Teach Secondary - Issue 14.6

THE SPEECH: OfstedHMCI addresses Festival of Education WHO? SirMartyn Oliver,Ofsted HMCI WHERE? Festival of Education,Wellington College WHEN? 3rd July 2025 “Cynics sometimes decry the norms of education. Exams are ‘gradgrindian’ in their eyes, the 3 R’s are no longer preparing children for the ‘jobs of tomorrow’. And Ofsted are accused of being enforcers for this ‘out-of-date’, ‘joyless’ system – forcing schools to jump through these hoops. Well, let me tell you how it looks fromwhere I’m standing. For Ofsted, teaching a full, rich range of subjects isn’t just a nice to have; it’s fundamental to a great education. Music and art and sports aren’t add-ons to the core curriculum, they are some of the most important subjects to study, in terms of developing a child’s awareness of the world around them. And in a more macro sense, feeding into the cultural evolution of our country and pushing civilisation on. It often surprises people when I say that I started out as an art teacher in 1995. Art was my passion then, and it’s still my passion now. When I have the time, I love to paint. I find that it forces me to slow down and deeply observe the world around me. But I feel that temptation to pick up my smartphone and check my emails far too often, breaking the observational trance-like state. I can only imagine how difficult and tempting this is for children. It’s quite a common refrain that children should be taught ‘creativity’ – but creativity relies upon a deep understanding of knowledge and facts; it comes from pushing at the limits of knowledge, and first you need to be taught where those limits are. The rounded classroom experience – a broad and rich curriculum, structured carefully by expert teachers and taught within a safe and welcoming environment – is fundamental to the intellectual growth of individuals, and the development of society.” THE RESPONSE: Children’s Society reacts to lowering ofvoting age to 16 FROM? Mark Russell, chief executive ofThe Children’s Society WHEN? 17th July 2025 “This is a landmark step in recognising that young people care deeply about the issues facing our country and deserve to be heard not just at the ballot box, but throughout the political process.” What the pupils say As the profession awaits the final report of the government’s CurriculumandAssessment Review led by Professor Becky Francis, the shadowCurriculumandAssessment Review (sCAR) has now completed its own process of surveying how England’s education systemcan be improved.Overseen by the Youth Shadow Panel, comprising a coalition of young people and youth organisations, the sCAR has sought to canvas the views of children and young people via a series of public outreach events, school assemblies and focus groups, effectively mirroring the activities of Professor Francis’ reviewpanel. The final sCAR report sets out a series of recommendations, including introducingmore enrichment opportunities, a greater emphasis on critical thinking andmore in the way of practical ‘life skills’ (e.g. financial management and digital literacy) across the wider curriculum. The report also calls for reducing the length and volume of GCSE exams, ending SATs tests at primary and placingmore weight on assessments led by teacher observation at the secondary phase. There’s also an explicit call for climate and sustainability education to ‘ Not be considered a stand-alone subject or siloed into science and geography ’, but to rather ‘ be integrated across all parts of the curriculum. ’ Finally, there’s an appeal for a National Curriculumthat ‘ represents the full diversity of society, throughout history and at present ’, combined with amore adaptable systemof assessment readily able tomeet the needs of disabled and neurodiverse students, instead of relying on reasonable adjustments implemented in response to parental advocacy. The download thefinal sCAR report in full, visit shadowpanel.uk SPEECHES AND CORRESPONDENCE Forget the media-friendly soundbites – what else was in those announcements and letters you missed? 18-19 OCTOBER 2025 Battle of Ideas Festival | 19-20 NOVEMBER 2025 Schools & Academies Show | 21-23 JANUARY 2026 Bett SAVE THE DATE 18-19 OCTOBER 2025 Battle of Ideas Festival ChurchHouse, London battleofideas.org.uk Some details are yet to be confirmed by the Academy of Ideas, organisers of this annual debating and networking event, but we can reasonably expect another two days of bold, impassioned and at times provocative rhetorical jousting on a range of topical subjects across a series of panels – including a number of topics likely to be of particular interest to educators and older students. 19-20 NOVEMBER 2025 Schools &Academies Show TheNEC, Birmingham schoolsandacademiesshow.co.uk The ‘#SAASHOW’will be once again be setting up shop at the NEC, Birminghamthis autumn for another two days of CPD centred on strategy and school improvement, and opportunities tomeet with and learn from fellow leaders across the country.As always, there’ll also be a sizeable and thoughtfully curated exhibition floor hosting numerous suppliers and solution providers. 21-23 JANUARY 2026 Bett ExCeLLondon uk.bettshow.com Amust for any intrepid explorers of cutting- edge edtech, Bett is a two-day exhibition of themost advanced products, solutions and services the sector has to offer. Beyond the extensive showfloor you’ll also find an array of informative presentations addressing a wide spectrumof topics (both tech-related and otherwise), CPD opportunities aplenty and a series of thought-provoking keynote talks. 07 teachwire.net/secondary N E WS | S E P / O C T