ACT - The Association of Christian Teachers

Statistics at DfE  

New guidance to help ‎parents choose safe, high quality out-of-school settings - such as clubs and tuition centres - for their children has been published today.

The document, now open for consultation to ensure it meets parents’ needs, sets out ten key questions parents may want to ask providers – as well as the answers they should expect – to help them assure themselves that their children are playing and learning in a safe environment.

Questions include checking whether staff and volunteers have had appropriate training (such as health, safety and child protection), and clarifying whether adults who aren’t staff or teachers will be present.

It also sets out a number of red flags parents should look out for, like providers not being aware of how to spot or report concerns of harm, or whether the building looks unsafe or poorly maintained with loose wires and damp present.

Read the detail.

How would you restructure the school year to better support and improve teacher wellbeing and student learning? Gerry Mallaghan proposes a shorter summer break and longer half-terms...        

According to official government statistics, every year since 2012, the number of teachers recruited to the profession has been below target.

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The school playground can be a lonely place for a child if they haven't got anyone to play with. But a special type of bench is helping pupils make friends and get people talking about bigger issues too.

One day, during her usual chat with her eight-year-old son about school, Tracey Cooney got an answer she didn't expect.

"There was nobody to play with. Everyone was playing in their own little groups," he confided.

She was surprised because he was usually outgoing and confident. But two of his friends had been sick that day, so they weren't at playtime.

Cooney felt a little upset, but remembered something she had seen on social media and wondered if it could help children in his situation.  It's called a Buddy Bench.

The idea is simple - if a child feels lonely, they can go to the bench as a signal that they need someone to play with. Another child will see them, go and talk to them and include them in their games.

So Cooney asked other parents and the head teacher at Castlemartyr National School in Cork, Ireland, whether they would be interested in getting one - their answer was, "Yes."

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Sixteen grammar schools in England have been given permission to create hundreds of new places.

The schools are receiving a share of the Department for Education's £50m selective school expansion fund to accommodate up to 4,000 extra pupils.

The schools were selected from 39 applications and make up 10% of England's 163 grammar schools.

The money has been granted on the condition these schools have ambitious plans to admit more poor pupils.

• Thousands of grammar places created
• Grammar and faith schools to expand
• Grammar schools: What are they?

The government says all 16 selective schools will be making changes to their admission arrangements to increase access for disadvantaged children.

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The school reports are in - and it is a case of "could do better" for Wales' secondaries, according to inspectors Estyn.

The education body said only half of secondary schools were judged good or excellent.

Wales' Chief Inspector of Schools Meilyr Rowlands said those schools "causing concern" needed more help.

But Estyn's annual report said it had seen "encouraging" improvements in primary schools.

The Welsh Government said the challenge was to ensure that schools needing additional support were "identified at an earlier stage".

Eight out of 10 primary schools which were assessed were rated good or better.

Estyn's annual report, based on a round-up of school inspections carried out in the 2017-18 academic year, said that the proportion of primary schools judged as excellent had doubled since last year, from 4% to 8%.

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My take on the unexplained increase in degree results, as reported in the media this week, is that it is due to students working harder and being more motivated, not that universities are artificially increasing grades, and it would be a disservice to the students and to universities not to explore and measure this properly.

It is well documented that millennials are cleaner living than us children of the 60’s and 70’s, drinking less alcohol for example and eating less meat. It is certainly our experience at ACS International School, where we have children from the UK and all over the world, that what this new generation has in common is a determination to be different and better than us.

In fact, we could almost call them ‘Generation D’ because they are so driven and determined to do things differently, whether that is how they live, how they treat the world, or how hard they work. 

Our research among university admissions officers in 2017 showed that almost three quarters, 73 per cent, said students are putting more effort into considering their university choices before they apply than they did in the past.  I think this effort carries on right throughout university life.

Students want to get value for money for their degrees in a way which we didn’t, no surprise with tuition fees at £9k a year when for us it was free, and are also incredibly focussed on their career and life choices.

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Schools and colleges are introducing self-defence and first aid classes to protect their pupils from harm as a knife crime epidemic seizes the capital.

But headteachers’ efforts to make children feel safe could be undermined unless extra resources are secured, a school leaders’ union has said.

The Ofsted chief will also insist this week that schools cannot tackle the recent rise in knife crime among young people on their own.  

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More than 2,200 pupils in Birmingham and the West Midlands are 'disappearing' from the school roll just before they sit their GCSEs.

The shock revelation has been branded 'disgraceful and unethical' amid concerns it could be fuelling youth crime.

Schools watchdog Ofsted has vowed to make the issue one of its targets in future schools inspections across the West Midlands.

The practice, known as off-rollling, means pupils disappear from the school roll between Year 10 and Year 11, often without the school knowing where they are. Some are expelled, some provided with alternative schooling - but the fate of many is unknown and, in some cases, could involve illegal practices.

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The first T-level courses will be taught in further education and post-16 providers from 2020.

Speaking at an event in London this morning, Mr Hinds will add: “As a nation I’m afraid we’ve been technical education snobs. We’ve revered the academic but treated vocational as second class. When we do it well - law, engineering, medicine - then we don’t even call it vocational.

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