Hertfordshire School Governors
By governors for governors
The Spring 2016 round of Hertfordshire Headteacher Updates will be taking place throughout March 2016; there is an evening session for Governors and Headteachers to attend together on Tuesday 8th March between 6 – 8pm (Light refreshments will be served). Continue reading “Spring 2016 Headteacher Update”
Click on the headings for the individual stories:
Education Secretary pledges more support to reduce teacher workload during landmark speech at NASUWT conference.
Schools Weeks summarises Continue reading “Newsbites – DfE, School’s Week, Speeches”
4th April 2016
The TES is reporting that there is more evidence that the rising workload is driving teachers away from the profession and exacerbating the recruitment crisis. More than eight in 10 teachers have considered Continue reading “TES, Parent View, Academies”
Some news updates that might have passed you by are listed with brief synopses and links to the sources are shown below:
19 November, 2015
In his second monthly commentary Sir Michael Wilshaw looks at the role that governance plays in an increasingly autonomous education system. Wilshaw launched a call for evidence for anyone who has views and experience to contribute to inform a piece of work about the effectiveness of governance in schools.
16 November, 2015
Ofsted’s senior structure.
2 November 2015
At the Closing the gap: test and learn event, almost 50 teachers shared their school-led research. Robin Hall, school-based research and development manager at NCTL, explains more about the project
17 November 2015
The BBC is reporting a new study that suggests children who eat a healthy breakfast are more likely to do well – up to twice as well – in end of primary school assessments than those who do not. The full report published in Public Health Nutrition can be found here.
20 November 2015
The ASCL School Leaders Survey has revealed that school leaders are facing intense budget pressures and are considering making cuts to both teaching and non-teaching positions over the coming year as they look to manage their budgets.
15 November, 2015
The study involving more than 10,000 secondary school pupils shows that:
The full study Bullying: Evidence from LSYPE2- wave 2, can be found here.
15 November, 2015
A comparison of reported instances of bullying in 2005 and 2014.
12 November, 2015
Academisation is unleashing innovations across English schools, liberating teachers and driving up standards.
5 November 2015
Guidance on pupil exclusions that was withdrawn eight months ago has yet to be updated by the Department for Education.
13 November 2015
The Independent is reporting that bidding wars between schools mean sought-after teachers are being paid up to £10,000 extra as headteachers compete to attract or retain the best staff.
10 November 2015
The TES is reporting that public health experts are calling for “fat letters” – in which teachers write home to parents to tell them their child is overweight – to be scrapped or reformed.
CBI leader calls for Ofsted to assess character educationJohn Cridland, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has argued that school inspections should focus on whether schools are producing “well rounded people” rather than exam outcomes.
Speaking to an audience of academics, Cridland said that:
changing the inspection framework to ensure an equal focus on how schools are supporting the development of key attitudes and behaviour as on the more traditional academic measures would be a good first step in producing the well rounded young people business needs.
The Secretary of State for Education, Nicky Morgan, has emphasised previously her commitment to character education and the Department for Education announced the recipients of funding from its character grants scheme last week.
For more discussion of how governors can ensure their school is promoting their pupils’ personal development, see this recent Governing Matters article: Character education (NGA Membership required to access).
New Statutory Duties – July 1st 2015Schools should be aware that they have a new statutory duty from 1st July 2015 to have due regard to the need to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. (Schools should be alert to issues around staff, pupils and parents).
The Counter Terrorism and Security Act 2015 was published on 12th March 2015. Section 26 of the Act places a duty on schools in England (and Wales) to prevent people being drawn into terrorism. This duty applies to all schools, whether publicly-funded or independent, and organisations covered by the Early Years Foundation Stage framework. Statutory guidance has been published. See:
Ofsted are responsible for monitoring how well schools are implementing this duty.