so stark that even subjects which traditionally attract good numbers of trainees – such as English, geography and biology – will struggle to meet their targets this year.
'I feel like I’m drowning' – young carers face lack of in-school support 22 March 2022 "It’s harder than anyone understands and I feel like I’m drowning.” There has been a steep rise in the time young carers spend looking after family members, yet more than half say they receive little to no support from their school.
Attendance: 'Nudging' parents helps to tackle pupil absence 16 March 2022 Sending “nudge” letters to the parents of persistently absent pupils and identifying and addressing specific, individual barriers to attendance are two approaches shown to have positive impact on attendance.
'I have heard you' – Zahawi commits £65m more to school-led tutoring as MPs slam NTP failures 16 March 2022 The education secretary has finally acted to address the elephant in the room of the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) – admitting that most schools want to run their own recovery tutoring provision.
Thrown to the wolves: Secondary heads angry at league table move 16 March 2022 The vast majority of school leaders are against the publication of key stage 4 league tables based on this summer’s examinations.
Families urged to remain vigilant after marked drop in Covid cases 9 March 2022 As Covid-related pupil absence falls markedly, families are urged to continue to remain vigilant and to continue to follow government guidance on testing and isolation.
Anger at DfE's 'casual' claim that schools can afford pay rises 9 March 2022 It is “patently not the case” that the government’s proposed increases to teacher pay over the next two years are affordable from existing school budgets.
Adopted children let down by 'inadequate' accountability 9 March 2022 'Inadequate' accountability over how funding is used for adopted children has created a postcode lottery of provision, with some families reporting confusion over the use of Pupil Premium Plus and the role of the virtual school head and designated teacher.
Child poverty: The hidden costs of school spelt out 2 March 2022 Expensive trips, costly music and arts classes, stigma about clothes and mobile phones, barriers to school food – a report has laid bare how poverty is impeding children’s access to education.
2 March 2022