Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, pursuant to the Answer of 18 May 2018 to Question 145610 on Academies, if he will publish the names and local authority area of the 21 schools that had their academy orders revoked; and for each school whether the revocation was a result of (a) subsequent Ofsted inspections (b) closure and (c) merger.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The attached table lists the 21 schools that have had their academy orders revoked and the reason.
The department supports all schools becoming sponsored academies to have school improvement plans in place regardless of their place in the process. Revoking an academy order takes place only in very specific circumstances, with careful consideration from all parties involved.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when he plans to respond to the letter of 18 May from the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich on The John Roan School, Royal Borough of Greenwich.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
A response to the letter was sent to the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich on 11 June 2018.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many directive academy orders have been issued to maintained schools that Ofsted has rated as inadequate pursuant to s4(A1) of the Academies Act 2010; and how many of those schools have subsequently opened as sponsored academies.
Answered by Nadhim Zahawi
The 2016 Education and Adoption Act[1] placed a duty on the Secretary of State to make an academy order in respect of any maintained school that has been judged inadequate by Ofsted, to enable it to become an academy and receive additional support from a sponsor.
Between 18 April 2016, when this power came into force, and 1 May 2018, the department has issued 426 academy orders to inadequate local authority maintained schools. Of these, 218 have since opened as sponsored academies. In all cases, we will ensure that there is appropriate support in place to secure improvement until the school converts. This can be from the preferred sponsor or through another multi-academy trust or teaching school alliance, or direct from the local authority. Some schools do not proceed to conversion, either because they close or merge or because they improve sufficiently and are removed from special measures. 21 have had their academy orders revoked, either due to subsequent Ofsted inspections, or closure or merger.
[1] Section 4(A1) of the Academies Act 2010, as inserted by the Education and Adoption Act 2016.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, when Ofsted plans to publish its final report of its 21 and 22 March 2018 inspection of The John Roan secondary school in the Royal Borough of Greenwich.
Answered by Nick Gibb
This is a matter for Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, Amanda Spielman. I have asked her to write to the hon. Member for Greenwich and Woolwich, and a copy of her reply will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
Asked by: Matthew Pennycook (Labour - Greenwich and Woolwich)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she is taking to ensure that all teachers in England are able to understand and respond to the needs of pupils with an autism spectrum disorder.
Answered by Edward Timpson
The Department has contracted with the Autism Education Trust since 2012 to deliver autism training to education staff. To date, the Trust has trained over 90,000 education staff. This training will continue to be funded in 2016-2017 to a value of £750,000. The contract extension with the Autism Education Trust will build on previous grant funding from the Department for two other projects (2013-16): a project by the National Autistic Society to provide information and advice to parents and professionals on exclusions and a project by Ambitious about Autism on strategies for supporting transition from school to college.
Our support also includes the National Association for Special Educational Needs’ Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Gateway (www.sendgateway.org.uk).This offers education professionals free, easy access to high quality information, resources and training for meeting the needs of children with SEND, including those with autism. The Department has also funded National Association for Special Educational Needs (2015-16) to develop a free universal offer of SEND Continuous Professional Development for teachers.
The National College for Teaching and Leadership has produced a series of specialist online courses, one of which focuses on autism. The training materials are designed to support teachers in mainstream schools who want to improve their skills in teaching pupils with SEND. The training materials can be found at: www.education.gov.uk/lamb.
In order to be awarded qualified teacher status, trainees must satisfy the Teachers’ Standards, which include a requirement that they have a clear understanding of the needs of all pupils, including those with SEND, and are able to use and evaluate distinctive teaching approaches to engage and support them.
Following Sir Andrew Carter’s independent review of the quality and effectiveness of Initial Teacher Training (ITT) courses, the Secretary of State appointed an independent working group made up of expert representatives from the sector to develop a framework of core ITT content. The working group includes two SEND experts and will consider Sir Andrew’s recommendations on the SEND content of the proposed framework. The group is expected to report to DfE in spring 2016.