Asked by: Andrew Gwynne (Independent - Gorton and Denton)
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 a bid for a Free School secondary school for Denton on the Two Trees site.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department is currently assessing applications for new free schools and is looking to approve up to 15 new schools in areas where they are likely to have the biggest effects on improving outcomes. The Department will prioritise proposals located in Education Investment Areas, where outcomes in literacy and numeracy are the poorest. Applications are assessed against the published criteria, which can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/free-school-application-guide/how-to-apply-to-set-up-a-mainstream-free-school. This is a competitive process and the successful applications will be announced before the summer.
No applications were received for Tameside and as such, it is difficult to advise on the suitability of the Two Trees site. Plans for future waves will be announced in due course. The free school presumption process is the route for Local Authorities to bring about the establishment of new schools where a Local Authority identifies the need for additional places. More information on this can be found at: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/844346/Free_school_presumption_051119.pdf.
The Regional Director’s office has been asked to contact the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish to meet and discuss this matter further, together with my noble Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for the School System and Student Finance, who is responsible for free schools policy.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the adequacy of progression of learning in Physical Education across all key stages from primary to secondary school.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a National Curriculum foundation subject at all four Key Stages. Schools are responsible for monitoring the progress of their pupils. There is no requirement for schools to report this information to the Department.
It is for schools to decide how to teach PE and deploy staff. At secondary school, Initial Teacher Training recruitment targets for PE teachers are consistently met or exceeded, which ensures a supply of trained staff. The PE and Sport Premium can be used by primary schools to train primary generalist teachers in how to teach PE effectively. The Department has previously published research into the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-pe-and-sport-premium-survey.
On 8 March 2023, the Government announced multi-million-pound funding to provide high quality PE and sport in schools. This includes confirmation of over £600 million across the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. To support schools to use the PE and Sport Premium effectively, the Department will issue updated guidance in summer 2023 and a new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending. The Department is also developing plans for a new evaluation of the PE and Sport Premium, alongside other interventions to support the teaching of PE.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Physical Education curriculum in supporting children to lead healthy active lives.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a National Curriculum foundation subject at all four Key Stages. Schools are responsible for monitoring the progress of their pupils. There is no requirement for schools to report this information to the Department.
It is for schools to decide how to teach PE and deploy staff. At secondary school, Initial Teacher Training recruitment targets for PE teachers are consistently met or exceeded, which ensures a supply of trained staff. The PE and Sport Premium can be used by primary schools to train primary generalist teachers in how to teach PE effectively. The Department has previously published research into the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-pe-and-sport-premium-survey.
On 8 March 2023, the Government announced multi-million-pound funding to provide high quality PE and sport in schools. This includes confirmation of over £600 million across the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. To support schools to use the PE and Sport Premium effectively, the Department will issue updated guidance in summer 2023 and a new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending. The Department is also developing plans for a new evaluation of the PE and Sport Premium, alongside other interventions to support the teaching of PE.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment her Department has made of the effectiveness of the Primary Education and Sport Premium.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a National Curriculum foundation subject at all four Key Stages. Schools are responsible for monitoring the progress of their pupils. There is no requirement for schools to report this information to the Department.
It is for schools to decide how to teach PE and deploy staff. At secondary school, Initial Teacher Training recruitment targets for PE teachers are consistently met or exceeded, which ensures a supply of trained staff. The PE and Sport Premium can be used by primary schools to train primary generalist teachers in how to teach PE effectively. The Department has previously published research into the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-pe-and-sport-premium-survey.
On 8 March 2023, the Government announced multi-million-pound funding to provide high quality PE and sport in schools. This includes confirmation of over £600 million across the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. To support schools to use the PE and Sport Premium effectively, the Department will issue updated guidance in summer 2023 and a new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending. The Department is also developing plans for a new evaluation of the PE and Sport Premium, alongside other interventions to support the teaching of PE.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department plans to outsource teaching within delivery of the Physical Education curriculum.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Physical education (PE) is a National Curriculum foundation subject at all four Key Stages. Schools are responsible for monitoring the progress of their pupils. There is no requirement for schools to report this information to the Department.
It is for schools to decide how to teach PE and deploy staff. At secondary school, Initial Teacher Training recruitment targets for PE teachers are consistently met or exceeded, which ensures a supply of trained staff. The PE and Sport Premium can be used by primary schools to train primary generalist teachers in how to teach PE effectively. The Department has previously published research into the effectiveness of the PE and Sport Premium, which can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/primary-pe-and-sport-premium-survey.
On 8 March 2023, the Government announced multi-million-pound funding to provide high quality PE and sport in schools. This includes confirmation of over £600 million across the next two academic years for the PE and Sport Premium. To support schools to use the PE and Sport Premium effectively, the Department will issue updated guidance in summer 2023 and a new digital tool will be introduced for schools to report on their spending. The Department is also developing plans for a new evaluation of the PE and Sport Premium, alongside other interventions to support the teaching of PE.
Asked by: Paul Maynard (Conservative - Blackpool North and Cleveleys)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will make an estimate of the number of children who have been supported by the SAFE Taskforce since 2021; and if she will make an assessment of the impact of those Taskforces on (a) pupils’ attendance, (b) exclusion rates and (c) pupils' attitudes to education.
Answered by Claire Coutinho - Shadow Minister (Equalities)
Since commencing, in December 2021, the SAFE (‘Support, Attend, Fulfil, Exceed’) taskforces have established a local partnership led by schools, completed a comprehensive strategic needs assessment and begun delivery including interventions to support secondary school transition.
The department does not yet hold data on the number of young people who have been supported by the SAFE taskforces, but the taskforces will be collecting data on the pupils receiving support on a termly basis, as part of the independent evaluation.
RAND Europe, in consortium with FFT Datalab and University of Westminster, have been commissioned by the Youth Endowment Fund to conduct the evaluation of the SAFE programme. The programme evaluation, due to be completed by summer 2026, will include an impact evaluation element, along with a process and cost evaluation strand. The department expects the impact assessment to consider the impact of the programme on pupils’ post-16 outcomes, school attendance and behaviour, and involvement in serious youth violence.
Asked by: Stephen Morgan (Labour - Portsmouth South)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made on the impact of (a) Early Career Framework and (b) Core Content Framework on teacher recruitment and retention targets.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Initial Teacher Training (ITT) recruitment targets are calculated using analysis from the Teacher Workforce Model (TWM). The TWM uses different sources to calculate these targets, including data regarding the composition of the teacher workforce and curriculum taught in secondary schools, returner and leaver rates, historic recruitment performance, and the latest data and assumptions on future recruitment and retention of teachers. The TWM considers the cumulative effect of these factors, and they can act to increase or decrease recruitment targets compared to an earlier year.
Since September 2020, all new teachers benefit from at least three years of evidence based professional development and support, starting with ITT based on the Core Content Framework (CCF), and followed by a new two year induction underpinned by the Early Career Framework (ECF). These reforms help teachers and school leaders in every phase and subject to feel more confident and in control of their careers.
The ITT CCF does not directly relate to recruitment targets and the TWM. It sets out at the point of course development a minimum entitlement of knowledge, skills, and experiences that trainees need to enter the profession to teach and support children and young people.
Early Career Framework (ECF) reforms were rolled out nationally in September 2021, entitling all early career teachers (ECTs) in England to access high quality professional development at the start of their career.
The ECF reforms increased the statutory induction period from one academic year to two academic years and were designed to help teachers feel more confident at the start of their career.
ECF reforms ensure consistent professional development and support for ECTs. It is an evidence based approach designed to ensure ECTs focus on the things that make the most difference in the classroom and in their professional practice.
The Department has commissioned an independent evaluation of the national roll out of the ECF induction. This investigates participants’ views on the programme and their perceived impact on retention. Findings from the first year of ECF delivery will be published in due course and will report on ECTs’ intentions to stay in teaching.
In summer 2023, the Department will publish the annual school workforce census statistics, which will show how the proportion of ECTs retained after one year has changed since the national rollout of ECF. In summer 2024, these statistics will show how many ECTs were retained following completion of their induction.
Asked by: Feryal Clark (Labour - Enfield North)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken since the Women’s Health Strategy to ensure that girls and boys receive high quality, evidence based education from an early age on (a) fertility, (b) contraception and (c) pregnancy planning, maternity care and pregnancy loss.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department of Health and Social Care published the first ever government-led Women’s Health Strategy for England in Summer 2022. This sets out a 10 year ambition for boosting the health and wellbeing of women and girls.
To support women’s health, in September 2020 the Government made relationships education compulsory for primary school pupils, relationships and sex education compulsory for secondary school pupils, and health education compulsory for all pupils in state funded schools.
The relationships, sex and health education statutory guidance states that pupils should be taught factual knowledge around sex, sexual health, and sexuality, set firmly within the context of relationships. This statutory guidance can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/relationships-education-relationships-and-sex-education-rse-and-health-education.
Within the topic ‘intimate and sexual relationships, including sexual health’, pupils should learn about human fertility and reproduction, pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections and contraception and sexual health advice. Schools have the flexibility to teach about a wide range of topical subjects, including maternity care and pregnancy loss.
To support teachers to deliver these topics safely and with confidence, the Department has produced relationships, sex and health education teacher training modules that are free to download. These are available at: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/teaching-about-relationships-sex-and-health. The content of the intimate and sexual relationships module was informed by subject experts, including the National Children’s Bureau and Public Health England, now the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.
Asked by: Rosena Allin-Khan (Labour - Tooting)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an estimate of the number of sick days that were taken by staff due to mental health illness in (a) primary and (b) secondary schools in England in the period between September 2021 and August 2022.
Answered by Jonathan Gullis
The information requested is not held centrally. Information on the overall number of days of teacher sickness absence is collected from state-funded schools in England in the November School Workforce Census. However, this does not include the reason for the sickness absence.
Each census collects data for absence from the previous academic year. The November 2022 census, covering the period September 2021 to August 2022, will be published in summer 2023 in the annual school workforce statistical publication. The latest report can be found at: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/school-workforce-in-england.
Asked by: Kate Green (Labour - Stretford and Urmston)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment he has made of the effectiveness of the steps his Department has taken to help children’s education recover from the impact of the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Robin Walker
Understanding the impact of the COVID-19 disruption on the attainment and progress of all students is a key research priority for the government. That is why we invested in research into academic progress over the 2020/21 and 2021/22 academic years with Renaissance Learning and the Education Policy Institute. The latest findings from this research, published 28 March, include data from the first half of the 2021-22 autumn term. The findings from this research have been published on gov.uk at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupils-progress-in-the-2020-to-2022-academic-years
Our latest evidence suggests recovery is happening, with primary pupils recovering around 0.1 months in reading and 0.9 months in maths since Summer 2021, and recovering 1.5 months in reading and 1.7 months in maths since Spring 2021, with pupils now only 0.8 months and 1.9 months behind in reading and maths respectively.
This is equivalent to recovering around two thirds of progress lost due to the pandemic in primary reading and around half of progress lost in primary maths since Spring 2021.
Progress for secondary pupils in key stage 3 remains a concern, with pupils now on average around 2.4 months behind in reading, having seen losses since Summer 2021.
We are making some progress in closing gaps between disadvantaged pupils and their peers, additional gaps created by the COVID-19 pandemic appear to have reduced in primary maths and secondary reading since Summer 2021. However, the gap for primary reading appears to have grown.
In line with this evidence, we have announced £1 billion to extend the recovery premium over the next two academic years. This will enable schools to provide additional support for the most disadvantaged, and will be weighted more towards secondary pupils to reflect evidence showing greater learning loss for older pupils, who also have less time left in education. This is part of the nearly £5 billion of funding we have announced for an ambitious, multi-year education recovery plan to support young people to catch up on missed learning.
Recovery funding is already making a difference. By May 2022 1.5 million courses had been started by children across England through the National Tutoring Programme, and £950 million of direct funding through the catch up and recovery premia, was helping schools to deliver evidence-based interventions based on pupil needs. In light of the success of this year’s school-led tutoring route through the National Tutoring Programme, next year we will allocate all tutoring funding directly to schools, simplifying the system and giving schools the freedom to decide how best to provide tutoring for their pupils.
In addition to this, the Schools White Paper, 'Opportunity for all: strong schools with great teachers for your child', sets out how our education system will deliver recovery, not just through our specific recovery investments, but through a wider programme of ambitious reforms that truly level up outcomes and ensure we build back better from the pandemic.
The Parent Pledge in the Schools White Paper will also make the government’s vision clear that any child who falls behind in English or maths will receive the right evidence-based targeted support to get them back on track.