Pupil absence during the heatwave By Natasha Plaister and Katie Beynon, FFT Education Datalab Unless you’ve been living in a (lovely, cool) cave, you’re unlikely to have missed the fact that there was a heatwave last week. Temperatures peaked at 37C and schools around the country closed their doors, with some reports suggesting as many as 1,200 schools were closed at the height of … Read More
The links between disadvantage and the achievement grade in school inspection
The links between disadvantage and the achievement grade in school inspection By Dave Thomson, FFT Education Datalab Ofsted introduced its new inspection framework in November last year. Since then, the relationship between the achievement grade and disadvantage has been subject to scrutiny. In response, Ofsted published some analysis showing the relationship between the achievement grade and the attainment of disadvantaged pupils. This showed that … Read More
Halving the disadvantage gap
Halving the disadvantage gap By Katie Beynon, FFT Education Datalab One of the big announcements in the schools White Paper released earlier this year was an ambition to halve the disadvantage gap at Key Stage 4. This would be achieved, it said, by grades increasing across the board, with bigger increases for disadvantaged than the non-disadvantaged pupils. And would happen by the … Read More
Curriculum and Assessment Review and Government Response
Curriculum and Assessment Review and Government Response By FFT Education Last week’s publication of the Curriculum and Assessment Review (CAR), led by Professor Becky Francis, and the Government’s accompanying response represents a significant step towards a curriculum that works for pupils of all backgrounds. Most importantly, we are pleased to see such a strong focus on early literacy – and in … Read More