Tag: 2012

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 9 October 2012.

One in ten secondary schools – around 300 schools – from across England will be part of the trial in which headteachers will be responsible for ensuring that the pupils they exclude continue to receive a decent education. It will also help pupils who are at risk of being excluded by encouraging schools to intervene earlier.

Headteachers who permanently exclude a pupil from their school will now be able to choose the alternative provision, rather than the local authority. The school will also receive the funding instead of the local authority.

Schools in the trials will then be better able to monitor both attainment and attendance of the pupils. The trial will also help encourage schools to intervene early with children who are at risk of being excluded.

In 2009/10, 5020 pupils were permanently excluded from their secondary school. Most were sent to alternative provision such as Pupil Referral Units. Latest statistics show that only 1.4 per cent of pupils in alternative provision achieved five good GCSEs including maths and English. The Government believes this is not good enough.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Improving behaviour in our schools is a key priority of the Government, which is why we support headteachers who permanently exclude those children who persistently disrupt the education of others or who bully other children.

We need to ensure, however, that exclusion does not lead those children to abandon education. The quality of education for permanently excluded children is so poor that scarcely any achieve the minimum level of qualifications they need to succeed. Many of these children are the most vulnerable in society and we need to ensure that, despite being expelled from school, they continue to receive a good quality education, albeit in an alternative setting.

This trial is just one of a range of education reforms designed to drive up the quality and academic standards of alternative education for excluded children. We are determined that no child’s education should be abandoned, regardless of the behaviour or problems facing that child.

Eight local authorities have joined the trial to date:

• Leeds City Council
• Lancashire County Council
• East Sussex County Council
• Wiltshire Council
• Sefton Council
• Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council
• Hampshire
• Middlesbrough

Areas in Hampshire, Hertfordshire and Leeds will be implementing the new approach between September 2012 and April 2013.

A headteacher has the power to permanently exclude a pupil if they have seriously or persistently breached the school’s behaviour policy, and where allowing the pupil to remain in school would seriously harm the education or welfare of the pupil or others in the school.

Currently when a decision to permanently exclude has been taken, for the first five days of the exclusion parents are required to supervise their child. On the sixth day the local authority assumes responsibility for providing full-time education for the pupil. They decide what provision would best meet the needs of the excluded pupil. This may be in a local authority-managed Pupil Referral Unit or with an alternative provider, such as a third sector organisation which, for example, focuses on vocational subjects or intensive personal and behavioural improvement.

Schools in the trial will take over most of this responsibility from their local authority. Cambridgeshire County Council is already running a similar approach with some of its schools. Historically, the schools in the county tended to trust alternative providers and assume that pupils were getting the quality of support they needed.

Now five school partnerships have freedom to allocate funding of about £5 million, previously controlled by the council, as they choose. Schools have used the funding to bring about a significant shift in attitude and approach. Schools are much more concerned about making sure the alternative provision meet the individual needs of the pupil. Results for excluded pupils or those at risk of exclusion have improved and expenditure, which in the past was increasing in huge steps year on year, is stable.

Mark Patterson, headteacher at Chesterton Community College which has been part of the new approach, said:

By having more control over alternative provision and the funding, we can have better provision in our own schools for those students who would previously have been permanently excluded or who would have simply ‘dropped out’ and then been hard or impossible to re-engage.

The system has worked well with referrals to the Pupil Referral Units falling by 60 per cent over the past three years, which means far fewer students out of school – and that has to be a good thing.

The trial will take place over three school years, being reviewed at the end of each year. It is due to finish in July 2014.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 28 September 2022.

Prestigious £20,000 scholarships to be led by Royal Society of Chemistry.

Government confirms teacher training bursaries for 2013/14.

New recruitment targets to focus on quality of graduates.

New teacher training scholarships in chemistry led by the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) have been announced today.

Around 130 scholarships worth £20,000 each will be available. Any graduate with a 2:1 or first class degree will be eligible to apply for a scholarship on a chemistry Initial Teacher Training (ITT) course.

Working with experts in teaching practice, the RSC will award scholarships to candidates with exceptional subject knowledge, enthusiasm for the study of chemistry, and outstanding potential to teach. The RSC’s relationship with the scholars will continue into their teaching careers to develop a cadre of outstanding chemistry teachers who are part of a community of chemists across schools, universities and industry.

The scholarship comes as part of the government’s teacher training strategy, ‘Training our next generation of outstanding teachers’, and follows on from the success of the physics scholarship with the Institute of Physics.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

If we want to have an education system that ranks with the best in the world, then we need to attract the best people into the profession, and we need to give them outstanding training.

By joining up with the prestigious Royal Society of Chemistry, the scholarship will help make sure we have excellent chemistry teachers in this country with deep subject knowledge. They will help raise the status of the teaching profession and also make a huge difference in the lives of children.

Dr Robert Parker, RSC chief executive, said:

The RSC is delighted to be leading this exciting initiative. We believe passionately in the need for inspirational teaching, and our fervent hope is that this scholarship will increase the number of inspirational chemistry teachers.

It is also crucial to drive an increase in the number of chemistry-qualified teachers who teach the subject. The RSC always seeks to support teachers advancing the chemical sciences in education, not just because it is good for the students – it is also good for the country to have scientifically literate young people in all walks of life to raise Britain’s industrial and commercial competitiveness in an increasingly competitive world.

Professor Sir Harry Kroto, British joint winner of the Nobel Prize for Chemistry, who now lectures at Florida State University, said:

In an age in which almost every day we see the development of new technical breakthroughs which impinge on our everyday lives in significant ways, it is vital that we nurture an overall population which understands technology and is aware of scientific ways of thinking.

This scheme is most welcome and should help enormously to ensure more young people are inspired by this new cohort of outstanding chemistry teachers.

It is vital that they will be able to pass on their enthusiasm for chemistry, the subject on which essentially all survival and sustainability issues depend. Important decisions involving chemistry-related issues will confront the next generation.

Top bursaries for top graduates in priority subjects
Ministers have also confirmed the continuation of top training bursaries of up to £20,000 for the brightest graduates in core subjects. They have been re-focused on priorities for the government – EBacc subjects, computer science, music and PE, as well as more specialist maths primary teachers.

This follows on the success of last year’s bursary scheme. Figures show that around 65% of teacher trainee entrants to university-based teacher training courses had a 2:1 or better – the highest proportion on record.

Charlie Taylor, chief executive at the Teaching Agency, the body responsible for teacher recruitment and training, said:

Teaching is now a top career choice for the best graduates.

By offering enticing tax-free bursaries together with outstanding training and development, we can continue to attract the very best into our classrooms.

A new bursary for computer science has been introduced as top universities and schools will be invited to run new computer science teacher training courses from the academic year 2013 to 2014. Funding for the current information and communications technology (ICT) courses will end at the same time to reflect the disapplication of ICT programmes of study.

The government is also changing the way teacher training recruitment targets are set. The Teaching Agency is now to be given targets focussing on recruiting high-quality graduates in priority subjects.

Previously targets were set purely to recruit enough teachers to meet future school demand – an emphasis on meeting quantity targets. However, from the 2013 to 2014 academic year onwards, targets will be set to recruit teachers with a 2:1 or above to teach secondary EBacc subjects plus music, computer science, PE and in primary education.

The government is also looking to introduce a five-year target for recruitment of high-quality teachers, which it wants to benchmark against high-performing school systems. The government’s aspiration is that in five years time it will recruit the same quality of teachers as the best performing schools systems in the world. This will help in the drive to make teaching an ever higher status profession for the best graduates, whilst making sure the education system has enough teachers.

New School Direct programme opens
From today, schools can apply for School Direct teacher training places for September 2013.

School Direct gives schools the opportunity to recruit and train their own staff, who will go on to teach in their school, or another school in their partnership.

Under the new scheme, schools will train the best graduates as teachers in the subjects and phases they need, and work with accredited providers – such as top universities and other schools – to lead the way they are trained. This will help drive up the quality of teacher training by giving schools a greater role in recruiting and training new teachers; involving the best serving teachers in training the next generation; and encouraging more school-led partnerships for teacher training.

Candidates benefit from attractive bursaries for priority subjects like mathematics, physics, and modern languages, as well a job at the end of their training. They will also benefit from an additional 25% premium on top of the bursaries if their training is based in a challenging school with a high proportion of disadvantaged children – where 35% or more of pupils are eligible for free school meals.

Harris City Academy Crystal Palace has been part of the pilot School Direct programme. The school has this month started training eight graduates as teachers in key subjects such as chemistry, mathematics and French.

Sir Dan Moynihan, chief executive at Harris Federation, said:

As a highly successful academy chain, Harris Federation has much to offer trainee teachers and the School Direct programme allows us to take much more control over the training of the next generation of teachers.

Outstanding teachers will work alongside trainee teachers with schools in the driving seat, commissioning the support they want from higher education.

The application window for schools to apply for places on the School Direct programme is open now until 12 October 2012.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 24 September 2012.

England’s most disadvantaged pupils are to benefit from extra cash next year when the Pupil Premium rises to £900 per pupil – around 50% higher than last year.

Schools receive extra cash through the premium for every child registered as eligible for free school meals (FSM) at any point in the past six years and children in care who have been looked after for six months.

Schools Minister David Laws said:

It’s unacceptable that children from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to do well in school than their peers. The coalition government has introduced the pupil premium to tackle this problem.

After just one year, many schools are already telling us that the Pupil Premium is making a difference.

This extra funding will help schools provide the extra support children and young people need to reach their full potential.

Statistics show that, in 2011, the latest available:

• 35% of pupils on free school meals achieved five good GCSE grades compared with 62% of other pupils.
• 58% of pupils on free school meals achieved the expected level in both English and maths by the end of primary school compared with 78% of other pupils.
• The pupil premium was introduced in April 2011 and over 1.8 million disadvantaged children are benefiting from the extra cash that goes to schools. The total available through the premium has risen from £625 million in 2011-12 to £1.875 billion next year, and will rise further to £2.5 billion by the financial year 2014 to 2015.

Evidence shows that children from low income families generally do not achieve as well as other pupils. Schools therefore receive additional pupil premium funding on top of the school budget to enable them to support these pupils in reaching their potential and to help schools reduce educational inequality.

Just 13.2 % of children looked after by local authorities achieve 5 good GCSE grades, including English and maths, and the government wants them to benefit from the extra funding through the premium.

Whilst schools have the freedom to use the pupil premium funding in innovative ways, it is vital they use it to boost results for the most disadvantaged pupils. They will be held to account by Ofsted through its inspections which include a closer focus on premium use and the performance of pupils who attract it, as well as a focus on the achievement of disadvantaged pupils in the school performance tables. Schools are also required to publish online details of their premium spend for parents.

Summer schools

Following the popularity of the summer schools for Pupil Premium pupils, the Government will be making £50 million available for the scheme to run again next year.

Nearly 2000 schools received government funding to run a summer school this year, providing up to two weeks of support for around 65,000 disadvantaged children. Schools offered a range of activities aimed at helping children settle in to the new school, ranging from catch-up lessons for those children needing extra help, to extra-curricular activities such as theatre trips, and Olympics-related sporting events.

Pupils can struggle to make the jump to secondary education. Moving to a larger school and having to tackle a more challenging curriculum can be daunting for some pupils. This results in a dip in their performance, which can persist throughout their time at school.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 20 September 2012.

The reports, ‘Getting to good’, ‘The pupil premium’ and initial data from the forthcoming report ‘Early entry to GCSE examinations’ were presented at a press briefing, where Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw talked about the importance of all children receiving a good education and the need for schools to focus on both ends of the ability and achievement spectrum.

He also set out how Ofsted’s new structure will support schools to get to good, or outstanding.

Children and young people have only one chance of a good education. Yet today, over two million pupils attend 6,000 schools that are less than good. I make no apology for scrapping satisfactory – only good is good enough to ensure that our schools can compete with the rest of the world.

Take a typical good secondary school and a typical school judged satisfactory at its last inspection. In the good school, many more of the high achieving pupils from primary school are likely to achieve an A or B grade in maths and English GCSE. If they miss out in the satisfactory school, then this shuts the door on these subjects at A level, and in turn access to the top universities.

Meeting the needs of every pupil is the difference between a good school and a weak school.

Getting to good
Published today, the report ‘Getting to good: how headteachers achieve success’, looks at the key steps taken by headteachers in schools that have improved from satisfactory to good or better. While each school is unique, there are common features of the journey to good that all schools can learn from.

Headteachers with a successful track record of leading schools from being judged satisfactory, to becoming good or better are absolutely clear that improving teaching and learning is at the heart of what needs to be done, they communicate their high expectations of staff and pupils effectively, and they lead by example, modelling the behaviour they want from their staff. They also know that to build capacity and sustain improvement they need robust performance management that holds staff to account for their leadership and teaching.

From now on, Ofsted will expect schools to improve within four years to a good standard, but will also be more proactive in supporting and challenging schools to secure the necessary improvements. Her Majesty’s Inspectors will be assigned to schools that require improvement to ensure that they progress to a good standard. No later than 4 years after they have been judged to require improvement, inspectors will make a decision about whether the school has improved sufficiently or is placed in special measures.

All schools that are not yet good have been sent a guide that highlights recent Ofsted best practice and survey reports. The booklet is designed to help schools learn from what works and draws attention to the characteristics of outstanding provision.

Pupil premium
Also published today, the report ‘The pupil premium’ looks at how schools are using pupil premium funding to raise achievement and improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils.

From this month, the government requires schools to publish online information about how they have used the premium.

The survey found that many schools did not disaggregate the pupil premium from their main budget, and said that they were using the funding to maintain or enhance existing provision rather than to put in place new activity. Half of the schools surveyed said the pupil premium was making little or no difference to the way they work.

The report also found that the most common use of the pupil premium funding was to pay for teaching assistants. Over two fifths of school leaders said they used the Pupil Premium to fund existing or new teaching assistants. Proportionally this was higher in primary schools.

In future Ofsted will be critical of schools that are not achieving well for their disadvantaged pupils, and will want to know how they are spending the pupil premium, how this is making a difference for their disadvantaged pupils, and how they are being held to account for this spending by their governors.

Early entry to GCSE examinations
Due to be published soon, the report ‘Early entry to GCSE examinations’ found that the number of pupils entered early in English and maths has increased significantly in the last six years. Over a third of all pupils are now entered early for these exams – more than 200,000 in each of maths and English.

Pupils who were high achieving at the end of primary school were less likely to achieve an A or A* if they sat their exams early. In both English and maths, there is a more than ten percentage points difference for these pupils in the achievement of A grades between those who were entered early and those who were not.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 10 September 2012.

New wave of schools will help raise standards and improve choice

Thousands of pupils in England are set to benefit from high-quality academic study combined with practical learning as more studio schools and university technical colleges (UTCs) open this September.

The 11 new studio schools and three UTCs have the backing of business and industry, and offer young people an education that equips them with the skills employers want.

The figures also mean that, between September 2011 and September 2012, a total of 97 new UTCs, studio schools and free schools have been opened by passionate teachers, parents, charities, employers and education groups. These schools are helping to give power back to teachers to raise standards in education, and are providing greater choice for parents.

Studio schools offer academic and vocational qualifications, but teach them in a practical way. Study is combined with work placements – which are often paid placements – with local and national employers who are involved in the school. These include Fulham FC, the BBC, and the National Grid.

UTCs are sponsored by a local university and employers, and they focus on providing technical education that meets the needs of modern business. Each has one or two specialisms – ranging from engineering, to manufacturing, to construction or bio-medical sciences.

Both UTCs and studio schools are part of the government’s drive to ensure the education system responds to demands from employers for the skills they need to grow and prosper.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

New studio schools and university technical colleges will ensure more young people get great jobs. They are a brilliant way for employers to get more involved in education so that young people can be better prepared than ever before for the world of work.

The UTCs and studio schools opening this September include:

• Aston University Academy of Engineering UTC, Birmingham, which will focus on engineering and science through a partnership between Aston University, the Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Network (STEMNET) and a range of industry partners, including the National Grid.
• Hackney UTC, London, sponsored by Hackney Community College, the University of East London, BT and Homerton University Hospital, will specialise in medical technologies and new digital technologies, working closely with the pioneering start-up companies based in Hoxton.
• Hull Studio School, Hull, sponsored by outstanding-rated Hull College, will focus on business and enterprise and will provide young people with the essential employability skills they need to enter the world of work, by working with local employers such as British Land and Humberside Police.
• The Studio College for Construction and Building Excellence, Stoke-on-Trent, will specialise in construction and give students the opportunity to learn in a small, supportive environment to get the qualifications and training they need to be work ready. Sponsored by Stoke-on-Trent College, the studio school will work with a network of construction industry partners including Wates Construction.

UTCs and studio schools are new schools for 14- to 19-year-olds. Pupils of all abilities can choose to go to them at ages 14 or 16. These schools typically operate on business hours, and many have shorter school holidays.

Studio schools offer academic and vocational qualifications to around 300 pupils. Study is combined with work placements (which may be paid placements at post-16) with local and national employers who are involved in the school. Learning in this way encourages students to develop skills like punctuality, good communication, reliability and team working, whilst gaining a strong grounding in English, maths and science.

David Frost CBE, Chair of the Studio Schools Trust, said:

I am delighted that eleven new studio schools are opening this September, and the enthusiasm of parents and students for these schools is extremely heartening.

Lack of work readiness amongst school leavers is a key issue for businesses up and down the country, and studio schools are designed to address this concern. With their unique combination of mainstream qualifications, real work, and the development of employability skills and entrepreneurialism, studio schools will play a vital role in providing young people with the skills and experience that our economy needs.

UTCs are sponsored by a local university and employers, and they focus on providing technical education. Each has one or two specialisms, and students split their time between studying core academic subjects and learning specific technical skills and qualifications.

Lord Baker, Chair of the Baker Dearing Educational Trust, said:

The UTC curriculum is built around projects created by employers. This brings education to life – students understand not just what they are learning, but why – and where they can go next. It’s hugely exciting, hugely motivating and just what young people want.

Employers report that they are struggling to find the skills they are looking for in school leavers. In the May 2010 CBI employer survey, more than two thirds of employers (70%) wanted to see the new government make the employability skills of young people its top education priority.

Both UTCs and Studio Schools are part of the Government’s drive to ensure the education system responds to demands from employers for the skills they need to grow and prosper. They will also increase choice for parents and pupils in communities across the country.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 7 September 2022.

Figures out today (Friday 7 September 2012) reveal that 282 academies open this month, taking the total number to 2,309. There are now more than 10 times as many academies as there were in May 2010 when there were just 203 academies.

Failing schools have been specifically targeted by the government for radical improvement. A record 130 sponsored academies open this month. The total number of sponsored academies is now 501.

The government is tackling chronic educational under-performance by installing new leaders and providing great sponsors for weak schools. In 2011, the GCSE results of sponsored academies open for at least two years improved almost twice as fast as those for all state-funded schools.

This month

• 54% of secondary schools are either already academies or in the pipeline to become academies.
• 1.7 million pupils are now taught in academies.
• 120,000 teachers – a quarter of the frontline school workforce – are now employed in academies. 48% of the secondary workforce are in academies.
• 14 academies for children with special educational needs will open this month taking the total to 56, compared to just 1 last September.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

We believe in trusting the professionals. That’s why we gave teachers the opportunity to take on more freedom and responsibility and they have grabbed it with both hands. Many are now going even further and taking on responsibility for turning around less successful schools. These outstanding converters are becoming the new academy sponsors of the future raising standards across the state sector.

Schools Minister David Laws said:

Academies help to ensure that the professionals – teachers on the frontline – are in charge of schools not politicians or bureaucrats. I am pleased that more schools are choosing to increase their capacity to innovate and our vision is that all schools will take on these freedoms and responsibilities.

Academies put power back into the hands of headteachers. Academies have introduced longer school days, benefiting parents and pupils, and have introduced new contracts that reward high-achieving teachers.

Examples

• David Young Community Academy, Leeds, operates a seven-term academic year which starts in June and finishes in May, with a four-week summer holiday.

Headteacher Ros McMullen said:

This ensures that by the time everybody else starts year 7, the academy’s pupils have already had a good 10 weeks of secondary education.

• Wigmore School in Hereford will from September supply hot healthy lunches to 3 of its 6 feeder primary schools, with the hope of supplying all 6 in the future.

Headteacher Andrew Shaw said:

Due to their geographical locations sending food out to three primary schools will be a challenge for us. But if it means other children will benefit from the same quality food, it is worth it. We could not have done this without the freedoms gained through academy status.

• Samworth Church Academy in Mansfield, has 90% of employees who voluntarily switched to individual contracts. This has given more flexibility to use traditional school holiday time for creative and innovative programmes ranging from traditional revision classes and coursework catch-ups to ‘study residentials’ that have combined adventure and outdoor activities with intensive study programmes.

Examples of new sponsored academies

• Willow Brook Primary School Academy in Leyton is opening this September to replace the under-performing predecessor school. It will be sponsored by Yardley Primary School Academy in Chingford, which has been judged outstanding by Ofsted.
• Slade Junior and Infant School is an under-performing school in a deprived area of Birmingham. It will become an academy in September joining the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership. Arthur Terry has a rich history in securing improvements in other schools including Stockland Green, which also converted to an academy with the Arthur Terry School in May 2012.
• Tregolls Primary School in Cornwall was placed in Special Measures by Ofsted in June 2011. It will become an academy this September sponsored by Penair Schools. Penair is an outstanding secondary academy which converted in April 2011.
• King’s Houghton Middle School in Dunstable is an under-performing school rated satisfactory by Ofsted in July 2011. It will become an academy in September joining the successful academy chain Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust.

Tom Clark, Chairman of The Freedom and Autonomy for Schools National Association (FASNA), said:

It is great to see the academy programme successfully demonstrating the effective use of autonomy in raising standards for pupils. Our member schools are actively involved in supporting other schools thinking about becoming academies and are sharing best practice about how they have used curriculum, staffing and budget freedoms to benefit their pupils and their community.

David Wootton, Chair of the Independent Academies Association and Regional Executive South for Academy sponsor, United Learning, said:

Academies are using the freedom they have over the curriculum and use of resources to innovate and drive school improvement across the country both within academies and beyond, particularly challenging areas of disadvantage. This is not only leading to a significant improvement in pupils’ attainment but in using freedoms to innovate in many areas like inclusion, additional needs and community engagement. Academies are transforming the future of education in England.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 6 September 2022.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has today (Thursday) announced the continuation of a £2m-a-year partnership between the Department for Education (DfE) and the Institute of Physics (IOP).

In a sustained effort to overcome the chronic shortage of specialist physics teachers, Michael Gove has announced that IOP’s teacher training scholarships will continue.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

Following the successful recruitment of 115 excellent trainee teachers this year, I’m delighted to announce another recruitment round over this academic year.

We are starting to see the root causes of our physics teacher shortage being addressed. By raising the status of the profession, we’re bringing highly sought-after physics graduates and career-changers, all with incredible aptitude to teach, into the classroom.

The £20,000 scholarships – available to graduates with a 2:1 or first class degree intending to do a mainstream physics, or physics with maths, initial teacher training course – have contributed to another year of record high physics teacher recruitment.

IOP has also today published a summary of trends in physics education and, as the note reports, “While there is no magic bullet to remedy the chronic shortage of physics teachers, the situation is starting to improve as steps have been taken by both the IOP and the Department for Education”.

With a need to recruit 1,000 new specialist physics teachers every year for more than a decade to address the imbalance between the number of specialist biology, chemistry and physic teachers in science departments across England, there is still a long way to go.

Professor Peter Main, director of education and science at IOP, said:

For the second year running, we are seeing record numbers of would-be teachers starting teacher training courses in either physics or physics with maths.

Last year, we saw 889 new trainees start their initial teacher training and this year all evidence suggests that we’ll see more than 900 entering teacher training. This is up from below 600 just two years ago.

IOP credits a range of developments with the strides being made to address the teacher shortage; from the government’s introduction of ambitious teacher recruitment targets for physics through to the teacher training scholarships and efforts being made to retain greater numbers of physics teachers in the profession once qualified.

With the shortage due to persist for at least a decade another government-funded programme called the Stimulating Physics Network continues to work with non-specialist physics teachers to ensure non-specialists (often biologists) have the knowledge, enthusiasm and confidence to successfully teach physics.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 4 September 2012.

Ofsted has today announced changes to the way it inspects early years providers, such as nurseries and childminders.

From September, Ofsted inspection of early years providers will be more focused on children’s education and their personal and emotional development. Inspectors will give greater attention to the progress children make in their learning.

The changes will also give those looking after children more freedom in managing their own service, while continuing to keep children safe by strengthening registration and maintaining rigorous enforcement for those who are not complying with requirements.

National Director Education, Susan Gregory, said:

It is crucial that children’s earliest experiences give them the best start in life. Through better inspection Ofsted wants to help ensure that every child has the best possible support in their learning and development, whilst ensuring that they are safe and well cared for. That’s why inspections are going to focus even more on interactions with children, and less on paperwork.

Observation of activities to develop children’s knowledge, understanding and skills in the main areas of learning, as well as care practices, will continue to be at the heart of inspections and providing feedback to those working with children will remain a high priority.

Early years providers will be given a judgement on their overall effectiveness that will take into account how well their provision meets the needs of the range of children who attend, how well they identify any particular needs children may have and arrange appropriate help; the contribution practitioners make to the well-being of children and the effectiveness of leadership and management. In particular, inspection will consider the extent to which all children are supported to acquire the skills and capacity to develop and learn effectively and be ready for the next stages in their learning, especially school.

In order to improve the information provided to parents, Ofsted will be making inspection reports more user-friendly. The new reports will include a front page summary, recommendations for good practice and any actions we have required providers to take.

To ensure that parents get more information about the quality of provision for their children, Ofsted is changing the way it investigates concerns. In most cases where Ofsted receives information that raises concerns, rather than simply investigating the issue, inspectors will carry out a full inspection and publish the report on Ofsted’s website. This will allow parents to have a fuller picture of provision and also gives providers more opportunity to set the concern in context of the overall quality of provision.

The timing of these inspections will depend on the nature of the concern and its potential seriousness for the welfare of children attending. In cases where the information, if true, would suggest there are, or could be, risks to children, we will carry out that inspection as quickly as possible.

To allow providers more flexibility in managing their own service, Ofsted will no longer routinely issue restrictions or conditions on registrations, such as the number of children they may care for. Instead Ofsted will draw parents’ and providers’ attention to the relevant legal requirements set out in the EYFS. This means that when providers want to do something such as change the number of children they can look after, they simply need to check if the EYFS allows them to do this.

Ofsted will also introduce changes to the way it registers people wishing to provide childcare. Childminder applicants will be expected to apply for registration only when they are confident that they know and understand everything they need to do to meet requirements. This includes completing all of their training before registration.

 

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 3 September 2012.

The revised inspection arrangements follow a comprehensive consultation ‘A Good Education For All’ which received more than five thousand responses from teachers, headteachers, parents, carers and governors. Respondees agreed that children deserve the best education possible and as a result Ofsted has introduced inspection arrangements that challenge the education system to do better.

Ofsted is raising the bar for school inspections. This is a real challenge for schools but it is also a challenge for Ofsted. To meet this challenge Ofsted is making a number of structural and organisational changes, putting more senior inspectors in the field to promote improvement through inspection and to ensure the right amount of time is spent giving support to schools when they need it.

Launching the new inspection framework Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Sir Michael Wilshaw, said:

I believe all children, regardless of where they live or what their parents can afford for them, have the right to a good education and that belief is at the heart of our work at Ofsted. From today, the school inspection arrangements will further challenge schools to ensure a good education is provided for all our children.

I make no apology for introducing an inspection framework that raises expectations and focuses on the importance of teaching. The new short-notice inspections allow inspectors to see schools as they really are. Schools judged ‘requires improvement’ will receive strong support from Ofsted to help them get to ‘good’.

We know inspections are crucial in driving better performance. Showing the need for improvement is often the spur that brings about change. I want Ofsted to be giving the right support to the schools that need it. Her Majesty’s Inspectors will spend more time doing inspection and improvement work locally and they will be supported by eight new regional directors, each responsible for learning and improvement in their respective areas.

From September 2012 the key changes to the inspection framework for schools are:

• to be judged ‘outstanding’, a school must have outstanding teaching. Not every lesson needs to be outstanding but over time schools must show outstanding teaching is helping pupils make excellent progress
• from today a new grade ‘requires improvement’ replaces the ‘satisfactory’ grade. Satisfactory should never have been more than a staging post on a school’s journey towards providing a good or outstanding education for all children
• schools judged satisfactory at the end of August 2012 will have a clean slate before being inspected by the end of the academic year 2013/14, but schools that have already been judged inadequate and given a notice to improve will be treated as schools that have ‘serious weaknesses’
• schools will be notified of an inspection by telephone the afternoon before the inspection starts. This means inspectors will see schools as they really are whilst giving headteachers and governors the opportunity to be present at the inspection

1. Ofsted announced the changes to the inspection of schools, further education and skills and initial teacher training on 30 May.
2. Thanks to the dedication of teachers and headteachers across England, most children go to a school that Ofsted has found good or outstanding.*

	Outstanding (%)	Good (%)	Total (%)
North East	21	51	72
North West	24	50	74
Yorkshire and the Humber	18	49	67
East Midlands	17	49	66
West Midlands	18	47	65
East of England	20	47	67
London	28	48	76
South East	21	47	68
South West	21	51	72

	Outstanding (%)	Good (%)	TOTAL (%)
Birmingham	23	45	68
Bolton	21	49	70
Bristol	21	38	59
Coventry	9	43	52
Derby	13	39	52
Lancashire	21	50	71
Leicester	13	48	61
Liverpool	24	53	77
Manchester	25	41	66
Newcastle Upon Tyne	22	48	70
Norfolk	12	49	61
Nottingham	18	51	69
Oxfordshire	15	48	63
Reading	23	37	60
Sheffield	19	47	66
Stoke-on-trent	22	41	63
Suffolk	20	47	67
Sunderland	14	46	60
Warrington	31	40	71
Wolverhampton	17	44	61

*Most recent inspection as at 31 March 2012. The most recent school inspection outcome statistics can be found on the Ofsted website.

1. The Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills (Ofsted) regulates and inspects to achieve excellence in the care of children and young people, and in education and skills for learners of all ages. It regulates and inspects childcare and children’s social care, and inspects the Children and Family Court Advisory Support Service (Cafcass), schools, colleges, initial teacher training, work-based learning and skills training, adult and community learning, and education and training in prisons and other secure establishments. It assesses council children’s services, and inspects services for looked after children, safeguarding and child protection.