Teach Secondary -Issue 15.1

Chancellordelivers 2025Budget WHO? Rachel Reeves, Chancellor of the Exchequer WHERE? House of Commons WHEN? 26th Novmber 2025 “I will provide £5m for libraries in secondary schools, building on the £10m commitment earlier this year to ensure that every primary school has a library. And thanks to representations from the members for LutonNorth and Bournemouth East, I amproviding £18m to improve and upgrade playgrounds across England. Let there be no doubt that this is a government on the side of our kids, who will back their potential. I came into politics because I believe every child has equal worth and deserves an equal chance to achieve their promise. The biggest barrier to equal opportunity is child poverty. Because for every child that grows up in poverty, our society pays a triple cost. The first and the heaviest is to the child – going to school hungry, waking up in a cold home, or in another B&B.While other children enjoy the advantages of parents with time to help with homework, the quiet space at home to work in, toomany go without. And there is also the cost of supporting a family in poverty which ends up in the lap of overstretched councils who can do nomore than shunt them into temporary accommodation, at huge cost to local taxpayers. Then there is the future cost, to our economy and our society, of wasted talent and a welfare system that bears the cost of failure for decades to come. Since last July, we’ve rolled out free breakfast clubs in schools.We’re expanding free school meals to half amillionmore kids, lifting 100,000 children out of poverty as we do it. Combined with other actions we are taking, this Labour government is achieving the biggest reduction in child poverty over a Parliament since records began.” THE RESPONSE: NASUWTresponds to new attendance targets FROM? PepeDi’Iasio,General Secretaryof theAssociation of School andCollege Leaders REGARDING? Government plans to set every school individualisedminimum targets for improving student attendance WHEN? 12th November 2025 “Schools alreadymove heaven and earth to ensure that all their pupils attend regularly, but many of the factors that contribute to absence are beyond their direct control. Setting them individual targets doesn’t resolve those issues, but it does pile yet more pressure on school leaders and staff who are already under great strain. “It would be far more effective for the government to ensure that every school has access to dedicated school attendance officers to work with families to understand the barriers to attendance and identify the support required to get children back into the classroom.” “Youmay now type...” Should students be able to submit their answers in GCSEs andA Level exams with the aid of touchscreens and/or keyboards, rather than having to write themout by hand? It’s a question that’s been extensively discussed and debated across the profession for a number of years, and one that Ofqual is now giving serious consideration to, following its introduction last month of a set of proposals it’s currently consulting on. The existing proposals would see the four examboards responsible for delivering GCSEs,AS andA Levels in England given permission to introduce up to two new on-screen specifications each (subject to final Ofqual accreditation). Ofqual seems to be proceeding with caution, however, having declared that this won’t apply to those subjects with over 100,000 entries nationally. For those non-core and less popular subjects that fit the criteria, examboards will be required to offer on-screen and paper exams as separate qualifications,with entirely different sets of questions. Students wouldmoreover be prevented fromusing their own personal devices to complete any on-screen exams. According to Ofqual’s Chief Regulator, Sir Ian Bauckham, “Wemustmaintain the standards and fairness that define England’s qualifications system.Any introduction of on-screen examsmust be carefullymanaged to protect all students’ interests, and these proposals set out a controlled approachwith rigorous safeguards.” The consultation runs until 5thMarch 2026; responses canbe emailed to consultations@ ofqual.gov.ukor submitted through an online consultation formthat canbe accessedvia tinyurl.com/ts151-NL1 SPEECHES AND CORRESPONDENCE Forget the media-friendly soundbites – what else was in those announcements and letters you missed? 21–23 JANUARY 2026 Bett | 27 JANUARY 2026 SCA Year of Reading | 27 JANUARY to 10 FEBRUARY 2026 Education Insights SAVE THE DATE 21–23 JANUARY 2026 Bett ExCeLLondon uk.bettshow.com Amust for any intrepid explorers of cutting- edge edtech, Bett is a three-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. 27 JANUARY 2026 SCAYear of Reading SuttonCommunityAcademy (NG17 1EE) tinyurl.com/ts151-NL2 Organised by Sutton Community Academy, and taking place at its Sutton-in-Ashfield premises, this four-and a-half-hour event is dedicated to exploring and demystifying the school’s favoured reading strategy, and the successful impact it’s had upon students’ levels of engagement, comprehension and achievement over the past three years. 27 JANUARY TO 10 FEBRUARY 2026 Education Insights Manchester, Birmingham,Gateshead and Bristol educationinsightsevents.com TheEducation Insights serieswill takeplaceover four separatedates across thecountry,witheach event seeing inspiring speechesbythe likesof ProfessorDavidOlusogaOBE,Baroness Floella Benjaminandothers,combinedwithpanel discussions andsessionsonhowto improveyour practice ledbyexpert teachers.Attendance is free foreducators,andeacheventwill have itsown overarchingtheme. 07 teachwire.net/secondary N E WS | J A N / F E B