What’s in the news?
- What’s off-rolling? Take a peek at the new School inspection update: special edition September 2018
Inspectors should be careful of the language they use when exploring ‘off-rolling’ in schools. It will usually be unhelpful to talk about ‘unlawful off-rolling’ unless inspectors have evidence that this is what is actually happening. Inspectors also need to remember that off-rolling is often lawful, even if is not in the pupil’s best interests. Inspectors should also be aware that removal from a school’s roll can be in an individual pupil’s best interests
- A report by the National Literacy Trust found children who engage with reading and writing are three times more likely to have higher levels of mental wellbeing.The report, based on a survey of 49,047 UK school children aged 8 to 18, also found that:
- Children who are the most engaged with reading and writing are much happier with their lives than children who are the least engaged
- As children transition from primary to secondary school, their levels of literacy engagement and mental wellbeing both decline and continue on this downward path
- Boys who are the most engaged with reading and writing have higher levels of mental wellbeing than girls who are engaged
- What do you want to be when you grown older? According to the Millennium Cohort Study by the LSE, “Across all ethnic groups, boys often say they want to be a sportsman, or engineer, with many also aspiring to become lawyers or doctors… irls are also aspiring to highly-paid jobs, although their preferred professions tend to be less well-paid than those of boys, particularly when they are younger.”
- Hitting the news this week are pupils at Stanley Park High, a south London secondary school who have been told they will be banned from cycling unless they display number plates on their bicycles.
- Are Ofsted promoting subject specialists at primary? Read their latest Ofsted news blog and curriculum research findings.
- Contract-cheating is bad for the system. Over 40 university bosses have written to the education secretary calling for so-called essay mill companies to be banned.