Mentions:
1: John Cryer (Lab - Leyton and Wanstead) the country.The debate is very timely, particularly when we consider that we are fast approaching the summer - Speech Link
2: Damian Hinds (Con - East Hampshire) While there is no statutory requirement on secondary schools to provide swimming and water safety lessons - Speech Link
Written Evidence May. 23 2024
Inquiry: Boys’ attainment and engagement in educationFound: BAE0013 - Boys’ attainment and engagement in education Association of School and College Leaders Written
Asked by: Lord Weir of Ballyholme (Democratic Unionist Party - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what are (1) the monthly school attendance figures for the most recent academic year for which they are available, and (2) the comparable monthly school attendance figures for the school year 2018–19.
Answered by Baroness Barran - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The department holds data on pupil attendance and absence from two sources, the termly National Statistics derived from the School Census, and the Official Statistics in development derived from daily pupil attendance data.
Pupil absence rates for the 2018/19 academic year are only available on a termly basis, therefore the below table displays the latest termly comparison from the same source (School Census).
18/19 Autumn term | 18/19 Spring term | 18/19 Summer term | 21/22 Autumn term | 21/22 Spring term | 21/22 Summer term | 22/23 Autumn term | 22/23 Spring term | |
Overall absence rate | 4.3% | 4.8% | 5.2% | 6.9% | 7.9% | 8.0% | 7.5% | 7.0% |
Rate of sessions recorded as not attending due to COVID circumstances | 0.0% | 0.0% | 0.0% | 1.6% | 1.0% | 0.1% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
Source: School census, includes state-funded primary, state-funded secondary and special schools
The data used in this answer is published in the National Statistics release on pupil absence in schools in England, which is accessible at:
The department also publishes weekly and termly official statistics in development on pupil attendance. These are derived from daily attendance data automatically submitted by management information systems for participating schools. These statistics are available at:
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/pupil-attendance-in-schools.
Due to the timeliness of this data, and the data being based on a subset of schools, with around 87% coverage, these figures should be viewed as an early indicator for the termly school census based National Statistics shared above.
Mar. 26 2024
Source Page: School census 2024 to 2025: technical informationFound: • secondary • all-through • special schools (including non-maintained special schools) •
Asked by: Emma Hardy (Labour - Kingston upon Hull West and Hessle)
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 including personal financial education as a subject in the National Curriculum.
Answered by Robert Halfon
Financial education already forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for mathematics at Key Stages 1 to 4 and citizenship at Key Stages 3 and 4, which together cover important financial topics including personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt, and calculating interest. The National Curriculum is compulsory for maintained schools. Academies must teach a broad and balanced curriculum, including mathematics.
My right hon. Friend, the Prime Minister recently announced more funding for secondary mathematics, and that mathematics will be studied by all 16 to 18 year olds as part of the new Advanced British Standard qualification.
As with all aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver financial education, so they can develop an integrated approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
There is a wide range of support for financial education. The Money and Pensions Service has published guidance, setting out how schools can improve the financial education they deliver, and signposting to services and resources that can help. The guidance is available at: https://maps.org.uk/en/publications/research/2021/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england.
Talk Money Week, which is running from 6 to 10 November, is focused on this year’s campaign ‘Do One Thing’ to help improve financial wellbeing. The Talk Money Week 2023 Toolkit for Schools includes a dedicated pack of information and resources to help schools promote the financial wellbeing of their pupils and students, during Talk Money Week and beyond. The toolkit is available at: https://maps.org.uk/en/our-work/talk-money-week#Download-the-Toolkit-for-Schools.
The Department’s national network of 40 Maths Hubs also supports schools to improve their mathematics teaching, including financial content in the mathematics curriculum, based on best practice from East Asia.
The Oak National Academy, which became an independent Arm’s Length Body in September 2022, will provide adaptable, optional and free support for schools to reduce teacher workload and enable schools to provide a high quality curriculum. New Oak curriculum materials, including for mathematics, will start to be available from autumn 2023, with full curriculum packages available by summer 2024. Oak’s next phase of procurement of curriculum resources is expected to launch in late 2023 and will include citizenship.
Found: In summer 2023 , 60% of all pupils reached the expected standard in all of English reading, writing
Report May. 22 2024
Committee: Education Committee (Department: Department for Education)Found: Third Report - Delivering effective financial education HC 265 Report
Asked by: Jerome Mayhew (Conservative - Broadland)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to improve financial education in secondary schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Financial education forms a compulsory part of the National Curriculum for mathematics (at Key Stages 1 to 4) and citizenship (at Key stages 3 and 4), which together cover important financial topics including personal budgeting, saving for the future, managing credit and debt, and calculating interest. The National Curriculum is compulsory for maintained schools but academies must teach a broad and balanced curriculum, including mathematics. The National Curriculum can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum.
The Prime Minister recently announced more investment in secondary mathematics, and that mathematics will be studied by all 16 to 18 year olds as part of the new Advanced British Standard qualification.
As with all aspects of the curriculum, schools have flexibility over how they deliver financial education, so they can develop an approach that is sensitive to the needs and background of their pupils.
There is a wide range of support for financial education. For example, the Money and Pensions Service has published guidance, setting out how schools can improve the financial education they deliver, and signposting to services and resources that can help. The guidance can be found here: https://maps.org.uk/en/publications/research/2021/financial-education-guidance-for-primary-and-secondary-schools-in-england.
The Department’s national network of 40 Maths Hubs also supports schools to improve their mathematics teaching, including financial content in the mathematics curriculum, based on best practice from East Asia.
The Oak National Academy, which became an independent Arm’s Length Body in September 2022, will provide adaptable, optional and free support for schools, reducing teacher workload and enabling pupils to access a high quality curriculum. New Oak curriculum materials, including for mathematics, will start be available from autumn 2023, with full curriculum packages available by summer 2024. Oak’s next phase of procurement of curriculum resources is expected to launch in late 2023 and will include citizenship.
Written Evidence Apr. 24 2024
Inquiry: Preterm BirthFound: Many children born preterm require additional educational support throughout their education.
Mentions:
1: Baroness Barran (Con - Life peer) periods are not a barrier to education. - Speech Link
2: Baroness Barran (Con - Life peer) , with 99% of secondary schools having placed an order since it began. - Speech Link
3: Baroness Thornton (Lab - Life peer) I thank the Minister and the Government for the scheme in our secondary schools; we have 99% take-up, - Speech Link