Teach Secondary Issue 13.4

THE SPEECH: SirMartynOliver addresses 2024NAHT Annual Conference WHO? SirMartyn Oliver,His Majesty’s Chief Inspector WHERE? NAHTAnnual Conference 2024, ICCWales, Newport WHEN? 4thMay 2024 “FromSeptember, we will make changes to the way we undertake ungraded inspections for all schools. This doesn’t preclude further changes to our inspections in future – but where we can act quickly, we will do so. On ungraded inspections, we will no longer conduct deep dives from September. It isn’t right and it isn’t helpful to try to cramall the detail of a full, graded inspection into a shorter ungraded one. Instead, we want ungraded inspections to feel more like monitoring visits. What do I mean by that? The emphasis of these inspections will be on providing school leaders with opportunities to demonstrate where they have improved, and to discuss where they still have work to do. The inspection process must be a professional dialogue between the inspection teamand school leadership. As I’ve made very clear tomy inspectors, I expect them to act with professionalism, empathy, courtesy, and respect, at all times. And I hope you will meet themwith the same. Because they’re not trying to trick you or catch you out. They’re trying to find out what’s great about your school and where there is some room to improve. It’s just one of the ways we’re trying tomake sure you spend as much time as possible educating and caring for your children. And it hopefully shows we’re serious. Serious about listening. Serious about acting. And serious about improving.” THE RESPONSE: DfE axes teacher recruitment scheme FROM? Lucy KellawayOBE – economics teacher, former journalist and co-founder of the educational charityNowTeach REGARDING? The DfE’s decision to end its funding for the Career Change Programme, delivered byNowTeach WHEN? 26thApril 2024 “What the Government is actually saying to older career changers is Now Don’t Teach – as there won’t be any specialised support for you. It’s utter madness to axe a target-busting recruitment programme during a recruitment crisis.We have nearly a decade of experience in getting older professionals to become teachers – to junk it for the cost of a departmental rounding error is beyond short-sighted.” If the cap doesn’t fit... The government has announced plans to waive the ‘50% faith cap’ for new faith free schools. Originally put in place in 2010, at the inception of the free schools programme, the cap limits oversubscribed free schools with a religious character to prioritising faith-based pupil admissions for only up to half of its places. Said schools are then obliged to allocate the remaining places according non faith-based criteria. It’s hoped that if the proposals were to go ahead, it would lead to a rise in the number of places faith school providers feel able to offer – who in recent years have expressed wariness at opening new free schools and bringing existing schools within academy trusts.A consultation on the plans has since been launched, (bit.ly/ts134-NL1 ) the closing date for which is 20thJune 2024 . According to Education Secretary Gillian Keegan,“As someone who attended a faith school as a child, and having worked closely with our leading faith groups as Education Secretary, I’ve seen first-hand how their values and standards so often give young people a brilliant start in life. “Faith groups run some of the best schools in the country, including in some of themost disadvantaged areas, and it’s absolutely right we support themto unleash that potential even further – including through the creation of the first ever faith academies for children with special educational needs.” SPEECHES AND CORRESPONDENCE Forget the media-friendly soundbites – what else was in those announcements and letters you missed? 13/27 JUNE 2024 Eastern/Northern Education Shows | 14 JUNE 2024 National Education Show | 4-5 JULY 2024 The 14th Festival of Education SAVE THE DATE 13/27 JUNE 2024 Eastern/Northern Education Shows Newmarket Racecourse/Bolton StadiumHotel easterneducationshow.uk / northerneducationshow.uk June sees a pair of events taking place at either end of the country, both aimed at school leadership and senior administration staff.At the Eastern Education Show and Northern Education show, attendees will get to see talks fromthe likes ofAdele Bates, RavWilding (Eastern) Michael Rosen and Dr Pooky Knightsmith (Northern), and take in a series of illuminating sessions on a number of topics. 4-5 JULY 2024 The 14th Festival of Education WellingtonCollege,Crowthorne educationfest.co.uk If you like the idea of getting some valuable CPDwithin the bucolic surroundings of Wellington College, then put a date in the diary for this year’s Festival of Education. Expect a packed programme with over 300 speakers, a host of engaging sessions, stimulating talks and passionate debates wherever you look, plus networking opportunities aplentywith thousands of fellow attendees fromall corners of the education sector. 14 JUNE 2024 National Education Show Venue Cymru, Llandudno nationaleducationshow.com Thosemaking the trip to theWelsh coast will get to choose fromover 40 CPD seminars taking place on the day, covering topics as varied as AI,working withTAs andwhat to do if your school improvement efforts have become ‘stuck’.Visitors can also expect to find ample networking opportunities and a comprehensive exhibition space showing off the latest products and services for members of the profession. 07 teachwire.net/secondary N E WS | M AY/ J U N E