Academy and News Update November 26 –December 31 2015

Documents mentioned below can be found on http://tonystephens.org.uk

All schools will be required to put in place strengthened measures to protect children from harm online - including cyber bullying, pornography and the risk of radicalisation - under plans unveiled by the DfE. Under the proposals published for consultation, all schools will:

o need to have appropriate filters and monitoring systems, so that no child can access harmful content via the school’s IT systems and concerns can be spotted quickly

o be required to ensure that they teach their pupils about safeguarding, including online

o The draft proposals would also increase the frequency at which schools must train their staff on safeguarding and child protection policies. They currently only must do so every two years.

The consultation is based on making changes to parts 1 and 2 of “Keeping Safe in Education”; the consultation closes on February 16 2016 and responses can be online at https://www.education.gov.uk/consultations/

The government has also announced a further package of measures to help keep children safe online including: 2 practical guides on social media:

a guide for social media companies on good practice a guide to help parents keep their children safe online

produced by the UK’s Council for Child Internet Safety (UKCISS) - to help children understand the risks and benefits of social media, and prevent risks becoming problems

new online training will be launched in the new year for professionals, including nurses, doctors and teachers who work with children and young people, to equip them with the tools they need to handle online risks and support young people in today’s digital world

the National Crime Agency’s CEOP Command has revised and updated the parents content on the Thinkuknow website - http://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

new industry-led awareness raising initiatives including Google’s ‘Internet Legends’ tour which will travel around the country delivering assemblies to school children in 40 locations during this school year, to help children to be safe online - https://www.google.co.uk/safetycenter/families/legends/

The Department for Education is retaining its telephone helpline (020 7340 7264) and an email address counter.extremism@education.gsi.gov.uk to enable people to raise concerns directly with the department.

All these documents can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

The DfE has published details of school revenue funding for 2016 to 2017, covering the dedicated schools grant (DSG), the education services grant (ESG) and the pupil premium. The distribution of the DSG to local authorities will continue to be set out in 3 spending blocks for each authority: a schools block, a high needs block and an early years block. To protect schools from significant budget reductions, the DfE will continue with a minimum funding guarantee that ensures no school sees more than a 1.5% per pupil reduction in its 2016 to 2017 budget (excluding sixth-form funding and ESG) compared to 2015 to 2016, and before the pupil premium is added. The DfE has protected the per-pupil funding in each authority from 2015 to 2016, with a £390 million fairer funding uplift. The DfE has added an additional £92.5 million for the DSG high needs block. The high needs block supports provision for pupils and students with SEN and disabilities (SEND), from their early years to age 25, and alternative provision for pupils who cannot receive their education in schools. The DSG early years block comprises funding for the 15-hour entitlement for 3- and 4-year-olds; participation funding for 2-year-olds from the most disadvantaged backgrounds; and the early years pupil premium. The rates per child for this block will be maintained at their 2015 to 2016 level.The ESG retained duties rate will remain at £15 per pupil. The DfE has applied an efficiency saving to the ESG general funding rate for 2016 to 2017, and the rate will reduce from £87 per pupil to £77 per pupil. The DfE will continue to provide a protection to limit the reduction of academies’ budgets as a result of changes to the ESG.The pupil premium per pupil amounts for 2016 to 2017 will be protected at the current rates, which are:

Pupils Per-pupil rate

Disadvantaged pupils: primary £1,320

Disadvantaged pupils: secondary £935

Pupils Per-pupil rate

Pupil premium plus: looked-after children (LAC) and those adopted from care or who leave care under a special guardianship order or child arrangements order (formerly known as a residence order)

£1,900

Service children £300

Pupil premium allocations for financial year 2016 to 2017 will be published in June 2016 following the receipt of pupil number data from the spring 2016 schools and alternative provision censuses.As announced in the Chancellor’s spending review statement, the DfE will introduce a national funding formula from 2017 and will consult on proposals in the new year.All these documents can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

The DfE has published revised subject content for some more of the GCSEs and AS and A levels that will be taught in schools from September 2017:

GCSEs in: astronomy, business, economics, engineering, geology and psychology; and

AS and A levels in environmental science, design and technology, music technology and philosophy

Subject content for each of these qualifications can be found on the above website, Documents – Latest Documents

Subject content for all the new GCSEs for first teaching from 2016 and 2017 can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gcse-subject-content

Subject content for all the new A/AS levels for first teaching from 2015, 2016 and 2017 can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/gce-as-and-a-level-subject-content

Primary performance tables have been published and show that:o 80% of pupils achieved level 4 or above in all of reading, writing and

maths - in 2010, 1 in 3 pupils did not achieve this level, compared to 1 in 5 today

o 94% of pupils made at least 2 levels of progress in writing - an increase of 4 percentage points since the earliest comparable figures in 2012

o 91% of pupils made at least 2 levels of progress in reading - an increase of 2 percentage points since the earliest comparable figures in 2012

o 90% of pupils made at least 2 levels of progress in maths - an increase of 8 percentage points since 2010

o attainment in the grammar, punctuation and spelling test increased from 76% in 2014 to 80% in 2015

Almost 700 primary schools will face government action after failing to reach the minimum standards in maths, reading and writing. Figures from the new primary performance tables reveal that 676 primaries, educating around 200,000 children, fell below the floor standard for the academic year 2014-15 – 92 fewer than last year, when 768 were deemed to be failing.

The DfE and the NHS have launched the Mental Health Services and Schools Link Pilots which will test a named single point of contact in 255 schools and in 22 pilot areas, aiming at more joined-up working between schools and health services. This has been backed by £3 million of government funding. The aim is that children and young people have better access to local, specialist mental health provision, and that support is consistent across services. Funded jointly by the Department for Education and NHS England, each of 27 clinical commissioning groups are working with at least 10 schools to trial this new way of working with a named lead across services. These were chosen from more than 80 applications to receive a boost of up to £85,000 per area. The single point of contact in the schools will be responsible for developing closer relationships with a counterpart in local NHS CAMHS services to improve knowledge and understanding of mental health issues, and to help ensure any referrals are timely and appropriate. They will be supported in the work through a series of training days. The work will be evaluated nationally to understand the impact of joint working. Natasha Devon has been appointed as the first mental health champion

The lead CCGs that received funding are:East and North HertfordshireSouth CheshireBedfordshire

SalfordEast Riding of YorkshireTameside and GlossopWalsallHaltonBirminghamCamdenWest HampshireBrighton and HoveSunderlandGloucestershireSomersetHammersmith and FulhamWaltham ForestTower HamletsChilternWiganHaringeySheffield

 The DfE has launched a public consultation on the introduction of secondary legislation to require selected schools to take part in the national reference test (NRT). The legislation will come into force on 1 September 2016 and the first full NRT will take place in March 2017. Results from this designed to indicate whether GCSE grades should be allowed to rise are unlikely to be used until 2019, Ofqual says, suggesting that exam results across the country are likely to remain relatively static until nearly the end of the decade. A sample of Year 11 pupils at about 300 secondary schools will be chosen to take part in the tests each year, with the questions remaining largely the same. The first tests will take place in 2017. Individual students will not be told their results, and the results will not be used for school accountability measures, but if one year’s cohort performs significantly better or worse than that of the previous year, it will be treated as a sign that GCSE results as a whole should rise or fall.

This document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

Most recent overall effectiveness of schools inspected by 31 August 2015, %

The DfE has published the results of the Phonics screening check and national curriculum assessments at key stage 1 in England, 2015 and the National curriculum assessments at key stage 2 in England, 2015 (revised)These documents can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

The DfE has issued “2018 key stage 4 performance tables: qualifications in the technical award category”This document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

Ofqual has launched an important consultation on policy relating to re-sit arrangements for legacy GCSEs, AS and A levels.In summary:

AS and A levelsOfqual proposes that:1. Students taking AS and A levels in the last scheduled sitting should

have the opportunity to re-sit these qualifications after the final scheduled award, regardless of the subject and exam board.

2. Re-sit opportunities in AS and A levels in the subjects for which the new qualifications will be first awarded in 2017, will be available in the legacy qualifications in the summer of 2017.

3. Re-sits will take place in May or June.

4. Students will be able to re-sit any AS or A- level unit (including controlled assessment units).

5. Similar arrangements should be put in place for the later phases of AS and A level reform.

GCSEsOfqual proposes that:1. Students taking GCSEs in English, English language and mathematics

(including linked pair maths GCSEs – ‘applications of mathematics’ and ‘methods in mathematics’) in summer 2016 will have a re-sit opportunity in November 2016. We are also seeking views on whether these students should also have a further re-sit opportunity in May/June 2017.

2. If a student re-sits any of these qualifications, then – as now – they will need to re-sit all the exams for that qualification.

3. Students will be able to carry forward the results of the speaking and listening controlled assessment in GCSE English and GCSE English language (including between the two subjects when re-sitting with the same exam board).

4. There will be no re-sit opportunities in other GCSE subjects that are subject to reform. For GCSEs in English literature, the final set of assessments in the legacy qualifications will be in summer 2016. For GCSE subjects that are being replaced in the second phase of reforms, the final set of assessments will be in summer 2017. For all remaining legacy GCSEs, the final set of assessments will be in summer 2018.This document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

Ofqual has launched a consultation on three inter-related sets of proposals, covering:o the review and appeal systems used by exam boards in England

for addressing concerns about a candidate’s GCSE, AS or A level marks

o updating the rules that give effect to exam boards’ review appeal systems

o new rules for how exam boards should set grade boundaries for new and legacy GCSEs, AS and A levelsThis document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

The latest update on new GCSEs, AS levels and a-levels that have been accredited so far to be taught from September 2016 can be found on:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-gcses-as-and-a-levels-accredited-to-be-taught-from-2016/new-gcses-as-levels-and-a-levels-accredited-to-be-taught-from-september-2016

A summary of GCSE, AS and A-level assessment objectives as of Dec 2015 can be found on:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/assessment-objectives-ancient-languages-geography-and-mfl/gcse-as-and-a-level-assessment-objectives

The DfE has responded to the court judgement related to the introduction to the RS GCSE subject content. The judgement concluded that a particular paragraph suggested that a school could rely entirely on the content of an RS GCSE syllabus to discharge its obligations with respect to teaching the basic curriculum subject of religious education at key stage 4. The judge found that while that might be the case, it might not always be the case - and so it was wrong. The government has issued guidance to schools that sets out clearly that schools will not have to change their religious education curriculum and that there is no need to give non-religious world views equal parity with religious world views in education. In addition, the guidance reiterates requirements that non-faith schools must reflect the fact that the religious traditions in Great Britain are, in the main, Christian while taking account of the teaching and practices of the other principal religions represented in Great Britain. The government will also press ahead with the religious studies GCSEThese documents can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

The interim report of the Rochford review provides guidance to schools about how to report statutory assessment outcomes for pupils working below the standard of the national curriculum tests at key stages 1 and 2, and there is statuary guidance for pre KS2 and pre KS1.These documents can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

The DfE has issued the 2016 EYFS HandbookThis document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

A recent update from the DfE has confirmed the following in terms of proposed changes to the primary and Year 7 assessment and accountability system:

o A study into the comparability of the three approved baseline assessments is due to report early in the New Year. The outcomes of this study will determine what will happen with baseline assessment from 2016/17 onwards.

o A pilot is currently taking place into the possibility of extending the phonics check resit into Year 3.

o The first proposed Year 7 resit is expected to take place in December 2017. The detail of this test, and its role in the accountability system, is still under consideration. A formal consultation on this proposal is expected in the New Year.

o To be above the new progress standard, primary schools will need to show their pupils are making sufficient progress in all of reading, writing and maths. Until 2022 (when the first children to have done the baseline assessment reach Year 6), the progress measure will be based on the difference between a pupil’s KS1 and KS2 scores. What constitutes ‘sufficient progress’ will be calculated after the first cohort of pupils have taken the 2016 SATs.

All information about 2016 primary school national tests can be found on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=standards-and-testing-agency

EFA has issued revised details about interim minimum KS5 standardsThis document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

The Education and Adoption Bill 2015 finished its report stage in the House of Lords on Wednesday 16 December. The Department for Education (DfE) has tabled new amendments to the Education and Adoption Bill, formalising their powers to intervene in all academies. Announcing the amendments earlier this week, Nicky Morgan said that their intention is to ‘ensure that we can move any failing academy swiftly to a new sponsor’:o Academies judged ‘inadequate’: the Secretary of State would

have powers to terminate an academy’s funding agreement but sponsors must have an opportunity to make representations

o Academies which are ‘coasting’: the Secretary of State would issue a termination warning notice specifying action the academy must take and a timescale. The Secretary of State would have power to terminate an academy’s funding agreement if these terms were not met

Amendments put forward by opposition peers, which sought to remove the requirement for ‘inadequate’ schools to be automatically academised and to reinstate a consultation process following an academy order, were narrowly defeated

The Government has announced plans for low performing local authority (LA) children’s services to be taken over by other local authorities, charities or experts. This will be similar to how poorly performing schools are ‘sponsored’ by another school or organisation. High performing LAs will be given ‘academy style’ freedoms to take over their weaker counterparts. The decision as to whether to take over an LA will be based on the Ofsted inspection of children’s services and, if the authority receives an 'inadequate' rating and shows no improvement within 6 months, it will be subject to takeover proceedings. Children’s services should not be confused with school improvement services, as these are considered a separate department and inspected under a different Ofsted framework. LA children’s services cover safeguarding and social work, including providing assistance to looked after children, children who need protection and children in care.

Research into how much money maintained schools had asked to borrow from their local authorities to cover their budget deficits over the last three years. In 2013-14, the total amount that schools were permitted to borrow was £35.8 million which increased significantly in 2014-15, to £51.7 million. But the percentage of schools running a deficit has remained largely the same – meaning the most financially unstable schools are falling further into debt. At the same time, the average surplus for schools rose from £129,620 in 2013/14 to £134,427 last year.

The Government has outlined the government’s vision for apprenticeships until 2020. This revolves around improving the quality of apprenticeship provision, raising the profile and financial benefit of apprenticeships with employers and helping young people get into apprenticeships and work. By 2020 the government want apprenticeships to be an attractive alternative to University which gives young people transferable skills, including English and Maths, which will allow them to go into diverse professional or technical careers. The government acknowledge that more needs to be done to improve the quality of apprenticeships .This includes making employers and apprentices sign contractual agreements outlining what the young person and the employer aim to get out of the arrangement. In addition, a new set of standards for apprenticeships will also be

introduced, with the government looking to legislate in order to protect the term ‘apprenticeship’ in a similar way to the word ‘degree’. The government will require schools to put in place arrangements so that young people can learn about apprenticeships and ‘hear from and be inspired by employers and apprentices’. Although schools are already legally required to ensure Y8-13 year olds have access to independent careers advice, the government intends to hold schools accountable for what their pupils do next, including what apprenticeship they go on to do. The Careers and Enterprise Company (designed to help coordinate collaboration between schools, further education institutions and employers) began operations in 2015 and, early next year, the government will publish a strategy for how all young people will have access to quality careers advice. Job Centre Plus (JCP) will also work with schools to raise awareness of local opportunities for apprenticeships, particularly for those pupils at risk of becoming NEET.This document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

Ofsted published its Annual Report for 2014/15, which found that:

o primary schools continue to outperform secondary schoolso secondary schools in the South are outperforming those in the

North and Midlands, with 79% rated ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ compared to 68%; this divide is also present in outcomes for disadvantaged and pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

o Ofsted intends to consult on a new inspection framework to identify what local areas are doing well in identifying and meeting the needs of SEND pupils

o although academies can create conditions conducive to improvement, structural reform alone is not sufficient as a route to improvement

o the recruitment of high calibre teachers and headteachers is an issue nationwide but affects some areas more than others

o the quality of governance is a key determinant of the success of a school:

o Ofsted recommended almost 500 external reviews of governance in 2014/15 and thinks that reviews recommended in previous years have had a positive impact

This document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

The Education Select Committee has announced an inquiry into the purpose and quality of education in England. They have made a call for evidence on the following points:

o What the purpose of education for children of all ages in England should be

o What measures should be used to evaluate the quality of education against these purposes

o How well the current education system performs against these measures

The deadline for submission is 25 January 2015.

The Education Select Committee’s inquiry into the role of Regional Schools Commissioners (RSCs) continues,

There will be a DfE announcement about a careers strategy in schools which will be published in the coming weeks. The aims of this strategy will be to create a system which not only connects schools with employers, but allows young people and their parents/carers to keep up to date with the latest careers advice in order to ‘make informed decisions on their education, training and employment options’.:o By the end of primary school, young people should be broadly

aware of the world of work – able to understand that the expectation is that they will one day have a job and that there are different options available to them. The Minister stressed that this message is vitally important to instil in children from workless families. 

o By the age of 14, when choosing GCSE results, students should be able to understand how their choices will impact their future and the different routes available to them.

o At the age of 16, students should receive the necessary support to make informed decisions about their career choice and the inherent link between attainment and prospects in the job market.

o Finally, at the age of 18, young people should have the knowledge and skills to make an informed decision about careers choice and their future training, education or career.

A study conducted by the National Foundation of Educational Research has found that, although approximately 10% of teachers are leaving the profession each year because the numbers joining have been increasing, the overall number of teachers in the profession has been growing steadily. However, as pupil numbers are also increasing more teachers will be needed in the future as maintaining the number of teachers at the current level will not be sufficient. This will be particularly prevalent in secondary schools. The report also looked at the most common destinations of those that left teaching. It found that, excluding those that left to retire, just over half (51 per cent) left to one of several destinations in the wider school sector. These included teaching in private schools (16 per cent), becoming teaching assistants (15 per cent) and taking up a non-teaching role in a school (19 per cent).

Guidance has been issued for teachers about student concussion

This document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

Ofsted has written to the DfE about the poor standards at unregistered schools

This document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

Government officials will also work with Ofsted to tackle the ‘exploitation’ of home education amid fears children are being ‘radicalised’ by their parents.The number of home educated children has surged by 65 per cent over the past six years.

Year 7 Test Boycott: Implications for RAISEonline and performance table. As a result of the boycott of Key Stage 2 tests in 2010, around 25 per cent of pupils did not take the tests. This year treatment of pupils in RAISEonline and performance tables, where teacher assessment is used as a proxy for KS2 test data, is problematic, particularly in schools where a high proportion of the intake were missing test results. The DfE always uses the values 3.5, 4.5 and 5.5 as the fine grades for teacher assessments of Levels 3, 4 and 5 respectively. This overestimates the average performance of Level 5 students; the national average is 5.3. Indicative Attainment 8 modelling shows this clearly for Level 5 students, where there is a ‘dip’ in expected attainment at 5.5. This

is most clearly seen in the interactive RAISE scatterplot report linking Attainment 8 to prior attainment. Furthermore, there is some evidence that teacher assessment has been overly generous for this cohort. To analyse this, schools that have CATS data for Y7 in 2010/2011, can use a report available at the GL Testwise website to estimate the proportions of likely KS2 levels and compare this with RAISE. This issue will affect any situation where prior attainment is needed, for example, levels of progress, transition matrices, value added and Attainment 8/Progress 8, including the distribution of pupil with high, middle and low prior attainment in RAISE.

The government has brought back grants designed to incentivise and support primary schools to form or join multi-academy trusts (MATs). There are now three grants available:o Groups of three primary schools intending to set up a

MAT can apply for a one-off grant of £75,000, plus up to £5,000 extra for each additional primary joining the MAT at the same time. The MAT can also include a secondary school, but must consist of a majority of primaries.

o Groups of two or more primary schools joining an existing MAT at the same time can apply for a one-off grant of £20,000 per school.

o Small primary schools joining a MAT are also eligible for an additional grant of £5,000 per school (for schools with 100 pupils or fewer) or £2,000 (for schools with between 100 and 210 pupils).

The grants can be used flexibly over two years. More information is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/academy-conversion-primary-academy-chain-development-grant

The DfE has issued revised guidance for post 16 accountability in 2016.The headline measures are: 

o Progress: a value added progress measure for academic and Applied General qualifications and a completion and attainment measure for Tech Levels (and Technical Certificates from 2016/17)

o Attainmento English and maths progress measure (for those students who

have not achieved at least a grade C at GCSE at the end of key stage 4)

o Retention

o Destinations

The progress of students will be the main focus of the future accountability system. Not only will progress measures be one of the new five headline measures of performance, but they will also form the basis of minimum (floor) standards.

This document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

MPs on the Health Select Committee have called for the food standards regime, currently only mandatory for state schools, to be applied to all schools, including academies, free schools and those in the private sector. Since 1 January 2015, schools have been required to adhere to food standards introduced by the Department for Education (DfE), which include the following:

o o Providing one or more portions of fruit and vegetables per day, with at least three different fruits and three different vegetables on offer throughout the week

o o Providing free, fresh drinking water at all timeso o Fruit juice portions limited to 150mls

o o No more than two portions of deep-fried, battered or bread-crumbed food per week

o o Making milk available for drinking at least once a day during school hours

However, 3,896 academies and free schools set up between 2010 and 2014 are currently exempt from the rules. It has been possible for exempt schools to voluntarily adhere to the rules and over 1,000 have done so, including many large multi-academy trusts.

The DFE has issued a governance handbookThis document can be found on the above website, Documents- Latest Documents

A studio school with just 25 pupils on its roll will close next year after its sponsor admitted a “lack of local demand”. Bradford Studio School opened in 2012 as the country’s first specialist travel and hospitality training centre and aimed to attract 300 pupils.

Two studio schools in the midlands will close next summer after their sponsor declared them “economically unviable” due to low pupil numbers. The Midland Academies Trust has announced plans to close the Midland Studio Colleges in Hinckley and Nuneaton, and has begun the process of finding places at other institutions for their combined 157 pupils.

One of England’s largest academy chains will be stripped of three of its schools with the future of three more in doubt following intervention by the government. East Midlands and the Humber regional schools commissioner Jennifer Bexon-Smith wrote to the School Partnership Trust Academies (SPTA) describing performance concerns over 13 of its academies and outlining plans to move three “isolated” schools in Nottinghamshire to another sponsor by next September; the leadership of three of the trust’s schools in Doncaster will also be reviewed, along with other schools in the area.

Sandhill multi Academy Trust is to close after “misleading” parents over a government SATs intervention

Former schools minister David Laws has been given government permission to join education charity and academy chain Ark as an adviser

During the past school year the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) dealt with 66 reports of breaches by schools of the Data Protection Act 1998. Almost half the reports related to information accidentally revealed, with five of the cases occurring at special schools. Twenty-four related to the loss or theft of data. Seven breaches came as a result of cyber- attacks or IT failures, and three were down to unauthorised access of information or incorrect permissions. But not a single school faced enforcement action from the ICO, although schools must protect information held about staff, pupils, parents, governors and contractors.

Differences in the difficulty of GCSE and A level subjects are being reviewed by Ofqual as it seeks to address the “issue” of comparability across exams. The watchdog has published six working papers, a video and an infographic aimed at exploring options for ensuring exam grades are comparable across subjects. Four policy options have been set out by the regulator on which it wants to hear the views of the education sector. See https://www.gov.uk/government/publications?departments%5B%5D=ofqual

Since July last year, 110 private schools have been handed statutory improvement notices by the Department for Education

(DfE). Ofsted guidance states the notices are issued when there has been a “substantial number of regulatory failures” and schools can be closed if they fail to act. Documents show private schools have breached the minimum independent school regulations 410 times over the past 16 months.

Schools have been waiting months for Ofsted visits as former inspectors claim job losses have cut the number of inspections that can be carried out. Analysis shows there have been just 585 full Ofsted inspections this term. This compares with 1,642 in the same period last year.

Schools will no longer receive additional funding from the government for summer schools, it has been confirmed. The Education Funding Agency (EFA) today announced it would not continue the funding programme, which is aimed at helping disadvantaged children transition from primary to secondary school.

Regional schools commissioners (RSCs) will no longer be judged by the proportion of academies in their areas, the government has revealed.

Sir David Carter has been appointed as the next national schools commissioner today. The DfE has confirmed that the current regional schools commissioner for the south west will step up to the role, held by Frank Green since February 2014, at the end of January.

The amount schools are spending on supply teachers rose by 27 per cent in two years, analysis of government statistics has revealed. According to school spending data, the total amount spent by schools on supply staff rose from £1.07bn in 2012/13 to £1.29bn in 2013/14, an increase of more than £276m.

Ofsted had told parliament that inspectors’ evidence forms will be released to people who request them under information laws, but cases have now arisen when it has refused to do this so the situation is unclear.

The parents’ association at Watford grammar School for Girls has refused the head’s request for members to phone families asking them to consider making regular donations to a fundraising trust.

Schools could get the right to request copies of marked GCSE exam papers as they consider appealing against marks, Ofqual has announced. The watchdog also wants to make exam boards use specially-trained reviewers, rather than ordinary examiners, to check marking when results are queried as part of proposals for a

new review and appeals process. The announcement comes after Ofqual revealed the number of enquiries about GCSE and A-level exam grades had soared by 27 per cent in just one year. The number of individual enquiries rose from 451,000 last summer to 572,350 this summer, resulting in changes to 90,650 grades, up from 77,400 last year. Launched to coincide with the release of these statistics, Ofqual is consulting on the future of its reviews and appeals process

A copy of the statistics and also the consultation document can be found on the above website, Documents-Latest Documents

Children are being left hungry and stressed at school because of the government’s bedroom tax, a new study has found. Education experts at The Manchester University found that pupils’ ability to learn and concentrate was being adversely affected because of the policy, alongside other cuts in benefits, with emotional distress caused by poverty taking its toll on schoolwork.

Cash-strapped schools are being pushed into financial difficulties by soaring debts owed to the private firms that funded their buildings. Takeovers of underperforming schools have also stalled due to the hefty costs associated with the contracts. Annual repayments in some schools with private finance initiative (PFI) contracts have soared by £125,000, forcing staffing cuts to balance their books. In others, costs are escalating at a rate of around £30,000 each year – the salary of an average teacher.

The Department for Education has ended a requirement for free school applicants to prove they have interest from parents. New school applicants will also not have to provide any evidence they have engaged with the local community where the school is planned, Schools Week can reveal. Parental surveys were previously required with an application to prove demand. The streamlined process – which also means applicants from schools with good track records do not have to fill out lengthy forms – means a school could open within a year. It will simplify the bidding process and is expected to make David Cameron’s target of 500 new schools easier to reach.

Nicky Morgan has renewed her commitment to having Ofsted continue to inspect individual schools within MATs, not the chains themselves.

Exams too often “disempower” learners by failing to give them the chance to demonstrate their full range of knowledge and skills, according to a group of leading academics and policy advisers from around the world. A report says assessments are too often based on “narrow concepts of achievement and performance”. This means they fail to identify students’ full potential, and instead “reinforce assumptions and expectations about learners’ capabilities”.

Sexism is still endemic in schools, according to the leader of the new Women’s Equality Party. The WEP has drawn up an equality manifesto, which places significant emphasis on the importance of classroom gender equality, and is calling for Ofsted school inspections to measure the problem

The gulf between the numbers of young men and women going to university has reached a record level, with tens of thousands of men "missing" from higher education, official figures show. Young female students are now more than a third more likely to start a degree course than their male counterparts, while those from poorer backgrounds are more than 50 per cent more likely to enter university.

Independent school pupils make up a quarter of all entries for A-levels in French, German and Spanish, new figures show.

Nearly 9,500 people have signed a petition to stop the GCSE and A-level ICT qualifications from being scrapped

Christine Blower will step down as general secretary of the NUT teaching union in May next year

Ofsted has warned that bringing tablet computers into school can be “extremely disruptive”, just as the watchdog’s own figures reveal that nearly one in three secondary students say they are allowed to use their devices on campus. “Pupils bringing personal devices such as laptops or tablets into school can be extremely disruptive and make it difficult for teachers to teach,” an Ofsted spokesperson told TES. “It is up to schools to decide whether they have rules about personal devices, but Ofsted would be supportive of heads who took tough action to make the learning environment better for children.”

The majority of teachers are still waiting to learn if their salaries will rise this year as schools continue to struggle with budget cuts and confusion over pay policy, a major new survey reveals. Unions said new freedoms for schools to decide details of pay rises had led to a “Wild West” situation, whereby fewer teachers have been told about their pay awards because of inconsistent guidance and budget pressures. One headteachers’ union said schools might be failing to award pay rises to avoid creating “division” among staff and also suggested that some of the uncertainty was down to bureaucratic delays. The survey, produced by the NASUWT teaching union, shows that a majority of teachers (57 per cent) had not received, or had not had confirmed, a 1 per cent cost-of-living rise. Official guidance says schools must offer this rise to the highest and lowest earners in most teaching pay ranges. For other teachers, the rise is now at the discretion of the school. Meanwhile, 37 per cent of teachers eligible for performance-related pay progression within their pay scales were yet to hear a decision about their salaries. Some 10 per cent of those polled have had it refused. The survey of more than 6,700 teachers also reveals that only one in 20 of the top-ranking mainscale teachers eligible for a special 2 per cent rise – designed to increase staff retention – had actually been granted it so far this year.

Services that help schools with pupil attendance have seen their budgets cut by more than a third, new research reveals. On average, there has been a 39 per cent cut to local authority Education Welfare Service (EWS) budgets across the past five years, according to charity School-Home Support (SHS).

There is no evidence that teaching is “a profession with a morale problem”, schools minister Nick Gibb has told MPs. Speaking to a Commons Education Select Committee inquiry into the well-publicised problems with teacher supply, he said the numbers and quality of new recruits to the profession were rising. Headteachers, however, have warned of an ongoing “recruitment crisis” after new research revealed that almost four in five schools are finding it difficult to fill vacancies.

E-books can help to boost boys' abilities in reading and encourage them to enjoy the subject, according to research. A new study found that youngsters who used the technology were more likely to have their nose in a story for longer, were more likely to say that reading is cool and were less likely to find reading difficult.

Allowing schools to select on the basis of faith has been “socially divisive” and led to greater “misunderstanding and tension”, a major report released today has said. The government must recognise the “negative consequences” that religious selection has

on society and called for admissions bodies to reduce such selection, it adds. The document, produced by the Commission on Religion and Belief in British Public Life, also calls for an end to the legal requirement demanding schools provide daily acts of collective worship of a religious character.

England’s biggest academy chain has received a major Ofsted inspection for the second time in 18 months, amid fears over its performance. It has emerged that the situation at the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET), which runs 68 schools throughout the country, has become so serious that representatives from the Department for Education now sit in on the trust’s board meetings.

It is a “moral outrage” that the education system “systematically fails" the poorest children in the country at every level from early years onwards, the country’s social mobility tsar has said. Alan Milburn, chair of the Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, has told a House of Lords committee that children from the most disadvantaged backgrounds are losing out from nursery right through to primary and secondary level.

Some schools could face extra budget cuts of up to 2 per cent a year under government plans to introduce a national “fair funding formula. Officials at the Department for Education are understood to be considering finding extra cash for low-funded schools by imposing annual 2 per cent cuts on schools in the areas that currently receive the most money.

The government is being urged to hold headteachers to a higher duty of care when excluding children from school to ensure they are met by a parent or carer. Current school exclusion guidance states that heads must take account of their legal duty when sending an excluded pupil home, but campaigners say in practice heads often simply inform parents and ensure the child leaves the premises.

Tony Stephens