This update contains a summary of all the relevant latest news, information and guidance that has been released in the last two months.
Additional Funding
Pupil premium – Updated 6th September
The government is giving schools extra funding to help improve outcomes for disadvantaged children and other pupils who need extra support. This guidance document has been amended to make the pupil eligibility and funding rates and use of the pupil premium sections clearer.
Using pupil premium: guidance for school leaders – Updated 1st November
This guidance outlines how school leaders can use their pupil premium funding effectively, complete their strategy statement and information about pupil premium payments. It has been updated with the template you must use to publish your statement for the 2021 to 2022 academic year. This includes a requirement to demonstrate how your spending decisions are informed by a range of evidence. The DfE have also added new guidance on developing and delivering an effective strategy, made some changes to make the actions you need to take clearer and added statement examples for primary, secondary and special school
Recovery premium funding – Updated 6 October
This guidance outlines the additional funding in the 2021 to 2022 academic year to support schools with education recovery following COVID-19.
PE and sport premium for primary schools – Updated 28th October
This guidance outlining how much PE and sport premium funding schools receive and advice on how it should be spent has been updated with information about carried forward unspent PE and sport premium grant funding and has added the payment dates for 2021 to 2022 and a link to the conditions of grant.
As a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the DfE relaxed the ring-fencing arrangements for the PE and sport premium in the 2019 to 2020 academic year, to allow any unspent grant to be carried forward into the 2020 to 2021 academic year. Due to the continuation of the pandemic, this has also been applied to any unspent funding for the 2020 to 2021 academic year.
Any unspent funding that has been carried forward must be spent in full by 31 July 2022. Schools will need to factor this into spending plans for their 2021 to 2022 PE and sport premium allocation. The conditions of grant reflect this.
Education Endowment Foundation
Education Endowment Foundation Teaching and Learning Toolkit – 17th September
The EEF Teaching and Learning Toolkit has been updated. Each evidence review now has:
- a section on implementation which suggests ways that initiatives could be put into practice;
- information on the potential impact on closing the disadvantage attainment gap.
This Toolkit can be used to reference research evidence as required by the pupil premium statement.
There is also a separate Early Years Toolkit.
The EEF have published a new guide to support schools to use evidence to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils through their pupil premium strategy. It follows the publication of a new pupil premium reporting template from the Department for Education, which – for the first time – asks schools to demonstrate they have considered evidence when developing their pupil premium strategy.
Department for Education
All change at the Department of Education (DfE)
On the 15th September the Prime Minister carried out a reshuffle of his ministerial teams and the DfE had a number of new Ministers.
- Nadhim Zahawi MP – Secretary of State for Education
- Robin Walker MP – Minister of State (Minister for School Standards)
- Will Quince MP – Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Children and Families)
- Michelle Donelan MP – Minister of State (Minister for Universities)
- Alex Burghart MP – Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills)
- Baroness Barran MBE – Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Minister for the School System)
SEND Review
This Blog Post contains an open letter from Will Quince to all parents and carers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities to talk about his ambitions for them and their children. (not written to schools though!)
These are the key points:
- He is wholeheartedly committed to the SEND Review
- He states it is key that children, families, teachers and others who play a vital role are actively involved
- Committed to delivering the SEND Review quickly but need to make sure the proposed changes are robust.
- Acknowledges that improvements are needed – and overdue
- Aim to publish proposals in the first quarter of 2022
- Established a Steering Group that brings together government departments with representatives of parents, schools, colleges and early years, local government, health and care and independent experts
- Important that proposals offer a way forward to reduce local variation
- Need to improve early intervention; make clearer the support and services everyone should be able to expect and have funding and accountability systems in place which support this
National Tutoring Programme
National Tutoring Programme (NTP) – 8th September
This is a policy paper on the scheme to provide support for pupils and students most affected by disruption to their education as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The National Tutoring Programme (NTP) is an ambitious scheme intended to provide additional, targeted support for those children and young people in schools who have been most affected by disruption to their education as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
During the first year of the programme introduced in November of the 2020 to 2021 academic year, state-maintained primary and secondary schools in England were able to access high-quality subsidised tutoring provision for 5 to 16-year-olds using 2 routes, tuition partners and academic mentors.
The second year covers the 2021 to 2022 academic year and builds on the first phase. Based on feedback from schools, we have expanded the NTP for the second year of the programme, offering state-funded schools and academy trusts 3 routes to tutoring:
- tuition partners
- academic mentors
- school led tutoring
Further Information can be found on the National Tutoring Website
Curriculum
Teaching mathematics at key stage 3 – 28th September
This is new guidance for teaching mathematics at key stage 3 to help pupils progress through the national curriculum.
You can use this guidance to help plan teaching the statutory mathematics curriculum for key stage 3. It builds on the non-statutory guidance for primary schools, and aims to:
- identify the significant ideas that are needed for pupils to progress in their study of mathematics
- demonstrate how pupils can build their understanding of these concepts across key stage 3, in the context of the wider curriculum
Assessment and Examinations
Exams in 2022 – everything you need to know – Blog Post – Updated 11th November
This blog contains information about next year’s examinations. The DfE have announced that students will sit exams, but they recognize that students have faced disruption over the last two years and they have taken measures to make sure students aren’t disadvantaged. This blog, originally published in September was updated in November to reflect he publication of contingency plans in the unlikely event exams cannot go ahead in 2022.
KS 1 and KS 2 Assessment Materials for 2022
The Standards and Testing Agency (STA) have published a number of documents for schools in relation to statutory assessments in 2022.
- Key Stage 1: assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA)
- Key Stage 1 tests: access arrangements
- Key Stage 1 teacher assessment guidance
- Key Stage 2: assessment and reporting arrangements (ARA)
- Key Stage 2 tests: access arrangements
- Key Stage 2 teacher assessment guidance
- Multiplication tables check: information for parents
I have recently written a blog outlining the key information for pupils with additional needs. https://lpec.org.uk/?cat=68
Ofsted
Schools and early education update: academic year 2021 to 2022 – 9th September
This is an update document for inspectors and stakeholders containing the latest information and guidance about Ofsted’s inspection work in schools and early education settings.
Back into a routine: looking at schools in light of COVID – Ofsted Blog Post – 10th November
This blog was written by Chris Russell, National Director for Education. Ofsted have adapted the education inspection framework (EIF) and trained their inspectors so that they can inspect fairly and reliably this term, taking the full impact of COVID into account.
“Our expectation is that all inspections are grounded in a thorough understanding of the particular challenges a school has faced, and is still facing”.
The blog also discusses the “rebalancing exercise” of those outstanding schools that have not been inspected for a long time looking at this being one in ten schools and not one in five schools that we have currently.
Mental Health and Wellbeing
This guidance helps you find out what help you can get to develop a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing. It has been updated with the following:
Whole School or College Approach
- Taking a coordinated and evidence-informed approach to mental health and wellbeing in schools and colleges leads to improved pupil and student emotional health and wellbeing which can help readiness to learn.
- The latest edition of the whole school or college approach, updated for autumn 2021 by Public Health England (PHE) and the Department for Education, defines the areas to be considered to enable good mental health and wellbeing practice.
Senior mental health leads training
- Find out how to apply for a grant and access DfE quality assured training to help develop a whole school or college approach to mental health and wellbeing.
- Information for eligible state-funded schools and colleges about grant funding for senior mental health lead training
- Choosing a mental health and wellbeing course
- Providers of training
Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs)
- Additional information and evaluation reports
Mental health and wellbeing resources
- Updated resources list
New Resources
Refocusing on ADHD in Education – ADHD Foundation
This free resource sets out how schools and colleges can help children and young people with ADHD achieve their full potential.
In this highly practical book, Rona Tutt and Paul Williams explore how schools and other educational settings can provide students with the right environment to support their emotional wellbeing and hence to maximise their learning potential.
Nasen and Whole School SEND Specialist Provision Area
Nasen and Whole School SEND have developed an area on their website dedicated to specialist provision.
This area is dedicated to sharing examples of effective resources from specialist settings, and examples of how Whole School SEND resources have been used effectively in a specialist setting. These are resources that special schools themselves have found useful to their practice.
