I’ve started sharing some thoughts about reviewing outcomes for Pupil Premium funded pupils. I wonder to what extent looking at these sub-groups actually helps schools or whether the issues that manifest themselves in poor outcomes for disadvantaged pupils affect all pupils; the impact is just greater. Continue reading
Marking in many schools has reached fetish level. It’s out of all balance with other key activities teachers must undertake most noticeably planning. Ofsted reports, for too many years, have obsessed about marking – I managed a hat-trick of marking as a key issue for action in consecutive reports over a decade – but subject and curriculum planning is rarely mentioned. Continue reading
Schools don’t usually group all disadvantaged pupils together and deliberately teach them badly. A lack of progress by this sub-group maybe a result of more generic issues across the school; disadvantaged children are just impacted on more. Continue reading