Tag: Department for Education

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 24 January 2011.

On Monday 24 January 2011, 6 local authorities in England (Luton, Nottingham, Waltham Forest, Kent, Newham and Sandwell) begin their judicial review action in relation to the ending of Building Schools for the Future.

A Department for Education spokesperson said:

The Secretary of State terminated the Building Schools for the Future programme because it was unnecessarily complex, poor value for money and unaffordable in the economic climate. In none of the cases are these local authorities challenging the wider decision to end BSF.

We are robustly defending the claims made by the local authorities and believe we have a strong case. The coalition government has been clear that the end of BSF is not the end of school rebuilding. That’s why we have launched a comprehensive review of all capital spending so that school building can be done more efficiently and quickly.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 20 January 2011.

The Secretary of State for Education today announced a major review of the national curriculum in England.

The review will be led by the Department for Education, supported by an advisory committee and expert panel made up of top teachers, academics and business representatives.

The review will:

• replace the current substandard curriculum with one based on the best school systems in the world, providing a world-class resource for teachers and children
• consider what subjects should be compulsory at what age
• consider what children should be taught in the main subjects at what age

Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

We have sunk in international league tables and the national curriculum is substandard. Meanwhile the pace of economic and technological change is accelerating and our children are being left behind. The previous curriculum failed to prepare us for the future. We must change course. Our review will examine the best school systems in the world and give us a world-class curriculum that will help teachers, parents and children know what children should learn at what age.

Chair of the expert panel, Tim Oates, said:

The national curriculum that we have at the moment has led teachers to move with undue pace through material and encouraged a ‘tick list’ approach to teaching. We will work with the advisory committee, as well as appraising carefully both international and national research, as part of this review. We will make changes only where justified, in order to avoid unnecessary disruption to the education system.

Members of the advisory committee and expert group welcomed today’s review.

Shahed Ahmed, Head of Elmhurst Primary School, Forest Gate, and advisory committee member, said:

I believe this review will be very helpful to re-establish that the best way to teach the primary national curriculum is through a rigorous subject-based approach. It would also be very helpful if the national curriculum is slimmed down so that schools have more time and flexibility to fit in what else they think it important to have in their own school curriculum. I also think it important to emphasise that a good grounding in the basics is the foundation to being creative.

Dame Yasmin Bevan, Executive Principal and Head of Denbigh High School and Challney High School for Boys, and advisory committee member, said:

We need a national curriculum review to establish clarity about what teachers must teach, what children must learn and what parents can expect of their children’s learning. We want to avoid overload, allowing time to ensure concepts, knowledge skills and understanding are fully developed. We also want to establish clarity about the standards we expect our young people to achieve so that they can compete confidently with the best of their peers globally.

Mike Harris, education skills lead at the Institute of Directors, and advisory committee member, said:

Education is on the frontline of the battle for the UK’s future competitiveness. We need to be confident that what we teach, the way in which we teach it, and how we assess and examine the knowledge we impart, matches the best in the world. The national curriculum review will play an important part in that effort.

Professor Nigel Thrift, Vice Chancellor, Warwick University, and advisory committee member, said:

The national curriculum review is important for universities. We need a national curriculum that delivers the knowledge children need to attend university and we need it now. Too often we find that, despite teachers’ hard work and dedication, children do not have what we would consider as the basics in the disciplines that they wish to study at university, and the hope is that – in conjunction with other changes in the educational landscape – this state of affairs can be changed for the better.

Professor Dylan Wiliam, former Deputy Director at the Institute of Education, Professor of Educational Assessment, and expert panel member, said:

There is growing acceptance all over the world that the quality of the teacher is the most important determinant of how much students learn. In this context, it makes sense to check that the national curriculum provides the right balance between providing a firm structure for shared national expectations for what students should learn and allowing enough scope for teachers to have the freedom to use their creativity to maximise student learning.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 19 January 2011.

Sixth-form colleges in England will receive much needed investment as Schools Minister Lord Hill today announces a £90 million package of funding. The money will enable sixth-form colleges to make essential improvements to buildings and will help those schools and academies with sixth forms to meet the demand for additional 16-19 student places.

The funding package for 2011-12 includes:

• £57.4 million to address priority building condition needs of the sixth-form college estate
• £30 million for basic need funding for 16-19 student places to help sixth-form colleges, schools and academies meet the demands of demographic changes
• making all sixth-form colleges eligible for Devolved Formula Capital for the first time – funding for maintenance will be given directly to the institution. This means the average sixth-form college will receive an additional £40,000.

Announcing the funding package, Schools Minister Lord Hill said:

I know that there are sixth-form colleges with building needs which have missed out on previous capital programmes. I have therefore allocated more than £57 million to address priority building condition needs within the sixth-form college sector.

Even where funding is tight, it is essential that buildings and equipment are properly maintained to ensure that health and safety standards are met, and to prevent a backlog of decay building up which is very expensive to address. I am therefore also pleased to announce that in 2011-12 all sixth-form colleges will become eligible for Devolved Formula Capital. The average allocation to a sixth-form college will be in the region of £40,000. This funding is primarily for planned maintenance and is in addition to the £57 million for building condition needs.

This Government is committed to ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to continue in education and training after the age of 16. I therefore want to ensure that funding is available to meet the need for additional places where there are demographic pressures in schools, academies and sixth-form colleges. £30 million will be made available in the coming financial year for basic need funding for 16-19 student places in these institutions.

David Igoe, Chief Executive of the Sixth-form Colleges Forum, said:

Sixth-form colleges will warmly welcome this announcement of capital allocations for 2011-12. These allocations will enable them to undertake essential maintenance and refurbishment with some new building also possible. This will greatly enhance sixth-form colleges’ ability to sustain high-quality education in these challenging times. Sixth-form colleges have missed out on capital over the last two years and it is very encouraging to see the Government redressing this unfairness.

The Government has been clear about the central role that sixth-form colleges play in the education system. That is why we are reducing red tape and giving them more freedom. As previously announced, the Department is ending the routine Ofsted inspections of sixth-form colleges rated outstanding and is simplifying the 16-19 funding allocations process to schools and colleges.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 19 January 2011.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 14 January 2011.

Michael Gove today formally confirmed that Dr Elizabeth Sidwell, the highly respected headteacher and chief executive of the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation of schools, will be the new schools commissioner.

Following this week’s school performance tables there are now 216 secondary schools and 962 primary schools below the floor standard. Michael Gove will now challenge local authorities and schools to build on their current work and produce robust improvement plans to turn around schools which are underperforming. Many will benefit from becoming academies, and Dr Sidwell will engage with schools, local authorities and potential sponsors so that more academies replace schools that are underperforming. Her role will be to:

• broker academy arrangements between schools that would benefit most from an academy solution and established sponsors with a good track record of performance improvement
• encourage and recruit more potential academy sponsors
• enthuse leaders of good schools to go for academy status
• raise the profile of Free Schools among prospective proposers.

Welcoming Dr Sidwell to her new post, Education Secretary Michael Gove said:

There are few people in the education world with the pedigree and quality of Elizabeth Sidwell. She has been at the forefront of education policy for over 20 years, first as head of the brilliantly successful Hatcham College, one of the most popular schools in the country, and more recently taking on underperforming schools through the Academy programme.

She will be an excellent schools commissioner, using her credibility and knowledge to go round the country, speaking to local authorities, and challenging them and their schools to come up with robust plans for improving.

I know that Elizabeth will be fair, but not shy away from recommending strong solutions, such as academy status, to those schools who are not making good enough progress.

There are still too many schools below the floor target, and the Government will not blink when it comes to standing up for the rights of children to get a better education.

Dr Sidwell said today that:

It is a tremendous honour to be schools commissioner for England. After 20 years of running schools I am very excited at the prospect of working at a national level to help drive something that all of us want to see – more good schools for all of our pupils, regardless of their background.

I know how great the challenge is in some areas. I know how dedicated and hardworking teachers are across the country – desperately trying to improve their schools. I want those teachers to know that I’m on their side.

However, I will not shy away from confronting failure, and I will be honest when I don’t think schools are improving fast enough. My direct experience of transforming a good school to great, turning round a seriously failing school, transforming primaries and setting up a new school means I am not asking anyone to do what I, and others across the country, have not already done.

The Coalition Government introduced new floor standards for schools in November’s Schools White Paper. These new standards, which are higher but fairer than previous targets, require schools to be above certain attainment levels and also have pupils making at least average progress between Key Stage levels in English and mathematics. For secondary schools the new attainment target is 35 per cent of pupils getting five GCSEs at A* to C including English and mathematics, and in primary schools the requirement is 60 per cent of pupils achieve level 4 in English and mathematics at Key Stage 2.

The schools commissioner post was created in the 2006 Education and Inspections Act, and was formerly held by Sir Bruce Liddington.

Notes to editors

Dr Liz Sidwell is currently chief executive of the Haberdashers’ Aske’s Federation in South London. She was formerly principal of Haberdashers’ Hatcham College in Lewisham, which was rated outstanding by Ofsted. It is also one of the most oversubscribed schools in London, with 12 applications for every place. In 2005 Dr Sidwell led the federation of Hatcham College with the Mallory School, an underperforming school, which became Haberdashers’ Knights Academy. Since becoming part of the federation, results have risen by over 30 percentage points from a start of less than 7 per cent of pupils getting five or more good GCSEs, and Ofsted has said the school is ‘a rapidly improving school that provides a good education for its students’.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 7 January 2011.

Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education, has written to the NSPCC, the Musicians Union, Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music and Youth Music in response to their advice to music teachers to avoid any physical contact with children.

Michael Gove writes:

By telling your music teachers that they should avoid any physical contact with children, it sends out completely the wrong message. It plays to a culture of fear among both adults and children, reinforcing the message that any adult who touches a child is somehow guilty of inappropriate contact. We must move away from this presumption and the Department for Education is taking steps to restore common sense to this whole area.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 7 January 2011.

Ofsted has today published an evaluation of science education in schools and colleges in England from 2007 to 2010. Responding to the report’s findings, Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

Science is a critically important subject for this country which needs to be taught by those with knowledge and flair. It is good that many schools are providing pupils with an excellent science education, but it is disappointing that some of our brightest pupils are being held back because of a lack of expertise. The recent PISA study also gives cause for concern, with England slipping down the international league tables in science – from 4th in 2000 to 16th in 2009.

As Ofsted points out, teachers must be properly equipped with the right skills and knowledge if standards in our schools are to improve. Our recent White Paper outlines how we will do this – by creating more opportunities for teachers to learn from each other and by building a new cadre of teaching schools, which will act as local centres of excellence in teacher training and development.

We will also review the National Curriculum to make sure pupils are properly equipped for further study. The introduction of the new English Baccalaureate, which will include science GCSEs, will also provide a powerful incentive for schools to drive participation in science at GCSE and beyond.

We hope all schools and FE colleges will learn from the best practice shown in this report to drive improvement in science education.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 6 January 2011.

Figures released today show momentum is building for the government’s flagship school reform. The government announced today that

• there are now 407 academies open in England
• 371 secondary schools are now academies – 11 per cent of all secondary schools in England.
• 204 academies have opened since September 2010 under the coalition government, with 46 opening this week alone. Of these, 136 were schools converting to becoming academies that will now use their academy freedoms to support weaker schools. Sixty-eight were weaker schools that had been granted academy status and new sponsors to help them turn round underperformance
• at least one school has converted to become an academy every school day since September
• an additional 254 more schools are in the pipeline having applied to become academies, with more applications coming in every week
• Sixty-four schools applied to become academies in the last week before Christmas alone
• it took 4 years to open the first 27 academies. It took 5 years to open 15 city technology colleges.

In addition, the Department for Education is working with academy sponsors who have targeted underperforming schools. Plans are advanced to reopen these schools as academies in the coming academic year.

Michael Gove today congratulated the schools becoming academies this term:

I am delighted that more schools are opening as academies this week, and are now free from central and local bureaucratic control.

Schools are taking up our offer to become academies because they recognise the huge benefits of being an academy – more autonomy, more power to teachers, and an opportunity to thrive, free from interference from government.

The Coalition believes that headteachers and teachers – not politicians and bureaucrats – know best how to run schools. That’s why all school now have the opportunity to become academies, with stronger schools supporting weaker ones.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 3 January 2011.

Dear Sir

Your thoughtful leader (3 January 2011) on behaviour in schools points out the radical changes we are making to restore the authority of teachers and headteachers by strengthening their powers to search pupils, issue detentions and use force where necessary.

However, it is wrong to say that we are making it more difficult for headteachers to exclude unruly pupils. In fact, we are increasing the powers headteachers have to exclude by ensuring that pupils cannot be reinstated against a school’s wishes.

You are right to point out that we are also piloting a new system to help pupils who have been expelled. Schools will have the power, additional money and responsibility to secure alternative education for these pupils. We don’t believe this will act as a deterrent to exclusion. Many headteachers are wary of expelling disruptive pupils for fear of the poor quality of alternative provision. By improving that alternative it will be easier for heads to exclude those pupils who need more specialised help to tackle their behavioural problems.

Yours faithfully

Nick Gibb
Minister of State for Schools

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 20 December 2010.

Michael Gove has today set out the direction of travel, and initial funding, for the coalition government’s new approach on school sports. Schools will receive funding to allow PE teachers to further embed competitive sport in schools across the country and raise participation.

Every secondary school will receive funding up to the end of the academic year in 2013 to pay for one day a week of a PE teacher’s time to be spent out of the classroom, encouraging greater take-up of competitive sport in primary schools and securing a fixture network for schools to increase the amount of intra- and inter-school competition.

Lottery funding from Sport England will also be deployed to build a framework of competitions as part of the new School Games. Competitions for pupils with disabilities and SEN will be included at every level. All schools will be invited to compete against one another in district competitions, leading to county festivals of competitive sport, and even the chance of appearing in the first national finals in spring 2012 with events at the Olympic Stadium.

This approach will mean that funding and support are there so that school sports partnerships can continue, if schools wish them to, in order to drive an increase in competitive sport.

The government will also:

• revise the PE curriculum in our curriculum review to place a new emphasis on competitive sports
• invite Dame Kelly Holmes to lead a network of sporting advocates to work with her in promoting school sport around the country and to encourage more young people to participate in sport
• work through Sport England with the national governing bodies of individual sports to get more volunteer sports leaders and coaches into our schools to encourage wider participation
• fund the Youth Sport Trust to expand the Young Ambassadors programme so that every secondary school, and some primary schools too, can appoint ambassadors in the run up to London 2012.

The coalition government’s new approach marks a departure from the previous strategy.

Previously, PE and Sports strategy was driven by top-down targets, undermined by excessive bureaucracy, limiting the freedom of individual schools on how they used their funding, especially on sports and PE and lacked a proper emphasis on competitive team sports.

We have abolished the targets and the box-ticking that went with it. Instead we will ask schools to list the sports they offer and the fixtures they have arranged on their website so parents and the local community can support children and young people.

We have removed ringfences around the main school funding pot which limited headteachers’ powers to spend money as they wished. Schools funding can now be spent through a variety of sources. For the first time schools now have the freedom to choose how they deliver sport in schools. This is a bottom-up, decentralised approach to sport.

As we move towards a system where schools enjoy progressively greater freedom over how they spend money it is important that we do not lose the benefits of those aspects of the existing school sports infrastructure which have brought real benefits.

The government recognises the good work that school sport partnerships, and national bodies such as the Youth Sports Trust, Sport England, the Association for PE, Sportscoach UK, and many national governing bodies of sport, have done in supporting sport in schools and wants to ensure that there is a smooth transition to this new system. The Department for Education is therefore announcing time-limited funding to help schools embed this good practice:

• The DfE will pay school sport partnerships for the full school year to the end of the summer term 2011 at a cost of £47 million. This will ensure the partnerships and their service can continue until the end of the academic year.
• A further £65 million from the DfE’s spending review settlement will be paid to enable every secondary school to release one PE teacher for a day a week in the school year 2011 to 2012 and in 2012 to 2013. This will ensure all the benefits of the current system are fully embedded.

Michael Gove commented:

I want competitive sport to be at the centre of a truly rounded education that all schools offer. But this must be led by schools and parents, not by top down policies from Whitehall. It’s time to ensure what was best in school sport partnerships around the country is fully embedded and move forward to a system where schools and parents are delivering on sports with competition at the heart.

This will take some time and I’m pleased to be able to confirm some funding for school sports partnerships during this transition. But I’m looking to PE teachers to embed sport and put more emphasis on competitions for more pupils in their own schools, and to continue to help the teachers in local primary schools do the same.

The government is clear that at the heart of our ambition is a traditional belief that competitive sport, when taught well, brings out the best in everyone, be they the Olympian of tomorrow or the child who wants to keep fit and have fun learning new sports and games.

Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Jeremy Hunt said:

The School Games will be a fantastic opportunity for schools to get children inspired by the London Olympics, not just in 2012 but for years to come, creating a lasting sporting legacy. The competition will capture the values and spirit of the Olympic and Paralympic movement, and benefit from the knowledge and expertise of the Youth Sport Trust. And with competitions up and down the country with the final being held in the Olympic Park, it will also secure the passions and enthusiasm of the young competitors. Competitive sport is hugely important for all school children and the transitional funding outlined today will allow schools to help deliver this.

Baroness Sue Campbell, Chair of the Youth Sport Trust, said:

The Youth Sport Trust is absolutely delighted that the coalition government has taken the decision to build on the great work that is being delivered across the country in school sport and is providing a level of investment that will allow all young people to continue to have opportunities to take part, and compete, in sport. We are fully committed to support schools as they transition into this new phase of development.

Dame Kelly Holmes is a well-known, independent, respected and long-standing advocate of school sport. The Secretary of State has invited Dame Kelly to lead sporting advocates to work with her in promoting school sport around the country and to encourage more young people to participate in sport.

Dame Kelly said:

I’ve been pleased to be able to advise the government on school sport. I am pleased to see the funding extended as I believe the school sport partnerships have done some great work and think their biggest success has been to raise the profile of sport in schools, bring PE and sport to more children and the professional standing of all the teachers who teach PE and sport.

However with the need for change in the current economic climate, schools will start to be creative in their thinking to find local solutions to maintain the current levels of participation in sport as well as a focus on competition. I like the emphasis on competition as well as participation because healthy competition is the driving force behind every world-class sports person, as well as giving every child key life skills. I hope to see communities helping their local schools to run a range of competitions for all and for sport to be a high priority in the run up to 2012 and beyond.

Notes to editors

1. The coalition government is committed to reducing bureaucracy to give teachers the freedom they need to run their schools. As announced in October, the Department has lifted the many requirements of the previous Government’s PE and Sport Strategy, so giving schools the clarity and freedom to concentrate on competitive school sports. This included the need for schools to: * plan and implement a centralised approach to sport * collect information about every pupil for an annual survey * deliver a range of new Government sport initiatives each year * report termly to the Department on various performance indicators (the school sport; partnership self-review tool involves 115 tickboxes) * conform to a national blueprint for how to deliver PE and sport, and how to use their staff and resources * get permission from the Department to use their funding flexibly or to vary how they do things.
2. The new £65 million will be spread over 3 financial years: 2011-12 to 2013-14.