Couldn’t agree more: so much immersion, energy and rhythm. Got me and the 11yo discussing metaphors. Special mention to the most lifelike puppet dog I’ve ever seen!

All Sendcos ‘need clinical supervision to stop burnout’ - @charlottesantry.bsky.social reports www.tes.com/magazine/new... @tesmagazine.bsky.social

Specialist provision packages are set to underpin the support pupils with the most complex SEND receive in a reformed system but leaders are concerned that children could fall through the gaps and highlight widespread problems with the categories the DfE has suggested. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Good news - for some. “Larger trusts with dedicated commercial or development functions are structurally better placed than smaller or standalone trusts serving more disadvantaged communities - and that is precisely the inverse of where additional resources are most needed.”

‘My fear is that sometimes heads look at a gallery trip and think, “Well, that’s art done with; now we can get back to English and maths”’: @neunion.bsky.social president calls for the ‘restoration’ of the arts in schools

Phones in school: Labour's committed to reviewing its guidance via the national behaviour survey and updating 'if needed' by September 2027. Worth noting that the DfE's last survey found far more teachers than students said phone policies were being followed... www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Schools in some local authorities under the greatest pressure for specialist places face missing out on millions in capital funding next year, exclusive Tes analysis reveals

✉️ Emotionally based school avoidance, trainee targets, SEND funding and Reform UK policy… Catch up on all the latest education headlines in today’s Tes Daily newsletter – read here: 145850312.hs-sites-eu1.com/tes-magazine...

Breaking:

Exclusive: The ‘accountability risk’ of being inclusive has been revealed by new research highlighting that most ‘SEND magnet’ schools achieve negative Progress 8 scores

Do schools need extra inset days in light of all the upcoming curriculum/assessment/SEND reforms? Some MATs already schedule more than the minimum of 5 per year... www.tes.com/magazine/new...

More on the plans set out today, which would put existing guidance on a statutory footing. (The guidance doesn’t say phones can’t be taken to school, but that they should be stored out of sight eg in lockers.) www.tes.com/magazine/new...

The govt's just announced a statutory ban on phones in schools...four days after education minister Olivia Bailey said the problem was already "solved". www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Exclusive: More than 70 staff at the Harris Federation are at risk of redundancy, with CEO Sir Dan Moynihan telling Tes the cuts have been proposed largely because of falling pupil rolls

The government said it would prioritise disadvantaged communities for this cash. But the majority of winning bids have been from schools with below-average disadvantage, @ktorm-social1.bsky.social's analysis finds.

Pleased to see BBC's covered the underachievement of white working-class girls - an often overlooked issue: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p... Here's my long read from last Sept on this: www.tes.com/magazine/ana... And my investigation revealing a sharp drop in GCSE results: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

🔴Out: fruit juice, honey, sugary muesli, low fibre bread, anything deep-fried 🟠Restricted: cheese, veggie meat alternatives, sugary puddings, white rice/pasta 🟢In: veg/salad with all 'grab & go' meals; pulses now count as protein, wholegrain rice/pasta, plain crackers www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Exam board OCR is resisting calls to re-mark a question on its GCSE maths paper, despite Ofqual upholding a complaint. The complainant, who wished to remain anonymous, said some students may unnecessarily resit this year as a result. @tesmagazine.bsky.social

A new fund aimed at making mainstream education more inclusive for pupils with SEND will average out at £14K for primaries - less than the salary for a TA. Secondaries average £48K - "clearly not adequate to deliver the scale of change that is envisaged," @ascl-uk.bsky.social says this morning.

It’s unclear exactly how the DfE (or Ofsted for that matter) will “put a stop” to this, as a spokesperson claims here: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

I analysed almost 500 inspections to see if schools with disadvantaged intakes are performing worse on pupil outcomes. The findings show that it's disproportionate. Heads say it's demoralising as they urge Ofsted not to confuse achievement & attainment.

Could ditching smart uniforms help schools to be more inclusive - both to pupils with SEND and those from lower income families? Or does a strict dress code help to raise standards, define school culture and avoid “fashion pressures” as one leader puts it?

Researchers call for a new scheme to support gifted and talented pupils - even though their analysis shows a previous version may have ‘inadvertently reinforced educational inequalities’ @ktorm-social1.bsky.social reports www.tes.com/magazine/new... @tesmagazine.bsky.social

Councils have been warned they face “heightened scrutiny” over special educational needs and disabilities reforms - and that those found to be failing could have services taken off them, in a hard-hitting letter from government ministers. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

The cost pressures facing schools - which could now include energy price hikes due to conflict in the Middle East - make DfE claims about 'financial headroom' completely wrong, leaders warn. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Pleased to (briefly!) appear on today’s @goodmorningbritain.bsky.social to highlight the staffing and resource challenges behind these pressures.

Excl: According to DfE calculations, schools won't need any extra teachers from next month until 2029. This is despite teachers taking on new responsibilities for SEND, a curriculum overhaul, & the govt's ever-shifting policy to hire 6.5k new teachers. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

SEND reforms: New educational psychologists won't qualify until 2029 - a year after the govt's new 'experts at hand' service is meant to be fully up and running. In the interim, the service will need to rely on a "severely stretched" profession, the DfE's being warned: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Mainstream schools can afford a 2.7% teacher pay rise over the next two years, using a predicted £1bn of financial "headroom", says DfE. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

While there is a sense of relief in the sector following the government publishing its SEND reform plans, Tes' inclusion editor @johngroberts.bsky.social sets out the challenges that still lie ahead – for the DfE, for schools and for families of pupils with SEND

If you take the time to sit down with the White Paper or the SEND consultation document, it may seem minor but the writing is appalling. Not just grammar mistakes, but sentences that just don't make sense. I mean, look at the section below. Clear communication really does matter.

Everything you need to know about the Schools White Paper at-a-glance: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

The FULL details of the SEND overhaul: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Schools will get access to a new £1.6bn inclusion fund and a bank of specialists in their local area, the government announced tonight, as part of a £4bn spending plan for SEND reform

The government is expected to call for all schools to be part of a trust in its White Paper on Monday, Tes understands. @johngroberts.bsky.social has the full story on this – and other key proposals trailed by the DfE – here ⬇️

Excl: Many schools haven't received AI attendance targets the DfE said it had set "every school" last year. @ascl-uk.bsky.social calls the rollout a "botched exercise". @tesmagazine.bsky.social

Just four months after the DfE cut multiple subject bursaries, the impact is already starting to show. Subjects fear that it has not just led to lower recruitment but created a wider sense that subjects now have to compete to prove their worth. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Labour’s promise to deliver 6,500 more teachers could rely on recruitment to AP and special schools – but that will be a challenge, experts tell @johngroberts.bsky.social

Exclusive: How much do the CEOs of the biggest MATs get paid? Tes analysis reveals 1 in 4 got a bigger percentage pay rise than teachers

Analysis from 200 + inspection reports published by Ofsted under a new framework has revealed concerns about the proportion of schools being graded as needs attention on achievement and on disparities between primary and secondary schools in other areas. Full story here www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Exclusive: Has CEO pay dropped at the high-paying academy trusts that were told to justify their salary decisions to the DfE? @jabedahmed.bsky.social investigates

All secondaries will need inclusion bases under DfE 10-year estates plan. Will those that don’t already have one be in a position to repurpose/add space? Plan for primaries is less clear 🤷🏻‍♀️

The govt's announced it'll cover 90% of councils' SEND debts: welcome news. But, this year more than 1 in 3 LAs already plan to move funds away from the core schools block to cover SEND pressures - as @johngroberts.bsky.social reveals here: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Excl: Councils with the largest SEND deficits are spending over £200m on private special schools this year. With just weeks until the DfE publishes the schools white paper, independent specialist settings are set to be a hotly contested area of reform. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

"It’s great for us, and not necessarily equitable for the sector as a whole." @jabedahmed.bsky.social reveals the investment returns of the 20 biggest MATs in 2024-25. www.tes.com/magazine/news/general/how-much-money-do-mats-make-from-investments

Baroness (Estelle) Morris: “We cannot have a schools policy that has in it an acceptance that some schools will wither on the vine and fail.” Baroness (Diana) Barran: "I just think it is about respecting parent choice.” Background: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Should the national year of reading be equally focused on parents as it is on children? 📚Findings from @parentkind.bsky.social & shared with Tes, show that more than a quarter of parents have avoided reading with their children because of their own reading ability: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Exclusive: School leaders call for targeted action for white working-class girls, as analysis shows fewer pass English and Maths compared to pre-Covid. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

This raises HUGE questions for the DfE and Ofsted.