I’ve learnt so much covering education with the wonderful Tes team over the last two years. But I’m very excited to be returning to the world of culture... this week I start as deputy books and arts editor on the Observer New Review.

'I can probably characterise the whole review as being about balances and trade-offs…' In an exclusive, in-depth interview, @beckyfrancis.bsky.social talks about the challenges of the curriculum review and the evidence behind its recommendations

🚨The govt will scrap the EBacc, cut GCSE exam time by up to three hours & make sure every school meets "enrichment benchmarks". Here are all the key proposals from the curriculum and assessment review, plus which reforms the government has accepted so far:

A group of MAT leaders is calling for all students to experience at least 80 hours of high-quality enrichment per year

Read the full story on the White Paper delay here ⬇️

TES article on our ESIS report after Natasha and I were interviewed, and featuring great examples of curricula change from history teachers across the country. www.tes.com/magazine/tea...

A recent report found that 59 per cent of key stage 3 history lessons don’t feature any women. Will the Curriculum Review address that? In the meantime, I spoke to history teachers about the changes they are making to address this gender imbalance in their classes, for @tesmagazine.bsky.social

A requirement for new headteachers to hold a SEND qualification could transform the system, because there are schools that currently do not make inclusive decisions, a leading MP said today

Excl: The PM claimed yesterday that he had invited other political parties to work with the government on SEND reform, but neither the Lib Dem’s or the Conservatives have received any such invite. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

This week the government pledged to ensure all primary schools in England have libraries. It seems a well-intentioned policy, but do 1,700 primaries really not have one? And how important is a separate library room in instilling a child’s love of reading anyway? My @tesmagazine.bsky.social piece

Is Ofsted’s inclusion measure fair to over-capacity special schools directed to take pupils whose needs they’re not equipped to meet? Lots of concern from the specialist sector here inc from @simonknight100.bsky.social and @warrencarratt.bsky.social Great reporting by @johngroberts.bsky.social

Despite alarming headlines on youth violence, a @tesmagazine.bsky.social FOI request reveals that in-school knife incidents are down in many areas. I spoke to leaders about what schools are doing to drive this reduction

“Because there’s so much attention on white working-class boys’ underachievement, the girls can be overlooked - and they are underperforming.” Fascinating and important long read by @charlottesantry.bsky.social

Is flexible working truly possible for teachers, and what kind of impact might it have on recruitment and retention? A year on from launching their nine-day fortnight, Dixons Academies Trust says they have seen countless benefits. I heard about the challenges and rewards of this radical policy

Just seven of the 100 schools with the highest rates of disadvantage and the lowest rates of EAL have a positive Progress 8 score. Leaders say the metric leaves schools in an “impossible situation”. Nick Gibb says it simply reveals which need to “improve”... Is this system inherently unjust?

In her new book, Laura Bates describes how deepfake pornography created by students “for free on their lunch breaks” can be used to target their female peers and teachers. PSHE lead Charli Faux writes for Tes on how to help keep students safe from “the next epidemic of sexual violence”

#Ofsted has published its final report-card inspection plans, with changes including: 🔹 Reducing the number of evaluation areas to six 🔹 Renaming the grades 🔹 Changing the toolkits inspectors will use Here’s everything you need to know…

A @tesmagazine.bsky.social investigation by @jasminenorden.bsky.social into the rise of violent incidents causing injuries to pupils and staff. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

“Unless it goes kaboom, there’s no money.” Rusting fire escapes, legionella and classrooms reaching 53C... School leaders tell me how the funding crisis is also a vast building safety crisis, with particular concern in special schools

“What Jon is selling is fear. It’s not scientific.” Jonathan Haidt’s book The Anxious Generation has sold 2 million copies and been hugely influential in the case for banning smartphones for young people. But critics say his evidence doesn’t stand up Fascinating Tes piece by @jonsevers.bsky.social

More than 700,000 GCSE physics students could be without a specialist teacher, @thenfer.bsky.social analysis shows, with @instituteofphysics.bsky.social calling for urgent action to tackle the shortage

On the train to Berlin with an Italian novel and a German chocolate bar. My route: London to Brussels to Frankfurt (usually would be Cologne, impossible today due to works) to Berlin, all in a day

From the number of GCSEs entered per student to the most popular subjects, here are six key trends from today’s results data that schools need to know

From the most popular subject combinations to the number of exams being sat, @ellencph.bsky.social and @dan-worth.bsky.social round up seven key trends you need to know from this year’s A-level results day

New this morning: The regional divide in achieving the top A-level grades has widened as the North East saw a fall in As and A*s this year - all the main trends here: www.tes.com/magazine/new...

"Over a quarter of pupils are leaving primary school not meeting the expected standard in reading. This goes up to 40 per cent for white, working-class pupils, and 59 per cent for those with special educational needs." An argument for fixing basic literacy before promoting reading for pleasure...

Updated government guidance says schools should be teaching students how to properly name body parts. It's a watershed moment for sex education, finds @dan-worth.bsky.social

Inclusion in schools is the big policy focus of the moment. But is a drive to stop bad practice missing from the agenda? My long read for @tesmagazine.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/new...

The traumatic experience of tribunals for EHCPs is often told from the parents' perspective - for good reasons - but looking at it from the school perspective tells us a huge amount about the disaster of the current system. Excellent piece from @ellencph.bsky.social www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

Everyone knows the SEND tribunal process can be a nightmare for parents. But how does it affect schools? I spoke to special school leaders who describe a ‘frustrating’ and ‘oversaturated’ legal system in urgent need of reform

A new writing framework released just a couple of weeks before the summer at 150 odd pages long, which will be revised in October when the curriculum and assessment review is published, and which some who should have known it was coming did not know it was coming... www.tes.com/magazine/new...

The government says all pupils will have access to in-school mental health specialists by 2029-30. But so far the rollout has been unequal across the country, leaving some settings without the benefits others enjoy. My @tesmagazine.bsky.social analysis:

Exclusive: DfE asks MAT leaders for ‘insights on how we drive excellence for all our children’ as part of new advisory group

📱 The Tes magazine app is now available to download for both iOS and Android! Get award-winning journalism, exclusive interviews and in-depth investigations in our brand-new mobile app. ➡️ Get it on iOS: apple.co/3SKssXt ➡️ Get it on Android: bit.ly/4kgWrSS

Ten years ago, there was no gender pay gap for secondary headteachers. Now, it's widening, with the current median salary for women £6k behind that of their male counterparts. What's going on? My @tesmagazine.bsky.social analysis

Read the full exchange between Ofsted and the Department for Education discussing the “regrettable” and “disappointing” delay to the inspection reform consultation...

Excellent overview of what you need to know from the Spending Review from @jasminenorden.bsky.social It is less good news than the headline stats suggest, but better news than that most departments have received. And as such, it is a decent result for schools. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Exclusive: Schools will not see Ofsted’s finalised inspection plans until after the summer holidays, Tes can reveal, as @bphillipsonmp.bsky.social calls the delay to the watchdog’s consultation response ‘disappointing’

Unsure about what the FSM and pupil premium announcement last week means for your school or trust? Are schools actually getting whacked by a £1.5 billion cut to pupil premium? I’ve delved into the numbers for @tesmagazine.bsky.social

The government has claimed it is 'delivering' on a pledge to recruit an additional 6,500 teachers, but analysis shows the overall number is down on last year… @ellencph.bsky.social has all the key points from the latest workforce census ⬇️

It was great to chat to ITV News London this evening about the challenges facing schools with funding pressures and falling pupil numbers. A very relevant conversation today, as DfE data showed a decrease of more than 50,000 pupils across all schools in the past year.

There are fewer teachers than last year, more support staff, better retention rates for the newest teachers, and even worse rates for those who qualified in 2021 or before... Here is @tesmagazine.bsky.social’s analysis of the latest government workforce data

Great story by @johngroberts.bsky.social

Operation Encompass, a safeguarding partnership between police and education, helps schools make vulnerable children safer – but force processes must improve to ensure it is as efficient as required, experts tell @ellencph.bsky.social ⬇️ ‬

Operation Encompass – the safeguarding partnership in which police notify schools after a recorded domestic abuse incident at a child's home – helps keep vulnerable children safer. But my @tesmagazine.bsky.social investigation shows the system is failing all too often

Significant news: the government has removed the £7,400 household salary threshold for free school meal eligibility, meaning children of all families receiving universal credit will now be eligible for FSM. @tesmagazine.bsky.social story by @ramshodgson.bsky.social

In the move to diversify bookshelves, schools shouldn’t forget about representing different types of homes, writes @beckacita.bsky.social, as she shares her list of recommendations for books set in flats for @tesmagazine.bsky.social

Good TES interview with #oracy guru Prof Neil Mercer: ‘In 2023 Sir Keir Starmer pledged that the Labour Party would weave oracy through the curriculum. Yet when the interim report was published, oracy was not mentioned at all. So, is Labour really serious about change?’ www.tes.com/magazine/ana...

“I think oracy is still not properly understood. I don’t think policymakers always recognise what is involved and why it matters.” My Q+A with academic Neil Mercer on the ‘conspiracy theory’ of why oracy is yet to be introduced into the curriculum, and whether this government will make the change

Very proud of my former colleagues at the New Statesman and PMI who have secured union recognition after years of hard work