HEP Talks

Monday 5th December, 2022 - Top stories include: The DfE missed their targets for primary and secondary teacher trainees by a long shot. Three organisations have launched a joint legal challenge against the government’s decision to establish Oak National Academy as a publicly funded arm’s-length body. Capacity checkers will be sent into secondary schools to see if they have space for more pupils....

Monday 28th November, 2022 - Top stories include: Hunt’s school budget increase is actually slower than increases during the 2000s. Around 40 councils have kept funding designated for special schools for themselves. The number of very low-attaining pupils in Year 2 reading has more than tripled The Queen Street Group warned the government that its policies were encouraging “vulnerable” schools to...

In this episode of HEP Talks, Luke Kemper, HEP Insight and Intelligence Lead, talks to Sian McDermott, Headteacher at Rowland Hill Nursery School & Children Centre, about her school and the outstanding grade it received from its latest Ofsted inspection. Topics covered include how Rowland Hill achieved a grade of 'outstanding' from Ofsted, how the school fostered an environment of joy, how the...

Monday 21st November, 2022 - Top stories include: Jeremy Hunt, the current chancellor, delivered the Autumn Statement, announcing an extra £2.3 billion a year for schools in the next 2 years. Academies Minister Baroness Barran has accepted the need for greater “transparency” in decision-making over academisation. The Department for Education has set up a ‘strategic tutoring advisory group’. The Ch...

Monday 14th November, 2022 - Top stories include: The gap in average A-level grades between poorer students and their peers this summer was the widest since 2016-17. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan believes that tackling inflation is more important than boosting school budgets. The Guardian reports that children not eligible for free school meals are coming to school with mouldy bread, empty wr...

Monday 7th November, 2022 - Top stories include: Teach First has recruited its lowest number of trainees in four years. Unions have accepted a pay raise for school support staff, including teaching assistants, and other council workers. Multi-academy trusts have put expansion on hold while they deal with financial pressures. 65 percent of headteachers in England felt highly anxious about work duri...

Monday 31st October, 2022 - Top stories include: Old faces are returning as education ministers under new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. A TES investigation revealed the dire recruitment situation in schools. Due to rising costs, most schools are being forced to cut staff, increase class sizes, and forgo building repairs in the coming years. New Equality and Human Rights Commission guidance warns sch...

It's half-term, so in place of the weekly brief, HEP has released another episode of HEP Talks! In this episode, Luke Kemper, HEP Insight and Intelligence Lead, talks to Marva Rollins, a HEP School Improvement Partner and member of the Racial Equity Steering Group, about racial inequality in education. Topics covered include National Foundation for Education Research report titled “Racial equality...

In this episode of HEP Talks, Luke Kemper, HEP Insight and Intelligence Lead, talks to Patricia Lamour, MBE, CEO of Aspire Education Group, and Linda Sarr, Headteacher of Risley Avenue Primary School, about Take It Serious, a new disaster management education project. Topics covered include what disaster management education means and how schools can engage with the Take It Serious curriculum, amo...

Monday 17th October, 2022 - Top stories include: Headteacher turnover has increased by more than a third since before the pandemic. A report by The COVID Social Mobility & Opportunities has confirmed that the pandemic widened existing inequalities between poorer pupils and their better-off peers. Ofsted has refused calls to conduct separate annual safeguarding audits. Hugely increased interest...

Monday 10th October, 2022 - Top stories include: Headteachers are “appalled” by Kit Malthouse’s comments of “mediocrity” in the school system. Ofsted has snubbed calls from school leaders to publish inspection training sheets. KS1 maths and literacy results took a plunge this year in the first batch of KS1 tests since 2019. This week’s deep dive: The Ofsted Leaks We’ll also tell you what’s happeni...

Monday 3rd October - Top stories include: Exams will go back to normal in 2023. Schools are having trouble finding enough support staff. Oak National Academy will not threaten teachers’ autonomy, says Chief. The government’s school behaviour adviser is urging headteachers to crack down on vaping. This week’s deep dive: Behaviour in schools: Advice for headteachers and school staff We’ll also tell...

Monday 26th September - Top stories include: The energy bill support for schools has been revealed. The results of a new DfE energy cost survey have been published. Research has emerged about the efficacy of class dogs exciting children about reading. The government has widened eligibility for a teaching internship programme to chemistry and language students. This week’s deep dive: Education secr...

Tuesday 20th September - Top stories include: The government said it “will confirm further details” of its energy support scheme this week. Teacher vacancies have risen by almost two-thirds this September. Over 80% of cold calls made to schools to check whether they were using the National Tutoring Programme failed. A new report from the National Governance Association shows governing boards have...

In this episode of HEP Talks, Luke Kemper, HEP Insight and Intelligence Lead, talks to Kate Turnpenney, former CEO of Children First Academy Trust, about how to set up a MAT. Topics covered include how Children First was established, what are its values, and the role of place in the formation of the trust, among others. Attention to multi-academy trusts, or MATs, has drastically increased since th...

Monday 12th September - Top stories include: A period of National Mourning for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II has now started. New prime minister Liz Truss has named Kit Malthouse as the latest education secretary. Liz Truss has announced a six-month government support scheme in order to combat upcoming energy cost increases. The Schools Bill is experiencing further delays as it moves through Parl...

In this episode of HEP Talks, Luke Kemper, HEP Lead for Insight and Intelligence, interviews Brenda Hayles about the HEP Science Curriculum, of which she is both the author and illustrator. Topics include Brenda's journey into science education, what the HEP Science Curriculum entails, and how her CPD sessions can help teachers use the curriculum effectively, among others. HEP members can use the...

Monday 5th September - Top stories include: 29 Local Authorities have applied to launch their own MATs via the ‘test and learn’ pilot programme. Oak National Academy, the government arms-length curriculum body, is finally scheduled to launch, but with a drastically reduced curriculum. SchoolsWeek has compiled a list of key trends for the 2022 GCSE results. This week’s deep dive: Reports on Assessm...

In this episode of HEP Talks, Evelyn Davies, a HEP leadership consultant, interviews Mungi Ngomane, author and granddaughter of Desmond Tutu, about her book and the concept of Ubuntu, the African philosophy of interconnectedness. Topics include human dignity and respect, her book Everyday Ubuntu: Living better together, the African way , and how Ubuntu can relate to education, among others. We hop...

Monday 18th July - Top stories include: A heat warning is in effect in the UK, with temperatures possibly reaching 40C. Schools must “assess and balance” the risk of potential strip searches to pupils’ wellbeing before calling the police. Two-thirds of school or trust governing boards have at least one vacancy as the number of empty posts hits a six-year high. This week’s deep dive: New Suspension...

Monday 11th July - Top stories include: The position of education secretary swaps hands three times in two days. the supply of trainee teachers in parts of the country could be disrupted by teacher training provider “deserts”. Fifty Chinese students in the past three years have been forced to leave the UK after Britain tightened its procedures to prevent theft of sensitive academic research. This...

Monday 4th July - Top stories include: A government attendance adviser has urged the Department for Education to fund dozens more “attendance hubs”. The DfE has launched a review into how Multi-Academy Trusts will be held to account. A group of sixth formers in east London have come up with an alternative inspection regime that they say would better hold schools to account and improve young people...

Monday 27th June - Top stories include: Rail strikes potentially affected hundreds of thousands of students taking GCSE and A-level exams. The DfE has launched a new consultation on attendance data. TES has uncovered a discrepancy in the success of schools applying for funding to fix crumbling school buildings. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi accused an exam board of “cultural vandalism” after i...

Monday 20th June - Top stories include: School governors are “increasingly concerned” their work is becoming less visible in Ofsted inspections. Oak National Academy may not be fully operational by the start of the next school year. A new study shows that anxiety does not seem to have a large impact upon the grades that students leave school with. Trusts identify growth as both a priority and a ch...

Monday 13th June - Top stories include: The proportion of free school meal-eligible pupils has risen to 22.5%. The DfE wants schools and trusts to find another £1 billion of savings to prepare for rising energy and other costs. Almost one-third of schools’ buildings include expiring materials or “pose a serious risk of imminent failure.” In 2023, a new system will allow applicants from other count...