Start strong with a head start from us
As the new academic year begins, getting back into the swing of things can sometimes seem daunting.
With The Key by your side, you can be confident that everything is in hand. To help you start off the new school year strong, we’ve rounded up the summer’s top stories and headlines from across the education sector and compiled them into this bumper blog post.
The top stories of the summer ☀️
A round-up of the top topics in the news between 22 July and 29 August 2024.
- GCSE and A Level results are out, and the attainment gap between north and south persists. Also, the gap between the highest and lowest-achieving region has once again grown from the previous year. [BBC].
Support from The Key: Analysing your pupils’ performance is a key part of understanding attainment and improving teaching and learning. Get to grips with how to go about this, including what to focus on.
- The DfE’s planned curriculum review will focus on critical thinking across multiple subjects. In the wake of the summer’s riots across the country, pupils will be taught how to spot extremist content, misinformation, and conspiracy theories online. [The Guardian].
Support from The Key: All schools must comply with the Prevent duty, to help prevent pupils from being radicalised into terrorism. Understand what your responsibilities are under this duty.
- Outcomes for pupils with SEND show no improvement since reforms 10 years ago, despite increased spending. The report, commissioned by local authority and local government leaders, also called for the new government to write off high needs deficits. [Tes Magazine – registration required].
Support from The Key: Understand your responsibilities when it comes to supporting pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and use our resources to improve your provision and pupil outcomes.
The headlines of the summer by topic
Exams
- Call for action over high rates of failure in English and maths GCSE [The Guardian]
- Gender gap in exam results shrinking [TES*]
- Lockdown truancy crisis ‘hidden’ in GCSE results [The Telegraph*]
- Results likely to show geographical and other inequality in school system [The Guardian]
- Thousands of young people achieve 1st university choice [GOV.UK]
Pupil wellbeing
- 1 in 6 vapes found to contain dangerous 'spice' [TES*]
- Antisemitism in schools more than triples in 2 years [TES*]
- Charity calls for improved support for secondary transition [TES*]
- Dozens of UK school librarians asked to remove LGBTQ+ books, survey finds [The Guardian]
- EE tells parents not to give smartphones to under-11s [BBC]
Teacher wellbeing
- New flexible working opportunities need to work for parents [TES*]
- New teacher appraisal guidance focuses on support [Schools Week]
- Parent complaints have led to rise in teacher misconduct cases, say officials [Schools Week]
- Strikes Act to be overruled by government [Schools Week]
Recruitment and retention
- Last-minute funding saves Now Teach scheme [TES*]
- Report suggests 6 proposals to boost teacher retention and end 'motherhood penalty' [Schools Week]
- Trainee teacher drop-out rate doubles in four years [Schools Week]
Behaviour and suspensions
- Education Policy Institute (EPI) calls for guidance for pupils with multiple suspensions [TES*]
- Post-pandemic behaviour issues expected to peak this year [The Guardian]
- Suspended secondary pupils in England ‘twice as likely to be out of work by 24’ [The Guardian]
Attendance
- Attendance has improved despite a rise in unauthorised absences [TES*]
- Vulnerable children more likely to be absent [Schools Week]
Funding
- DfE defends partial level 3 defunding pause [Schools Week]
- Private school fees will be subject to VAT from January [TES*]
Pay
- Above inflation pay award confirmed for teachers [GOV.UK]
- Careful move to targeting pay by subject backed by STRB [Schools Week]
AI
Buildings
- School condition data to be published for parents this year [Schools Week]
Ofsted
Poverty
SEND
*registration required
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