Blog

As school leaders you know that attention from the media and politicians about the ‘attendance crisis’ is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, it is good to know that you are not alone in meeting these challenges. On the other hand, such attention on school issues often generates more heat than light.

How should schools respond when faced with extreme views from pupils and parents? When views are expressed which go against the values of the school and make other members of the community feel unsafe, what should be done? This week, a group of school leaders met at Thomas Estley Community School to share experiences and ideas, in an event hosted by our partner organisation Life Lessons.

As schools face the ever more urgent challenges of ensuring wellbeing for their students, the value of including students in their planning should be recognised.

This week, The Guardian published an article which shared feedback from parents about why they were opting to home school. Data clearly shows that the number of children and young people being home-schooled has increased substantially and is continuing to rise.

We watched the speeches of Gillian Keegan, Secretary of State for Education, and Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted’s new Chief Inspector, at the ASCL 2024 conference with interest.

Today on World Book Day, SSAT Senior Education Lead, Laura Burton, reflects upon the power of reading for pleasure and shares how schools within the Primary Network promote a love of reading whilst ensuring accessibility for all pupils.

‘Just 4 in 10 teachers found their last Inset day useful’ so ran the headline from TES 24 January 2024 quoting a TeacherTapp survey of around 9,000 teachers in England during autumn 2023.

Adele Hawksworth is King’s Academy Bay House’s Librarian and SSAT Lead Practitioner. Adele has a proven record of impact in promoting reading for pleasure, reading across the curriculum, reading support and in facilitating best practices in research, with an emphasis on coordinating support staff teams in driving impact across the curriculum both within school and across the region.

Renata Joseph, headteacher at Saint Cecilia’s Church of England School in Wandsworth, London, shared her reflections with us on the theme of women in leadership and education.

I was very sorry to hear of the death of Professor Sir Tim Brighouse on 15 December 2023. I had the privilege of working with Tim when he was in Birmingham. The headteachers admired and loved him.