This week I provide an update on the findings from the latest Education Select Committee meeting, report on the end of SGOSS providing governor search services and the DfE’s recommendation for the new HMCI for Ofsted.

15 June 2016 Commons Education Select Committee meeting
Earlier this week both the National Schools Commissioner, Sir David Carter and Ofsted’s Chief, Sir Michael Wilshaw gave evidence to the Education Select Committee on Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs). Sir David discussed his plans to perform ‘health checks’ on MATs that want to take on more schools, saying they will focus on standards and improvement, how much trusts improve the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and that they know “exactly how strong their great schools are and how weak their weakest ones are”.

Sir David also reported that since September 2014, 119 academies had been re-brokered because some of them were performing no better, or minimally better, than the failing schools from which they had taken over. Of those schools, 68 had gone from a multi-academy trust to another multi-academy trust and 51 and gone from a single academy trust to a multi-academy trust. He indicated the “re-brokerage solution” was an important tool for Regional Schools Commissioners challenging under-performance, but it was also disruptive, expensive and affected the children at the school. That was why Regional Commissioners tried to get involved with struggling academies before they got so bad that there was no other option but to find another sponsor and new management.

End of School Governors One Stop Shop (SGOSS)
From 31 August this year the Department for Education funding for SGOSS will be come to an end and it will no longer provide the school system with governor search services. The service will be re-directed to an expanded Education and Employers Taskforce which operates the Inspiring Governors service.

DfE recommends new Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector for Ofsted
On Friday last week the Secretary of State for Education recommended Amanda Spielman for the post of HMCI of Ofsted. If appointed, she will replace Sir Michael Wilshaw in December. Ms Spielman, co-founder of the academy chain ARK, is no stranger to governance having been Chair of Ofqual since 2011 and a board member of Brunel University, Floreat Education and Stemnet.

At present, this is only a recommendation for appointment and it will now be scrutinised by the Education Select Committee, who will present their conclusions to the Privy Council for consideration.

This week I highlight the publication of the APPG’s report on the impact and effectiveness of financial education in schools, a report from the CBI calling for a greater focus on science in primary schools and the recruitment of new Deputy Directors for the eight Regional Schools Commissioners offices.

Call for better financial education for young people
The All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Financial Education for Young People has published its report on the impact and effectiveness of financial education in schools. The APPG commissioned its fourth inquiry in this area to assess the extent and impact of financial education teaching since its introduction into the English secondary national curriculum at the start of the 2014/15 academic year. As a result of the inquiry, the APPG has made the following recommendations for policymakers:

• strengthening school provision by introducing financial education at primary level and ensuring teaching focuses on real-life contexts;
• improve teacher confidence and skillset by embedding financial education in the Initial Teacher Training (ITT) Framework and schools having a financial education ‘champion’ to coordinate and promote learning;
• encouraging coordination between financial education providers by HM Treasury ensuring that the reformed money guidance body is able to coordinate, identify and signpost best practice of financial education across the sector;
• measuring long-term impact by commissioning a long-term study on the effectives of financial education interventions and the UK to participate in the OECD’s evaluation of financial literacy to enable global benchmarking.

Business leaders call for greater focus on primary science
This week the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) published a report calling for a greater focus on science in primary schools. The report highlights that the supply of science skills doesn’t currently meet demand and this has the potential to hold back economic growth. It suggests increasing young people’s engagement with science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) subjects is an important part of overcoming the problem, but argues that too many children are switched off to science by the time they leave primary school. The report’s recommendations include:

• developing a new science education strategy covering all levels of education;
• ensuring professional development for science is of a high standard in primary schools and that it’s undertaken on a regular basis;
• all primary schools having a subject leader for science to drive a continual focus on the subject;
• as part of CPD developing the opportunity for teachers to spend some time in businesses and universities to enhance their understanding of the theory and application of science;
• helping governing boards get to grips with STEM provision in their schools.

Eight new deputy directors to lead the Regional Schools Commissioners offices
The Department for Education is to appoint eight new senior civil servants to head up the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) offices and help handle their rising workload.
The Deputy Directors will “complement senior leadership teams” in each of the eight RSC offices, but they will not be Deputy RSCs and won’t have the decision-making powers specific to RSCs.

The staffing expansion comes as RSC offices prepare to take on extra work with the Government’s proposals to academise coasting schools, as well as schools in council areas deemed underperforming or unviable.

This week I report on the publication of the draft Keeping Children Safe in Education guidance that will be used from early September, that applications are now invited for schools to apply for this year’s character grants and Lord Sugar has been appointed as the Government’s new Enterprise Tsar.

DFE RESPONSE TO THE KEEPING CHILDREN SAFE IN EDUCATION STATUTORY GUIDANCE CONSULTATION
Yesterday the DfE published its response to the consultation on revising the Keeping Children Safe in Education Statutory guidance together with the revised draft guidance that will be used from 5 September 2016.

The proposed changes primarily impact Parts 1 and 2 of the guidance (and associated Annexes) with a number of factual or drafting changes made to Part 3. The DfE has published the draft of the revised guidance now so that schools and colleges can plan for the commencement of the guidance on 5 September 2016. Until the new guidance commences in September the existing statutory guidance is still in force and is what schools and colleges must continue to have regard to.

FUNDING OPPORTUNITY FOR SCHOOLS HELPING PUPILS TO DEVELOP CHARACTER
Applications for this year’s character grants (a scheme that began in 2015 to fund schools and organisations promoting traits such as resilience and respect through activities such as sports, debating or music) are now invited. Schools, colleges and organisations can apply for a share of the £6 million fund until 23 June, with grants expected to be awarded by the end of September.

LORD SUGAR APPOINTED AS THE GOVERNMENT’S ENTERPRISE TSAR
Lord Sugar has been appointed Enterprise Tsar as part of the Government’s drive to get more young people to consider starting their own business or undertaking an apprenticeship.   He will also be encouraging businesses to take on apprentices themselves and will be undertaking a series of roadshow events across England, speaking to local school leavers and businesses.

This week I report on the new Education for All bill outlined in the Queen’s Speech, the High Court ruling in favour of the father who took his daughter on holiday in term time and the end of Data Dashboards with the introduction of a new DfE school comparison tool.

QUEEN’S SPEECH: NEW BILL CONFIRMS PLAN TO TARGET UNDER-PERFORMING AND UNVIABLE COUNCILS
Yesterday the Queen’s Speech clarified what legislation the Government intends to bring before Parliament, including an Education for All bill. The bill will confirm that not all maintained schools will have to become academies, only those in the worst performing local authorities and in local authorities where so many schools have already become academies that they cannot viably support the rest.

Although detail on how the Department for Education will define under-performance or unviability in councils is awaiting formal consultation and a vote in Parliament, the legislation will include a new duty on councils to “facilitate” the process of academy conversion, aimed at making it “swifter and smoother” for schools. Although details are still patchy, the Government is expected to publish guidance for local authorities and schools in due course.

HIGH COURT RULING IN FAVOUR OF PARENT
Further to last week’s Update, the father from the Isle of Wight who took his daughter on a term-time holiday has won his case against the school and the subsequent appeal made by the local authority.

The rule that said children should not be taken out of school for holidays was not part of primary legislation and was determined by a Statutory Instrument (SI) issued by the Education Secretary in 2013. The High Court ruled that changing the regulations via a SI didn’t affect the 1996 Education Act’s obligation on parents to ensure their children attend schools regularly, and that in this case a child’s 94% attendance record constituted regularity. Some commentators have said that a possible definition of “regular” is 90% attendance because that is the threshold for persistent truancy. Given that the law states that a full year is 190 days, this would allow any child 19 days’ holiday a year, provided they had no other absence. The Government’s attendance target is 95%.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb told the House of Commons that the ruling in favour of the parent represented a “significant threat” to improving school attendance and that the Government will do “everything in its power” to ensure children are kept in school. A DfE spokesperson said that it would be looking to change the law and to strengthen statutory guidance to schools and local authorities.

OFSTED DROPS GOVERNORS’ DATA DASHBOARD
Ofsted has decided to discontinue the School Data Dashboards which have been produced for the last three years, with the aim of giving Governing bodies key information on the standards achieved in the school. Ofsted will stop publishing them in September, but they have already been phased out as Ofsted didn’t populate them with the 2015 SATs and GCSE results.

A reason given for dropping the dashboards is the production by the DfE of a new tool, Compare School and College Performance which I reported on back in March. If you enter the name of a school, you are given headline performance information on its most recent Key Stage 2 SATs results if it is a primary school and the Key Stage 4 exams if it is a secondary. Information on the trend over three years is also given, together with key data on finance and the numbers of staff. The site offers a list of similar schools from across the country so that you can select any of these to see how its outcomes compare with your own school’s.

This week I report on how the DfE is enduring another week of media attention with its announcement that a definition of ‘underperforming councils’ will be used to force schools to convert to academies, the High Court will rule on taking holidays in term time and test results for this year’s Key Stage 2 SPAG test were leaked to a journalist.

EDUCATION SECRETARY TO DEFINE ‘UNDERPERFORMING’S COUNCILS WITH CONSULTATION AND VOTE
The Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, stated in the House of Commons yesterday that the definition of “underperforming” councils that would be used to force schools to convert to academies would be set out in a consultation and put to a vote of MPs. She didn’t say when the consultation documents would be published but subjecting the definition to an affirmative resolution means it would need the support of a majority of MPs to become law.

The proposed new powers were announced last week as a compromise on the Government’s Education White Paper proposal to force all schools to convert to academies by 2022, which were widely criticised by school leaders and politicians, including those inside the Conservative party.

The Education Secretary had also sought to reassure schools that they would not be forced to join multi-academy trusts, instead saying she expected “most schools” to join local clusters.

HIGH COURT TO RULE ON TERM TIME HOLIDAYS
The case of a father who was fined £120 for taking his daughter on holiday during term time will be heard by the High Court today. Mr Platt was originally cleared by Isle of Wight magistrates who ruled he had no case to answer as his child still attended school regularly. However, Isle of Wight Council, who issue the fine, have pursued the case in the High Court to seek clarification on whether taking a seven-day absence amounts to regular attendance.

Mr Platt won his case in the Magistrates court after successfully arguing Section 444(1) of the Education Act 1996 required parents to ensure their children attended school “regularly” – but did not put restrictions on taking them on holidays in term time. Today’s High Court ruling could set a precedent for how cases are dealt with in the future and potentially a change in the law.

KEY STAGE 2 SATs TEST LEAKED THE DAY BEFORE IT WAS TAKEN
The Department for Education is blaming a “rogue marker” for leaking this year’s Key Stage 2 Spelling, Punctuation and Grammar (SPAG) test to The Guardian, after the SATs paper and its answers were mistakenly uploaded onto a password-protected website by Pearson, the test supplier.

On Tuesday, Schools Minister Nick Gibb addressed Parliament about the leaked test and announced that the SPAG exam would go ahead because it had not been shared online or in the press. Pearson has apologised for the problem and is investigating. According to its Chief Executive, John Fallon, 102 markers had seen the paper in the four hours it was available but they were bound by confidentiality and had a duty not to share it.

In a press release issued by the DfE this afternoon the Education Secretary, Nicky Morgan, has confirmed that the Government will not be bringing in legislation requiring all schools in England to become academies.  Mrs Morgan  stated that since the launch of the Education White Paper the Government had listened to feedback received from MPs, teachers, school leaders and parents.

In an interview with the BBC Mrs Morgan said “this is about being a listening government and I would consider myself to be a listening secretary of state.  Better to have reforms than have none at all.”

The Government will continue to require underperforming schools to convert to academy status and will bring forward legislation which will trigger conversion of all schools within a local authority in 2 specific circumstances:

• where it is clear that the local authority can no longer viably support its remaining schools because a critical mass of schools in that area has converted. Under this mechanism a local authority will also be able to request the Department for Education converts all of its remaining schools
• where the local authority consistently fails to meet a minimum performance threshold across its schools, demonstrating an inability to bring about meaningful school improvement

This week I draw your attention to the new Government consultation on changing the childcare disqualification arrangements in schools and non-domestic registered settings, the removal of the role of the schools mental health champion and the extension of the EEF’s families of schools toolkit which now includes all primary schools in England.

CONSULTATION ON CHANGING THE CHILDCARE DISQUALIFICATION ARRANGEMENTS IN SCHOOLS AND NON-DOMESTIC REGISTERED SETTINGS
Currently, a childcare worker can be disqualified because someone who lives or works in their household is disqualified – this is known as disqualification ‘by association’. Disqualification by association was introduced by the Government with the intention of preventing an individual from working with young children, where the individual may be under the influence of a person. However, in response to concerns raised about the fairness and proportionality of the existing arrangements the DfE has today opened a consultation on three separate options for changing the arrangements in schools and non-domestic registered settings. These are:

• Option 1 – remove disqualification by association in schools and non-domestic registered settings
• Option 2 – retain disqualification by association, but introduce a new right to make representations to Ofsted before the disqualification takes effect
• Option 3 – retain disqualification by association, but reduce its scope and introduce a new right to make representations to Ofsted before the disqualification takes effect

If you would like to respond to the consultation you can do so using this link until Friday 1 July 2016.

SCHOOLS MENTAL-HEALTH CHAMPION REMOVED
It was announced this week that the DfE’s role of mental-health champion for schools in England has been removed. Natasha Devon who was appointed last August used a Headteachers’ conference last week to highlight the level of mental strain being put on pupils. She described the rigorous testing and academic pressure children faced as “detrimental” to their mental health. The DfE has denied the role was axed to silence criticism, indicating an independent NHS task force report published in February had recommended that a cross-government mental health champion be created. A DfE spokesperson commented that for this reason, and to avoid confusion, they had reconsidered the department’s own role.

EEF EXPANDING FAMILIES OF SCHOOLS TOOLKIT TO INCLUDE EVERY PRIMARY SCHOOL IN ENGLAND
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has now extended its families of schools toolkit to include all primary schools in the country. The toolkit groups schools into “families” that share similar characteristics (such as similar prior attainment, eligibility for free school meals and the number of pupils who speak English as an additional language). The aim is to facilitate collaboration between those schools facing similar challenges. Launching the toolkit, the EEF emphasised that there can be big variation in terms of pupil attainment between schools with the same characteristics.

The families of schools toolkit is free to use and does not require login details. Please click here to access the toolkit.

Concerns around the implications of the Education White Paper continue to make headlines and this week I highlight the Education Secretary’s appearance in front of the Education Select Committee, confirmation that the DfE will be using the results from schools that sat the Key Stage 1 spelling, punctuation and grammar test early to set expected standards for next year and the implications of new nursery staff being required to have achieved a good GCSE in English and Maths.

MPs GRILL EDUCATION SECRETARY OVER ACADEMY PLANS
Nicky Morgan, the Education Secretary appeared in front of the Commons Education Select Committee on Wednesday for the first time since the publication of her department’s White Paper Education, Excellence, Everywhere. Just hours after the Prime Minister had ruled out any possible U-turn over plans to convert every school into an academy, Ms Morgan spelled out her intention to see through the controversial proposals. Responding to questions, the Education Secretary said “it is absolutely the government’s commitment to have all schools as academies by 2022”.

The hearing can be watched on Parliament TV, as well as the House of Commons oral questions.

DITCHED PRIMARY SATS WILL STILL SET STANDARDS
Schools Week has reported that primary schools that carried out the now-defunct Key Stage 1 test must still provide their results to the Government so they can be used to set expected standards. The DfE has indicated there would be “sufficient data” from those who sat the test early to set standards, despite tens of thousands of pupils, parents and teachers potentially having seen the answers. Russell Hobby, General Secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said there was “no possible way” schools could have confidence in any standard that emerged.

NEW NURSERY STAFF TO HAVE GOOD GCSE GRADES IN ENGLISH AND MATHS
Starting in September, all Level 3 Early Years Educators (EYEs) will be required to have C grades or above in GCSE English and Maths before being able to enter the childcare sector. Alternative equivalent qualifications such as functional skills qualifications will no longer be acceptable.

Currently, there is a limit to how many children each member of staff is allowed to look after and after September, staff who do not have the requisite grade Cs in GCSE Maths and English will still be able to work in nurseries, but will not count towards the ratios.

According to the Save our Early Years campaign employers are already feeling the recruitment crisis and there are worries that this will be intensified as the new requirement to deliver 30 hours of free childcare for three and four-year olds comes into effect from next year.

This week I highlight the dramatic news that first and primary schools won’t need to administer this year’s KS1 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling test as it was published in error on the DfE’s website back in January, the publication of the Regional Schools Commissioner’s plan to raise school standards in the North East and entries invited for this year’s DfE Character Awards.

KEY STAGE 1 GRAMMAR, PUNCTUATION AND SPELLING TEST NOT BEING TAKEN THIS YEAR
The Department for Education has confirmed that this year’s Key Stage 1 Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling test was accidentally uploaded onto the Standards and Testing Agency website in January along with other practice papers. The error was only discovered when teachers at the schools taking part in piloting the new tests this week recognised the questions.

The Schools Minister, Nick Gibb, has commissioned an investigation into how the breach has occurred and stated that “to remove any uncertainty and clarify the situation for schools, I have decided that we will remove the requirement on them to administer the KS1 grammar, punctuation and spelling test for this year only.”

Schools will still need to submit a teacher assessment judgement based on pupils’ work in the classroom, however there will be no requirement to administer the test or use the result as part of that assessment.

NORTH OF ENGLAND REGIONAL SCHOOL COMMISSIONER’S CONTRIBUTION TO RAISING SCHOOLS STANDARDS 2015-16
The DfE has released information about each Regional School Commissioner’s contribution to raising school standards for 2015-16. Our Regional School Commissioner’s plan aims to ensure our diverse geography and communities work together to promote a self-improving school led system that can deliver higher standards across the region. There’s also the promise to improve communications and transparency via newsletters, an annual report and social media.

ENTRIES NOW INVITED FOR THIS YEAR’S DfE CHARACTER AWARDS
The Awards seek to identify, recognise and celebrate those leading the field in character education and support young people to develop the traits that:

• support academic attainment
• are valued by employers
• enable them to make a positive contribution to British society

The closing date for entries is 23 May 2016 via the Pearson Teaching Awards website.

Welcome back after the Easter break. The Education White Paper continues to make headlines and spark much debate and this week I highlight the DfE’s publication of a ‘10 facts’ document about the academies programme, the Government’s decision not to use Reception baseline assessments as an accountability measure this year and the opportunity for schools to buy tablet devices through a DfE led procurement process.

DISPELLING POPULAR MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT ACADEMIES 
Earlier this week the DfE published information about the academies programme to help clarify some potential misconceptions that had been voiced since the publication of the Education White Paper, before the Easter break. Of particular note the DfE states “successful, sustainable schools will not be forced to join up in a trust with other schools”, although the White Paper states that it expects most schools will form or join Multi Academy Trusts (MATs). Clearly Governing bodies will have to consider carefully how to proceed to ensure they make the best decision for their school.

RECEPTION BASELINE ASSESSMENTS NOT BEING USED AS AN ACCOUNTABILITY MEASURE IN PRIMARY SCHOOLS  
The DfE has decided not to use the Reception baseline assessment as a starting point to measure pupil progress. Results from their recent comparability study found that the three providers schools could use for the assessments were incompatible, making it difficult to compare schools. As a result, Key Stage 1 will continue to be used as the starting point to measure pupils’ progress to Key Stage 2, rather than Reception. The DfE outlined that schools can choose to continue using baseline assessments in 2016 and 2017 but the outcomes from the assessments will not be used for accountability. Over the coming months the DfE will be considering options for improving assessment arrangements in Reception beyond 2016 to 2017 and will make an announcement in due course.

OPPORTUNITY TO REGISTER TO BUY CHEAPER TABLET DEVICES THROUGH THE DFE 
The DfE is facilitating a further procurement to allow schools to buy tablet devices (Apple iPad, Microsoft Surface Pro, LearnPad or a generic tablet) using ‘collective buying power’, after the pilot saved 12% on the price. The procurement will be completed by the Crown Commercial Service (CCS) and schools should register their initial interest by 6 May 2016 by emailing CG.Communications@education.gsi.gov.uk.