A recent inspection judged the school to have made sufficient progress in relation to the recommendations following the most recent core inspection. As a result, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education and Training in Wales has removed Ysgol Bro Sannan from the list of schools that are in need of significant improvement.

The inspection report highlighted efforts made by the school and Caerphilly County Borough Council in developing a robust leadership structure, which has helped Ysgol Bro Sannan make good progress against nearly all of its priorities following the core inspection. A reorganisation of the staff structure has also helped ensure the school is making best use of its teachers’ and assistants’ expertise.

Richard Edmunds, Director for Education and Corporate Services at Caerphilly Council, said “This report is excellent news and demonstrates the efforts by everyone involved. It’s reassuring to see that the report recognises the challenges presented by the Covid-19 pandemic and, despite these, teaching staff have still shown great progress in supporting pupils to improve their numeracy and literary skills, as well as their independent learning skills.

We understand that there are still aspects of the school’s work which could be developed and are committed to supporting them to improve even further.”

Chief Education Officer for Caerphilly, Keri Cole, added “I am delighted to celebrate the progress made at Ysgol Bro Sannan. Under the leadership of the headteacher and Governing Body, the school has worked tirelessly to secure rapid improvement, which has had a very positive impact on learners and their families.”

The findings suggest that primary-age pupils have significantly lower achievement in both reading and maths as a likely result of missed learning. In addition, there is a large and concerning attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged pupils.

This study is one of the first to provide robust insights into the extent of learning loss that might have occurred as a result of partial school closures. It is based on data collected by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) from assessments in reading and maths taken in November 2020 by more than 5,900 Year 2 (6 / 7 year olds) pupils in 168 representative primary schools. These were compared with tests taken by Year 2 pupils in autumn 2017, also from a representative sample of schools.

Overall performance in both reading and mathematics in autumn 2020 was found to be significantly lower compared to the 2017 cohort, with pupils, on average, making two months less progress in both subject areas compared to the standardisation sample. Worryingly, the study finds that “a very large number of pupils were unable to engage effectively with the tests”.

The study also finds a large and concerning gap between the attainment of disadvantaged pupils and non-disadvantaged pupils. For both reading and maths this gap is estimated to be the equivalent of seven months’ learning. While both calculations indicate a large gap, the results, expressed in terms of months of learning, should be interpreted with caution.

The 2017 NFER assessment data did not compare the performance of disadvantaged pupils with all other pupils. As a result, it is not known if the gap has grown compared to 2017.

These interim findings are part of an ongoing EEF-funded study. Further analysis will be carried out in March 2021 and June 2021 to examine whether the gap narrows, widens or remains stable. In addition to these preliminary findings, NFER is preparing a short publication for teachers that will include more detailed commentary on pupils’ responses and suggestions that schools can act upon.

Last June, the EEF published a rapid evidence assessment, Best evidence on impact of school closures on the attainment gap, which found that school closures are likely to reverse progress made to close the gap in the last decade since 2011.

Sir Peter Lampl, founder and chairman of the Sutton Trust and chairman of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “By the time schools reopen, children and young people will have faced almost a year of learning disruption. The repercussions of these months of lost learning are devastating and will be felt for a lifetime, especially by those from low-income backgrounds.

“Today’s findings give valuable insight into the challenges facing schools and teachers.  Vast resources need to be targeted at disadvantaged pupils by raising the pupil premium significantly and providing funding for tuition.”

Professor Becky Francis, CEO of the Education Endowment Foundation, said: “This new research offers compelling evidence of what we have feared since schools were closed to most pupils in the first national lockdown – that there will be a large negative impact on learning, with disadvantaged pupils suffering the most. Despite the inspiring and tireless work of schools across the country, this will only be compounded by the current partial school closures.

“It is vital, therefore, that we draw on the best available evidence in responding to this national crisis, supporting teachers and school leaders to get the right support to the pupils who have missed out most.

“But we should be under no illusions that there are quick fixes. Schools will need continued and significant support in the years ahead if we are to avoid a generation of pupils being left behind. This latest research highlights, yet again, the need, to make tackling educational inequality a national priority.”

Dr Ben Styles, head of the National Foundation for Educational Research’s Education Trials Unit said: “There has been lots of speculation about the extent to which children may have fallen behind and it is valuable to report some attainment data on this question.

“Measuring gaps in test scores is not much use to teachers without more diagnostic information concerning where children have fallen behind and we hope to provide this imminently.”

TRANSFORM-iN EDUCATION is designed to support teaching staff and pupils to have time and space within the day to break with convention which the campaign’s founders Dr Perpetua Kirby and Dr Rebecca Webb believe is necessary to ensure a creative and critical society where everyone is better able to respond to life situations where the answer is not always clear.

Dr Kirby and Dr Webb are looking to work with schools and other educational institutions, to support them to look beyond conformity within the school day, which they define as only learning what others already know to pass exams. The academics believe that while it is important to value existing knowledge, it is also vital to explore different ways of thinking and doing things.

Dr Webb, a Lecturer in Early Years and Primary Education at the University of Sussex, said: “In our current education system, children become successful by acquiring lots of curriculum knowledge and behaving in particular ways. Teachers, who, by implication, must never ‘not know’ and deviate from always explaining what things mean – this means constantly and continuously working ever harder to fill more efficiently and effectively the pupil with certain knowledge.

“We feel that this a really optimum time to launch this, it feels like there could be a positive reception for new thinking within the sector. Higher education encourages students to engage in transformative ‘disruptive thinking’, it’s certainly something we have put at the heart of what we do at the University of Sussex, and so it’s imperative that schools follow suit. ”

The campaigners say they want to help influence a change of policy on a national level and broaden the current models of education they have observed during in-depth research in schools which they say assumes certainty about the knowledge presented to students with very little time or opportunity for uncertainty.

They warn that there is currently too much emphasis on pupils conforming to the standards of good behaviour of prolonged sitting in silence and working hard to find the correct answer. Their research highlights that being good can camouflage an avoidance of effort for some pupils, including engaging in new and unexpected challenges where the answer is unclear.

Dr Webb and Dr Kirby stress the importance of having higher expectations for pupils – that go beyond simply learning what is in the curriculum – to create new knowledge. This includes sharing opinions, questioning the ways things have always been done, pursuing new questions and experimenting with different approaches. Their studies identify that pupils are already working with uncertainty, but mostly alone without the support of a teacher.

University of Sussex masters pupil, Mariyam Ahmed Toor, identifies the limits of current schooling for her generation. She said: “We don’t understand that it’s okay to feel uncertain and to not have answers all the time. In fact, somewhere along the way, we were taught in schools that uncertainty is bad which is so ironic because life is anything but certain. And so, instead of feeling liberated in our 20s, we feel overwhelmed and unsure because every move we make needs to be grounded in certainty.”

TRANSFORM-iN EDUCATION will bring together academic and non-academic stakeholders, especially teachers, parents, head teachers and students at schools and colleges, to promote more and better opportunities for different ways of experiencing knowledge in school. It’s founders hope to offer a forum to draw on the talents and expertise of teaching staff, who they say do not currently have the opportunities to step outside existing demands within schools.

The campaign will organise and attend events for researchers and teaching professionals to explore the balance of conformity and transformation in schooling, including the tensions in pursuing both goals.

Dr Kirby, an Associate in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sussex, said: “Our research has highlighted the need for the space to produce knowledge differently, what we call transformation. We need to listen to how teachers and students want to create spaces that are better suited to the rapidly changing context of the twenty-first century. This demands that we respond in ways not known or even imagined before, whilst not forgetting what we already know.”

www.transformineducation.org

Despite this shocking disparity, one of London’s leading private tuition agencies (which can charge up to £200 per hour for tuition) has taken action to combat this imbalance in the education sector. Bright Young Things, whose clients include royalty, has partnered with The Access Project, a charity supporting bright young people from disadvantaged backgrounds to get to top universities. The aim of the partnership is to ‘provide quality education to all,’ said a spokesperson for the agency.

According to The Sutton Trust, 79% of privately educated children in London received private tuition in 2016. Despite the positives of children improving their confidence and attainment, this figure sadly demonstrates an increase in inequality: the 6.5% of children in the UK who are privately educated are also by far the most likely to be further supported by private education.

Only 21% of the 93.5% of students in the UK not at private school receive tuition, and within these students are the staggeringly large 15% of secondary school pupils in the UK who are eligible for Free School Meals. Unfortunately, again according to The Sutton Trust’s research, these students only currently make up 2% of the intake at the UK’s most selective universities.

Charities such as The Access Project have been fighting to challenge these odds by working with motivated students from less privileged backgrounds over five years to offer them a stronger chance of meeting their potential. Bright Young Things has created a collaboration with them, in order to also reach out to these students: Booster Days. Booster Days are designed to bring Access Project students from around London together for a day’s close focus on one subject. The first session on April 6th focused on Chemistry, a subject that many students struggle with and for which there is a shortage of tutors. Led by Bright Young Things tutor James Weber and developed by Bright Young Things’ Carys Wright, the day focused on topics that were pre-selected by the students and approached in a range of ways.

‘The students were a joy to have in BYT headquarters, and the day was lots of fun,’ says Wright, before noting that 100% of students fed back that they’d like to attend another Booster Day. One student said, “My experience was great today. I learnt a lot and am more confident in Chemistry now!”

‘It is great that we have had such an overwhelmingly positive response to the Bright Young Things Booster Day,’ said Wright. ‘We see this a step in the right direction, towards providing quality education to all children, regardless of their socio-economic circumstances.’

The innovative programme is the first of its kind in the country to work with primary students in this way. An initial pilot is taking place in eight schools in Knowsley, an area chosen because of its good primary schools which service wards of significant deprivation.

Run by the national education charity Future First, the scheme will help each participating school to establish a supportive network of former students and volunteers who will return to the classroom to share their experiences of the working world with current pupils. Building on the charity’s already successful work in more than a thousand secondary schools and colleges across Britain, the programme will help primary schools for the first time to harness the time, talent and resource of their former students.

During this academic year, Future First will deliver a series of four workshops with Year 5 pupils, supported by alumni and volunteers in a range of jobs. Each session will be designed to broaden students’ aspirations about the opportunities available to them after school and will culminate with a visit to a local employer to see the world of work first hand.

Future First is calling for supporters of the schools to sign up and support the programme. Former students and friends of the school, including parents, grandparents and governors, are all encouraged to volunteer their support at http://www.futurefirst.org.uk/register. Volunteers can help the programme by participating in one or more workshops, sharing their experience of life after school with current pupils.

Future First believes every state school, primary and secondary, should be supported by an alumni community which can have a deep and sustained impact on current students’ aspirations and ideas about their futures. This programme will deliver that by ensuring children think about their career options early.

Future First Chief Executive Matt Lent said, “It’s hard for young children to understand the connection between their school studies and the world of work. The importance of engaging children early in their lives about life after school was demonstrated by the number of schools which applied to take part in this pilot.

“Our work in secondary schools has already shown that relatable role models can have an enormous positive influence on the confidence and motivation of young people. This new initiative will take these opportunities to primary pupils for the first time ensuring all children have the chance to succeed regardless of their background.”

Schools taking part are Plantation Primary School, Prescot Primary School, Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Primary School,  Stockbridge Village Primary School, St Anne’s Catholic Primary School, St Mark’s Catholic Primary School,  St Margaret Mary’s Catholic Junior School and St Michael and All Angels Primary School.

Short-cuts in learning and development ultimately hold employees back, and there is no substitute for hard work and classroom interaction, according to the world’s largest professional body for the credit community.

New research from the Chartered Institute of Credit Management (CICM) suggest that while distance learning has its place, face-to-face education, in a real or virtual classroom, delivers three-times better results.

Debbie Tuckwood, CICM Head of Education and Professional Development, is concerned that while some learners may be happy with distance learning, they miss out on the interaction with their peers and teacher: “People generally learn better from each other,” she explains.

“Discussion between learners contextualises concepts and deepens knowledge and understanding. Learners are more likely to become emotionally invested in their learning and the level and intensity of their learning soars.’

Debbie points to recent CICM examination results in support of her view: “Learners studying for example at college or through a virtual class are three times more likely to pass CICM qualifications than learners who have studied by distance learning. Also, they are more likely to gain a good pass and progress their studies to the stage where they enter an exam or assignment for assessment.”

Debbie is not surprised by the results: “CICM qualification programmes are demanding and so investment in high quality tuition delivers a large return in terms of skills growth, confidence and progression. This is very different to a quick e-learning module or recorded webinar which you might access to improve a particular skill or keep up-to-date with a new regulation.”

She says that only a few, highly-motivated and self-sufficient learners seem to cope with long programmes of study by unsupported distance learning: “Companies persuaded to economise on qualification course fees should think about the return on investment,” she concludes.

New CICM Level 3 and Level 5 Diploma programmes start in January. To find out more about study options, go to the CICM website or email professionalqualifications@cicm.com.

http://www.cicm.com

The report, conducted by a group of volunteer economists, is the first independent review of its kind on the effect that undertaking practical, hands-on science projects can have on student attainment and subject choice.  The findings include:

• Students who took Silver CREST achieved half a grade higher on their best science GCSE result compared to a statistically matched control group.
• Students who undertake a CREST Silver Award are 21% more likely to take a STEM AS Level. 82% of Silver CREST students took a STEM AS Level, compared to 68% of a statistically matched control group.
• Silver CREST students eligible for Free School Meals (FSM) saw a larger increase in their best science GCSE (two thirds of a grade) compared to a matched control group who were also eligible for FSM.
• Students who were eligible for Free School Meals and took part in a CREST Silver Award were 38% more likely to take a STEM subject at AS Level than the matched control group.
• Students who undertake Silver CREST have higher average GCSE grades compared to those who did not do a CREST Silver Award.
• The sample for this analysis included 2.4 million Key Stage 4 students (of whom 3,800 took CREST Silver) and 1.0 million Key Stage 5 students (of whom 2,300 took a Silver CREST Award).
• Half (50%) of students taking Silver CREST Awards were young women.

CREST Awards is the BSA’s flagship education programme, which allows 11 to 19-year-olds to explore real-world science, technology, engineering and maths by curating a unique hands-on project. It is a practical science intervention, which seeks to broaden students’ interest in science and encourage them to continue with STEM subjects.

There are four levels of Awards in the CREST programme; Discovery, Bronze, Silver and Gold, which each require increasing amounts of teacher and student time and mentor involvement.  The analysis in this report, Quantifying CREST: what impact does the Silver CREST Award have on science scores and subject selection?, focuses on students in English state schools aged 14-16 who took part in CREST Silver Awards between 2010 and 2013.

Imran Khan, Chief Executive of the British Science Association, said:

“In the 30 years that the CREST Awards have been running, we’ve known that doing practical, creative science & technology projects have increased students’ enjoyment and understanding of science – but it’s fantastic to now have quantitative evidence of their impact on academic attainment, too. We’ve found that students who do these kinds of projects through the CREST framework also get better GCSEs and are more likely to pick STEM AS Levels.

“As a society, we need more and more young people who are curious about, and comfortable with, science – not least to ensure that we have a competitive economy and vibrant culture – so we hope that this report encourages more young people, teachers, schools, and parents to explore science and technology through the CREST Awards.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank the whole team at Pro Bono Economics who have volunteered many hours of their own time to produce this report, and to make some excellent recommendations for the BSA and education sector to take forward for the future.”

In order to conduct the research for this report, data collected by the BSA on students starting Silver CREST Awards between 2010 and 2013, was linked to data in the National Pupil Database. This enabled the authors (Rosie Stock Jones, Tom Annable, Zoe Billingham and Cee MacDonald) to bring together information on CREST participants with pupil characteristics, attainment and subject selection data.

Propensity Score Matching was used to create a control group of students who did not take part in CREST, but had similar characteristics to those who did. Key Stage 2 (KS2) SATs results were used to control for prior attainment. Other control variables included gender, ethnicity, region of school, year of GCSEs, participation in triple award science, type of school, free school meal status in the six years prior to taking GCSEs and the Income Deprivation Affecting Children Index (IDACI).

Karen Hancock, Economist, Pro Bono Economics, and Ex-Chief Economist, Department for Education, said:

“There are always caveats with this type of analysis, but the results suggest that students participating in the Silver CREST Awards achieve about half a grade higher on their best science GCSE result on average compared with a statistically-similar control group. Silver CREST students were also 21% more likely to take a STEM AS level subject than control group students.  We hope that the results of this report will support the British Science Association in making a case for encouraging greater uptake of the CREST Awards in schools.”

The authors have made several recommendations for further work, including replicating this analysis through a Randomised Control Trial, broadening it to cover Discovery, Bronze and Gold Award types and conducting a cost benefit analysis for schools.