Blog

Having recently moved from being a headteacher to Senior Education Lead with SSAT, I have been reflecting a great deal on the nature of school improvement.

School leaders have long known that the attendance and punctuality of pupils is of the utmost importance. As a former headteacher, I began each termly Celebration Assembly with awards for the best and most improved attendance awards. The students would know beforehand that I was going to tell them that great attendance was the most important factor in the academic and social successes that are what schools are all about. Attendance matters. It always has.

Attendance is at the top of every school leaders’ priority list, with persistent absenteeism rates rising to 24.2% in the Autumn term of 22/23. However, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to improving attendance, and the effectiveness of interventions is context-dependent.

In this second article by Ndah Mbawa from Happier Every Chapter, she highlights her top choices for diverse and inclusive titles as we approach the festive season.

Back in April 2019, I wrote a blog looking back at what had been my 40 years working in education. What I didn’t mention then was the band of trailblazers and journeymen/women politicians who were in charge of education during that time. I’m talking about the 23 men and women who held the office of secretary of state for education from September 1979 until the present day.

With a general election on the horizon, the major political parties are starting to set out their vision for the future of education. SSAT has a proud history of championing the voices of school leaders and working collaboratively with academics and thought leaders to produce fresh thinking.

Welcome to the first article in a series dedicated to exploring the impact that a newly refined school vision, can have on learning and teaching.

Julian Grant, EFA Mentor and SSAT quality assurance lead for the EFA programme shares his insights from discussions with schools.

Boston High School in Lincolnshire has enjoyed a successful first year undertaking the Embedding Formative Assessment EFA programme, at the end of which staff were asked to both review the impact individually, in their Teacher Learning Communities (TLC), and in their subject in departmental groups.

Autumn can be a difficult time of year. As clocks go back and the dark nights get longer, we increasingly look forward to Christmas lights. Similarly, in a world darkened by inequity we need places of light and hope. We also need to be those people of hope.