This week I report on the guaranteed funding for primary and secondary schools for next year, the publication of the Opportunity North East delivery plan and updated DfE guidance on the statutory policies schools and academies must have.

Guaranteed minimum funding levels for all schools
New legislation laid in Parliament on Wednesday guarantees every secondary school at least £5k per pupil next year, and every primary school at least £3,750 per pupil, with funding per pupil for primary schools rising to £4k the following year.

Parents will now also be able to find out how much extra funding their local school will attract next year using a new, easy-to-use website which allows anyone to look up allocations under the National Funding Formula for schools in England for 2020-21.

Publication of the Opportunity North East (ONE) delivery plan
At the Schools North East Academies Conference held on Wednesday, the Education Secretary, Gavin Williamson announced the Government would not stop in its drive to transform the lives and prospects of young people across the North East.

This comes as the Department published its Opportunity North East (ONE) delivery plan, setting out a series of ambitions to deliver on the programme’s long-term commitment to level up on educational outcomes and unleash the potential of young people in the region.

Updated guidance on statutory policies for schools and academy trusts
This week the DfE has updated its guidance on the policies and documents that governing bodies and proprietors of schools must have. It has:

• added a link in section 8 ‘Relationship and sex education’ to statutory guidance published in June last year which schools must follow from September 2020;
• added references to specify if policies also apply to maintained or non-maintained nursery schools;
• updated the ‘Register of business interests of headteachers and governors’ section to reference that it is a live document;
• updated the ‘Capability of staff’ section to reflect that academies can set their own terms for approval.

This week I highlight the latest series of free webinars offered by Governors for Schools, the announcement that LA maintained schools can join the insurance scheme already available to academies, that free sanitary products are now available to order for all schools and colleges and notice that the Education Secretary has outlined pay increases for teachers to the STRB.

New programme of free webinars for governors
Supported by Lloyds Banking Group, Governors for Schools has announced another series of free webinars for governors as follows:

• Safer recruitment (with Better Governor) on Thursday 30 January 2020 from 8 to 9 am – will look at what governors need to know about safer recruitment procedures, criminal record and other vetting checks, and the training governors and staff involved in recruitment should undertake.
• Managing exclusions (with The Key for School Governors) on Tuesday 11 February from 12:30 to 1:30 pm – will set out boards’ specific legal duties in relation to pupil exclusions. Explore how boards can monitor exclusion levels effectively. This can help to provide assurance that exclusion is being used proportionately and in a non-discriminatory manner.
• Behaviour and attitudes in the new Ofsted framework (with Better Governor) on Thursday 27 February from 8:00 to 9:00 am – will explore in detail this element of Ofsted’s recently updated inspection framework. The new judgement covers behaviour, attendance, exclusion and attitudes to learning.
• Reputation management (with Irwin Mitchell Solicitors) on Tuesday 10 March from 12:30 to 1:30 pm – will look at how to manage a school’s reputation when the world of social media reigns: when to engage and when not to engage.
• Personal Development in the new Ofsted framework (with Better Governor) on Thursday 26 March from 8 to 9 am – will explore in detail this element of Ofsted’s recently updated inspection framework. The new judgement covers many aspects of personal development including confidence, character, personal safety and readiness for the next stage of education.

If you are interested in signing up for any of the webinars listed above please use this link.

LA maintained schools to be allowed to join the RPA from April 2020
This week the Government published its response to the consultation carried out late last year on whether the existing risk protection arrangement scheme for academies and free schools could be extended to maintained schools.

From mid-March LA maintained schools will be able to join the RPA using the DfE’s online portal. The cover will start from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021 and whilst voluntary, could provide savings for maintained schools as cover costs just £18 per pupil.

Free sanitary products for all schools and colleges
From Monday this week, schools and colleges are able to order a range of sanitary products from supplier phs Group, giving pupils easy access, helping break down stigmas and ensure no young person’s education is disrupted.

Schools and colleges should have received an activation email from the phs Group on Monday which will enable them to order products from the phs Group portal – a range of products will be available so that schools and colleges can offer choice to young people, including eco-friendly options.

Teachers set for biggest sustained pay increase since 2005
Under proposals submitted on Tuesday to the independent School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB), the Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has outlined plans to increase starting salaries to at least £26,000 in September 2020, with those in outer and inner London to rise to £30,000 and £32,000 respectively. Experienced teachers, heads and school leaders would see an above inflation pay increase of 2.5% to their pay ranges, with early career teachers’ salaries increasing by up to 6.7%, supporting an attractive career path for the whole profession.

The STRB will now consider the Department’s proposals and respond with their recommendations later in the year.

This week I highlight the latest school governance update from the DfE and news that Ofsted is in talks with the Government about running longer inspections to improve schools that have been ‘stuck’ i.e. not judged good or better since 2006.

Latest DfE School Governance update
Yesterday the DfE published its third governance update for LA maintained schools and for academies. Lord Agnew, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System, provided a new year message indicating the updates would be published approximately twice per term.

He also advised he was looking forward to publishing the response to the consultation on financial transparency which included levelling up the reporting requirements for local authority schools and academies. The update provides the following:

• Encouragement to participate in the consultation on the removal of the outstanding exemption.
• Encouragement to take part in the NFER and DfE survey of governance in the sector (5000 schools across England have been invited to take part) with the deadline for responding extended to 24 January.
• Information highlighting the clerking competency framework which demonstrates the importance of professional clerking and the knowledge, skills and behaviours needed to deliver it.
• An opportunity for clerks to speak to the DfE governance policy team to help develop their policy work.
• A reminder that seven organisations have been contracted to provided funded training and development programmes for Chairs, Vice Chairs, Committee Chairs and Clerks.
• Information on how to access the DfE’s financial benchmarking service to compare how much a school is spending on agency staff compared with similar schools.
• A reminder that keeping governor details on GIAS (Get Information About Schools) up to date will ensure they receive governance update email alerts direct. For governors in academies this year’s Academies Financial Handbook set out a new requirement for all academy trusts to provide a direct email address for all their members and trustees in the governance section of GIAS.

Ofsted in talks with the Government to run longer inspections to improve ‘stuck schools’
New research from Ofsted has found that 415 schools have not been judged as good or better since 2006 and have had at least four full inspections during that time. Common characteristics of these “stuck” schools included that they were resistant to change and were “chaotic” with one school having had 14 different headteachers in 10 years.

Ofsted has said it is “well-placed” to help these schools but that it needs to “increase the depth of diagnosis” it gives. Ofsted is now in talks with the Government over funding a trial of “longer, deeper” inspections with the aim of “not passing judgement but enabling support to improve”.

This week I highlight a new Government consultation on removing the Ofsted outstanding exemption, the announcement of six new Teaching School hubs and the latest Ofsted blog focusing on making curriculum decisions in the best interests of children.

Government consultation on the removal of the outstanding exemption
Some schools and colleges delivering publicly-funded education and training, which were rated outstanding by Ofsted at their last inspection, are legally exempt from further routine Ofsted inspection. In some cases this has meant that some schools and colleges have not been inspected for over a decade.

Today the DfE has opened a consultation seeking views on the removal of the exemption and under the proposals all outstanding schools and colleges will be brought back into a regular inspection cycle, with Ofsted visiting every 4 to 5 years. The consultation closes on 24 February 2020 and subject to the outcome, the Government intends to remove the exemption with effect from September 2020.

Announcement of six new Teaching School Hubs
On Tuesday the Schools Minister announced six successful new Teaching School Hubs to support struggling schools. Schools will benefit from a three-year programme of support, with each of the six successful schools acting as a regional hub and will receive funding to support between 200 to 300 other schools in the local area.

The aim is to give struggling schools direct access to expertise from school leaders with a track record of improving challenging schools. Support could include delivering tailored professional development for teachers, hosting observations and visits or deploying system leaders to offer advice and guidance to local schools.

The six successful new Teaching School Hubs are:

• North: Harrogate Grammar School and Red Kite Learning Trust
• Lancashire and West Yorkshire: Copthorne Primary School and Exceed Academies Trust
• East Midlands and Humber: Silverdale School and Chorus Education Trust
• East of England and North East London: Harris Academy Chafford Hundred and Harris Federation
• East of England and North East London: Saffron Walden County High School and Saffron Academy Trust
• South West: Kingsbridge Community College

Latest Ofsted blog on making curriculum decisions in the best interests of children
In a blog published on the Ofsted website today, Sean Harford, Ofsted’s national director for education discusses how inspectors will be judging the curriculum and whether length of key stage matters. He said it was “simply not the case” that Ofsted was opposed to lengthened key stage fours, and schools “do not automatically get marked down if their Key Stage 3 is less than three academic years long”.

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.

This week I report on the publication of the Conservative party’s education pledges and updated information from DfE on the Buying for Schools service on securing supply, agency and temporary workers.

Conservative Party manifesto pledges
The Prime Minister Boris Johnson launched the Conservative manifesto for the 2019 General Election last weekend and the key pledges relating to education are detailed below:

• £7.1bn a year more for schools in England by 2022-23
• £250m a year, for at least three years, plus a £250m capital spending boost for “wraparound” childcare – meaning after school or during holidays
• £2bn for further education colleges and establish 20 Institutes of Technology
• A new National Skills Fund of £600m a year for five years
• Increase teacher starting salaries to £30,000 and overall teachers’ salaries

Surprisingly, yesterday Mr Johnson also announced he wanted to change the way in which schools were inspected with a pilot of ‘snap’ no notice inspections if the Conservatives form the next government.  At present, schools are notified of Ofsted’s intention to visit at around noon on the working day before the start of the inspection.

Updated information on DfE’s Buying for Schools service
This week the DfE updated its information on using the online service for securing supply, agency and temporary workers.  This is part of the DfE’s suite of information providing advice on buying goods and services for schools to help them get value for money.

This week I report on the publication of education pledges from two of the main political parties, on Sunday the Conservative Party is expected to publish its manifesto.

Labour Party manifesto pledges
The Labour manifesto for the 2019 election was launched in Birmingham yesterday and the key pledges relating to education are detailed below:

• A £10.5 billion increase in the schools’ budget by 2022-23.
• A fairer funding formula “that leaves no child worse off”.
• Maximum class sizes of 30 for all primary school pupils.
• Scrapping key stage 1 and 2 SATs and baseline assessments, refocusing assessment on “supporting pupil progress”.
• £175 million arts pupil premium to fund arts education for every primary school child.
• A review of the curriculum to ensure that it “enriches students and covers subjects such as black history and continues to teach issues like the Holocaust”.
• Bringing free schools and academies under the control of parents, teachers and local communities.
• Giving schools control over budgets and day-to-day decisions, overseen by “an accountable governing body with elected representatives”.
• Putting councils in charge of admissions and allowing them to open schools.
• Putting NES regional offices in charge of delivery and co-ordination of schools, including peer-to-peer improvement based on the London Challenge.
• A common rulebook for all schools, set out in legislation.
• Replacing Ofsted with a new body “designed to drive school improvement”.
• A teacher supply service to tackle wasted money going to private agencies.
• Making schools accountable for the outcomes of pupils who leave their rolls.
• “Proper regulation” of all education providers.
• Reform of alternative provision.
• Extending free school meals to all primary school children.
• Encouraging breakfast clubs.
• Tackling the cost of school uniforms.
• The return of the school support staff negotiating body and national pay settlements for teachers.
• Closing the tax loopholes that currently apply to private schools.
• Charging VAT on private school fees.
• Tasking the Social Justice Commission with advising on the integration of private schools and the creation of a comprehensive education system.

Liberal Democrats Party manifesto pledges
On Wednesday the Liberal Democrats launched their 2019 election manifesto and detailed below are their pledges relating to schools:

• Gender-neutral school uniforms – the party will require inclusive school uniform policies “that are gender-neutral and flexible enough to suit different budgets”. Training will be provided for school staff on how to review and improve their uniform policies.
• Abolish the Ebacc – the party will protect the availability of arts and creative subjects in the curriculum and “act to remove barriers to pupils studying these subjects”, including by abolishing the English Baccalaureate.
• Reverse school cuts and boost SEND funding – an “immediate emergency cash injection” as part of a £10.6 billion rise in the overall school budget will be provided and additional cash allocated to councils to halve the amount that schools pay towards the cost of a child’s education health and care plan.
• Boost teacher pay and CPD – a £30,000 starting salary for all teachers who will also get a guaranteed 3% annual pay rise if they form a Government.
• Scrap Ofsted, SATs and league tables – Ofsted to be replaced with a new “HM inspector of schools”, which will conduct inspections of both state and independent schools every three years. Replacing current league tables with “a broader set of indicators including information about pupils’ and teachers’ wellbeing, as well as academic attainment”.  End “teaching to the test” by getting rid of SATs and replacing them with a “formal, moderated teacher assessment” at the end of each phase of education “and some lighter-touch testing”.
• A ‘curriculum for life’ – rolling out citizenship and financial education to all schools including academies.
• Give councils more powers over academies – giving councils responsibility for admissions and exclusions at all schools. Multi-academy trusts will face full inspections and allow councils to open new community schools.
• Extend free school meals – extend free school meals to all pupils in primary schools and free meals to all secondary school pupils whose families receive universal credit.
• Boost pupil wellbeing – all teaching staff to be trained to identify mental health issues, and schools will provide “immediate access for pupil support and counselling”.  A specific individual responsible for mental health in all schools, which would in turn have a statutory duty to promote the wellbeing of their pupils.

This week I highlight two governance webinars and the appointment of the Interim Regional Schools Commissioner for the North of England.

Schools NorthEast Autumn Term Governance Webinar: Monday 18 November at 6pm
This first governance webinar from Schools NorthEast has been designed to provide governors with timely updates and practical advice. It will:

• highlight key sector updates and dissect what has been published by the DfE and Ofsted so far this term;
• discuss what have been the governance priorities over the first half term, actions that have been taken by schools and practical advice on best next steps.;
• horizon scan and look at what this means in real terms for governors;
• host a Q&A session.

Free webinar on Performance data in 2019
Governors for Schools is offering a free webinar on Thursday 28 November from 8 to 9 a.m. to introduce governors to the 2019 performance data published within Analyse School Performance (ASP) and Ofsted’s Inspection Data Summary Report (IDSR).

The webinar will focus on what to expect in these reports, how to spot trends and how to use the data to inform governors questions for the Headteacher and Senior Leadership Team.

The webinar will be facilitated by Better Governor governance experts, Steve Barker and Linda Waghorn and will be a mix of input from them, together with the use of online polls and the opportunity to ask your own questions.

Appointment of Interim Regional Schools Commissioner for the North of England
Janet Renou left as North of England Regional Schools Commissioner in July and Katherine Cowell started in her role as Interim Regional Schools Commissioner the same month. Katherine is also the Senior Responsible Officer for the Opportunity North East Programme. Prior to this Katherine was Deputy Director within the North region from 2016.