Haringey Schools Bulletin
Governors and Trustees should ensure they are compliant with the relevant financial regulations.
The Department for Education (DfE) has released further information (external link) about a new online times tables assessment for year 4 pupils.
The assessment, which will be compulsory from 2020, will check whether pupils are able to “recall the multiplication tables up to and including 12 × 12”. The aim is to “help schools to identify pupils who have not yet mastered their times tables, so that additional support can be provided”. While under no obligation to do so, schools can volunteer to take part in a pilot of this assessment between 10 and 29 June 2019.
While the planning for, and administration of, these tests falls outside of the remit of governors and trustees, governing boards should gain assurances from executive leaders that plans are in place for year 4 pupils to take these assessments in June 2020. Whilst being mindful of putting undue pressure on teachers and leaders, those governing may also want receive the results of these checks as part of their ongoing monitoring of student outcomes.
Department for Education (DfE) guidance (external link) on mental health and behaviour in schools has been updated with information on how to identify behaviours that may be related to a mental health problem. Also covered are the questions of working with other professionals and external agencies, along with where to find extra support.
Most schools will have pupils who need mental health support. This advice aims to help schools support pupils whose mental health problems have behavioural consequences. It therefore relates to roles and responsibilities surrounding behaviour in particular. The guidance also addresses curriculum design, within the wider issue of creating a ‘whole school approach’ that promotes positive mental wellbeing.
This non-statutory guidance applies to all schools and is aimed at governing boards, as well as school staff working to support children, including teachers, SEND coordinators and designated safeguarding leads. Governing boards in colleges and other post-16 institutions may also find the intervention and support element of this guidance useful.
You should read this advice alongside the non-statutory behaviour and discipline in schools guidance (external link), which also reflects recent developments in other related policy areas, including alternative provision, exclusions and safeguarding.
The Department for Education (DfE) has issued 2017/18 provisional grades for key stage 4 (external link) and key stage 5 (external link) qualifications and 2016/17 data on the destinations of key stage 4 and 5 pupils (external link). Amongst the key headlines, the data shows that:
While this data is useful for those governing to make broad comparisons between their school and others nationally, GCSE and A-level statistics are subject to change once grade appeals/remarks are taken into account and governing boards need to take into account the particular context of their school.
While the pressures of accountability measures sometimes lead schools to adapt their curriculum, those governing are reminded of their duties to protect pupil wellbeing and to ensure that they receive a broad and balanced curriculum. Part of this involves gaining assurances from the lead executive that pupils are being entered for qualifications which match their ability.
Governors and trustees can now access information on the attainment of pupils in the 2018 phonics screening check and KS1 teacher assessments (TA) which take place at the end of year 1 (typically aged 6) and the end of KS1 (year 2), respectively. This forms an important backdrop to individual school data and its role in school accountability.
This year’s provisional data (external link) reveals that more pupils (82%) are meeting the expected standard in phonics in year 1 – a one-percentage point increase from 2017. Attainment at the expected standard in KS1 TA is broadly similar to 2017 – a one-percentage point increase in maths (up to 76%), while attainment in reading and science remained the same. Changes made within the 2017/18 writing TA frameworks mean judgments made in 2018 (70% meeting the expected standard) are not directly comparable to those made in 2017.
The Department for Education (DfE) welcomes feedback on any aspect of the publication. Please email primary.attainment@education.gov.uk.
In Haringey KS1 outcomes at the Expected Standard and the higher Greater Depth standard are now above national averages in all subjects. Reading at the Greater Depth standard is also above London figures. All but two pupil groups performed better in Haringey than the equivalent group nationally, including Disadvantaged Pupils.
The government’s response acknowledges significant challenges and that there is more to be done to ensure that all children in alternative provision receive the high-quality education that they deserve. The review of exclusions led by former DfE minister Edward Timpson will report early next year and, although it does not intend to implement the proposal to increase the powers of Independent Review panels, the government has not ruled (external link) out measures to increase schools’ accountability for excluded pupils.
Alongside this, the DfE has published its research exploring the landscape of AP (external link) and research into the market for AP (external link). These explore how pupil characteristics are taken into account during the exclusion process and characteristics of successful local systems.
The select committee’s report also includes a number of conclusions and recommendations which have relevance to Ofsted and the inspectorate’s response (external link) promises to consider incentives for schools to be more inclusive and to continue to address “off-rolling” (the practice of removing pupils from roll to boost performance measures) in its inspections.
New statistics (external link) released by the Department for Education show that the overall pupil absence rate in schools in England has increased slightly to 4.7% in autumn and spring 2017/18, compared to 4.5% during the same period the year before.
The increase reflects a rise in the rates of authorised, unauthorised and persistent absence. As in previous years, illness was the most common cause of absence. There had been a slight increase in unauthorised absence due to family holidays.
Absence rates were higher for some groups of pupils than others: those eligible for free school meals and those with special educational needs (SEN) were more likely to be absent. While this may be related to medical issues for some pupils with SEN, it is worth considering how pupil premium funds could be utilised to address low attendance among pupils eligible for free school meals. The highest overall absence rates were found among Traveller of Irish Heritage and Gypsy/Roma pupils; those governing schools with pupils from these groups may be interested in research published by LKMCo (external link) last year, which explores some barriers to achievement that gypsy, Roma and traveller pupil’s experience.
Governing boards should be aware of how attendance in their school(s) compares to national averages, including among different groups of pupils, and work with senior leaders to identify and address drivers of avoidable absence.
Governing boards should bring the deals to the attention of their headteacher and school business professional.
As well as the headline ‘overall effectiveness’ grade, Ofsted currently make judgements on four categories for all schools:
There are additional categories for schools with early years or sixth form provision. Ofsted plan to alter these categories to be:
The aim of these changes are to move Ofsted’s focus from headline data to how schools are educating pupils and the substance of the curriculum. A formal consultation on the new draft framework will take place from January with implementation planned from September 2019.