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New data from the Department for Education shows that there has been a 3.5% or 300,000 pupil rise in those who are eligible for free school meals across England between January 2020 and 2021. This means that there are 1.7 million pupils claiming free school meals.

Ofsted Chief Inspector Amanda Spielman went before the House of Commons education committee this week for an accountability hearing, as well as to give evidence on safeguarding in schools, following on from the publication last week of Ofsted’s review into sexual abuse in schools and colleges.

The Secretary of State for education addressed delegates at the Festival for Education where he pledged to announce a “broader vision” for schools later this year which will focus around the plan of working towards an academised model with all schools joining trusts, which was announced earlier this year.

Pupils at Cragside Primary School, Newcastle and Newminster Middle School, Morpeth have taken part in the Education Arts Festival 2021, producing some fantastic pieces of work, as well as sharing them on Twitter which you can follow at #EduArtsFest. Alongside this, both schools have used the creative arts to promote student wellbeing throughout the past year during the pandemic.

The government has announced a £1.4 billion ‘recovery’ plan for schools following the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. The funding, announced on Wednesday, is primarily to be used to support the existing National Tuition Programme, the development of “local tutoring provision”, and teacher training.  This works out at approx £50 extra per pupil over the next three years.  Following the announcement, Sir Kevan Collins is standing down as Education Recovery Commissioner as the government’s announcement falls a long way short of what he had recommended.

Schools North East Director, Chris Zarraga, appeared on a panel which discussed bold leadership at an event hosted by Big Education in collaboration with Schools North East. The discussion was based around the need for reform within the education sector to build a fairer system for all children.

Following this week’s inquest which saw Boris Johnson’s former special advisor Dominic Cummings give evidence, it became clear that the government as a whole did not have a robust plan in place pre the Covid-19 pandemic.  Coupled with this, the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons published a report on the 26th May providing evidence that the DfE also had no plans in place in the event of a national emergency like the pandemic.

According to TES, solicitors have already had conversations with parents who are in need of legal support as they are worried about the Summer 21 exam grading system being ‘unfair’.

Ofsted has released a review document looking at how schools can improve the teaching of Mathematics in order to close the attainment gap in this subject, as well as identifying how to tackle the growing shortage of specialist Maths teachers in schools.

A generous donation towards books and resources is helping early years’ pupils at a Northumberland primary school to play ‘catch up’ in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Sutton Trust, EPI and IFS have released reports this week which have analysed the spending over the past year during the Covid period in order to make recommendations for education recovery in England in anticipation of an imminent announcement from the Department for Education setting out the official ‘recovery’ plan.

The government has announced this week plans to invest £10 million into Plymouth, Ashfield & Mansfield, South Sefton & North Liverpool, and North Durham & City, all areas where there is a low proportion of good or outstanding schools.