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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This week I report on a new government taskforce established to tackle teacher workload, the DfE’s response to the Commons Education Select Committee report on CEIAG, as well as the publication of Ofsted subject reports for Geography, PE and Music.

New taskforce established to tackle teacher workload
The government has set up a taskforce consisting of unions, teachers and sector leaders, with the aim of reducing teachers’ working hours by five hours per week within three years. The wider plan includes additional proposals such as the release of a new toolkit later this month to help school leaders implement flexible working practices in their schools.

Careers: Schools will be expected to report Gatsby progress
The DfE has responded to the Commons Education Select Committee’s report on careers education, information, advice and guidance, announcing that secondary schools will be expected to report their progress against the Gatsby Benchmarks for careers provision at least once a year under planned changes to the statutory guidance.

The department has also revealed that the government will publish a Strategic Action Plan for Careers in 2024 and create a digital “front door” this autumn to make it easier “to navigate and source information and advice on careers and opportunities”.

Ofsted publishes subject reports for Geography, PE and Music
The reports draw on sample visits to primary and secondary schools as follows:

• Geography – the report shows how the teaching of geography in England’s schools has improved since the previous report 12 years ago. Inspectors found that knowledge was better sequenced compared to the previous report, but that opportunities to learn via fieldwork was still lacking overall.
• PE – the report sets out recommendations to improve PE provision in schools. Overall, it was found that most schools have time to provide a broad and ambitious PE curriculum, and many pupils understood the social and mental health benefits associated with physical exercise.
• Music – the report found that leaders in most primary schools ensured that pupils had adequate time to learn music but that the curriculum time allocated to music in KS3 was more varied.

This week I report on NASUWT industrial action short of a strike which will commence from Monday next week, confirmation of a series of Language hubs across the country to help boost languages in schools and the endorsement of Sir Martyn Oliver as Ofsted’s next chief inspector.

NASUWT industrial action short of a strike starts next week
Many members of the NASUWT will be commencing industrial action short of strike action in schools in England from Monday 18 September. The action includes refusal to undertake certain activities, such as undertaking any work-related tasks outside of contracted working hours. The NASUWT has published details on what the industrial action will entail alongside a searchable database to find out each school’s result from the ballot.

Language hubs confirmed as part of new programme to boost languages in schools across the country
The government has named the first 19 schools that will run its new network of language hubs across England. Ministers last year announced a £14.9 million expansion of their previous language hubs pilot. It aims to spread best practice in language teaching to other schools and boost exam entries.

The scheme will be managed by the National Consortium for Languages Education, a consortium of UCL, the British Council and the Goethe-Institut.

Nineteen schools will work together on the first 15 hubs, four of which are led by two schools. A further 10 lead schools will be selected in a second recruitment round in January, meaning there will be 25 in total. Each hub is expected to work with up to seven secondary schools, meaning the scheme will reach a maximum of 175 schools (5% of those nationally) and the first language hub in the North East is Cardinal Hume Catholic school in Gateshead.

The Education Select Committee endorses the appointment of Ofsted’s next Chief Inspector
Following a hearing, the Education Select Committee has endorsed the appointment of Sir Martyn Oliver as Ofsted’s next chief inspector and will commence in his role on 1 January 2024 subject to ratification.

Welcome back to a new academic year.  This week I highlight updated Prevent duty guidance and a DfE toolkit and example letters for communicating with parents around attendance.

DfE updates Prevent duty guidance
A number of DfE pages have been updated to reflect changes to the Prevent duty guidance by the Home Office for England, Scotland and Wales. This includes the following:

• The Prevent duty: safeguarding learners vulnerable to radicalisation
• Making a referral to Prevent
• Regional Prevent coordinators

The Home Office’s updated Prevent duty guidance will come into force on 31 December 2023, subject to Parliamentary approval. In addition, the DfE has published new Prevent duty risk assessment templates for early years, schools and FE providers. The use of these templates is not mandatory, but they do refer to statutory requirements of the Prevent duty.

Tackling poor attendance
Professor Chris Whitty, the Chief Medical Officer, has written to schools alongside other health professionals to provide a public health perspective on illness and school attendance. The letter says that it is usually appropriate for pupils to attend school with mild respiratory illnesses, including general cold symptoms. Schools are encouraged to share NHS guidance with parents. The letter also says that attending school can help alleviate symptoms of anxiety, and that prolonged absences are likely to heighten anxiety about attending.

The DfE has published a toolkit and example letters for communicating with parents to support attendance alongside example attendance letters and emails to parents, as part of its ‘Working together to improve school attendance’ guidance.

Photo by George Hiles on Unsplash

In my final bumper briefing of this academic year I report on the publication of updated Inspection handbooks and Ofsted’s commentary on deep dives, as well as the DfE’s announcement of their preferred candidate for Chief Inspector of Ofsted. There has been confirmation that the expectation for schools to deliver a 32½ hour week has been delayed until September 2024, the refreshed School Sport and Activity Action Plan and updated guidance for primary schools has been published and the Education Secretary has confirmed a delay to publishing transgender guidance for schools. Have a great summer break and see you all in September!

Updated Ofsted Inspection Handbooks
At the end of last week Ofsted published updates to its Inspection Handbooks. The new handbooks will come into effect from September 2023 and links are provided below:

• Education inspection framework
• School inspection handbook
• Early years inspection handbook

Changes to the Inspection handbook include adding a new section on conduct during inspections and providing confirmation of when schools are likely to undergo their next inspection.

Ofsted publishes commentary on deep dives
The commentary provides key insights into Ofsted’s deep dives, including the most common subjects for deep dives. Besides reading, the most common subjects for deep dives in primary schools are maths, history, geography and science. In secondary schools, the most common subjects for deep dives are English, maths, science, history and languages.

Sir Martyn Oliver recommended as new Chief Inspector of Ofsted
The Education Secretary, Gillian Keegan, has confirmed that Sir Martyn has been selected as the DfE’s preferred candidate for Chief Inspector of Ofsted. He is currently the Chief Executive of Outwood Grange Academies Trust and Ms Keegan said: “Sir Martyn has been selected as the preferred candidate because he is an accomplished school and trust leader with a track record of driving up standards in areas with high levels of disadvantage.” He will appear before the education committee in September and if approved, will begin his initial five-year term on 1 January 2024.

DfE delays the expectation for schools to offer a 32½ hour week to September 2024
This week the DfE published guidance on the Length of the school week, providing information on the expectation for all state-funded mainstream schools to deliver a school week of at least 32½ hours. As set out in the 2022 schools white paper, schools were going to be expected to offer 32½ hours per week by this September; however, this has been pushed back to September 2024.

Government publishes refreshed ‘School Sport and Activity Action Plan’ and updated guidance
The government pledged to refresh the plan earlier this year when they also announced new targets for schools to offer at least two hours of PE and sport per week and to provide equal opportunities to girls and boys. The guidance was updated alongside the release of the sport plan. It now includes additional advice on how to use the funding more effectively and highlights the importance of sustainability and equal access for all pupils. The guidance also confirms that schools must spend the premium in the academic year it has been allocated for and includes a new section on an upcoming digital reporting tool.

Education Secretary confirms delay to transgender guidance for schools
In a Parliamentary statement the Education Secretary has officially announced the delay to publishing transgender guidance for schools. Ms Keegan said the decision to delay the guidance has been made to “allow more time – to speak to teachers, parents, lawyers and other stakeholders – in order to ensure this guidance meets the high expectations that these groups rightly have for it”. No indication has been given of when the guidance will be published.

This week I report on the DfE’s offer of a 6.5% pay increase for teachers and confirmation that primary school pupil progress data won’t be published in 2024 or 2025.

The DfE offers a 6.5% pay increase for teachers for 2023/24
The government has accepted the School Teachers’ Review Body’s recommendation for a 6.5% pay increase across all pay scales for next academic year, as outlined in its 33rd report. However it will only provide extra funding for 3% of this rise and the remaining 3.5% will need to be funded from schools’ own budgets. The DfE has indicated that the pay award will be reflected in salaries from September 2023 and will be backdated; however the department has not yet clarified when the pay award will be backdated to.

In a joint statement, the general secretaries of the ASCL, the NAHT, the NEU and NASUWT confirmed that they will now put the pay deal to their members, recommending they accept the 6.5% pay increase in order to prevent any further industrial action.

DfE won’t publish primary progress data in 2024 or 2025
Yesterday the DfE published guidance confirming it won’t publish data on primary school pupil progress next year or in 2025 because there are no Key Stage 1 SATs results to provide a baseline. Progress is normally based on a comparison between Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2 SATs results, but Key Stage 1 SATs were cancelled along with all other school tests in 2020 and 2021. However, the DfE has said it intends to return to producing progress measures using Key Stage 1 assessments in 2025/26 and 2026/27, ahead of the introduction of Reception baseline assessment-Key Stage 2 progress measures from 2027/28.

The guidance also confirms that the DfE will resume publishing primary test data at school level on the performance measures website for this academic year. Because of the pandemic, no school-level data has been published since 2019.