Covid’s impact still being felt at Governor level

The Schools North East’s annual Governance Conference 2022 took place this week, with hundreds of NE governors joining us for sessions including cyber security, safeguarding, environment and wellbeing, and an update from Ofsted Regional Director Emma Ing.  Many thanks to our event Main Sponsor Wrigley’s Solicitors (visit their website here) for their support in hosting …

NNoSS survey to special and hospital schools, and alternative provision on the Schools Supplementary Grant (SSG)

National Network of Special Schools for School Business Professionals is powered by Schools North East, and supported by the Department for Education.  For more information http://www.nnoss.co.uk NNoSS survey to special and hospital schools, and alternative provision on the Schools Supplementary Grant (SSG) SUMMARYMembers had highlighted that while mainstream schools were receiving the SSG directly to their schools the …

Questions over the ‘Future DfE’ as ESFA stipped of non-financial responsibilities

Following the announcement last week that the North East will become its own RSC region, the Department for Education shake-up has continued with a review of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) taking place. The ESFA is currently responsible for a huge range of issues, including overseeing academy trusts, FE and sixth-form colleges, and …

Ensure the voice of your school is heard with the Schools North East State of the Region survey

We are passionate about giving the schools of this region a powerful platform to air their views and a collective voice lobbying on the issues that matter the most to them.  The feedback we receive from our State of the Region survey is crucial in getting the voice of North East schools heard by policy …

NE to become a stand-alone RSC region in shake-up

As part of a wider internal overhaul, dubbed “Future DfE”, the North East will become its own RSC region, breaking away from the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber, as eight RSC regions will become nine. A DfE spokesperson said: “These changes reorganise us to be a department that operates better locally by being aligned …

North East schools react to Covid restrictions being lifted

The Prime Minister’s statement this week that the final Covid restrictions could be lifted a full month earlier than previously announced has been met with mixed reactions by schools in the North East. Restrictions, such as the legal requirement for individuals to self-isolate following a positive PCR test, are expected to be dropped, ‘provided the …

‘Do we have a mental health epidemic among young people?’ asks select committee chair

The House of Commons’ education committee held a session on mental health on Tuesday, as part of Children’s Mental Health Week. Giving evidence were Lord O’Donnell, Lord Layard, Catherine Roche (CEO at Place2Be), and Mouhssin Ismail (Principal at Newham Collegiate Sixth Form Centre). Chair of the committee, Robert Halfon MP, set out the challenge facing …

Sunderland Nursery Supports digital engagement in their local community

Children from Mill Hill Nursery have been given the opportunity to share the different ways in which they communicated through a project to increase digital engagement in their local community.The project, run by Mill Hill Nursery in partnership with Sunderland City Council was set up after identifying that, during peak times of the pandemic, lockdown …

Trust CEO Alan Hardie asks: will ‘levelling up’ create better opportunities for our children?

This week Schools North East received the thoughts below from Northumberland Church of England Academy Trust CEO Alan Hardy following the Government’s ‘Levelling Up’ White Paper released last week and covered in the Schools North East Weekly Newsletter. You can read his thoughts below. In a break from the focus on possibly illegal parties which …

Six North East Local Authorities to be designated as ‘Education Investment Areas’

The long awaited Levelling Up White Paper was published this week, outlining the government’s plans to spread opportunity more equally across the country. The package includes plans to improve education for those living in the most disadvantaged areas. Central to this focus on education is the creation of 55 ‘Education Investment Areas’ (EIAs), which will …