This week we highlight Ofsted’s announcement of a wave of no-notice inspections, provide a summary of the main points of the new Special Educational Needs system and find out about the levels at which GCSE grades will be set.

OFSTED ANNOUNCES WAVE OF NO-NOTICE INSPECTIONS
Ofsted has announced plans to conduct no-notice inspections of up to 40 schools across England. These no-notice inspections will target schools where there are concerns about rapidly declining standards, safeguarding and behaviour, leadership and governance, and the breadth and balance of the curriculum. They will be carried out under Ofsted’s existing powers. Sir Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector of Ofsted, said:

“I’m giving thought to whether Ofsted should move to more routine no-notice inspections as part of our wider education inspection reforms, which we will be consulting on later this year. In the meantime, under our regional structure, inspectors are well placed to use their local knowledge and contacts to identify where these sorts of problems may be taking hold so we can respond swiftly and report publicly on what we find.”

SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL NEEDS CHANGES KICK IN
The main points of the new system that has been introduced from the start of this term are:

• School action and school action plus are abolished.
• Statements are replaced by Education and Health Care (EHC) plans, which cover from birth to age 25. However, existing statements do not disappear overnight but are to be phased out by April 2018.
• Local authorities are responsible for bringing together education, health and social care agencies to assess whether a child needs an EHC plan.
• Local authorities have to publish a Local Offer of the support available for children with SEN.
• Parents or the young person must be consulted over what the plan will provide.
• Parents and young people with an Education and Health Care plan may have the option of controlling its budget.

All schools, including academies, receive an element of SEN Additional Support Funding (ASF). They are expected to provide the first £6000 per annum per pupil with special needs out of this and their regular income. Local authorities continue to be required to fund pupils with a statement or an EHC plan.

THE FUTURE OF GCSE GRADES
Ofqual has announced the levels at which GCSE grades will be set when the new 9–1 range replaces the current A*–G one. Grades 9, 8 and 7 will replace grades A* and A, with only the top 20% of people in this band being graded 9. This will make the top grade harder to achieve, as last year in Maths 4.9% of entrants were awarded an A*, but had the new system applied only 2.9% would have got a grade 9.

The baseline for grade 4 will correspond to the baseline for grade C, and the top third of the C grade will combine with the bottom third of a B grade to constitute grade 5. However, it is this grade 5, not grade 4 that will be regarded as the “expected standard”.

The changes will be implemented for English and Maths in 2017 and other subjects the following year.

This week we highlight the updated version of the Governors’ Handbook,  the revised Ofsted School Inspection Handbook that came into force this month, an updated version of the Department for Education’s Advice on Statutory Policies for Schools, and the announcement of the recruitment of 100 “exceptional school leaders” to support improvement in some of England’s most challenging schools.

NEW GOVERNORS’ HANDBOOK

The Department for Education produced a new edition of the Governors’ Handbook back in May and has now revised it again. A full “Summary of Changes” made in both the May and September editions is given in the appendix. It includes the following additions since May:

• details of what it means for governors to set and safeguard an appropriate school ethos in keeping with fundamental British values
• a new section on appointing a headteacher
• additional text on the importance of appointing new governors with appropriate skills
• updated information on the curriculum
• links to advice on providing free school meals for children in the infant phase
• text on proposed changes to the schools admission code

You will recall that this last point was featured in the 5 September update . The Handbook and its predecessor, the Guide to the Law, have previously confined themselves to current law and practice, as this is currently only a proposal it adds a news element to what has hitherto been a reference work.

REVISED OFSTED SCHOOL INSPECTION HANDBOOK

In July Ofsted published a new edition of the School Inspection Handbook which became operative from the start of this term. It gives inspectors more guidance on the duties and responsibilities of governors (on pages 47–8) and in addition to the points listed in the
previous version about ethos, self-evaluation, performance management, challenge and finance, the new edition includes a requirement that inspectors should consider whether governors:

“ensure that they and the school promote tolerance of and respect for people of all faiths (or those of no faith), cultures and lifestyles; and support and help, through their words, actions and influence within the school and more widely in the community, to prepare children and young people positively for life in modern Britain.”

Some key points have been included in the section on governance that had previously been in the subsidiary guidance.  For example, inspectors will expect governing bodies to be transparent and accountable, including in terms of recruitment of staff, governance structures, attendance at meetings, and contact with parents and carers and that they not only provide challenge but “are providing support for an effective headteacher”.

GUIDANCE ON STATUTORY POLICIES FOR SCHOOLS

The Department for Education (DfE) has published advice for school governing bodies to help them understand their statutory obligations and duties. It outlines the policies and other documents school governing bodies and proprietors of independent schools are legally required to hold.

RECRUITMENT OF 100 EXCEPTIONAL SCHOOL LEADERS

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced the recruitment of 100 “exceptional school leaders” to support improvement in some of England’s most challenging schools. The initiative, called The Talented Leaders programme, will be run on behalf of the DfE by the Future Leaders Trust, a charity which supports leadership in challenging schools. The first cohort will be deployed in schools in north Lincolnshire, Suffolk, Bradford and Blackpool, with additional areas added in the following months.

This week we highlight the updated version of the Department for Education’s Myths and Facts document on running schools, information on how an IT industry led network could help you set up Code Clubs in your schools, and news on a new Department for Education fund paying for a series of teacher-led training programmes to help support the teaching of foreign languages.

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION MYTHS AND FACTS 

The document addresses some common misconceptions about the activities
schools are required to undertake.  It seeks to tackle both recurring myths and
new myths on changes happening during the 2014 to 2015 academic year.

COMPUTING IS THE NEW ICT

One of the major changes in the new national curriculum to be implemented from this September is the shift from ICT to computing. Over the summer, the media reported concerns over the preparedness of schools and skills of teachers in relation to the new computing curriculum.

Industry leaders in the North East, have welcomed the change hoping that the introduction of coding this term and a focus on digital industries in the curriculum could help bridge this skills gap in the digital sector.

Dynamo North East, the IT industry led network, can help set up Code Clubs and link up schools with IT experts in the region who are keen to volunteer their time. The network reports that currently 32,000 people work in IT in the region with an estimated 2,000 vacancies needing to be filled.

DEPARTMENT FOR EDUCATION £1.8 MILLION TRAINING BOOST FOR LANGUAGE TEACHING

From this week schools across England will teach the new, more challenging languages curriculum – including a new requirement for languages to be compulsory for children aged 7 to 11 years.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan announced on 9 September that the DfE was providing £1.8 million of government money to fund a series of new school-led programmes to provide thousands of teachers with extra training and support to improve the teaching of foreign languages.

Nine projects will work with more than 2,000 primary and secondary schools over the next 2 years across England. The projects will be focused on supporting teachers with the elements of the new curriculum that may be more challenging.

The Association for Language Learning was successful in being awarded £300,000 for its project which will work with 500 schools across the north east, east of England and the north Midlands. In each area the project will set up one regional centre and 10 local centres in strategically-located teaching schools to provide training and share best practice.

Welcome back after the summer break. This week we highlight new Ofsted guidance on school inspections, a consultation on changes to the School Admissions Code, an evaluation of the effectiveness of the school exclusion trial at finding alternative provision for excluded pupils and information on national curriculum and assessment from this September.

NEW OFSTED GUIDANCE ON SCHOOL INSPECTIONS

In July, Ofsted revised its guidance on school inspections by combining all its guidance documents, including subsidiary guidance, into just three documents: The framework for school inspection; the School inspection handbook; and Inspecting safeguarding in maintained schools and academies. Although the content is largely rearranged, the revision does include some updates and substantive amendments, with key changes including:

• a greater emphasis on actively promoting British values
• advice for inspectors about judging how well schools track progress, following the removal of National Curriculum levels
• specific reference to the governing board ensuring strategic direction through long-term planning, such as succession planning
• schools with early years or sixth form provision will now receive separate numerical grades for these aspects of provision
• inspectors are explicitly advised not to grade the quality of teaching and learning when observing lessons and not grade the overall quality of the lesson
• inspectors will now look at how effective a school’s strategy for careers provision is and the impact it has on pupils’ next steps

CONSULTATION ON PROPOSAL TO REVISE THE SCHOOL ADMISSIONS CODE

On 22 July the Department for Education (DFE) launched a consultation on proposals to revise the School Admissions Code. The DfE has indicated its aim is to improve the fair and open allocation of places in maintained schools and academies, and to support social mobility by allowing admission authorities to give priority for school places to disadvantaged children.

It proposes making two main changes which would allow:

• all state-funded schools to give priority in their admission arrangements to children eligible for pupil premium or service premium funding
• admission authorities of primary schools to give priority in their admission arrangements to children eligible for the early years pupil premium, pupil premium or service premium who attend a nursery which is part of the school.

The results of the consultation and the Department’s response will be published on the GOV.UK website by the end of 2014.

EVALUATION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE SCHOOL EXCLUSION TRIAL

The School Exclusion Trial has tested the benefits of schools having greater responsibility for meeting the needs of permanently excluded pupils and those at risk of permanent exclusion. This included schools having more responsibility for commissioning Alternative Provision (AP), and local authorities (LAs) passing on funding to schools for this purpose.  The trial started in autumn 2011 (with changes being implemented at different times since then) and ended in August 2014 with volunteer schools drawn from 11 LAs.

The evaluation assesses the issues emerging from the implementation of the trial and the impact it has had on pupils, schools, LAs and AP providers.

INFORMATION ON NATIONAL CURRICULUM AND ASSESSMENT FROM SEPTEMBER 2014

The Department for Education has released information for schools on the new national curriculum and assessment process from this September.  It includes information on a range of resources available to schools to support them implementing the new curriculum as well as summarising the key changes to curriculum tests and assessments.

This week we highlight new Primary school Maths and English tests coming in from 2016 with some recently released sample questions, a consultation on new subject content for further GCSEs and A levels and new statutory guidance on performance attainment targets for pupils with SEN.

Sample questions published for new Primary school tests in Maths and English

Earlier this week the DfE announced new tougher primary school tests in Maths and English to further the government’s objective of ensuring nobody leaves school without being able to read or write and with a solid grounding in maths.  Sample questions for the tests taken by 7-year-olds and 11-year-olds – in maths, reading, and grammar, punctuation and spelling – reveal the higher standards expected of children in the 3Rs.  The new tests will come in from 2016 and will be taught from this September. All topics in the curriculum – including the most complex – will be tested in these new assessments, whereas at the moment 11-year-old pupils are only fully stretched if they are also entered for the separate level 6 tests. The complicated system of levels is being scrapped, with pupils given ‘a scaled score’ which shows how they compare to the expected standard for their year.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan announces next steps on GCSE and A level reform

The DfE is consulting on new subject content for a further set of GCSEs and A levels. These subjects will be first taught in 2016. There are 2 parts to the consultation. The first part seeks views on content which awarding organisations have developed, working with subject associations and other stakeholders. At GCSE these subjects are art and design, computer science, dance, music and physical education. At AS and A level, the subjects are dance, music and physical education.

The second part of the consultation seeks views on content for AS and A levels in modern foreign languages, ancient languages, mathematics, further mathematics and geography. Ofqual is consulting in parallel on the assessment arrangements for all these subjects.

New Statutory guidance on performance (P scale) attainment targets for pupils with special educational needs (SEN)

The document supplements the national curriculum by specifying performance attainment targets (P scales) and performance descriptors for pupils aged 5-16 with special educational needs (SEN) who cannot access the national curriculum. These apply to key stages 1, 2 and 3.  In key stage 4, the P scales and performance descriptors can be used as non-statutory guidelines describing some of the types and range of performance that pupils with SEN who cannot access the national curriculum might characteristically demonstrate.

This week we highlight great news about the North East LEP and Schools Challenge, the changes to Ofsted from September and a briefing note from Ofsted about life after assessment levels.

North East LEP and Schools Challenge

On Monday, the announcement of the North East LEP growth deal brought the Challenge a step closer to becoming a reality.  The Growth Deal includes a commitment from Government to work with partners in the region on the development of the challenge and activities to strengthen careers education and business engagement with schools.  The North East LEP was handed the third highest allocation of funding nationally with a £290m investment, supporting projects set out in the NE LEP’s North East Strategic Economic Plan ‘More and Better Jobs’.

Ofsted letter and note to inspectors

Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Schools, has written to Headteachers about changes to inspections from September this year.  Major shifts include a separate judgement for early years and sixth form, and the removal of National Curriculum levels.

The letter says that inspectors will:

• spend more time looking at pupils’ work to consider how much progress they are making in different areas of the curriculum;
• talk to school leaders about the school’s use of formative and summative assessment and how this improves teaching and raises achievement;
• evaluate how well the pupils are doing against age-related expectations, as set out by the school and the National Curriculum (where this applies);
• consider how the school uses assessment information to identify pupils who are falling behind in their learning or who need additional support to reach their full potential, including those who are the most able;
• assess whether reports help parents to understand how their children are doing in relation to the standards expected.

While no notice inspections are still being considered, Michael Wilshaw is broadening the criteria which determine whether an unannounced inspection is required. For example, concerns about standards of leadership and management and/or concerns about the breadth and balance of the curriculum.

Assessing without levels

A briefing note for Ofsted’s inspectors has been released detailing what they should expect from schools before, during and after changes to the national curriculum assessment criteria. It says:

• Inspectors may find that schools are tracking attainment and progress using a mixture of measures for some, or all, year groups and subjects;
• Inspectors will not expect to see a particular assessment system in place and will recognise that schools are still working towards full implementation of their preferred approach;
• In evaluating the accuracy of assessment, inspectors will usually consider how well governors assure themselves of the rigour of the assessment process.

This week we highlight the North Tyneside Learning Trust’s new Maths hub, the report on the London Schools Challenge, the extra funding made available to increase the number of PE specialist in Primary schools and what the Government’s plans are to improve Post 16 Literacy and Numeracy.

NEW MATHS HUB FOR THE NORTH TYNESIDE LEARNING TRUST 

The Education Minister Elizabeth Truss, today confirmed North Tyneside Learning Trust as one of the 32 schools and academy trusts which will lead new maths hubs across England and provide a model for schools in their area. The scheme is backed by £11 million funding from the Department for Education and will be accessible to all schools.

The hubs will implement the Asian-style mastery approach to maths which has achieved world-leading success – with children in these jurisdictions often around 2 years ahead of English children by age 15.  The programme will be developed with academics from Shanghai Normal University and England’s National Centre for Excellence in the Teaching of Maths (NCETM). Later this year, 50 teachers from Shanghai will be embedded in the hubs to teach pupils and run masterclasses for other teachers.

NORTH EAST LEP SCHOOLS CHALLENGE BID

This month the Government is expected to announce how it will hand out billions of pounds in local growth monies to the English regions, including deciding on the £760m North East Local Enterprise Partnership bid which includes a £30m School Improvement fund, an initiative based on the Lodon Schools’ Challenge. A report published this week by Centre Forum, a London-based think tank, examines the features behind the success of the London Challenge and looks at nine case studies of emerging challenges around the country, including the North East, and what these can learn from London. The report uses the new Progress 8 measure to reveal that secondary schools in London are adding at least half a grade more progress in each subject than schools across the lowest performing regions of England.

FUNDING TO DOUBLE THE NUMBER OF PE SPECIALIST IN PRIMARIES

The Department for Education has said specialist staff are vital to ensure children develop “a sporting habit for life” and funding worth £360,000 is going to be put towards training primary teachers with a specialism in PE. A pilot training programme was launched last year, with the first cohort of 120 PE specialists due to be working in primary schools from this autumn. It is hoped 240 primary PE specialists will take up posts by September 2015.

IMPROVING POST 16 NUMERACY AND LITERACY

Currently 40% of pupils nationally do not achieve GCSE grades A* to C in English and Maths by age 16 and 90% of those who don’t reach this by 16 don’t achieve it by age 19 either. In order to address this problem the Government has this week published plans to strengthen English and Maths in post-16 education and increase the uptake of reformed GCSEs in these subjects. From August 2014 students who haven’t achieved a good pass in English and/or Maths GCSE by age 16 must continue to work towards achieving these qualifications or an approved interim qualification as a ‘stepping stone’ towards GCSE as a condition of student places being funded.

This week continues with the issue of the promotion of British values with a new DfE Consultation on new standards for independent schools and academies which will come into force from September this year, information on new Statutory guidance for supporting pupils with medical conditions, and a new consultation on providing Early Years Pupil Premium funding.

1.     NEW POWERS TO INTERVENE IN SCHOOLS THAT FAIL TO PROMOTE BRITISH VALUES?

Independent schools, including academies and free schools, are already required to encourage pupils to respect British values through the Independent School Standards.  However this new consultation proposes to replace the existing standards with new standards which, if adopted, will include:

• the introduction of a new standard on leadership and management to enable more effective action to be taken where leadership needs to be improved or replaced;
• strengthening the quality of education standards;
• strengthening the standards on pupil welfare to improve safeguarding;
• strengthening the standards on spiritual, moral, social and cultural (SMSC) development of pupils to help combat extremism;
• technical amendments relating to the suitability of staff and proprietors.

The government set out its definition of British values in the 2011 Prevent Strategy (values of democracy, the rule of law, individual liberty, mutual respect and tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs) and this definition has been used in the Independent School Standards since January 2013 and remains the same in the new standards.

It is expected these strengthened regulations will take effect in September 2014 and will sit alongside the requirements of the Equalities Act, which also apply to all types of school.  It will also introduce a new requirement for schools to publish their inspection reports on their websites.

Currently there is no similar standard applied to local authority maintained schools.  Ofsted will introduce an equivalent expectation on maintained schools through changes to the Ofsted framework later this year. The Department for Education’s governors’ handbook will reflect the new advice and highlight governors’ role in setting and securing an appropriate ethos, and monitoring practice in the school.

2.     SUPPORTING PUPILS AT SCHOOL WITH MEDICAL CONDITIONS

On 1 September 2014 a new duty will come into force for governing bodies to make arrangements to support pupils at school with medical conditions.  Proposed statutory guidance has been published in advance which is intended to help governing bodies meet their legal responsibilities and sets out the arrangements they will be expected to make, based on good practice. The aim is to ensure that all children with medical conditions, in terms of both physical and mental health, are properly supported in school so that they can play a full and active role in school life, remain healthy and achieve their academic potential.

3.     CONSULTATION ON PROPOSED EARLY YEARS PUPIL PREMIUM FUNDING

The Department for Education is currently consulting on the introduction of an Early Years Pupil Premium for all disadvantaged three and four year olds from April 2015, and on moving to participation funding for the early education entitlement for two-year-olds from 2015-16.

The aim of the Early Years Pupil Premium is to close the gap between children from disadvantaged backgrounds and their peers by providing funding to early years providers to help them raise the quality of their provision. It will complement the Government-funded early education entitlement by providing nurseries, schools, and other providers with up to an additional £300 a year for each eligible child.

This week’s Update highlights the new set of standards for food served in schools, new guidance to help teachers to be confident in finding help for at-risk pupils and new standards for vocational qualifications that are on a par with GCSEs.

1. SCHOOL FOOD STANDARDS
A new set of standards for all food served in schools was launched by Education Secretary Michael Gove on 17 June 2014. The new standards are designed to make it easier for school cooks to create imaginative, flexible and nutritious menus. All academies established prior to 2010 already have clauses in their funding agreement that require them to comply with the national standards for school food. The Department for Education has recently published revised funding agreements for new academies and free schools, which include the requirement to follow the school food standards and academies that were founded between 2010 and June 2014 have no such clause written in their agreement, but are being encouraged to sign up voluntarily to the national school food standards.

2. MENTAL HEALTH BEHAVIOUR GUIDANCE
New guidance created by the Department for Education in consultation with headteachers, mental health professors and the Department of Health, is designed to ensure teachers are confident in finding help for at-risk pupils. The guidance outlines to schools that they could use pupil questionnaires, teacher training tool kits and mental health fact sheets to help identify potential issues. This means problems can be tackled before they become more serious, as well as helping schools know when to refer pupils to mental health experts, such as the Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS).

3. TECHNICAL AWARDS
The government is introducing Technical Awards which have been developed in partnership with employers and have a higher requirement for external assessment. Pupils can study up to 3 Technical Awards alongside a minimum of 5 core GCSEs, which will ensure a strong grounding in core skills like English and Maths alongside vocational options. From September 2015, Technical Awards will be the first step on a new vocational route available to young people through from the ages of 14 to 19:

• for 14- to 16-year-olds, pupils will be able to study Technical Awards alongside GCSEs;
• for 16- to 19-year-olds, alongside or instead of A levels, students will be able to study Tech Levels -Tech Levels can be studied as part of the TechBacc, which also comprises an advanced maths qualification and extended research project.

1. Recommendation for mandatory training for Governors
You can’t fail to have noticed the recent news about investigations into alleged extremism in Birmingham schools as a result of an anonymous letter, known as ‘Trojan Horse’. This week Ofsted published inspection reports into 21 schools in Birmingham, and in addition, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) conducted its own separate investigations into two of the Academy Trusts, which were published on the same day. Both the Ofsted and EFA reports highlighted instances of poor governance. Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector (HMCI) wrote to the Secretary of State, Michael Gove, setting out his key findings from the 21 inspections, including that in some of the schools there was evidence of governors exerting “inappropriate influence on policy and the day-to-day running” and forcing their personal views onto the school and school staff. Sir Michael has put forward several recommendations as a result of the inspections; in relation to governance, he advised the government to give serious consideration to mandatory training for all governors; the introduction of professional governors where governance is judged to be weak and a requirement that all schools to published a register of governors’ interests In light of the reports, both Michael Gove and David Cameron have called for schools to promote ‘British values,’ including democracy, mutual respect, and tolerance.

2. New money for LAs to to support families with SEND
The DfE has announced that councils are to receive a share of £45 million to help prepare for the reforms to special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support. The additional funds are intended to help councils give young people and parents a greater say over their personalised care and assistance. It will assist in putting into place a new birth-to-25 system for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities. The DfE has also published the final version of the new SEN code of practice. The new code sets out in one place the legal requirements that councils, schools and other organisations that support children and young people with SEND must follow.

3. Ofsted introduces new inspection regime for teacher training
Ofsted has announced that from Monday 9 June there will be a new two-stage process for the inspection of initial teacher training. Ofsted says inspectors will check on the quality of training and the trainees’ teaching in the summer term, which will then be followed by a second check in the autumn term, when Ofsted inspectors will see new teachers implement what they have learned in the classroom. New approach to teacher training inspection from next week, Ofsted, 3 June 2014.