Our monthly news roundup will provide you with an insight into education news highlights from the last month, featuring key updates on the mainstream, special, and AP free school waves.
Key Updates on Waves
At Create: Schools we are able to offer free support with your application, if you require a review of your bid or have any further queries, please contact us via our contact form here.
AP Wave
The application window to set up a new Alternative Provision free school is now open. This window will run until 17th February 2023, allowing lead applicants and local authorities plenty of time to work on their applications. Following the deadline, applications will then be assessed, with successful applications to be announced early autumn next year.
Wave 15
The deadline has now passed for mainstream application submissions. It is expected that the interview stage of assessment will begin in March 2023, with approved applications to be announced later in the spring.
Special Wave
The deadline for local authorities to submit their applications to the DfE has now passed. The DfE has now published the list of the local authorities that have applied to set up a special free school, including details of the type of provision they have proposed. This can be found here. Once successful local authorities have been announced in early 2023, proposer groups will be able to apply to open special free schools.
Free Schools in the News: This Month's Top Stories
School support staff – including teaching assistants and other council workers – are to see a 10.5% pay rise for the lowest-paid and just over 4% for the highest-paid. Unions have called for schools to implement the new pay rises as soon as possible.
The DfE have announced that £21m of funding will go towards training 400 educational psychologists in an effort to improve the support available to children with SEND. Additionally, a training programme will be in place to help staff use assistive technology in schools to support SEND pupils.
The annual Pearson Teaching Award winners for 2022 have now been announced. 16 individuals working in UK schools and colleges have been celebrated for their work in education.
According to Ofsted research, as a result of need for specialist support for primary school children with additional needs, there has been a rise in the number of primary-age children in alternative provisions. The lack of specialist support means that schools do not have the facilities to manage abusive behaviours.
The Noughts and Crosses author has argued for history to tell “the whole truth” in schools, ensuring that children are taught black history in order to address racism by preventing ignorance and intolerance. She has called for a more inclusive curriculum overall, with “more books from the Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities, working-class authors and books from and about neuro-divergent children”.
A new Centre of Excellence of up to 25 schools will be formed in order to improve language education across the UK. This programme will improve the quality of language education in schools, as well as working towards the aim of the DfE to ensure that 90% of year 10 pupils in state-funded schools will study the EBacc.
The DfE’s permanent secretary has confirmed that an anticipated £2.3bn will be used to cover energy costs and pay rises in schools from April 2023 following the end of the current support scheme in March.
A partnership between the Royal Horticultural Society, the Natural History Museum, and the DfE promises to enable access to funding to create green spaces in schools.
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