This week I report on Ofsted’s consultation on short inspections, the publication of its new 5 year corporate strategy and re-examination of the validity of its lesson observations; the publication of KS1 and Phonics Screening Check data and Governors responsibilities under the new General Data Protection Regulation.

Ofsted consults on short term inspections and publishes its new 5 year corporate strategy
Ofsted has launched a second consultation on short inspections which is “aimed at bringing greater clarity” to the process. Currently, during a short inspection, the lead inspector can call for a full inspection where they feel a school may not retain its ‘good’ rating, or where it could improve to ‘outstanding’ – the full inspection is normally conducted within 48 hours.  The proposals set out in the new consultation are that:

• where short inspections pick up serious concerns, they will continue to convert to full inspections within 48 hours.
• where, following a short inspection, inspectors are not confident that the school remains ‘good’ but “the standard of education remains acceptable, and there are no concerns about safeguarding or behaviour”, the inspection will not convert. The school will receive a letter setting out the inspection findings and a full inspection will take place within 1 to 2 years. It will remain a ‘good’ school.
• where, following a short inspection, inspectors believe the school may be ‘outstanding’, the inspection will not convert. As above, the inspection findings will be set out in a letter, the school will remain ‘good’, and a full inspection will take place within 1 to 2 years.

Ofsted is also bringing back its “state-of-the-nation” reports and will inspect more ‘outstanding’ schools, according to a new corporate strategy released today on its 25th anniversary. In its new five year corporate strategy that will run until 2022, the inspectorate says it will publish more “national survey reports and research” that “aggregate the insights from inspections”.

Ofsted is looking to re-examine the validity of its lesson observations and is holding an international seminar at the start of November, bringing together experts in lesson observation from around the world. Ofsted will then look at the different systems being used, and debate which is the most valid, and how it might incorporate these systems into what it does.

Publication of Key Stage 1 and Phonics Screening Check data
Figures published yesterday indicated that 81% of pupils had met the expected standard at the end of Year 1 in 2017 – up from 58% in 2012. Those who did not reach the standard in Year 1 took the Phonics Check again in Year 2, with 92% of seven year olds then reaching the standard.

Alongside the results of the Phonics Screening Check, the DfE also published national data for Key Stage 1 (KS1), showing that the proportion of 7 year olds reaching the expected standard has increased across reading, writing and maths. This year, 76% of pupils reached the KS1 expected standard in reading, 68% of pupils in writing and 75% of pupils in maths.

Impact of the General Data Protection Regulation
From 25 May 2018, the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) will be replaced by the new more stringent General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). All governing bodies need to be aware of their obligations under the new regulation and will be required to show compliance with the GDPR. The key changes introduced by the GDPR include the following:

• It will be mandatory for schools to appoint a designated Data Protection Officer.
• Non-compliance will see tough penalties; school will face fines of up to £20 million or 4% of their turnover.
• It is the school’s responsibility to ensure 3rd parties (i.e. catering services, software providers etc) that process data for them also comply with GDPR.

The GDPR is intended to strengthen and unify the safety and security of all data held by all types of organisations. The Information Commissioner’s Office has published a 12-step checklist to help prepare for the changes. In addition, the Local Authority’s Information Governance Team has introduced a Service Level Agreement that schools can purchase to assist them in implementing GDPR.

Evidence of the link between literacy skills and science attainment, two new reports highlighting concerns around young peoples mental health and news of a parliamentary inquiry into Pupil Referral Units make up this week’s Friday Update.

New research pinpoints literacy as strongest indicator of science grades 
Good literacy skills are crucial to closing the attainment gap in science subjects according to a report published yesterday by the Education Endowment Foundation. The University of Oxford researchers behind the report concluded that the strongest factor affecting pupils’ science scores is how well they understand written texts.

According to the report, poor literacy skills can affect how well a pupil is able to understand scientific vocabulary and to prepare scientific reports. This suggests that strategies to boost disadvantaged pupils’ reading comprehension could have a positive impact on their achievement in science too.

Young people’s mental health highlighted in two powerful new reports
Research from the UCL Institute of Education and the University of Liverpool on Wednesday found almost one quarter of girls (24%) and one in 10 boys (9%) are depressed at age 14.

The research was also highlighted by the Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families which published a survey of primary school teachers in England as part of its You’re never too young to talk mental health campaign, which found that many teachers do not feel adequately trained to support children with mental health problems.

Parliamentary investigation into ‘Additional Provision’
The House of Commons Education Committee has launched a new inquiry looking at Alternative Provision, and whether young people in Pupil Referral Units and others types of alternative provision receive the best quality of education.

In launching the inquiry, the Committee’s Chair, Rt Hon Robert Halfon MP commented that “Students in alternative provision are far less likely to achieve good exam results, find well-paid jobs or go on to further study. Only around 1% of young people in state alternative provision receive five good GCSEs.”

The Committee, which includes Gateshead MP Ian Mearns among its 11 members, has issued a public call for evidence for the inquiry which is examining:

• Routes into alternative provision
• The quality of teaching in alternative provision (including pupil referral units)
• Educational outcomes and destinations of students;Safety, accommodation, and provision of resources for students
• In-school alternatives to external alternative provision;Regulation of independent providers

More information on the inquiry is available on the Committee’s website.

This week I report on the Government’s confirmation of the new national funding formula, changes to the primary assessment system and the scrapping of P-scales for assessment of pupils working below national curriculum level.

Confirmation of the national funding formula
This week Justine Greening, the Education Secretary announced that primary schools will get at least £3,500 for every pupil on their roll from 2019/20, an extension of the £4,800 per-pupil funding guarantee for secondary schools that was announced in July. However, she later clarified that the formula was only “notional” and that the actual levels of funding for the first two years for each school would be reviewed and distributed by local authorities based on their own factors.

Every school in England will also receive a lump sum of £110,000 to help with fixed costs, and there is also a £26 million fund to help “rural and isolated” schools to manage their “unique challenges”.

Changes to the primary assessment system
Yesterday the Education Secretary announced changes to the primary assessment system stating, “These changes will free up teachers to educate and inspire young children while holding schools to account in a proportionate and effective way.” She confirmed the DfE will:

• introduce a new teacher-mediated assessment in the Reception year from 2020 to provide a baseline measure to better track pupils’ progress during primary school. The check, which will be developed in conjunction with the teaching profession, will ensure schools are given credit for all the work they do throughout a child’s time at primary school;
• improve the Early Years Foundation Stage profile – a check on a child’s school readiness at the end of their early years education. This includes reviewing supporting guidance, to reduce burdens for teachers;
• make Key Stage 1 tests and assessments non-statutory from 2023 and remove the requirement for schools to submit teacher assessment data to the Government for reading and maths at the end of Key Stage 2, as these subjects are already assessed through statutory tests, from 2018/19;
• introduce a multiplication tables check to aid children’s fluency in mathematics from 2019/20;
• improve teacher assessment of English writing by giving teachers greater scope to use their professional judgement when assessing pupils at the end of Key Stages 1 and 2 from the current academic year (2017/18).

Removal of P-scales for assessment of pupils working below national curriculum level
This week the Government also confirmed it had accepted the final recommendations from last year’s Rochford Review looking at how pupils who are working below the standard of the national curriculum tests should be assessed.

The statutory requirement for teachers to use performance scales (P-scales) to assess pupils with SEND who are not working at the standard of national curriculum assessments will be removed from the 2018/19 academic year, to allow the Government to make the necessary changes to legislation.

In its consultation response to the review, the Government said it would make interim pre-key stage standards, which assess ability in reading, writing and mathematics, permanent for all pupils engaged in subject-specific learning. For the pupils who are not engaged in subject-specific learning, which is a small number of pupils nationally, the Government will pilot using seven areas of cognition and learning instead of P-scales.

WELCOME BACK TO A NEW SCHOOL YEAR

This week I report on the provisional data for KS2 tests taken this summer, the increased funding for the PE and Sports premium, a free webinar on implementing the GDPR in schools and new research on the attainment gap between pupil premium pupils and their peers.

Primary school performance and accountability
The DfE has published provisional data about attainment in the 2017 Key Stage 2 tests taken this summer. 61% of pupils reached the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics. This is an increase on 53% in 2016, which was the first year that pupils were tested on the new curriculum.

Alongside these statistics, the DfE has updated its primary school accountability guidance with confirmation of the 2017 floor standard. In 2017, a school will be above the floor if either of these conditions are met:

• at least 65% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics
• the school achieves progress scores of at least -5 in reading, -7 in writing and -5 in mathematics (all three subjects)

The coasting definition for 2017 is expected to be published later this term.

Rate of funding doubles for the PE and sports premium
Just after the end of the last school year the DfE released the latest rate of funding for the PE and sports premium in primary schools, and due to the levy on soft drinks which was introduced in 2017, the rate of funding has doubled when compared to 2016.

Schools will now receive £1,000 per pupil (if there are 16 or fewer in a school) or £16,000 (with 17 or more pupils) and an additional £10 per pupil. This money can be used for a range of sporting and exercise activities in schools, but can’t be used to “teach the minimum requirements of the national curriculum” or “employ coaches or specialist teachers to cover planning preparation and assessment (PPA) arrangements”.

Like the pupil premium, governors are responsible for ensuring that this money is well spent.

How to implement GDPR in your school webinar
From May 2018, the new General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR) will apply to all schools and some governing bodies are starting to think about what this will mean. Browne Jacobson (the National Governance Association’s legal partner) is giving a free webinar on the GDPR and how this will impact schools across the country. The webinar will look at the approach schools should be taking to reach GDPR compliance and will cover:

• Where does the responsibility for GDPR lie and who should be the Data Protection Officer (DPO)?
• What does ‘explicit consent’ mean and how is ‘personal data’ defined?
• What do we need to audit?
• Will GDPR be a priority for Ofsted?
• What are the risks and costs to our school?

The webinar will take place on Tuesday 12 September at 4.00 p.m. To register, use this link to go to Browne Jacobson’s website.

Closing the gap? Research on disadvantage and achievement
Research conducted by the Education Policy Institute was published in early August and found that if current trends continue it will take around 50 years for the gap in attainment between disadvantaged pupils and their peers to close completely.

The report looked at the attainment gap between pupils eligible for pupil premium and their peers at the end of key stages throughout their time in school. Key findings include:

• between 2007 and 2016, the attainment gap as measured at the end of secondary school has narrowed by 3 months – but the gap for persistently disadvantaged pupils has widened slightly by 0.3 months
• disadvantaged pupils were on average 19.3 months behind their peers by the time they took their GCSEs (in 2016)
• there are variations between regions and local authority areas, with the biggest attainment gap found in the Isle of Wight (29 months) and the smallest in the London boroughs of Southwark, Wandsworth and Tower Hamlets (7 months)

Governors should ensure that they consider the progress of disadvantaged pupils (in comparison to other pupils in their school and nationally) when assessing the impact of their school’s pupil premium spending.

In my final update this academic year, I highlight the Government’s announcement of additional funding for schools, the reduction in EBacc targets, the expectation that KS1 and 2 writing assessments will move to a ‘best fit’ model and publication of revised statutory Exclusions guidance to be used from September.

Additional £1.3bn for core schools budget will deliver a rise in per pupil funding
This week the Education Secretary Justine Greening announced that £1.3bn will be diverted into core school funding from other pots including money earmarked for new free schools and the ‘healthy pupils’ programme. The Education Secretary also confirmed the Government’s commitment to deliver the national funding formula in 2018.

One of the chief concerns that has been raised is that the £1.3 billion is not ‘new’ money from the Treasury, but will instead be recouped from savings to be made in other areas of the DfE’s budget.

EBacc target reduced to 75% following consultation
In 2015, the Government pledged that 90% of pupils would be entered for the full raft of EBacc subjects by 2020.  Responding to a 2015 consultation on the EBacc published this week, the Government is now aiming for 90% “starting to study EBacc GCSE courses” by 2025, meaning that they would not achieve the original target of 90% entered for the EBacc until 2027.

Justine Greening has stated that the consultation has allowed the Government to listen to the concerns of schools and the barriers they face in achieving the original target. As a result, they have now set a new target of 75% of pupils studying EBacc subjects by 2022. Since 2010 the numbers of pupils studying the EBacc has risen from 22% to 40%.

Headteachers advised to prepare for ‘secure-fit’ writing assessments to be scrapped Headteachers across England have been told this week to expect changes to the way pupils’ writing is assessed next year. The SATs were reformed in 2016 to make them tougher and included changes to the statutory writing assessments in Year 2 and Year 6.

These have proved controversial because they use a “secure-fit” system in which pupils must reach all the criteria set out by Government before being judged at the expected standard. Opponents have said that this discriminates against children with dyslexia and that pupils who have reached all but one of the 18 criteria are given the same judgement (working below the expected standard) as those pupils who do not reach any.

The Government has been consulting on plans to move to a “best fit” model, which would place more weight on the judgment of teachers. The wider consultation on primary testing also includes proposals to scrap Key Stage 1 SATs and replace them with a new baseline assessment for Reception children.

Whilst the Government is not expected to respond until September the NAHT headteachers’ union has advised its members that it has been “encouraged by the level of engagement from Government on this issue”. It goes on to say that, while it cannot guarantee things will change, it is urging all members “not to do any further work or planning using the current writing frameworks and await the Government’s response to the consultation in September”.

Revised Statutory guidance on the exclusion of pupils from local authority maintained schools, academies and pupil referral units.
On Wednesday, the DfE published its response to the consultation on proposed revisions to school exclusion statutory guidance.

The guidance sets out the process to which relevant schools must have regard when issuing an exclusion, and the process by which parents can make representations against a decision to exclude. The proposed changes were intended to provide greater confidence to Headteachers on their use of exclusion and to provide greater clarity to independent review panels (IRPs) and governing bodies on their consideration of exclusions.

The new guidance will come into force in September 2017. Any pupil who was excluded before September 2017 and whose exclusion is still subject to review should be considered on the basis of the September 2012 guidance.

Following the responses requesting a guide for governors, it is DfE’s intention to produce a further non-statutory guide for governors which will be issued in due course.

This week I highlight new research into whether it’s possible to define and collect metrics to measure the quality of school governance, a reminder that RAISEonline will close at the end of this month and a new report has been published on the impact of the Prevent duty in schools since it was introduced two years ago.

Research into defining and collecting metrics measuring the quality of school governance
On Wednesday, the Department for Education (DfE) published the results of a feasibility study it had commissioned to determine whether it was possible to define and collect metrics on the quality of school governance. The study aimed to establish a set of criteria showing whether a governing board was effective or not; it assessed the quality of governance in a sample of schools through an external review of governance (ERG) and compared the results of the ERG and survey to test whether the survey correctly measured the quality of governance.

Key findings and recommendations:

• The study demonstrated that defining and collecting metrics on the quality of governance is broadly feasible. However, to secure confidence in the metrics, further validation was recommended.
• Nine statistically-reliable metrics were developed, validated to a certain extent by expert reviews, that broadly identified the components of effective governance.
• With further developmental work these metrics could possibly be applied on a large scale.

Update on Analyse School Performance and RAISEonline
On 31 July the RAISEonline service will close and the DfE is asking schools to save any data needed from RAISEonline such as school summary reports before this date. Schools are also being asked to log into the replacement service, Analyse School Performance (ASP), before the end of the summer term.

New report on the impact of the Prevent duty in schools 
The Prevent duty for schools was introduced two years ago this month. To mark the occasion, the University of Coventry has published a research report on what the Prevent duty means for school and colleges in England. The report found that:

• The message that Prevent is about ‘all forms of extremism’ and that it should form part of a schools’ wider safeguarding duty, is widely accepted.
• There has been some opposition around the requirement to teach British values, which is linked to Prevent. In particular, schools are uneasy about calling the values “British” and are unsure about how to embed this into the curriculum effectively.
• Staff who are not part of “safeguarding teams”, or are relatively junior in a school, are less confident about fulfilling the Prevent duty. Nevertheless, many practitioners reject the idea that Prevent has had a “chilling effect” on students in the classroom.
• There were “widespread concerns” that the Prevent duty caused “increased stigmatism of Muslim students”.

This week I report on the release of this year’s interim KS2 SATs results, confirmation that universal infant school meals will continue and that the Government is still considering the responses received from the consultation on proposals for a new national funding formula and the publication of updated guidance on preventing bullying.

Increase in pupils achieving the expected standard in this year’s KS2 results
On Tuesday, the Department for Education (DfE) released the interim 2017 Key Stage 2 attainment figures with 61% of pupils reaching the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics, compared to 53% last year. Scaled scores which indicate how many marks pupils need to achieve the expected standard were also released.

The results are the first of several statistical publications that will analyse pupils’ performance in the SATs. The local authority results are due to be published in August. The floor standard thresholds, which are used to highlight which schools may require intervention will be published in September, and the number of schools below the floor standards will be revealed in December when the performance tables are published.

The Government has already said that “a broadly similar” proportion of schools will be below the floor standard compared to 2016, when 665 schools were below the floor standard.

Confirmation that universal infant school meals will continue
This week the Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, confirmed in Parliament that plans to remove universal infant school meals had been scrapped. The  plans to save £650 million by stopping free meals for all infant schools in favour of an entirely means-tested policy for all primary school pupils had prompted criticism when they were announced during the election campaign. However, the announcement has raised fresh questions about the Government’s manifesto pledge to increase the overall schools budget by £4 billion, most of which was due to be funded through scrapping universal infant free school meals.

Mr Gibb said the Government was in the process of looking at the 25,000 responses to its consultation on proposals for a new national funding formula, and would respond with its plans in due course.

Guidance for schools on preventing and responding to bullying
The DfE has merged its publications ‘Supporting children and young people who are bullied: advice for schools’ with ‘Preventing and tackling bullying’. The new version of ‘Preventing and tackling bullying‘ includes additional information about how schools can support children and young people who are bullied.

This week I report on new mental health training that will be offered to teachers over the next 5 years, the review of fire safety in schools following the Grenfell Tower fire, the announcement of the pass mark for this year’s Phonics screening check and that schools will now get the opportunity to appeal GCSE and A Level marking errors.

Mental Health training for teachers
The Government has pledged that every secondary school in the country will receive mental health training by 2020 and that this will be extended to primary schools by 2022. The programme will be delivered by Mental Health First Aid (MHFA) England, a social enterprise organisation, and is backed by £200,000 in Government funding.

Staff will receive practical advice on how to deal with issues such as depression and anxiety, suicide and psychosis, self-harm, and eating disorders. They will also be invited to become ‘first aid champions’, sharing their knowledge and experiences across schools and communities to raise awareness and break down stigma and discrimination.

Fire Safety in schools
In the wake of the Grenfell Tower tragedy the Government is analysing school buildings to identify those that are over four storeys high and establish which, if any, external cladding has been used on them. At the end of last week, the Government had instructed councils and academy trusts to carry out fire safety checks on school buildings to identify any that may need further investigation in light of the blaze.

The DfE is also reportedly dropping proposals to change fire safety rules around the installation of sprinklers and teaching unions have called on the Government to officially confirm they have abandoned the proposed fire safety rule changes.

Phonics screening check pass mark announced
On Monday, the Government announced the pass mark for the phonics screening check will be 32 out of 40, for the sixth year running. The phonics check was taken by more than 600,000 five and six year old pupils in Year 1. It is a test of 40 words, half of which are nonsense words, and is administered and marked by a teacher or staff member who is known to the pupil. Last year, 81% of pupils met the expected standard in Year 1, up from 77% in 2015.

Schools to get right to appeal GCSE and A-level ‘marking errors’
This week the exams regulator Ofqual has announced that schools will be given the right to appeal against GCSE and A-level results if they suspect there has been a marking error. This comes on the back of a successful pilot last year in which it allowed schools to appeal on the grounds of marking errors in three A level subjects.

The exams regulator changed the rules in recent years so that schools could only appeal an exam result if they felt exam boards had not properly followed procedures. Schools could not appeal if they believed there had been an error in the marking or moderation of an exam. The new rule will be phased in over the next 2 years, starting with all AS and A-level subjects from this summer.

This week I report on the Queen’s speech and the impact it will have on education, the publication of information for parents/employers/FE and HE providers on the new GCSE grading structure and two new EEF trials to test school careers programmes.

Queen’s Speech – legislative priorities for next two years
On Wednesday, the Queen unveiled the Government’s legislative priorities for the next two years. Whilst the speech set out laws the Government wants to pass, it was silent on a series of promises made in the Conservative election manifesto including overturning the ban on grammar schools and scrapping free school lunches.

The speech included a commitment to ensure “all schools are fairly funded”. The government has indicated that the national funding formula for schools that it recently consulted on will go ahead in some form. The Conservative manifesto pledged that no school would see its budget cut under the new formula. It is not clear if the Government has the votes to push the reform through the Commons, and the Queen’s Speech did not promise any legislation on this.

In relation to technical education the Queen said the Government would “work to ensure that people have the skills they need for the high-skilled, high-wage jobs of the future” with “a major reform of technical education”.

The Government also said it will publish a green paper on children and young people’s mental health “focused on helping our youngest and most vulnerable members of society receive the best start in life”. The manifesto committed the Government to publishing this “before the end of this year”.

Information on the new GCSE grading structure      
This week the DfE published information about the new GCSE grades for parents, employers and further and higher education providers.

New trials launched to test school careers programmes 
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has announced two new trials will test how different careers education programmes can boost teenagers’ motivation at school. One will link-up pupils with business mentors to deliver community projects and the other will test the impact of supporting pupils to apply and participate in Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM)-related work experience.  Both programmes will be funded under a million-pound partnership between the EEF, the Careers & Enterprise Company and Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

This week it was confirmed that Justine Greening would remain as Education Secretary, Ofsted has launched a consultation on proposals to improve the short inspection model and a new study has found that pupils are more alert in the afternoon.

Small departmental reshuffle
Following last week’s general election, Theresa May has carried out a very minor reshuffle of her ministers. Justine Greening remains Secretary of State for Education and Nick Gibb (School Standards), Jo Johnson (Universities), Caroline Dinenage (Early Years) and Lord Nash (School System) have all retained their pre-election briefs. The new Children and Families Minister is Robert Goodwill and Anne Milton has been appointed Minister of State for Apprenticeships and Skills.

Launch of consultation on improving the short inspection model 
Yesterday Ofsted launched a consultation on proposals to improve the short inspection model. Short inspections were introduced in September 2015 for schools previously judged to be good. They last for one day and, in most cases, the inspectors are satisfied that the school remains good. Currently a third of short inspections are converted to full inspections when the lead inspector decides there is insufficient evidence to confirm the school is still good, or thinks it may now be outstanding. A team of inspectors then arrives at the school within 48 hours, to gather more evidence and reach a final judgement.

Ofsted has found the 48-hour conversion period challenging because it means that inspection schedules often change at the last minute, standing inspectors down at short notice. They have also noted that school leaders find the current experience of conversion “overwhelming”. Finally, they say that “in about 20% of cases, before a short inspection takes place it is already clear that a school is facing complex circumstances that warrant a full inspection”. Ofsted is therefore proposing two operational changes:

• When a short inspection converts, the full inspection will be completed within a maximum of 15 working days, rather than 48 hours.
• A full inspection will automatically take place in around 1 in 5 cases where Ofsted has prior evidence that a school is in complex circumstances.

These changes are being piloted in around 35 schools this term. If the proposals are accepted, it is expected that the changes will take effect immediately after the October half term this year. The consultation is open for around 2 months and will close at 11:30pm on 18 August 2017 if you would like to submit a response.

New study finds pupils more alert in the afternoon
A new study by BBC Terrific Scientific and the University of Oxford has found primary pupils may be more alert in the afternoon, which “contradicts” the practice of schools scheduling maths and literacy lessons in the morning because teachers think youngsters will be “more awake to learning”.

In March, this year 900 children (aged 9 to 11) from schools across the UK took part in the study, with researchers finding that pupils on average were faster in the afternoon than in the morning, and that reaction times appeared generally slower before the clock change. The study also found that sleep time for the children increased by an average of 30 minutes after the clock-change weekend and that 68% of the children participating felt they had higher levels of energy later in the day.