This handy article from The Key (subscription required) summarises what each of the parties is offering for education in their manifesto.
Author: Bruce Levitan
School counselling brings long-term economic benefit
A new report from the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and Citizens UK reveals that the long-term benefit to the taxpayer of access to counselling in all secondary schools is eight times the cost of the investment. This rises to a 10-fold return on investment for counselling for primary school-age children. The research … Continue reading School counselling brings long-term economic benefit
Climate and Sustainability Education Toolkit
The Foundation for Education Development (FED) have released a toolkit to equip teachers, sustainability leads and their teams, with the tools, knowledge and confidence they need to deliver their Climate Action Plans, which need to be in place by 2025. The toolkit is linked to the DfE's "Sustainability and climate change: a strategy for the … Continue reading Climate and Sustainability Education Toolkit
Reports on children’s writing and reading show worrying decreases
Writing The National Literacy Trust's Annual Literacy Survey of more than 76,000 UK children and young people revealed that, in 2024: Fewer than 3 in 10 (28.7%) 8 to 18-year-olds say they enjoy writing in their free time – the lowest level recorded by the charity since it first started asking children about their writing … Continue reading Reports on children’s writing and reading show worrying decreases
Move to home education biggest since pandemic
A BBC investigation has found the number of children moving to home education in the UK is at its highest level since the pandemic. Their article notes: Freedom of Information requests showed UK councils received at least 49,819 notifications in 2022-23 from families wanting to home educate a child. This is the highest level since … Continue reading Move to home education biggest since pandemic
The Alternative Big Listen
Ofsted's "Big Listen" initiative was reported her on 19 January 2024, and Prof Colin Richards and Frank Norris MBE believeb that it does not consider changes that many believe are essential to improve the inspection process for schools and other education settings. THey have launched The Alternative Big Listen and you can take part by … Continue reading The Alternative Big Listen
School spending in England: a guide to the debate during the 2024 general election
This new report by Luke Sibieta from The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) seeks to inform the debate on school funding during the 2024 general election by analysing past trends and likely future pressures. Key findings inlcude: Spending on English schools fell by c. 9% in real terms between 2010 and 2019, but increased spending … Continue reading School spending in England: a guide to the debate during the 2024 general election
Impact of the cost-of-living crisis on schools
Megan Lucas and Jenna Julius from the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) have written a new report on the impact of cost-of-living. The NFER website notes: Since 2021, unprecedented increases in energy costs, rapid increases in food costs and substantial increases in the cost of housing via higher rent/mortgage costs have driven a dramatic … Continue reading Impact of the cost-of-living crisis on schools
Keeping children safe in education 2024
The updated version of Keeping children safe in education is now available from the DfE (comes into effect in September). There aren't many changes, but you can read a summary by The Key of the new version. Links to both the full document and the summary are on our website on the Key Documents page.
Let’s Go Zero – Latest News and Updates
Derbyshire County Council's "Let's go zero" programme is akll Climate Action in your school. This update has links to various aspects of climate action including: Lets Go Zero Climate Action Countdown Plastic Free Schools - Trash Mob 2024 Eco Schools - Healthy Summer Toolkit Young Tree Champions Leadership Skills Foundation - Environment Leaders Zero Carbon … Continue reading Let’s Go Zero – Latest News and Updates
Why Schools Shouldn’t Share Security Information Online
This article by Derbyshire County Council's Education Data Hub explains why schools should not post information such as their Critical Incident Plans or IT Disaster Recovery Plans on their websites. You can read it here, and there are links to more details information about what you should publish online.
CIF funding – is the allocation fair?
The Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) was put in place to help address significant condition needs to keep buildings safe and in good working order. This article in Schools Week suggests that the funding is allocated in favour of schools/trusts who can provide a bigger share of the cost themeselves, but DfE insists applicants ‘not prioritised’ … Continue reading CIF funding – is the allocation fair?
Political party manifestos and their impact on education
This article by The Key on their blog The Hoot gives an overview of what each political party is saying in their manifesto about education. The Hoot also has another article on the general election 2024: FAQs for schools and trusts. Note that you will need to be a member of The Key to access … Continue reading Political party manifestos and their impact on education
New Governor’s guide on Pupil Mental Health and Wellbeing
The NGA and Place2Be have published a new guide for Governors: Pupil mental health and wellbeing A guide for governing boards. It identifies eight principles for a whole school approach, and in eaqch case outlines what good governance should look like: Leadership and management Ethos and environment Curriculum Pupil voice Staff development, health and wellbeing … Continue reading New Governor’s guide on Pupil Mental Health and Wellbeing
Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision
The latest data release on transforming children and young people’s mental health provision from the DfE notes that only 44% of pupils have access to the Mental Health Support Team (MHST) programme, marking progress towards the target of 54% by March 2025. The data also shows that 74% of schools and colleges have applied for … Continue reading Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision
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