In the final week of the Autumn term I report on the Queen’s speech and the announcement of the DfE’s new northern MAT taking on its first struggling academy in Teesside.

Second Queen’s speech pledges nothing new for schools
There were no new policies for schools in yesterday’s Queen’s speech, with ministers focusing instead on existing pledges on school funding and efforts to tackle serious violence.

Under Boris Johnson’s plans, the schools’ budget will increase by £7.1 billion by 2022-23, and schools will receive new minimum per-pupil funding rates from next year of £5,000 for secondary schools and £3,750 for secondary schools (rising to £4,000 from 2021-22).

There was no mention in the Queen’s speech of plans to legislate for the full implementation of the Government’s proposed national funding formula. The speech also included no reference to plans by the Government to improve the lot of pupils excluded or otherwise moved from schools, despite pledges earlier this year to do so in response to the landmark Timpson review. The Prime Minister’s election pledge to trial no-notice inspections of schools was also not mentioned.

DfE’s northern MAT takes on first struggling academy
A new specialist academy trust which has been set up by the Government to take on struggling schools in the North of England has announced it’s taking on its first academy.

Falcon Education Academies Trust will take on Thornaby Academy, in Stockton-on-Tees, early next year, it was revealed yesterday. Thornaby Academy, an 11-16 school, is currently rated as inadequate by Ofsted and has just over 350 pupils, less than half its capacity of 750.

The Falcon Education Academies Trust has senior figures from three well established multi academy trusts in the North. The regional schools commissioner for the North of England Katherine Cowell has approved Thornaby Academy moving from Teesside Learning Trust to Falcon early in the new year, subject to a due diligence exercise.

This week I report on the impact the Conservative majority Government could have on the education sector and confirmation of the education MPs.

Impact on the education sector of the Conservatives majority
As previously reported the Conservatives’ manifesto provided commitments to back headteachers on issues such as discipline, building more free schools, raising teachers’ starting salaries to £30k and small grant funding pledges for PE teaching, the arts and wraparound childcare.

However, it did also include an ambiguous pledge to “ensure that parents can choose the schools that best suit their children”, which some have suggested could lead to the expansion of academic selection by the back door.

Following the release of the manifesto, Mr Johnson also pledged to trial no-notice inspections of schools by Ofsted, and to increase the length of inspections from two to three days.

With such a significant majority it seems likely that most of this policy platform is likely to be set in motion.

Confirmation of the education MPs
Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, was re-elected in his safe Conservative seat of South Staffordshire, while his opposite number Angela Rayner re-took Ashton-under-Lyne, albeit with a reduced majority.

Schools minister Nick Gibb returned as MP for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton, as did shadow schools minister Mike Kane in Wythenshawe and Sale East.

Robert Halfon, the education committee chair in the 2017 to 2019 Parliament was re-elected in Harlow.

Gordon Marsden, the shadow skills minister, lost his Blackpool South seat to the Conservatives.

This week I report on the publication of the Pisa tests results and the UK’s improvement in the rankings and a Sutton Trust report analysing the GCSE reforms and the disadvantage gap.

Improvement in Pisa rankings but well-being falls
The UK rankings in reading, maths and science have risen according to the results of the Pisa tests released earlier this week.

For reading, the UK has risen to 14th, up from 22nd in the tests three years ago, whilst in science it progressed one ranking to 14th. Maths made the biggest gains moving from 27th to 18th, putting the UK in the top 20 for all three measurements.

The Pisa tests are run by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development every three years to test the ability of 15-year-olds in reading, maths and science. The tests are seen by some as an important measure of how the UK compares internationally.

Despite the positive outcomes for students’ achievements, the tests found that UK teenagers had some of the lowest levels of life satisfaction, dropping 13 percentage points from the last tests. Students were more likely to say that they felt ‘worried or miserable’ regularly and were less likely to see ‘meaning’ in their lives.

Sutton Trust report analyses the GCSE reforms and the disadvantage gap
Recent changes to GCSEs, including tougher exams and a new grading system, have led to a slight widening of the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their classmates, according to new research published by the Sutton Trust this week.

Making the Grade, by Professor Simon Burgess from the University of Bristol and Dave Thomson of FFT Education Datalab, found that during the period of the reforms, test scores for disadvantaged pupils fell slightly compared to their classmates, by just over a quarter of a grade across nine subjects.