Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Pay rises ‘paused’ for all but the lowest-paid school staff

School staff earning over £24,000-a-year won’t receive a pay rise next year, the chancellor has announced. Rishi Sunak told the House of Commons today that pay rises for all public sector jobs except those in the NHS would be “paused” as part of the latest spending review. The chancellor said he “cannot justify a significant […]

Covid: 1 in 10 pupils now absent as attendance drops again

Around one in ten pupils are now absent from school for Covid-related reasons after attendance slumped to 83 per cent. The latest attendance data from the Department for Education shows that up to 876,000 pupils – between 9 and 11 per cent of the total population – did not attend school for Covid-19 related reasons […]

Covid-19 winter plan: What does it mean for schools?

Education settings will be among those to trial regular Covid-19 testing as an alternative to self-isolation for those who have been in contact with confirmed Covid-19 cases, the government has said. The prime minister this afternoon launched his Covid-19 winter plan, which set out how restrictions will work from December 2, when the country comes […]

Comparable outcomes won’t help all pupils in 2021, admits Ofqual

Applying comparable outcomes to exam results in 2021 will not be enough to compensate for learning loss for all pupils, Ofqual has said, admitting it would only be a “partial compensation strategy”. The exams regulator has published research today on maintaining standards and the so-called “sawtooth effect” – which describes when outcomes dip following changes […]

4 of 5 most deprived schools don’t have devices for home-learning

More than four in five schools with the most deprived intakes don’t have access to the devices they need to help self-isolating pupils keep learning, a poll has found. Research by Teacher Tapp on behalf of Teach First found 84 per cent of schools in the most deprived quartile said they did not have access […]

38% rise in elective home education, and ‘stretched’ councils can’t keep track

The number of children withdrawn from school for elective home education has soared by 38 per cent in the past year, councils have reported. The Association of Directors of Children’s Services estimated that 75,668 pupils nationally are being electively home educated as of October 1, up from 54,656 at the same point last year. The […]

Pay freeze would be ‘final straw’ for teachers and leaders, say unions

A pay freeze for teachers next year could prompt an “exodus from the profession”, a school leadership union has warned, following reports of an impending announcement by the Chancellor. The government is also refusing to comment on whether the reports mean that its pledge to raise teachers’ starting salaries to £30,000 by 2022 will be […]

NTP reviews rule requiring pupils to receive online tutoring in school

The National Tutoring Programme is reviewing its stipulation that pupils need to be in school for online sessions following an outcry from headteachers. The NTP said it was working with “a number” of its tuition partners to ensure “necessary systems are in place to allow at home tuition to take place when needed”. The stipulation […]

Labour ‘got it wrong’ on scrapping Ofsted, says shadow schools minister

Ofsted plays an “important role” and Labour was “wrong” to pledge to scrap it without making clear it would be replaced with something better, the shadow schools minister has said. Wes Streeting told the Schools and Academies Show this morning that instead of calling for Ofsted’s demise, educationalists should tell Labour “how to make it […]