General
Friday
Stuck school intervention plan ‘complete nonsense’, say leaders
Headteachers’ leaders warn DfE plans could see schools academised or rebrokered despite showing improvement across multiple areas
Nine inspection areas is ‘too many’, heads tell Ofsted
Teacher Tapp polling for 91¶¶Òõ reveals that six in ten senior leaders believe Ofsted is proposing to inspect too many areas in its report card plans
Maths schools at risk in lowest-performing regions
Plans for two specialist maths schools in regions with the lowest A-level scores could be cancelled as part of a government review
Thursday
Gilruth pauses school ‘sex survey’ amid concerns over data availability
Education secretary has recognised the ‘strength of feeling’ over use of data from health and wellbeing census that asked upper secondary school students about sex and relationships
Dispute over class-contact time ‘appears inevitable’, says union
The Scottish government had promised to bring forward ‘firm proposals’ for cutting teacher class-contact time by Monday of this week, but that deadline has been missed
More than 9 in 10 heads reject Ofsted’s report card plan
The NAHT urges Ofsted to rethink its plans after its snap poll shows an overwhelming rejection from school leaders
Academy trusts in deficit triple in three years
Latest Kreston UK Academies Benchmark report shows trusts facing stretched funding, more deficits and lower growth than expected
Wednesday
DfE to set out ‘common approach’ to teaching writing
Half of a £2m DfE funding pot is set aside for secondaries to buy resources for struggling readers
Decade of PEF impact to be revealed in the spring
The Pupil Equity Fund – designed to help close the ‘poverty-related attainment gap’ – should continue beyond 2026 elections, says education secretary, but she suggests changes will be needed
Delta expansion gets ministers’ approval
Ministers have approved a plan for the six schools run by a coastal MAT to join Delta Academies Trust
Schools need more help with rise in EAL pupils, say experts
Report says government should bring back national statutory tests for English proficiency, to help teachers and pupils
