On 26 January the Department for Education published the results of more than 3,300 secondary schools’ GCSE and A Level exams.

In addition, as part of the DfE’s drive for transparency, there is a massive increase in the amount of data available – last year’s figures included 46 columns of data whilst this year’s include 230.

Amongst the new inclusions are:

• How well disadvantaged children perform in each school
• Whether previously high, middle and low achieving pupils continue to make progress
• How many pupils at each school are entered into the core academic subjects that make up the EBacc.

Key findings are that:

• The overall number of five GCSE (or iGCSE or equivalent) passes at A* to C including English and mathematics for all pupils has increased this year by 5.4 percentage points to 58.9 per cent –  in state-funded schools there was a 3.1 percentage point rise to 58.2 per cent.
• Only 33.9 per cent of disadvantaged pupils achieved five A*-C grade GCSEs including English and maths, compared to the national average of 58.2 per cent in maintained schools
• In 339 schools, with more than 10 disadvantaged pupils, fewer than 20 per cent of those pupils achieved five A*-C grade GCSEs including English and maths
• In contrast 21 schools, with more than 10 disadvantaged pupils, saw more than 80 per cent of those pupils gaining five A*-C grade GCSEs including English and maths.
• Only one in 25 disadvantaged pupils managed to secure good grades in a combination of subjects making up the Ebacc compared to the national average of nearly one in six.
• 45.6 per cent of pupils, some 120,000, who were at Level 4 at Key Stage 2 failed to make the expected amount of progress, to five A*-C grades including English and maths, at secondary school.
• There are 107 secondary schools below the floor standard. 132 schools rose above the floor from 2010 to 2011, with 48 schools dropping below it.

The Schools Minister Nick Gibb MP said:

‘We should have high expectations for all children regardless of their circumstances. Today’s figures reveal a shocking waste of talent in many schools across the country. All too often, pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds aren’t given the same opportunities as their peers.

‘But there are great examples of schools achieving the best for their disadvantaged pupils. If they can get it right, then so can all schools.’

Ian Potter, head teacher of Bay House School in Gosport, Hants, and vice-chair of The Schools Network National Head Teacher Steering Group, said:

‘The more information we have about young people’s achievement the better. The good thing about the new information is it will remove some of the perverse incentives in the system. A broad range of measures will help highlight how schools are making a real impact.

‘A laser-like focus on how all pupils are performing in schools helps to ensure every single child is doing as well as they possibly can.’

You can use your membership of The Schools Network to get support to raise achievement or improve teacher quality.

The full data is available here:

www.education.gov.uk/schools/performance

Bedford High School in Wigan partnered with Collège Jean Jacques Rousseau, Thonon-les-Bains  in January 2010 as part of the Inter-Action programme. 

The Head of MFL updates us:  “We have had plenty of successes in the project but the overall success is the way in which the pupils have bonded, many had broken the ice prior to meeting each other through social media which helped to form positive relations.

“We have also incorporated different themes in the Exchange Project including Business and Enterprise and Environment. We have provided the French with a very interactive and informative tour of one of our most successful local businesses and the French will be providing us with a tour of the famous ‘Evian’ water company.

“We will look to strengthen our partnership further this year and next when we will continue to work on the next Exchange Project and we will also continue to link on global issues and projects in the classroom.” 

Other news from partnerships includes Bournemouth School for Girls school who partnered with Collège Jean Zay, in January 2011.  They report that:

“Our French partners are arriving January 23rd for 5 days and we are returning in March 25-30th.  Students on both sides are very excited. We have been exchanging e-mails, songs, recipes and short films.”
 
Get your students involved in an exciting project and a possible exchange visit with a  French partner school by joining the Inter-Action programme now. The deadline for applications is 30 January.

The Schools Network and their French colleagues CIEP (Centre international d’études pédagogiques) are currently planning the annual partnership conference for the schools who will be joining the Inter-Action programme in 2012.

Representatives from the French and English schools will meet in Paris for a two day conference where they will fill each other in on their school’s activities in language learning and start to exchange ideas and plans for joint project they will run over the course of their partnership.  The two days will also be used to demonstrate how new technologies including social media can be used to enhance communications between the schools – and of course, to develop the IT skills of both students and teachers.

The National School for the Blind will be attending and will describe the successes of their unique project with their French partner school which has been running since 2009.

Plans, projects and partnerships do not always run smoothly and we will also provide you with a ‘Guide to Successful Partnerships’ and provide some hints and tips to get the most out of your partnership.

The Inter-action programme has just 50 partnerships available for 2012 and applications are coming in to us daily.  Do not miss your chance to be part of the programme and to attend this Paris conference in March – apply now.

Sir Michael Wilshaw, the new head of Ofsted has announced his intention to replace the Ofsted rating ’satisfactory’ with ‘good’ in order to emphasis the importance of all schools ensuring good provision in all areas.

Speaking ahead of today’s Government summit on ‘coasting schools’ Sir Michael said:

‘There are too many coasting schools not providing an acceptable standard of education

‘Of particular concern are the 3,000 schools educating a million children that have been ’satisfactory’ two inspections in a row.

‘This is not good enough. That is why I am determined to look again at the judgements we award, not only so we are accurately reporting what we see, but so that those schools that most need help are identified and can properly begin the process of improvement.

‘I make no apology for making even greater demands of an education system which has to respond with greater urgency to increasingly difficult and competitive economic circumstances.’

The announcement is available here: http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/ofsted-announces-scrapping-of-%E2%80%98satisfactory%E2%80%99-judgement-move-designed-help-improve-education-for-mill-0

Further information and guidance on the new Ofsted framework is available here:

https://www.ssatrust.org.uk/achievement/setra/Pages/Ofstedjudgements-thenewframeworkexplained.aspx

A teacher from Lordswood school in Birmingham recently went on exchange to a school in St Marten, French Antilles:

“We hosted 16 student from St Martin in September and I went over for a week’s Job Shadow in October.  Our partner school has also joined us (25 pupils) in a Comenius multi-national partnership and will be joining us and the two German schools involved in September to visit the Paralympics in London.”

How did he make this contact?  As part of the Inter-Action project run by The Schools Network which partners English and French schools  who then work on joint study projects for their students, and many get the opportunity to visit each other.

We have 50 partnerships available in 2012 – you could be partnered with a school in Provence, or Brittany for example.  All successful schools will attend the annual partnership conference in Paris in March.  Don’t delay – visit the Inter-Action website for application details.

We’re delighted that Michael Gove has listened to calls from The Schools Network a year ago for ICT to be embedded across the curriculum and for a greater focus on computing and programming.

We’ve already been doing a huge amount of work in this area and Mr Gove’s speech to the BETT Show today echoes many of the points we sent to him last year in our paper ‘The Importance of Technology’ as well as evidence from our member schools to the national curriculum review.

The Government is on the right track with its announcement today.  Mr Gove’s been listening to the key messages from The Schools Network National Conference where this thinking really took off.

Lord Puttnam made an impassioned case for greater programming skills in schools and Alan November, who is doing more work with us later this term, laid out the huge benefits of technology across the curriculum.

As always. We’ll be here for schools and will be offering support to our members so they can rise to the challenges new technology presents.

Programming skills need to be taught from Key Stage 1 to 4 and not just crammed into the last years of secondary school if our pupils are going to have a chance to engage in serious computing and learn the subject in sufficient breadth and depth.

More than 80% of Schools Network members who responded to our national curriculum survey called for ICT to be embedded in other subjects and for computer science to be taught in schools. We are therefore supportive of this move but concerned about its rushed implementation.

In fact the Schools Network’s Maths and Computing Headteacher Steering Group commissioned work two years ago to devise schemes of work on teaching Computing within Key Stage Three. Several schools have adopted these programmes of study.

Ian Potter, Chairman of The Schools Network’s Maths and Computing Steering Group said:

‘Computer programming and a deep understanding of how technology works is essential for our pupils’ success in the modern world. They understand this and are increasingly expecting schools to deliver and provide these skills for them.

‘ICT skills – using software to solve everyday problems – are important, but they should be part of all subjects. The Government is right to recognise that computer science is vital to develop a generation of young people who can exploit the opportunities of a world increasingly driven by technological innovations.

‘It was true a year ago and is even more true now. Many schools are already at the forefront of using technology across the curriculum. But we are all going to have to move extremely fast to implement these changes. This means engaging with head teachers and trusting us to develop the curriculum and the resources to get these reforms implemented.’

Read more about our work on education technology here and see how you can work with Alan November here

Update:

Dr Neil Hopkin, chair of The Schools Network Primary Head Teacher Steering Group, said: “The leading primary schools in the country have for a long time understood this notion of the child as a prosumer – both a producer and a consumer of software. So we would welcome and embrace any departmental support for a curriculum that puts children at the centre of the creative process with regard to technology rather than at the periphery.”

Update:

We’ve put together a useful page with all the information on Michael Gove’s ICT curriculum reforms and some great resources and background on computing and the use of technology in schools. See it here

The truth is that whenever the Government hits on a good idea for something to do in schools, leading head teachers in The Schools Network have been there first.

This holds true for the latest announcement on the teaching of computer science and programming in schools.

Andrew Seager, head teacher of Stratford School Academy and his ICT staff have been using their academy freedoms to offer computer programming and offer computing from Year 7 through to GCSE.

The oversubscribed and popular classes offer Scratch computer programming language in place of previous ICT provision which pupils found boring and unchallenging, since they learned most of the content elsewhere anyway.

On top of its educational benefits, GCSE Computing has proved not to be resource intensive as almost any computer is suitable.

One challenge though is that more good teachers are needed for the course and more encouragement will be needed for teachers to train and retrain in this area.

Mr Seager said:

‘It was clear to us that computing in schools in this country had lost its way. The National Curriculum in this area was boring and not challenging pupils to develop new skills and knowledge.

‘Our students are doing well in this subject and thoroughly enjoying the chance to learn such vital skills.

‘We definitely intend to develop more in this direction in future.’

1. Establish clearly defined literacy development roles for all the staff in your school
2. Conduct a thorough audit of the current literacy provision in your school
3. Identify quality assurance procedures for any literacy development work planned
4. Provide a range of training opportunities to empower staff and build their confidence
5. Raise the profile of literacy so that it is clear to all staff, students and parents that it is a whole-school priority
6. Develop the teaching and learning of literacy skills across the curriculum by identifying and sharing effective pedagogy and practice
7. Identify the systems, procedures and staff who will be responsible for ensuring consistency across the curriculum
8. Provide a range of personalised intervention programmes for students who need additional support to develop their literacy skills
9. Utilise the range of resources and staff expertise in your school to enhance the planned literacy development work
10. Monitor and evaluate the literacy strategies and developments undertaken in the first academic year

All these tips have been taken from The Schools Network publication: Leading and managing literacy across the curriculum: A practical, step-by-step guide to raising achievement through literacy. Click here to see our literacy publications.

The Schools Network has a whole suite of literacy training events, resources and networks to give you strategic and classroom ideas to raise achievement through literacy:

NEW skills-based literacy training events this spring term:

      How to improve students’ speaking and listening in every subject

      How to improve students’ reading in every subject

      How to improve students’ writing in every subject

      Exam Literacy

Click here to learn more

Email: literacy@theschoolsnetwork.org.uk

For those who missed it, the 8th December ‘Leading and managing literacy across the curriculum’ conference provided practical ideas to help schools improve literacy across the curriculum.

The event got off to a great start with Graham Tyrer’s inspirational keynote address. Research has shown that students learn best when explaining concepts to others, and Tyrer described how using student leaders to build ‘literacy communities’can have a dramatic impact on literacy across the curriculum.

Reading, writing, Ofsted and even sport were the themes of the mid-morning workshops, designed to give delegates a choice of interactive sessions. Rachel Lomas engaged delegates in discussion about how to ensure reading resources across the school were at the right level whilst Lidia Lawther and Janine Middleton  shared strategies to encourage extended writing in every subject.

Much laughter could be heard coming from the room where Liam Murtagh and Gillian Harlick led delegates through a series of activities from The Schools Network resource Love Literacy, proving that teaching (and learning) literacy across the curriculum could be engaging and fun.

With the Ofsted literacy framework on many teachers’ minds, delegates were able to find out first-hand from Sharron Diffley and Charlotte Walker what it takes to earn an ‘Outstanding’ under the new guidelines. The teachers shared their strategies on how to tweak lesson plans, incorporate keywords effectively, and contribute to improved literacy in relevant and meaningful ways in every subject.

Further strategies to tackle the new framework were offered by Matt Barrett and Jane Elam, whose answer to improving whole school literacy lay in collaboration between the P.E. and English departments to create a number of personalised interventions.

After a buffet lunch, delegates got right back into the event with a keynote address from Richard Marshall exploring the ambiguity of language and its possible implications for the relationship between students and their learning.

Any teacher in the English language should be a teacher of the English language: that was the rationale behind Jody Clarke and Debbie Murphy’s presentation on how to get the entire school involved in raising achievement using literacy strategies.

The event concluded with round-table discussions which gave speakers and delegates a chance to network and strategise. One delegate summed it up: “Plenty of ideas which could be quickly implemented and all done in a really positive, engaging way”.

Coming up this spring! New literacy skills seminars to pinpoint and raise achievement across the curriculum in speaking and listening, reading, writing and exam literacy. For further details please visit our events page.

One of the biggest challenges we face is to help schools keep improving so every school can be a good school.

Ofsted released an interesting report this week on schools ranked as satisfactory. They found that as of 8 April 2011, there were 937 secondary schools found to be satisfactory at their last two inspections.

In addition, schools serving more deprived families improve from satisfactory more slowly than schools serving affluent families.

They concluded that improved learning and progress are key to schools becoming good or better.

The detailed study of a sample group of 36 schools found that:
•  the main weaknesses in schools that do not improve their overall effectiveness judgement are low attainment, inconsistently effective
leadership and management, including at middle leader level and too little good teaching
• schools often failed fully to sustain improvement in their weaknesses from one inspection to the next, or only made improvements on a narrow front
• leaders were insufficiently effective in leading teaching from satisfactory to good, or in ensuring that monitoring and evaluation were driving
consistent improvement in teaching
• the improvement of teaching was often held back by weaknesses in assessment and planning, so that students were insufficiently challenged;
teaching lacked pace because it did not set high enough expectations, did not engage students sufficiently, and was sometimes faced by negative behaviour as a consequence

We are running a programme of events next term to help schools address these issues and support the improvement of teaching at leadership level.

Our events include full Ofsted judgement conferences, lesson observation events and Grade 1 teaching learning walks.

Clikc here  for details.