Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment his Department has made of children's progress in specialist maths schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
There are currently two open maths schools: Kings College London Mathematics School and Exeter Mathematics School. In 2018, both schools had A level progress scores that were ‘well above average’. Pupils achieved progress scores of 1.46 and 1.10 in A level mathematics in Kings College London and Exeter Mathematics Schools respectively. This means that pupils in these schools achieved, on average, a grade higher than similar pupils nationally. These outcomes place both schools in the top 1% of schools in England for progress in A level mathematics.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of the recommendations in the Office of the Schools Adjudicator's annual report 2017-18 on (a) the prevalence of off-rolling and (b) home-educating parents registering with their local authority.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department will give careful consideration to the findings within the Chief Adjudicator’s annual report as it endeavours to ensure that the admissions system continues to work effectively for parents, pupils and schools.
Pupils leave school rolls for many reasons including: permanent exclusion, moving to another school, or changes of circumstances (as when a pupil moves to a new area). All schools must notify the local authority when a pupil’s name is to be deleted from the admission register.
Statutory guidance on exclusions is also clear that ‘informal’ or ‘unofficial’ exclusions are unlawful, regardless of whether they occur with the agreement of parents or carers. Any exclusion of a pupil, even for short periods of time, must be formally recorded.
A consultation and call for evidence on elective home education was held by the Department between April and July 2018. This included the issue of registration of children by local authorities. The responses received are still being considered, and a government response document outlining next steps will be published in due course.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will respond to the report published on 10 January 2019 by the Higher Education Policy Institute entitled The Impact of Selective Secondary Education on Progression to Higher Education.
Answered by Nick Gibb
Selective schools are some of the highest performing schools in the country and an important part of a diverse education system. Almost all of them are rated Good or Outstanding, and they are popular with parents. That is why the Government continues to support their expansion, through the Selective School Expansion Fund, where they meet the high bar that has been set for working to increase the admission of pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds.
The Department is committed to opening more university-sponsered maths schools, building on the success of King’s College London Mathematics School and the Exeter Mathematics School, to help prepare more of the most mathematically able students to succeed in maths disciplines at top universities and pursue mathematically intensive careers.
The Department currently has no plans to formally respond to this paper.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what progress he has made on reducing teacher workload.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has taken action to tackle unnecessary teacher workload, and address burdensome tasks such as marking and lesson planning.
The most recently published snapshot survey shows that 73% of teachers and head teachers report that their schools have reviewed or updated school policies to reduce workload, 67% had reduced or changed their approach to marking, and 49% had reduced or changed their approach to planning. Of those that had taken action on workload, 47% said unnecessary workload had been effectively reduced. The survey can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/school-snapshot-survey-winter-2017.
Developed by head teachers, teachers and other sector experts, the workload reduction toolkit published in July 2018 provides accessible materials for teachers. These include practical advice, tools and case studies that head teachers, teachers and other staff can use to address workload issues in their school. To date materials have been collectively downloaded around 84,000 times. The toolkit can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/workload-reduction-toolkit.
The Workload Advisory Group, chaired by Professor Becky Allen, has looked at what unnecessary data and evidence schools are collecting, and what (and who) drives that behaviour. On 5 November 2018, the Government published the report from the Workload Advisory Group and their response accepting all the recommendations in full. This report can be viewed here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/teacher-workload-advisory-group-report-and-government-response.
The Department is continuing to collect and analyse evidence on what drives excessive workload and what works to reduce it, and has committed to a large scale workload survey which will run every 2 years, to improve the evidence base and inform policies.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of parental aspiration on children's progress in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The Department has recently completed an analysis of Key Stage 4 attainment and progress, exploring the relationship of pupils’ personal and family background, including an assessment of parental aspirations and their children’s progress between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4. The analysis draws on data collected through the second Longitudinal Study of Young People in England, which has followed the development of a cohort of young people from Year 9 to the end of Key Stage 4 and beyond. The results of this analysis will be published in October 2018.
Asked by: Ranil Jayawardena (Conservative - North East Hampshire)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment his Department has made of the effect of over-capacity in (a) classrooms and (b) school buildings on children's academic progress in schools.
Answered by Nick Gibb
The information requested is not held centrally.
The latest data[1] shows there are fewer pupils in excess of their school capacity when compared with 2010; reducing from more than 97,000 in May 2010 to 54,000 in May 2017.
[1] The annual school capacity survey 2017, available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/school-capacity-academic-year-2016-to-2017.