Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of publishing simplified guidance for (a) parents and (b) schools on how requests for (i) deferred entry and (ii) out-of-cohort progression are handled.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department keeps its guidance for schools and parents about requests for summer born children to be admitted out of their normal age group under review and updates it as required.
The guidance for schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-advice-for-admission-authorities(opens in a new tab).
The guidance for parents is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission(opens in a new tab).
The guidance is clear that it is rarely in a child’s best interests to miss a year of their education by being admitted to primary school in year 1 rather than reception, or to secondary school in year 8 rather than year 7. Therefore, if a parent requests their summer born child start their reception year aged 5, it should be rare for such a request to be refused.
The department conducts regular surveys of local authorities and parents to keep this issue under review. These show that only a small proportion of parents of summer born children request that they are admitted out of their normal age group, and the vast majority of such requests are agreed. The findings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/summer-born-children-research-and-guidance(opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent discussions she has had with (a) local authorities and (b) academy trusts on ensuring a consistent national approach to the admission of summer-born children.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department keeps its guidance for schools and parents about requests for summer born children to be admitted out of their normal age group under review and updates it as required.
The guidance for schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-advice-for-admission-authorities(opens in a new tab).
The guidance for parents is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission(opens in a new tab).
The guidance is clear that it is rarely in a child’s best interests to miss a year of their education by being admitted to primary school in year 1 rather than reception, or to secondary school in year 8 rather than year 7. Therefore, if a parent requests their summer born child start their reception year aged 5, it should be rare for such a request to be refused.
The department conducts regular surveys of local authorities and parents to keep this issue under review. These show that only a small proportion of parents of summer born children request that they are admitted out of their normal age group, and the vast majority of such requests are agreed. The findings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/summer-born-children-research-and-guidance(opens in a new tab).
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that guidance on the progression of summer-born children from primary to secondary education is applied (a) clearly and (b) consistently across all schools.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department keeps its guidance for schools and parents about requests for summer born children to be admitted out of their normal age group under review and updates it as required.
The guidance for schools is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-advice-for-admission-authorities.
The guidance for parents is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/summer-born-children-school-admission.
The guidance is clear that it is rarely in a child’s best interests to miss a year of their education by being admitted to primary school in year 1 rather than reception, or to secondary school in year 8 rather than year 7. Therefore, if a parent requests their summer born child start their reception year aged 5, it should be rare for such a request to be refused.
The department conducts regular surveys of local authorities and parents to keep this issue under review. These show that only a small proportion of parents of summer born children request that they are admitted out of their normal age group, and the vast majority of such requests are agreed. The findings can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/summer-born-children-research-and-guidance.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many students were entered into English GCSE exams at the age of (a) 16 and under and (b) post-16 in (i) 2018, (ii) 2019, (iii) 2020, (iv) 2021, (v) 2022, (vi) 2023, (vii) 2024 and (viii) 2025.
Answered by Georgia Gould - Minister of State (Education)
The department publishes the number of pupils at the end of key stage 4 who entered GCSE English from the 2017/18 to 2023/24 academic year.
The department also publishes the number of students at the end of 16 to 18 study who entered for GCSE English from the 2019/20 to 2023/24 academic year. This data is not published for 2017/18 or 2018/19. The data for these two years can be found in the attached document.
Data relating to 2024/25 will be published in October 2025 for pupils at the end of key stage 4, and November 2025 for students at the end of 16 to 18 study.
The data relating to pupils at the end of key stage 4 can be found here:
This data becomes available in October or November of each year.
The data relating to students at the end of 16 to 18 study can be found here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/a-level-and-other-16-to-18-results/2023-24. GCSE English entries comprise entries to GCSE English Language, English Literature, and English Language and Literature.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether the Curriculum and Assessment Review will include personal financial literacy from Key Stage 1-3.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon to the answer of 09 April 2025 to Question 43513.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to expand the (a) teaching and (b) learning of financial education in primary schools in (i) Warwickshire and (ii) England.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
I refer the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon to the answer of 09 April 2025 to Question 43513.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether she plans to introduce a requirement for all councillors to complete corporate parenting training covering (a) safeguarding, (b) duties under the Children and Social Work Act 2017 and (c) the responsibilities of being a corporate parent as part of induction and ongoing development.
Answered by Janet Daby
Guidance on the implementation of corporate parenting duties was published in February 2018 and can be accessed at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a93eb3ae5274a5b87c2fde4/Applying_corporate_parenting_principles_to_looked-after_children_and_care_leavers.pdf.
The guidance recognises the important role that elected members play in promoting and supporting the implementation of corporate parenting within their local authority but does not mandate formal training.
There are a wide range of corporate parenting training and resources readily available for elected members on the Local Government Association website and, as such, we have no plans to introduce a mandatory requirement. These resources can be found at: https://www.local.gov.uk/childrens-improvement-support-members.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what support her Department is providing to rural primary schools to provide breakfast club provision under the early adopter scheme.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
I refer the hon. Member for Stratford-on-Avon to the answer of 03 June 2025 to Question 53170.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of the number of physics teachers on post-16 physics uptake in schools in disadvantaged areas.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child or young person’s outcome in school and college. This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, especially in physics. In 2023/24, we recruited 31% of our postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) target for physics trainees. This is why the government’s Plan for Change has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges, over the course of this Parliament.
Our Plan for Change is starting to deliver, with the 2024 school workforce census showing that secondary and special school teacher numbers increased by 2,346 compared to the 2023 census. This is in addition to 2,000 more prospective teachers undertaking initial teacher training this year compared to last as this government is getting on and delivering the teachers our children need.
To deliver on the pledge, the department has so far invested around £700 million across schools and further education (FE), including £233 million for initial teacher training financial incentives, which provides a £29,000 tax-free bursary and £31,000 scholarship to physics trainees, increased targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 per year for early career physics teachers and developed resources to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing.
In addition, the department announced a 4% pay award for teachers in maintained schools from September 2025. This builds on the 5.5% pay award for 2024/25, resulting in a nearly 10% pay award since this government came to power, and ensure teaching is once again a valued and attractive profession.
The department also provides significant support to trainees and teachers without the relevant qualifications to become physics teachers. This includes funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses and the Subject Knowledge for Physics Teaching (SKPT) programme to support non-specialist teachers of physics to enhance their subject knowledge.
We know high-quality physics teaching is important to support post-16 physics study. In addition to the targeted retention payment received by sixth-form physics teachers in schools, nearly 100 more physics teachers across FE colleges and 16-19-only schools have received a payment of up to £6,000 this year to keep more physics teachers in post-16 education.
Asked by: Manuela Perteghella (Liberal Democrat - Stratford-on-Avon)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to help support the retraining of existing science teachers to teach physics in schools without specialist provision.
Answered by Catherine McKinnell
High-quality teaching is the in-school factor that has the biggest positive impact on a child or young person’s outcome in school and college. This government has inherited a system with critical shortages of teachers, especially in physics. In 2023/24, we recruited 31% of our postgraduate initial teacher training (ITT) target for physics trainees. This is why the government’s Plan for Change has committed to recruiting an additional 6,500 new expert teachers in secondary and special schools, and in our colleges, over the course of this Parliament.
Our Plan for Change is starting to deliver, with the 2024 school workforce census showing that secondary and special school teacher numbers increased by 2,346 compared to the 2023 census. This is in addition to 2,000 more prospective teachers undertaking initial teacher training this year compared to last as this government is getting on and delivering the teachers our children need.
To deliver on the pledge, the department has so far invested around £700 million across schools and further education (FE), including £233 million for initial teacher training financial incentives, which provides a £29,000 tax-free bursary and £31,000 scholarship to physics trainees, increased targeted retention incentives worth up to £6,000 per year for early career physics teachers and developed resources to improve teachers’ workload and wellbeing.
In addition, the department announced a 4% pay award for teachers in maintained schools from September 2025. This builds on the 5.5% pay award for 2024/25, resulting in a nearly 10% pay award since this government came to power, and ensure teaching is once again a valued and attractive profession.
The department also provides significant support to trainees and teachers without the relevant qualifications to become physics teachers. This includes funded Subject Knowledge Enhancement courses and the Subject Knowledge for Physics Teaching (SKPT) programme to support non-specialist teachers of physics to enhance their subject knowledge.
We know high-quality physics teaching is important to support post-16 physics study. In addition to the targeted retention payment received by sixth-form physics teachers in schools, nearly 100 more physics teachers across FE colleges and 16-19-only schools have received a payment of up to £6,000 this year to keep more physics teachers in post-16 education.