‘Social risk taking in adolescence’ by Prof. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore 2020 Annual Lecture During the Education Policy Institute 2020 Annual Lecture, Prof. Sarah-Jayne Blakemore, Professor of Psychology and Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Cambridge, gave a lecture on ‘Social risk taking in adolescence’. The lecture presented the results of recent research and experiments on influence of peers on the behaviour …
Child Trust Funds: 700,000 accounts forgotten about or lost Child Trust Funds Child Trust Funds (CTF) were introduced in September 2002 as a means for investing in children’s futures. At birth, every child living in the UK (not subject to immigration controls) was provided with a voucher worth £250 by the government to open a Trust Fund account; a further £250 was given to children from low-income families. At age 7, the government then made an additional payment of £250 into the account, …
DfE Guidance for Early Years: Change and Continuity On 3 September, the Department for Education (DfE) released an updated edition of Development Matters, its non-statutory guidance for the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS). This publication is aimed at supporting EYFS practitioners in implementing the revised EYFS framework, which will move from being statutory for early adopter schools to all providers …
Prepping for your 2020-21 Condition Improvement Fund What?! Now? Really?While the surprise announcement of additional CIF awards is only a few weeks old, you would think that it would be a little premature to start considering bids to the 2021 fund. Far from it. DfE is due to issue guidance for CIF 2021 in October 2020 with the deadline for …
Pre-opening Project ManagementAt the end of last year, the DfE closed applications for another two waves of the national free schools programme. This included Wave 14 for mainstream free schools and Wave 2 for SEND/AP schools. Successful Wave 2 applicants have been announced recently and an announcement on the successful applicants for Wave 14 is expected in the coming months. At Premier Advisory Group, we have a wealth of experience in the pre-opening project management of new free …
PAG celebrates successful Wave 2 clients Premier Advisory Group is delighted to celebrate the trusts who were successful in their bids to open new SEND/AP Free Schools via Wave 2 of the DfE programme. These successful applications include a number of PAG’s clients: Ambitious about Autism Academies TrustAmbitious About Autism Academies Trust has been selected to sponsor a new 4 to 19 school for children and young people with …
Governance during COVID-19 Gary Brown is an experienced non-executive director and Academy Ambassador who currently sits on the board of a small all-through MAT in Warwickshire and a mid-sized MAT in the West Midlands. Read below to learn more about Gary’s experience as a governor during COVID-19. w Over the past few weeks, I have worked with a number of organisations to …
Policy Doctor: An Origin Story S taff meetings at PAG are often interrupted by shared experiences of interminable and less than effective governing body/trust meetings. The root of these frustrations is the same each time – wasted time and effort that could be expended more fruitfully on focusing on teaching and learning. One of the biggest drains on time is …
Barnardo’s places pastoral care and safeguarding as top priorities for returning pupils On Monday, after almost three months in lockdown, some pupils returned to school. These pupils are, of course, in addition to the vulnerable pupils and pupils of key workers who have continued attending school through the lockdown period. The BBC reported “highly variable” levels of attendance from primary …
The Impact of School Closures on the Attainment Gap: A Rapid Evidence Assessment from EEFEarlier this week, the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), an independent charity dedicated to breaking the link between family income and educational achievement, released a rapid evidence assessment focused on the impact of school closures on the attainment gap. What is the Rapid Evidence Assessment?This rapid evidence …