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Mike Parker, SCHOOLS NorthEast Director, said:

“We need to recognise that exclusions – fixed-term or permanent - are a last resort for the vast majority of school leaders. This is a complex issue and the data alone does not tell the full story.

Mike Parker, SCHOOLS NorthEast Director, said:

“We welcome the prominence the document gives to issues that we have long discussed in the North East, however the success of the report will be in the action the Government takes to address the main recommendations that the report outlines.

“In particular, we back the report’s conclusion that the Government has to act urgently to bring its flagship Opportunity Areas support to the North East. SCHOOLS NorthEast has repeatedly challenged the decision not to include this region in a £72m initiative that is also attracting the lion’s share of other school improvement funding and projects to drive up attainment in disadvantaged areas.”

Mike Parker, Director of SCHOOLS NorthEast, said:
“These results have to be seen in the context of a significant overhaul in GCSEs this year. Experts predicted this would be the case and it has seen more schools across the country go below the floor standard.

Northumberland County Council is consulting on its Draft Strategy for Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND), which aims to increase school place capacity to meet the demand for children with SEND in specialist and mainstream provision. This is compulsory under Section 30 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

The annual SCHOOLS NorthEast Summit is fast approaching – there’s only one week to go until our biggest education event hits the North East. The Summit programme has just been announced and it's sure to be a day Heads and school leaders can't miss - from key note speeches to panels, sessions and networking, it's the only education event in the North East of its kind. 

This week the Labour Party held their annual conference in Brighton. Shadow Education Secretary Angela Rayner set out her vision of education from a Labour perspective and took the Conservative government to task on their education record to date.

Following the departure of Lord Nash this week, Sir Theodore Agnew, the founder of the Inspiration Trust, has been announced as the new Minister for Academies. It was speculated that Agnew would be Lord Nash’s successor, however it has now been confirmed by the Prime Minister’s Office that he will take the coveted position.

The Head of Ofsted has said that schools should not be afraid to promote British Values, regardless of the fact that some children are being brought up in environments that are ‘actively hostile’ to them.

‘The one constant in your life is change’ – those were the words of Cathy Kirby, Regional Director of Ofsted for the North East, Yorkshire and Humber at the SCHOOLS NorthEast Ofsted event this week at Boldon.

It has been announced this week that Tim Leunig, Chief Science Adviser for the DfE, is leaving the department to work for Michael Gove’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs.

The North East Local Enterprise Partnership (NELEP) region is the first in the country to pilot the eight National Career Benchmarks identified by Sir John Holman and the Gatsby Foundation.

New figures suggest that the number of 15-16 year olds studying arts subjects in England, such as drama and music, has fallen to the lowest level in a decade as a result of government policies.