HEP Talks

Monday 20th March 2023 - Top stories include: Ofsted is looking for a new chief inspector to replace Amanda Spielman once she steps down. Last week, the National Education Union took strike action on both Wednesday and Thursday. New DfE data finds high levels of persistent absence among pupils. The government wants schools to increase the supply of wraparound care. This week’s deep dive: What’s Go...

Monday 13th March 2023 - Top stories include: The deadlock over pay talks between education unions and the government continues. The coronation of King Charles is pushing back testing dates. The DfE is concerned over the education children are receiving outside of school grounds. The number of increasingly serious incidents involving school-age pupils on social media is on the rise. This week’s de...

In preparation for the Governors' Conference coming up this Saturday at HEP HQ, we are bringing back a HEP Talks episode about governors and their role in Ofsted inspections. In this episode of HEP Talks, Neetha Atukorale from HEP's Governor Services talks to Karen Tate, governor at South Harringay School about the school's most recent Ofsted inspection. Topics covered include Ofsted preparation,...

Monday 6th March 2023 - Top stories include: The government published the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan last Thursday. UCL has been awarded a £14.9 million programme to create three-year Language Hubs. Mixed MATs are being forced to divert more funding toward their primary schools. This week’s deep dive: NIA Academy Celebration Event We’ll also tell you what’s happening at HEP th...

In July, 2022, I spoke to Margaret Mulholland, SEN and Inclusion Policy Specialist for the Association of School and College Leaders, or ASCL, about the SEND and AP Green Paper, which had been released by the DfE in March. We published part one of this interview recently - you can listen here . In part two of the interview, Margaret and I talked more about inclusivity and discussed how we can embe...

Monday 27th February 2023 - Top stories include: Gillian Keegan has invited unions to formal talks over pay if they call off their planned strike this week. Schools may be forced to plug a 39 million pound shortfall in funding due to free school meals extension. The largest Multi-Academy Trusts have given raises to their top earners. The DfE has recommended that teachers receive a pay rise of 3 pe...

In March 2022, the Department for Education released the SEND and AP Green Paper, a document which summarised the challenges faced by SEND and AP provision, and set out ambitious reforms to create a single, well-regulated, national SEND and AP system ( Read a summary of the paper here ). There was a consultation on the paper soon after, which closed in July 2022, and that’s when I spoke to Margare...

Monday 20th February 2023 - Top stories include: Teacher pay talks with the education secretary have once again ended with no new offer. Seven unions have asked the government to take action on deteriorating school buildings. A SchoolDash report analyses which words are most common in positive Ofsted inspections. SchoolsWeek tracked which policies from the schools white paper are still alive. This...

This episode of HEP Talks is a conversation between HEP Chief Executive James Page and Estelle Morris, Baroness of Yardley and Co-Chair of the Area-based Education Partnerships Association (AEPA). It comes ahead of the AEPA annual conference which takes place on Friday, 10 February at 10:30am at the Coram Centre in London. Topics included are the relationship between politics and education at the...

Monday 6th February 2023 - Top stories include: Over half of schools closed partially or fully due to the NEU strike of around 300,000 teachers. Female Ofsted inspectors are more likely to hand out harsher grades for primary schools. Oak National Academy saw a spike in traffic during the first day of teacher strikes. This week’s deep dive: Nursery World Show 2023 We’ll also tell you what’s happeni...

Monday 30th January, 2023 - Top stories include: The DfE released several interesting research publications. Schoolsweek found four downgraded ‘outstanding’ schools with provisional Progress 8 scores among the highest 100 in the country. Fewer schools are meeting the government’s proposed “parent pledge” than before the policy was announced. the NAHT and National Education Union have told their me...

Monday 23rd January, 2023 - Top stories include: Schools are being asked to prioritise attendance for certain groups of pupils and “consider” remote education during strikes. Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has raised the prospect of paying teachers in shortage subjects more. A survey found that one in ten pupils in England have felt unsafe at school. 78 percent of schools previously judged as...

Monday 16th January, 2023 - Top stories include: Ofsted has admitted that its complaints policy “is not working” and will be reviewed. Teachers’ Union NASUWT failed to meet the threshold for strike action. Absence rates hit 14.3 percent across all schools at the end of last term, mainly due to illness. The DfE has updated the non-statutory ‘Teaching online safety in schools’ guidance. This week’s...

In this episode, Luke speaks with Alex Atherton, former headteacher and current HEP Improvement Partner and leadership coach. In the first part of the interview, Luke speaks to Alex about the way he landed his headship at quite a young age, and to see if he thought that journey was replicable nowadays. They also cover key themes of privilege and how education has changed (especially in terms of te...

In this episode, HEP's Luke Kemper talked to artist Sally Newton at South Harringay School, where she has painted two large staircase murals. They spoke about how she became an artist, what it’s like to paint a curriculum on the walls, and how students react to art, among other things. If you’d like to see more of Sally’s work, you can check out her website at www.sallynewton-mural-artist.com . Th...

Monday 12th December, 2022 - Top stories include: The School’s Bill is dead, but many of its priorities live on. The National Tutoring Programme has failed in its goal of tutoring 65 percent disadvantaged pupils. 500 million pounds aimed at making school buildings more energy efficient have been “repurposed” for energy bill savings. Ofsted is nearly 2000 inspections behind schedule. This week’s de...

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...