Edition 412 done and dusted We lead on the £20bn SEND time bomb from this week’s budget bedlam Inside the country’s biggest academy rebroker The trust asking pupils for engagement solutions No more leadership heroes What Ofsted grade reform means for flagship scheme entry
What a mess Bournemouth council faces £183m SEND deficit, and £10m in interest costs to finance the debt .... paid from its general fund (made up of council tax, business rates etc) It wants to use high needs cash to pay the debt instead, which would hit schools schoolsweek.co.uk/council-faci...
Council facing £183m SEND deficit warns of ‘devastating consequences’
A cash-strapped council facing a £183 million SEND black hole is warning ministers the deficit is “forcing” them to make “impossible financial decisions” with "devastating consequences”, ahead of tomo...
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If anyone wants to do a review of the feature for us then do get in touch with me! (All reviews are done with a critical eye - no free PR)
Carl Hendrick@carlhendrick.substack.com · 11mo agoChatGPT for teachers has launched. A landing page has a series of suggested tasks such as curriculum planning, reviewing work with a rubric. I'd like to see a robust study on the the following: chatgpt.com/use-cases/hi...
England should have set 300-plus there. Really disappointing batting Oz huge favourites now, bowlers going to have to be perfect again for England to win
John Dickens@johndickenssw.bsky.social · 11mo agoAh man 🫣 🏏
Such an interesting article by Cathie Paine from @reach2trust.bsky.social Great for the sector to hear from larger trusts on the realities of how they make and manage change.
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 11mo agoREAch2 set out to resolve funding inequity across its schools by pooling its funding. The trust had to pause the plans – but here’s what they learnt (and why they are still doing it) schoolsweek.co.uk/our-gag-pool...
Well that was a good decision. What a start to the series
John Dickens@johndickenssw.bsky.social · 11mo agoWoke up a bit earlier and been watching from the fourth over 😭
Decamped to the living room for second session. Feels very optimistic but there we go Also, not sure what’s worse: England’s wafty top order or these atrocious weight transfer graphic things
John Dickens@johndickenssw.bsky.social · 11mo agoWoke up a bit earlier and been watching from the fourth over 😭
!!! Big story in the country's biggest schools PFI deal, which ended last month The PFI firm is going into liquidation, with millions of pounds worth of school repairs still outstanding schoolsweek.co.uk/pfi-firm-in-...
School PFI firm 'to liquidate' amid row over unfinished work
The firm overseeing England’s biggest school PFI contract is reportedly going into liquidation, with millions of pounds of building repairs work outstanding
schoolsweek.co.uk
Edition 411 done and dusted: Investigation: Councils don’t know how many home educated kids are under child protection enquiries Scoop: PFI firm in multi-million pound schools repair row goes bust Longread on new inspections Plus: attendance awareness courses, GAG pooling, MAT mergers
We delved into this earlier this year SENCos will be central to any government plan to make mainstream schools more inclusive. But are their roles even sustainable now? Great investigation from @lydiach.bsky.social schoolsweek.co.uk/burnt-out-an...
‘Burnt out': The staff on the SEND crisis frontline
SENCos will be central to plans to make mainstream schools more inclusive. But they're burning out
schoolsweek.co.uk
Ben Newmark@bennewmark.bsky.social · 11mo agoI'm becoming really worried about our SENCOs. I think their job is becoming systemically impossible. They're being ground down by impossible workloads and now huge numbers of complaints, which makes it all but impossible for them to be strategic. I'm worried we're going to lose them,
Those AI attendance reports have started well ...
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 11mo ago❌ Exclusive: AI-driven reports that government said would help bring attendance 'back to – and beyond – pre-pandemic levels' have been suspended just days after they were launched This comes after leaders noticed inaccuracies in the data provided... schoolsweek.co.uk/embarrassing...
Thank you @schoolsweek.bsky.social for highlighting this - a really thorough and well researched article.
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 11mo agoExclusive: A surge in home education has left many families struggling to find places for their children to sit GCSEs, with some 'reduced to begging' as overwhelmed exam centres shut their doors https://schoolsweek.co.uk/home-education-children-forced-to-travel-miles-to-sit-exams/
Some very worrying stats here. Serious questions for government and Capita about why it is taking so long to process remedy statements stemming from the McCloud judgment. Can’t imagine the anguish of already-retired teachers and leaders waiting for missing money
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 11mo agoExclusive: Thousands of retired teachers and leaders potentially entitled to better pensions following the landmark McCloud ruling have died before even receiving statements outlining what they could receive https://schoolsweek.co.uk/thousands-of-retired-teachers-die-before-pensions-row-settled/
Edition 410 done and dusted Scoop: Ofsted consultation analysis row takes a new turn 👀 Solutions: teacher interns? Investigation: thousands of teachers potentially due better pension die before outcome Rise in pupils educated at home causes exams centre blockage
🤖 Ministers will use AI to set minimum attendance targets for every school in England Targets will not be published, or be given to Ofsted - but failure to improve will result in a referral to RISE teams schoolsweek.co.uk/ai-to-set-mi...
Attendance: AI-generated targets to be set for all schools
AI-generated targets will be set for all schools in England, government has announced, as it looks to crackdown on absence rates.
schoolsweek.co.uk
Great to see wider pick up of this big story on a state school opening a fee-pay paying school abroad www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article... Schools Week broke the story over a year ago: schoolsweek.co.uk/warning-over...
Warning over grammar’s plan to open ‘affiliate’ schools overseas
A grammar school is looking to raise 'significant funds' by opening affiliate schools overseas, a market dominated by the independent sector
schoolsweek.co.uk
The latest government plan to help schools balance their budgets: Provide support to help them get better returns on their collective £6bn of funding in reserves schoolsweek.co.uk/savings-plat...
‘Savings platform’ plan to help schools boost reserves
Government thinks vision will ease school funding woes by 'unlocking' the sector's 'substantial reserves'
schoolsweek.co.uk
The irony of this coming as government wonders why assistant head numbers have risen so much and suggests schools look at making savings in those teams ... schoolsweek.co.uk/can-schools-...
Can schools really afford to cut assistant heads?
Ministers point to rising numbers of assistant heads in cost-cutting advice
schoolsweek.co.uk
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 11mo ago🎒 Schools have been told to appoint a point of contact for families needing support with uniform ❌ New guidance also suggests setting requirements banning 'visible logos' on PE kit to reduce costs and 'peer pressure to wear designer sportswear' schoolsweek.co.uk/appoint-staf...
Interesting development - a lack of evidence of what works in SEND was a key finding from our investigation into the quality of EHCPs schoolsweek.co.uk/investigatio...
schoolsweek.co.uk
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 11mo agoExclusive: Ministers plan to launch a £3 million 'education neuroscience research centre' to help inform policymaking in key reform areas such as SEND, Schools Week can reveal https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-plans-3m-send-research-centre/
Edition 409 done and dusted: A curriculum and assessment review SPECIAL ... PLUS: Government plans £3m SEND research centre Do schools really have too many assistant heads? Ministers scope out plan to help schools boost investment returns
So heartening to see newish local journalism outlets doing proper reporting like this - fantastic investigation
Emma Wilkinson@emmajourno.bsky.social · 11mo agoThis investigation from the @sheffieldtribune.bsky.social is absolutely staggering. It is very common in Sheffield (I live in this bit) to have a leasehold, often with hundreds of years left on and pennies in ground rent. This is extortion pure and simple. www.sheffieldtribune.co.uk/a-london-law...
The new curriculum 'will be implemented in full, for first teaching from September 2028', the government has said Now updated with a handy timeline... https://schoolsweek.co.uk/new-curriculum-to-be-introduced-in-2028-as-review-published/
Starting to get important answers and reaction to the curriculum review Phillipson admits triple science pledge will need more specialist teachers: schoolsweek.co.uk/triple-scien... RE will be put on the national curriculum only if sector can ‘reach consensus’ schoolsweek.co.uk/ministers-wi...
Triple science pledge needs more specialist teachers - Phillipson
The education secretary has said more specialist science teachers will be needed if government is to make triple science available to all GCSE pupils
schoolsweek.co.uk
Some more big curriculum news Ministers ignore curriculum review's call for no progress 8 changes and set out proposals for big 'breadth' subject shake-up Full story below
Schools Week@schoolsweek.bsky.social · 11mo agoBreaking: The government is proposing sweeping reforms to progress 8, the main league table measure for secondary schools, in a bid to boost arts take-up – and will ditch the EBacc from this academic year https://schoolsweek.co.uk/dfe-ignores-francis-review-and-proposes-sweeping-progress-8-reform/
🚨The curriculum review is out! First: Government commits to a new national curriculum in 2028. Will also replace year 6 writing test, new oracy framework, financial literacy in primary Our news story on the government's response to the key review findings: (1/4) schoolsweek.co.uk/new-curricul...
New curriculum to be introduced in 2028 as review published
Government commits to scrap the EBacc and make citizenship compulsory in primary schools
schoolsweek.co.uk
We've tried to get some clarity on all this from the Department for Education - but they've mostly ignored our questions However I haven't noticed much difference in the education world. Lots of DfE people still speaking at events It also apparently doesn't affect bodies like Ofsted, Ofqual etc
Alex Thomas@alexgathomas.bsky.social · 12mo agoSome - cautious - good news on the govt’s civil service gagging rules Nick Thomas-Symonds has written to us rowing back on the worst aspects: “it is important for civil servants to speak in public about matters for which they have responsibility” www.instituteforgovernment.org.uk/comment/welc...
The points @msjasminemn.bsky.social makes in the body of the article are important. Rhetoric around immigration has now moved against not only illegal immigration, but legal immigration. schoolsweek.co.uk/ive-given-my...
I’ve given teaching my all. Now I’m told I don't belong here
The thought that I won't be able to be treated as a citizen is disturbing
schoolsweek.co.uk