‘Demoralising’: Top primaries lose their status under ‘harsher’ Ofsted inspections Downgraded ‘outstanding’ primary schools tell Schools Week new inspections are not a level playing field
All schools and trusts offered improvement help to tackle Covid woes The trust and school improvement offer, including support from NLEs, is no longer limited to RI schools
Ofsted back to business as usual from end of January The watchdog will have its full team of inspectors back in schools from January 31
Academics want reform of ‘narrow’ phonics focus Study claims teaching reading in England has been ‘less successful’ under new approach
Poorer pupil progress ‘increasingly difficult’ to measure Leaders demand ‘urgent review’ after study finds poorer disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes are becoming harder to measure
Ombudsman wants to intervene over academy admission disputes LGSCO role does not currently cover academies
Plan to remove teachers’ hours cap ditched from white paper New DfE team shelves policies drawn up by former education secretary Gavin Williamson
DfE to pay 100% of breakfast clubs costs until August in partial U-turn Government delays plan to make schools pay 25% of breakfast costs and expands eligibility ‘in light of Covid’
Schools cut music and PE, and 7 other findings from DfE recovery research Report looks at how schools coped with the impact of Covid in 2020-21