Youth Support Trust's Well Schools provides a free-to-access self-review tool and get a tailored development plan to help you on your journey to becoming a Well School. You can access it, and other resources, on their website, here.
Category: General
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) Annual Report
The Education Policy Institute (EPI) Annual Report looks at the state of education in England, with a focus on the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers. EPI’s 2025 Annual Report considers the attainment of vulnerable groups of students at the ages of 5, 11, 16 and by 18. The report analyses attainment gaps based … Continue reading The Education Policy Institute (EPI) Annual Report
National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
Baroness Casey's audit on group-based child sexual exploitation and abuse (CSEA) ('grooming gangs') was published on 16 June. The scale, nature and characteristics of group-based CSEA are discussed with descripition of the drivers of this type of offending, including the role of ethnicity and culture, plus the response to group-based CSEA at local and national … Continue reading National Audit on Group-based Child Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
How does the Spending Review affect education?
The BBC have produced a summary of the impacts of the recent government spending review, including how education is affected. You can find their summary here.
Forthcoming governor training from Derbsyhire Services for Schools
Here are the upcoming training opportunities from Derbsyhire Services for Schools (S4S) - these are all courses that are either specifically aimed at governors, or where governors might find them useful. The Safer Recruitment courses are all in-person events and offered at different venues. AI Compliance (2 Jun 2025 15:30 - 17:00, online) School Complaints … Continue reading Forthcoming governor training from Derbsyhire Services for Schools
The Age 11 Dip
We all know that transition from primary to secondary school is a big change and challenge for young people, so it's no surprise - but very alarming - that this new report based on 80,000 children's responses, shows that more than one in four pupils begin to disengage from school during Year 7. The findings … Continue reading The Age 11 Dip
New trial will find out if Oak’s AI-powered lesson planning tool can reduce workload while maintaining quality
The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) is inviting primary schools to take part in trial of Aila, Oak National Academy’s AI-powered lesson planning assistant. Launched on 12th May, the EEF is recruiting around 450 primary school teachers to take part. Find out more here.
What is the most popular validated phonics scheme?
According to Teacher Tapp's Brand Tracker, Read Write Inc and Little Wandle Letters and Sounds Revised are used by more than half of schools. Rising stars were Essential Letters and Sounds and Twinkl Phonics. Find out more on the Teacher Tapp blog, here.
Parliamentary education committee on SEND
The most recent meeting of the Parliamentary education committee on SEND took place on 29 April. Subject specialists included: Lisa O’Connor, vice president of the Association of Educational Psychologists. She noted that cuts to council budgets and the academies movement had led local authorities to “reduce considerably their EP services, with many of them only … Continue reading Parliamentary education committee on SEND
NEU General Secretary’s speech 2025
In his recent speech to the Union, General Secretary Daniel Kebede summarised the Union's key actions and concerns. Not surprisingly these centred on teacher pay and pensions, and one of his major criticisms was directed at Academy Trusts where CEO pay was felt to be much too high, using the half-million pound salary of the … Continue reading NEU General Secretary’s speech 2025
Ofsted: We know we need to improve our inspection plans
In an article written for TES, Rory Gribbell, Oftsed's director of strategy and engagement, summarises some of the themes that have emerged from the public consultation they have been conducting and comments on Oftsed's reactions. You can find the article on the TES website, here.
Tackling child sexual abuse and exploitation: update
Minister Jess Phillips (Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State in the Home Office) delivered a speech on the government's plan to tackle child sexual abuse and exploitation on 8 April 2025. You can read the full transcript on the Gov.uk website here.
Secondary pupils in England among the least emotionally engaged with school
A new report from UCL researchers who analysed data in the recent Trends in International Maths and Science study finds that pupils in English secondary schools have some of the lowest school engagement rates around the world, with rates dropping amongst the fastest following the pandemic. Furthermore, girls in year 9 in participating countries around … Continue reading Secondary pupils in England among the least emotionally engaged with school
Providing Safe Spaces for neurodivergent children and why it’s important.
An interesting blog article from Cheryl Warren of Hope Education, covering the principles of Vestibular – the sense of movement, Proprioception – the sense of body position, and Interoception – the internal senses, what’s going on inside. You can read it here.
What is needed from education policy to boost writing outcomes?
In January 2025, the Education Policy Institute (EPI) and Oxford University Press (OUP) brought together trust leaders, publishers, researchers, civil servants and other education stakeholders to discuss the current challenges preventing improvements in writing and how these can be overcome. The discussion touched on research gaps and a lack of political will; opportunities to reform … Continue reading What is needed from education policy to boost writing outcomes?
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