Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of the average class size in secondary schools in Burton in (a) January 2019 and (b) January 2022.
Answered by Robin Walker
The average class size in Burton in January 2019 and January 2022 are as follows:
School | Year | Average Size (by pupil) |
Primary | January 2019 | 26.7 |
Primary | January 2022 | 26.9 |
Secondary | January 2019 | 22.2 |
Secondary | January 2022 | 22.5 |
Data on class size is available at school level within the schools, pupils and their characteristics national statistics publication available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
This data contains the parliamentary constituency of each school which can then be aggregated to parliamentary constituency level.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of the average class size in primary schools in Burton in (a) January 2019 and (b) January 2022.
Answered by Robin Walker
The average class size in Burton in January 2019 and January 2022 are as follows:
School | Year | Average Size (by pupil) |
Primary | January 2019 | 26.7 |
Primary | January 2022 | 26.9 |
Secondary | January 2019 | 22.2 |
Secondary | January 2022 | 22.5 |
Data on class size is available at school level within the schools, pupils and their characteristics national statistics publication available at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-pupils-and-their-characteristics.
This data contains the parliamentary constituency of each school which can then be aggregated to parliamentary constituency level.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure that schools are a safe environment for pupils.
Answered by Will Quince
Education is a powerful protective factor for young people. It plays a vital role in early intervention and prevention of the worst possible outcomes for young people, including involvement in county lines and serious violence.
The department’s statutory safeguarding guidance Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) contains extensive safeguarding advice, which all schools and colleges must have regard to when carrying out their duties to safeguard and promote the welfare of children. It contains advice about all forms of abuse and neglect including the indicators of these harms. KCSIE is clear that all staff should have an awareness of safeguarding issues that can put children at risk of harm.
The new statutory relationships, sex and health education (RSHE) curriculum was introduced in September 2020 with a focus on building respectful, healthy relationships, including ways of resolving conflict. Schools have the freedom to ensure the curriculum meets the need of their pupils which allows them to respond to local issues such as violence and exploitation, with high quality materials available to support teaching.
In addition to this wider work, we are investing £45 million in two new programmes, which are funding specialist support in both mainstream and alternative provision (AP) schools in the areas where serious violence is most damaging to local communities. The first of these are the Alternative Provision Specialist Taskforces, launched in November 2021, which involves specialists being drawn from across health, education, social care, youth services and youth justice to work directly with young people in AP settings.
The second programme is the SAFE (‘Support, Attend, Fulfil, Exceed’) Taskforces programme, launched earlier this year. SAFE Taskforces are being led by partnerships of local secondary schools in 10 serious violence hotspots with the aim of re-engaging young people in their education through intensive support, informed by the research on what works to prevent serious violence.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions his Department has had with Cabinet colleagues on allowing pupils from reception to year 13 to repeat an academic year in September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn, and because we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers.
Once a child has been admitted to a school it is for the headteacher to decide how best to educate them. This may, on occasion, include deciding that a child should be educated in a year group other than the one indicated by their age. Such decisions should be based on sound educational reasons and in consultation with parents. We do not currently anticipate that children and young people will need to repeat a school year as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to look at all options to make sure children and young people get the support they need to continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak and make up for time spent out of school.
However, it remains possible for headteachers to agree this in individual cases, if they think it is appropriate.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what discussions he has had with Cabinet colleagues on allowing pupils from reception to year 13 to repeat an academic year from September 2020.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We want to get all children and young people back into education as soon as the scientific advice allows because it is the best place for them to learn, and because we know how important it is for their mental wellbeing to have social interactions with their peers, carers and teachers.
Once a child has been admitted to a school it is for the headteacher to decide how best to educate them. This may, on occasion, include deciding that a child should be educated in a year group other than the one indicated by their age. Such decisions should be based on sound educational reasons and in consultation with parents. We do not currently anticipate that children and young people will need to repeat a school year as a consequence of the COVID-19 outbreak. We continue to look at all options to make sure children and young people get the support they need to continue their education during the COVID-19 outbreak and make up for time spent out of school.
However, it remains possible for headteachers to agree this in individual cases, if they think it is appropriate.
Asked by: Kate Kniveton (Conservative - Burton)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps he is taking to ensure that the needs of three-tier school systems are included within the strategy for the planned reopening of schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
We are expecting all mainstream schools and colleges, including independent schools and middle schools, to follow the same approach to wider opening.
Based on all the evidence, the Department asked primary schools to welcome back children in nursery, Reception, year 1 and year 6, alongside priority groups (vulnerable children and children of critical workers), from 1 June. From 15 June we are asking schools to offer some face-to-face support to supplement the remote education for year 10 and, where they have sixth forms, year 12 students who are due to take key examinations next year, alongside the full time provision they are offering to priority groups.
We encourage middle schools to do the same to ensure national parity for children in these year groups. Although in three-tier school systems year 6 students are not facing a transition to a new school, it represents the end of Key Stage 2 and so welcoming pupils in year 6 back will allow schools to support the transition from the primary to secondary curriculum.
There continues to be extensive engagement with teaching unions and other school stakeholder organisations both at a ministerial and official level.