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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Covid: Prioritise attendance, assessment and recovery over time, schools urged

Effective diagnostic assessment and a focus on “recovery over time” should be priorities for schools – rather than an obsession with “catch-up” – the Education Recovery Commissioner has told MPs.

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Orwell? Brontë? Dickens? Steinbeck? Lee? Top 10 favourite school books revealed

Animal Farm, Great Expectations and Lord of the Flies are among the most popular books read at school.

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Covid: Youngest pupils hardest hit by lockdown and slowest to recover

Emerging evidence suggests that pupils in year 1 could be among those whose learning and progress has been hardest hit by the pandemic.

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Review offers SEN-specific teaching tips for remote education

With two-thirds of SEN students having not engaged effectively with remote education, a research review has sought to offer practical ideas and tips for teaching staff.

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Covid: Frustration at ringfenced recovery funding amid March 8 fears

Boris Johnson’s insistence that all students will return to school on March 8 and the ‘salami-slicing’ of the latest £702m funding for learning recovery have left school leaders and teachers anxious and frustrated in equal measure. Pete Henshaw reports

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This is how children fall through the gaps: Anne Longfield's final, exasperated warning to Whitehall

Known for speaking truth to power, children’s commissioner Anne Longfield has held true to form in her final address. Her stark views on how many in Whitehall view children and why the vulnerable continue to slip through the net will not make comfortable reading for policy-makers. Pete Henshaw ...

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Thousands of children are meeting up with people they have only spoken to online

One in six children have exchanged online messages with people they do not know in the past year, according to new official statistics.

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Clear communication – despite chaotic DfE guidance – is secret to schools' success during Covid-19

Clear communication from school leaders was one of the biggest factors in both staff and parents feeling confident in handling the disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Lost learning recovery: Evidence does not support extending the school day or year

Some of the ‘superficially attractive’ ideas being considered for how we can help pupils’ to recover lost learning are simply not supported by the evidence of what works, despairing school leaders have said. Pete Henshaw reports

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Reducing school exclusions key to tackling youth violence and criminal gang exploitation

Children as young as 10 are being dragged into criminal exploitation, county lines and gang activity, with school exclusion a major trigger for vulnerable young people. The children’s commissioner is calling for a reduction in school exclusions to be a key goal if we are to reduce levels of youth ...

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Covid: Ventilation just as important as hand-washing, schools told

Improving air quality and ventilation in classroom spaces should be as important as social distancing, mask-wearing and hand-washing, doctors have told schools.

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Lost learning: £1.5bn for Covid recovery? More like £30bn says IFS

The £1.5bn so far allocated to lost learning recovery during the Covid-19 pandemic is “highly unlikely to be sufficient” – with a more realistic figure being £30bn.

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A third of parents do not know who in their child's school is responsible for pupil wellbeing

A third of parents do not know who is in charge of mental health and wellbeing at their children’s school, research has shown.

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Guidance on capping pupil numbers sought as thousands of schools report 40 per cent attendance

The high attendance levels in many schools during the current lockdown gives the government the perfect opportunity to understand infection risks ahead of full re-opening, it has been suggested.

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Learning materials: £1m fund kick-starts Help a Child to Learn campaign

A £1 million Help a Child to Learn campaign has launched to supply learning materials for disadvantaged pupils who do not have access to these at home.

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Remote learning: Ofsted shares tips for improving pupil engagement and motivation

Ofsted has shared some emerging approaches and strategies to boost pupil engagement and motivation during remote education, after identifying this as one of the key barriers to learning during the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Social media, poverty and lack of exercise drive mental health crisis

Heavy use of social media, growing up in poverty, a lack of physical exercise and being bullied are all factors in the Generation Z mental health and wellbeing crisis – with problems being particularly acute for girls.

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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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