Sir Martyn Oliver recommended as new Chief Inspector of Ofsted

The Secretary of State for Education, Gillian Keegan, has announced that she is recommending Sir Martyn Oliver for the post of His Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills at Ofsted. Sir Martyn has been selected as the preferred candidate because he is an accomplished school and trust leader with a track record … Continue reading Sir Martyn Oliver recommended as new Chief Inspector of Ofsted

New NGA report on governance challanges

The National Governance Association (NGA) released a report today on the top 10 school and trust governance challenges. These were revealed through their analysis of 200 government-funded external reviews of governance (ERGs). The top challenges include: Board composition; Identifying skills gaps; Recruiting people with diverse experiences and knowledge; Being the right size to suit the … Continue reading New NGA report on governance challanges

The National Tutoring Programme review

The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) was introduced by the Department for Education (DfE) in the 2020-21 academic year to provide subsidised tuition to disadvantaged pupils and help close the attainment gap caused by school closures in response to Covid-19. NFER’s Teacher Voice Omnibus survey was used to get feedback from teachers about how successful this has … Continue reading The National Tutoring Programme review

NGA publishes latest version of Being Strategic guidance

NGA has updated its guide to strategy development for those leading and governing both in schools and in multi-academy trusts (MAT). It is a collaboration between NGA, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) and the  Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL). There are now two versions of the guide: one for single schools, single academy trusts … Continue reading NGA publishes latest version of Being Strategic guidance

Were the year 6 SAT English reading tests more difficult than previous years?

There has been a lot of media coverage on the apparent difficulty of this year's SATs English reading tests. You can read the official government repsonse here, where they describe the process by which the tests are created and trialled. The conclusion is that "Evidence from these processes indicated that the tests were of similar … Continue reading Were the year 6 SAT English reading tests more difficult than previous years?