28 April 2020 Ofsted unlikely to resume routine inspections of schools before the end of the academic year

Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools, appeared in front of the Parliamentary education committee by video link yesterday morning

She told the committee that she was 'not expecting to be asked to resume full routine inspections before the end of the summer term'

The chief inspector said that there was too much uncertainty to be able to say how long schools will get before they are inspected once inspections resume

She also said that Ofsted would not be 'judging schools per se on their response to COVID-19' but was seriously concerned about the impact of the partial school closures on the most vulnerable pupils, including those in alternative provision

21 April 2020 Education committee to investigate the underachievement of white pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds

The education select committee is to investigate the underachievement of white pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds

It will form the first part of a bigger inquiry into the issues faced by pupils from 'left behind groups' and will run alongside the committee's COVID-19 inquiry

The committee pointed to statistics showing that the average attainment 8 score for white boys eligible for free school meals in the GCSE examinations in 2018 was 28.5, whilst the national average was 46.5

The committee is inviting submissions by 5 June 2020

30 March 2020 Fewer schools judged as outstanding under the new Ofsted framework

Ofsted has released data showing the results of 853 inspections between September and December 2019 showing that 77% of schools were judged as good or outstanding for overall effectiveness, which is a decrease from 80% for last year

The data shows that the percentage of schools judged as good has decreased by one percentage point compared with last year, whilst the percentage judged as outstanding has decreased by three percentage points

The new framework has a focus on the curriculum and includes the new 'quality of education' judgement

23 March 2020 Government to focus on improving the exam results of children in need

The Department for Education (DfE) is launching a consultation to change the role of the designated safeguarding leads in schools so there is a greater focus on improving the academic achievement of vulnerable pupils

The change will include more a detailed tracking of attendance and attainment data for children in need

Children in need often have lower educational outcomes than other pupils; they are more likely to be persistently absent and excluded from school

16 March 2020 Government anoounces specialist mathematics school in every Englsh region

Last week's budget stated that £7m would be available to open eleven specialist mathematics schools, one in each English region, for 16 to 19 year olds.

Secondary schools will receive £90m a year to invest in arts programmes and extra-curricular activities, whilst there will be £29m a years towards improving primary school PE teaching.

9 March 2020 Key Stage 1 SATs replacement rolled out in September

The Department for Education (DfE) has announced that from September 2020 all new primary school pupils will take the new reception baseline assessment (RBA) that will replace SATs in Year 2

Following pilots all over the country, the RBA, a one-to-one exercise done in 20 minutes with a teacher in an informal setting, will be taken by chldren in their first six weeks of a primary school

The move paves the way for the removal of the Key Stage 2 SATs from 2022/23

In the RBA, children will be assessed orally through simple tasks such as counting or desribing pictures, reflecting the types of activities which many parents already do with their children at home

2 March 2020 Experts to tackle poor behaviour in schools

The Department for Education (DfE) is setting up a new team of experts to help schools tackle poor behaviour

Schools with exemplary behaviour practices are being invited to lead the Government's new programme to improve discipline in schools

They will be supported by behaviour experts and help schools which are facing challenges, yet at the same time recognising that different schools require different approaches

The behaviour hubs will build on the work of Ofsted, and headteachers will also continue to be backed to use exclusions where they are warranted, together with a focus on raising the quality of alternative provision in order to improve outcomes for excluded pupils

The programme aims to recruit up to 20 lead schools in this application round, with plans to support over 500 schools over a three-year period from September of this year