Alongside our best practice section, Headteacher Update features regular news and news analysis articles to keep school leaders up-to-date with the latest policy and sector developments. Our news pieces attempt to tackle issues of direct relevance to primary school educators and offer something different to the mainstream media.

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Lockdown 2.0: Engagement with remote education is up but significant poverty gaps remain

Only one in four working class pupils are undertaking at least five hours a day of learning during the current national Covid-19 lockdown, research has found.

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Covid-19 infection rates: 1.9 times higher among teachers; 3 times higher among support staff

Covid-19 infection rates are notably higher among school teaching and support staff than for the general population, newly published government figures have shown.

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SENCOs reveal their fears over lockdown impact for SEN students

Schools have found the differentiation of remote education for SEN pupils a key challenge during Covid-19, while SENCO workload has gone through the roof, according to new research.

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Live lessons are not the gold standard: Ofsted busts remote learning myths

Ofsted has moved to dispel a number of “myths” about remote education, including that live lessons are the “gold standard” and that the best forms of remote learning are digital.

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Free laptops: DfE rhetoric at odds with reality in schools over lockdown devices for poorest students

As a DfE press notice trumpets the number of laptops it has now acquired to support remote learning, research reveals that almost a year into the pandemic only one in five schools have been able to supply devices to all pupils who need one. Pete Henshaw reports

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Ofsted monitoring inspections to take place online from January 25

Ofsted will carry out remote inspections of schools rated "inadequate" and "requires improvement" from January 25, with inspectors focusing on the effectiveness of remote education provision.

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Vaccinate school staff if you want to get pupils back into classrooms, Boris urged

The government is being urged to put teachers and school staff on the priority list for Covid-19 vaccination if they want to see schools and colleges re-open in February.

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Remote education: Digital divide continues to hit poorest families as third lockdown begins

As the majority of pupils return to home learning, many of the poorest families are being priced out of education because of the “punitive costs of mobile data”, while many more still have no access to devices or the internet.

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Ministers urged to abandon 'dogmatic' approach to Covid plans

Ministers have been urged to stop being so “dogmatic” about their management of Covid-19 in schools after a week of chaos caused by a number of last-minute reversals.

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Boris Johnson told: 'Stand-up to social media' to protect our children

The government is being urged to “stand up” to the social media giants and bring forward promised legislation to better protect young people online.

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Covid costs: Cuts to education provision 'inevitable' unless DfE acts

Cut-backs to educational provision for pupils will become “inevitable” unless the Department for Education (DfE) provides more financial support to schools during the Covid crisis.

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Children do not see themselves represented in the books they read

A third of children do not see themselves represented in the books they read, struggling to find characters who look similar or share similar characteristics or circumstances.

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Key stage 2 SATs will go ahead but league tables will not be published

Test results will not be included in performance tables for this year, the Department for Education (DfE) has said.

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Ofsted delays return of graded school inspections until summer term

Ofsted has unveiled details of a phased return to inspections on 2021, with no graded inspections for schools planned before the summer term.

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FSM voucher debacle: Scramble to fix system laid bare by NAO report

"Too many parents had to wait too long to get the support they needed” as the government’s system of Covid-19 free school meal vouchers “buckled under the pressure”.

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Ofsted warning over 'out-of-sight' children as underfunded system is strains to cope

Years of underfunding for schools and local authorities is now coming home to roost as the system struggles to keep track of thousands of children who have disappeared from sight during the pandemic.

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Teacher wellbeing: Covid threatens to leave legacy of anxiety, stress, depression and burn-out

"If I’m honest, at the present time, I feel like each day’s problems are impossible to solve.”

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Safeguarding alert for thousands of home-educated children

There are safeguarding concerns this week for more than 10,000 potentially vulnerable children and young people who are being electively home-educated during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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DfE refuses to budge on rotas as infection rates rise among pupils

Primary and secondary-age children are currently the only age groups with an increasing rate of Covid-19 infection, survey data shows.

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Staff wellbeing: Marking and lesson-planning identified as toxic workload

Schools should be aiming for a working week for teachers of no more than 50 hours, with reductions in lesson-planning and marking being made to achieve this.

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The eight places where children missing education can be "found"

The safety net preventing pupils from dropping out of their education is “stretched to capacity” and as many as one million pupils could be missing formal education to some extent.

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SAGE to investigate pupil bubble impact on infection rates

Government scientists are to consider the impact on infection rates of ventilation in schools and the system of pupil bubbles.

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Many leaders disillusioned with school improvement 'zero-sum game'

Knowledge and expertise around school improvement have become “commodities to be sold rather than insight to be shared” according to the School Improvement Commission.

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Reimburse schools' Covid costs! Government obliged to respond after thousands sign petition

More than 17,500 people have signed a petition calling for the government to reimburse schools for the costs of Covid-19 safety measures.

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Remote education: Schools still working to find best approaches

Schools are still working out the best approaches for remote education, including the appropriate use of “live teaching” and how to align the in-school curriculum with learning from home. Pete Henshaw reports on Ofsted's latest Covid-19 inspection report

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