This week I report on new guidance on joining an attendance hub, Ofsted changes in light of Headteacher Ruth Perry’s death and the first fully digital GCSE is to be offered in computer science.

Attendance hubs guidance
The DfE has published guidance for schools on joining an attendance hub to get support and resources to improve their approach to managing attendance and significantly reducing absence. Schools seeking a place in a hub should complete an expression of interest form before Monday 15 January 2024.

Inquest rules Ofsted inspection “contributed” to the death of Ruth Perry
Heidi Conner, the coroner of the inquest into the death of Headteacher Ruth Perry, gave the verdict that Ofsted “contributed” to the headteacher’s suicide in January 2023. Ms Conner issued a prevention of future death notice in order to avoid similar situations happening again.

Ofsted has announced it will delay inspections next week by a day to give lead inspectors urgent extra training on Monday on dealing with anxiety and when to pause their visits.
From next week, a new complaints hotline will also be set up for schools to report any concerns about their inspection to a senior Ofsted official. The Chief Inspector has also indicated that the inspection handbook will make it clear that school leaders can be accompanied by colleagues in meetings with inspectors, and that they can share inspection outcomes with colleagues, family, medical advisers and their wider support group, before they are shared with parents.

First GCSE with fully digital exams to be offered
OCR exam board has announced that computer science will be the first “major high-stakes qualification” to be fully assessed on screen. The exam board has said that students starting their GCSEs in 2025 can sit digital rather than paper-based exams to allow for more authentic assessment of their programming skills and knowledge. The option of paper-based assessment will be retained.

This week I report on the DfE’s consultation proposing minimum services levels during strike action and the outcome of the consultation on the use of AI in education.

DfE publishes proposals for minimum service levels in education
The government is seeking views on regulations for minimum service levels in education services during strike action. The DfE is proposing two options for ensuring face-to-face education on strike days. The first option focuses on prioritising attendance for vulnerable children and young people, exam groups and children of critical workers. The second option focuses on all pupils in primary school, and priority cohorts in secondary and FE settings.

However it will be “at the discretion of individual employers whether or not to issue work notices” to deliver minimum service levels, and the government’s consultation makes no reference to any form of enforcement of the policy. The deadline to respond is 30 January 2024.

DfE publishes report on use of generative AI in education
The DfE has published the outcome of its consultation on the use of generative AI in education. It says it shows that education professionals and ed-tech experts are embracing the opportunities offered by AI in the sector, and that AI tools are already being used to streamline administrative tasks, create subject-specific resources and provide personalised support for pupils with SEND. In addition, the DfE also published a report showing the impact of AI on areas within the UK labour market and education.

This week I highlight a free webinar on school performance data, the publication of Ofsted’s annual report from 2022/23 inspections and the launch of the Parliamentary Education Committee’s inquiry to strengthen financial education in schools.

Governors for Schools Webinar on School Performance Data
On Thursday 7 December from 8 to 9 a.m. this free webinar will focus on school performance data in 2023 – specifically, what governors should be aware of as well as the questions they should be asking of their school leaders. Please use this link to register via the Governors for Schools website.

Ofsted Annual Report from 2022/23 inspections
Yesterday, Ofsted published its annual report looking into the trends of last academic year’s inspections. Positive trends seen include improvement in the curriculum, the teaching of reading in primary schools is significantly better and well-structured teacher training is yielding results. In her last report in the post of Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman claims the unwritten contract between schools and parents that ensures pupils attend school every day and parents respect school policies has been damaged.

Parliamentary Education Committee launches inquiry to strengthen financial education in schools
The cross-party committee has come to a consensus that financial education for primary, secondary and FE should be reviewed. Financial education is currently compulsory for LA maintained secondaries, however there are inconsistencies in the subjects it is taught in. There have also been recent calls for it to become a compulsory element of the primary curriculum. A call for evidence has been launched to inform the inquiry, with the government wishing to hear from teachers, pupils and school administrators. The deadline for submission is Friday 15 December.

This week I report on the new Schools Minister, an Ofsted blog on how it inspects safeguarding in schools and an Ofqual consultation on allowing this year’s GCSE students provision of support materials (formulae and revised equation sheets) in the exams for GCSE mathematics, physics and combined science.

Former Education Secretary Damian Hinds appointed as new Schools Minister
Following the departure of Nick Gibb, Damian Hinds has been officially appointed Minister of State at the DfE. He had previously served as Minister of State at the Ministry of Justice since the end of October last year. More notably, he served as the Education Secretary from January 2018 to July 2019 during Theresa May’s time as Prime Minister.

Ofsted publishes blog on how it inspects safeguarding in schools
The blog explains some of the main activities Ofsted will conduct when undertaking inspections of safeguarding and why. It includes details of what will happen before and during the inspection and how Ofsted will make a judgement about safeguarding. It also goes into detail about the single central record and the conversations that will be held with the DSL, pupils and staff members.

Consultation regarding additional support materials for GCSE exams in 2024
The DfE has confirmed that in view of the disruption students may have experienced, it’s not necessary for them to memorise formulae for GCSE mathematics and equations for GCSE physics and combined science in 2024, as they would in a normal year. Accordingly Ofqual opened a consultation on this yesterday and it will close on 30 November.

This week I highlight the launch of a Home Office consultation on mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse, a new online mental health resource hub to support a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing and investment in the Oak National Academy to improve and expand AI tools for teachers.

Consultation launched on mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse
The Home Office is seeking views on a number of proposals regarding the delivery of a mandatory reporting duty for child sexual abuse. This follows the recommendation to introduce such a duty in the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse’s final report and a further call by the Home Secretary in April 2023. The consultation closes on 30 November.

New mental health resource hub to support a whole-school approach
Anna Freud, a mental health charity for children, has launched a new DfE-commissioned online resource hub. The hub has been built through collaboration with a range of education and mental health experts and aims to support schools to embed and sustain their approach to mental health and wellbeing.

£2 million investment to boost AI tools for teachers
The government has announced a £2 million investment in Oak National Academy to improve and expand AI tools for teachers. The resources are intended to support school staff and reduce their workload in planning lessons and classroom quizzes, marking a step towards providing every teacher with a personalised AI lesson-planning assistant.

This week I report on confirmation of additional financial support provided by the DfE in 2023/24, a free webinar exploring the Ofsted Leadership and Management judgement, a new consultation on elective home education, confirmation that schools can and should share their RSHE curriculum materials with parents and publication of the DfE’s position statement on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Additional support for schools in financial difficulty in 2023/24
In July the government announced £40 million of one-off funding available in 2023/24 to help schools “facing the greatest financial challenges” as part of its teacher pay deal. This week it was confirmed that Academies will have access to £20 million and can apply to the ESFA for help, whilst the remaining £20 million will cover schools overseen by local authorities who have aggregated school-level deficits as a proportion of their total maintained schools’ income above 1%.

In reality only 35 local authorities will benefit from this financial support and that includes
North Tyneside, who will receive £1,868,147. The DfE expects the funding to be allocated on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the severity of the school’s position and prioritising those in greatest need. The funding is not solely intended to cover schools which are in deficit as a result of the 2023 teachers’ pay award. It is to support schools facing substantial overall financial challenges, which may be driven by factors other than teachers’ pay. Local authorities should report to their schools forum on how they are using the money.

Governors for Schools Webinar on Thursday 16 November 2023 from 8 to 9am – Exploring the Ofsted Leadership and Management judgement
In conjunction with Better Governor, this free webinar will focus on the Leadership and Management judgement within Ofsted assessments and how governors can be confident that Leadership and Management within their setting is strong. To register please use this link to the Governors for Schools website.

Consultation on elective home education
The DfE is consulting on changes to its non-statutory guidance for councils and parents on elective home education. As the guidance is non-statutory it doesn’t change the legal duty on parents to provide a suitable education, nor the duty on councils to check they are doing so and take action if they are not.

Whilst the current guidance suggests councils may choose to operate voluntary registration schemes, the proposed guidance recommends local authorities maintain voluntary registers of children who are not in school, including those electively home educated and missing education. It also suggests councils develop information sharing agreements with GPs and police to help identify those at risk of harm. As well as proposing to update the guidance to state that a suitably educated child should be literate in English and numerate appropriate to the child’s age, ability and aptitude and any SEN they may have.

Schools can share RSHE curriculum materials with parents
The Education Secretary wrote to all schools in England on Tuesday to make clear that they can and should share relationships, sex and health (RSHE) curriculum materials with parents. The letter makes clear that companies providing teaching resources cannot use copyright law to forbid schools from sharing materials, and any attempt to do so through contract terms would be unenforceable and void.

Publication of the DfE’s position on the use of AI
Yesterday the DfE published its position on the use of generative artificial intelligence (AI), including large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or Google Bard, in the education sector.

The statement is informed by the Government’s white paper on a pro-innovation approach to AI regulation and follows the Government’s announcement to set up an expert Frontier AI Taskforce to help the UK adopt the next generation of safe AI.

This week I report on publication of this year’s statutory guidance on pay and conditions for teachers in England, the Government’s rejection of calls for reinstatement of funding in the 2024/25 schools’ budget and the Education Ministers’ letter to schools about the Israel—Hamas conflict.

STPCD 2023 published
The DfE has released its statutory guidance on pay and conditions for teachers in England for this academic year. Minimum and maximum pay across the leadership, upper, and main pay ranges has been amended. The DfE has also updated its non-statutory guidance to help schools and governing bodies develop their approach to teachers’ pay.

Government rejects union calls to reinstate £370 million funding
Minister for Schools Nick Gibb has written to education unions to dismiss their calls for the £370 million in lost funding in the 2024/25 schools’ budget to be restored. On Tuesday Labour called ministers to the Commons to answer an urgent question after the DfE admitted it had inflated the 2024/25 school budget by 0.62% after miscalculating pupil numbers. A review has been commissioned into the error and schools have since been reissued with new initial budget allocations for next year.

Education ministers’ letter to schools regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict
Education ministers Gillian Keegan, Nick Gibb and Robert Halfon have written a joint letter to schools about the conflict between Israel and Hamas. The letter seeks to reiterate the importance of schools and colleges offering pupils and staff a safe environment to learn and work whilst addressing difficult questions that pupils may ask. The letter also mentions the importance of tackling antisemitism and other discriminatory bullying and ensuring that it is “responded to with all due seriousness”.

This week I highlight the Shadow Education Secretary’s conference speech announcing plans to reform primary maths, Ofsted’s update to the School inspection handbook and publication of the EYFS profile handbook, as well as the DfE’s announcement of a hackathon to explore the potential benefits of using Artificial Intelligence in education to reduce staff workload.

Shadow Education Secretary’s Conference speech headlines
On Wednesday at the Labour Party Conference, Bridget Phillipson, Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary announced plans to reform primary maths if Labour wins the next election. She said that a Labour government would “upskill” non-maths specialists in primary schools in a bid to create the “maths equivalent to phonics”.

The party’s already-announced curriculum review would also be tasked with “bringing maths to life and directing teachers to show children how numeracy is used in the world around them, such as through household budgeting, currency exchange rates when going on holiday, sports league tables and cookery recipes”.

Ofsted updates the School inspection handbook and publishes the EYFS Handbook
The inspectorate has updated the handbook with more information on what safeguarding evidence schools will need to provide to inspectors, as well as details surrounding adults living on the school site and clarification that inspectors will look at attendance during ungraded inspections.

Ofsted has also published the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) profile handbook for use until the end of the 2023/2024 academic year. The handbook is intended to support early years practitioners in completing the EYFS profile assessment in line with the statutory requirements of the EYFS framework.

DfE announces a hackathon in education to explore AI
In a bid to unlock the benefits of Artificial Intelligence, the DfE in collaboration with Faculty AI, the National Institute of Teaching, and the AI in Schools Initiative, is set to host an AI hackathon in London on 30-31 October, which will bring together teachers and leaders from schools and trusts across England.

Participants will be asked to experiment with AI to test its potential in several scenarios, for example whether it could write a lesson plan or accurately mark exam papers. Secondary school pupils will also be invited to share their experiences and knowledge. The best of the solutions will be shared with the department’s workload reduction taskforce and a demo of the tools created will be made available for schools across the country to test and to use, supporting the government’s ambition to reduce working hours for teachers and leaders by five hours per week.

This week I highlight the Prime Minister’s proposals to introduce the Advanced British Standard (a new Baccalaureate-style qualification for 16 to 19 year olds), the Education Secretary’s intention to ban the use of mobile phones by pupils during the school day and the Prime Minister’s proposal for new legislation preventing children who turn 14 this year or younger from ever legally being sold cigarettes in England, alongside a consultation on measures to reduce youth vaping.

‘A world-class education system: The Advanced British Standard’
On Wednesday the DfE published its new policy paper providing a summary of proposals to introduce the Advanced British Standard, a new Baccalaureate-style qualification for 16 to 19 year olds. The publication coincided with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s pledge at the Conservative Party conference to replace A-levels and T-levels with a new single “Advanced British Standard” qualification. Within the policy paper, the department notes four features that it wants to change for the 16-19 system, including:

• Delivering parity of esteem between technical and academic routes.
• Increasing quality teaching time.
• Embedding a core of essential knowledge.
• Ensuring everyone studies a greater breadth of subjects.

The policy paper also mentions that it will need to look at all elements of the education system and this will include ensuring that GCSEs prepare pupils for post-16 education.

Consultation on the design of the new qualification will be launched next month with a white paper expected next year setting out the plan for delivery. The reforms are dependent on the Conservatives winning the next election, which is expected later next year, and if implemented would take ten years to deliver in full.

Using mobile phones to be banned in England’s schools
During her speech at the Conservative party conference on Monday, Education Secretary Gillian Keegan announced that the use of mobile devices by pupils during the entire school day will be banned, to tackle disruptive behaviour and online bullying while boosting attention during lessons. The DfE is set to publish new guidance on the ban and if schools fail to implement it, the government will consider legislating in the future to make the guidance statutory.

Government to introduce historic new law on smoking
The Prime Minister has proposed new legislation which will make it an offence for anyone born on or after 1 January 2009 to be sold tobacco products – effectively raising the smoking age by a year each year until it applies to the whole population. Alongside this a consultation will be launched this month on measures to restrict disposable vapes and regulating flavours and packaging to reduce their appeal to children.

This week I highlight a media report that Ministers are set to trial local attendance action alliances, the Education Committee’s recommendations around introducing mental health absence codes for schools and reviewing mental health services, as well as the publication of a flexible working toolkit for schools.

Initiatives to improve attendance
Schools Week has reported that Ministers are set to trial local attendance “action alliances” made up of schools, councils and doctors as part of their push to improve stubborn absence rates.  Figures published this week show attendance at the start of this academic year has barely improved on last year.  The plan is to bring leaders from education, children’s social and health services together to come up with regional solutions, mirroring the national attendance action alliance (AAA) which has been meeting for nearly two years.

A major report by the Education Committee, published on Wednesday, has also called for mental health absence codes for schools and a review of mental health services. Other recommendations included making use of the Pupil Attendance Dashboard statutory and that the DfE implements statutory attendance guidance to be applicable from September 2024.

Four more attendance hubs were also announced this week (none in the North East), taking the total up to 14 and these schools will give tips on how to drive down absence.

DfE publishes flexible working toolkit
The toolkit has been produced by sector experts, including school leaders, and is intended to support schools with understanding the benefits of flexible working, implementing effective practice and helping staff to request flexible arrangements.