Charlotte Santry

Why England only needs 400 academy trusts If we want a trust-led system that works for pupils, staff, communities and the taxpayer, we need to drastically reduce trust numbers, argues Mark McCourt

"My view is that England should have no more than 400 trusts and that we should try to achieve this by 2030"

Agree with him or not, this is very thought-provoking indeed from Mark McCourt - many in policy circles do agree, but tend to whisper it...

www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

What do alternative provision leaders want from the White Paper? AP doesn't just need to be expanded – it needs to be refocused, say leaders ahead of upcoming reforms

Alternative provision (AP) leaders are urging ministers to use the long-awaited Schools White Paper to shift the sector’s focus towards supporting pupils before, rather than after, exclusion. My long read for @tesmagazine.bsky.social speaking to leaders in the sector. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Revealed: how RISE money is being spent Nearly £19 million has already been spent on the government’s school improvement plan - but there are concerns over where the rest will come from

“RISE feels like it’s been launched before the real-world costs were understood…It’s pretty clear the funding assumptions were off.”

Does the DfE have enough money for its school improvement plan?

Investigation by @jabedahmed.bsky.social

www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Parent allegations against teachers rise by a third Research showing an increase in allegations highlights a ‘fraying of relationships’ between families and schools, warns parents’ charity

Parent allegations against teachers have increased by a third in just one year, @edaptuk.bsky.social data shared exclusively with Tes reveals

Ofsted SEND inspections: key failings revealed Tes analysis highlights the main findings in SEND inspection reports for the areas found to have systemic or widespread failings this year

SEND area inspection reports show that Long waits for assessments, diagnosis and health services have been repeatedly highlighted for areas found to have systemic failings in special educational needs provision. My analysis for @tesmagazine.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Warning over ‘unchecked’ safeguarding audits Trust leaders tell Tes that the process of submitting safeguarding audits to councils is ‘like marking your own homework’, and putting unnecessary pressure on school staff

“You mark your own homework. It’s not checked.”

Safeguarding leads warn the “onerous” audits that schools have to submit to councils aren’t improving student safety and duplicate work done by trusts.

Is it time to drop them?

Excl by @ktorm-social1.bsky.social

I've long been worried the government's "school readiness" goal risks widening the early years attainment gap - because it doesn't include a specific goal for lower income young children or the gap itself, + it's likely easier to push better off kids over the line - and the gap is widening.

UPDATE: OBR has corrected its earlier estimate of a possible 1.7 per cent cut to per pupil funding and revised it to a 4.9 per cent possible cut, but DfE says OBR is "incorrect"

Are EHCPs really driving the SEND crisis? Education, health and care plans have been blamed for an unsustainable rise in special educational needs in schools, but would scrapping or limiting these plans fix the problem?

Are EHCPs driving the SEND crisis or a symptom of it? Is SEND demand in 2025 any larger than it was in 2010? Will scrapping EHCPs actually achieve anything productive?

One of the best analyses of the SEND crisis I have read from Margaret Mulholland

www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

Budget 2025: what schools need to know Chancellor Rachel Reeves' Budget sparks warnings about a real-terms drop in school funding but includes spending on school libraries and books. Here are all the key details for the sector

Slim pickings for schools in today's Budget - and a major cost pressure potentially arising from SEND changes.

correct ✔️

Politicians love to talk about their time in '90s portakabins - a memory I share. Did schools really have more of them back then or is this a myth? FACT CHECK anyone?

Ha, can only hear Nanny Plum now (we were more of a Ben & Holly house)

Follow @tesmagazine.bsky.social school funding reporter @jabedahmed.bsky.social for the latest on today's Budget 👇

Debt-hit council urges action on SEND reform Council leader writes to Bridget Phillipson on eve of the Budget, warning financial crisis is forcing local authorities into ‘impossible decisions’

“The consequences are going to be devastating.”

Ahead of today’s Budget, a council warns it faces a £183 million black hole due to SEND costs, and is having (along with many other LAs) to make “impossible financial decisions”.

By @johngroberts.bsky.social

Heads’ union loses appeal against Ofsted ruling The NAHT had appealed against a decision not to grant a judicial review into the launch of new Ofsted school inspections

Exclusive: The NAHT heads' union has lost its second bid to challenge Ofsted in court over the way it brought in new report card-style inspections.

By @johngroberts.bsky.social for @tesmagazine.bsky.social

Why do teachers get such a bad deal on maternity pay? With women making up the vast majority of the workforce, could better maternity leave pay help tackle the teacher retention crisis?

Teachers on mat leave get 22 weeks less full pay than many other public sector workers - including DfE officials.

What effect does this have on retention, and is it likely to improve? Important article by @cerysturner.bsky.social

www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Special schools fear being an ‘afterthought’ on curriculum In response to the curriculum review, leaders in the specialist sector urge the DfE to focus more on what is taught in special schools and how best practice can be shared

The government is in danger of overlooking the importance of what is taught in special schools and needs to focus more on students who cannot access the national curriculum, special-school leaders have warned.

Exclusive by @johngroberts.bsky.social

Ofqual chief: Schools can already cut exam times Choosing between exam boards enables schools to reduce exam times to a degree ‘not all that different’ to that envisaged by the Francis review, says Sir Ian Bauckham

If schools really want to cut exam time by a similar amount to that recommended in the CAR, they could just switch exam boards, the Ofqual chief has said.

He also, however, stressed that most schools don't choose exam boards on this basis, and he "never" did.

Teachers far more likely than students to say phone rules are followed Findings from the latest DfE behaviour survey also indicate that leaders, educators and pupils disagree about the extent to which their school is 'calm and orderly'

Which group is right? 👀

School funding to fall by up to 4% in real terms, expert warns Government’s headline rise to minimum per-pupil funding largely reflects grants being rolled into the NFF, leaving schools facing real-terms cuts, says Simon Oxenham

Exclusive: The government’s minimum per-pupil funding level for next year will leave schools facing real-terms cuts, warns expert

RISE impact ‘will be seen by Christmas’ ‘Monitoring’ of the first batch of schools going through the new regional school improvement system is taking place this term, says DfE official

Some schools have been “a little bit suspicious” of the DfE’s RISE programme, but there’s lots of “anecdotal positivity”, and early signs of impact should be known by Xmas, the head of the DfE’s regions group said today.

Reform deputy says pupils wearing ear defenders in class is ‘insane’ Reform’s deputy leader claims there is ‘over-diagnosis’ of neurodiverse conditions, appearing at an event where a former Ofsted chief says dyslexia just means ‘bad at reading’

Reform deputy leader Richard Tice claims there is a 'crisis of over-diagnosis' of neurodiverse conditions, while ex-Ofsted chief Baroness Spielman says dyslexia just means 'bad at reading'

Extra enrichment isn’t possible, teachers warn The DfE is introducing enrichment benchmarks to push schools to deliver more extracurricular clubs - but research shows that teachers are already working unpaid and out of hours to deliver such activi...

💥Revealed: Serious doubt cast over the government’s plan to judge schools on their enrichment offer. Inc new @teachertapp.bsky.social findings commissioned by @tesmagazine.bsky.social

What will push the last single-academy trusts to merge? Nearly 850 single-academy trusts remain, including some of the highest performing schools in England. Labour wants them to join multi-academy trusts, but persuading them won’t be easy, finds Jabed Ahm...

How do you persuade single academy trusts with some of the best attainment scores in England to join a MAT, if they’re managing ok financially? And do MATs even want them?

@jabedahmed.bsky.social speaks to heads and trust leaders to find out.

AI qualification at risk of rapid obsolescence, warns exam chief In an exclusive interview, AQA chief Colin Hughes warns that an AI qualification stemming from this week’s curriculum and assessment review may not have a long-term future

The new GCSE in AI could quickly become out of date, the chief of England’s largest exam board has warned.

Exclusive by @cerysturner.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Plus more on the role that @oaknational.bsky.social is expected to play.

First state school to open a fee-paying campus overseas Queen Elizabeth’s School, in London, is to launch a fee-paying school in Dubai and has further plans for two more schools in India

🌍 A grammar school in London is to become the first state school to open a fee-paying school overseas…

Curriculum and assessment review: 14 key points The Francis review’s final recommendations include scrapping the EBacc, reducing exam time and making triple science available to all at GCSE

🚨The govt will scrap the EBacc, cut GCSE exam time by up to three hours & make sure every school meets "enrichment benchmarks".

Here are all the key proposals from the curriculum and assessment review, plus which reforms the government has accepted so far:

I'm not aware of anything specifying that schools have to stay open until 3.30pm, as long as they commit to 32.5 hours...
www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/202...