Weekly round-up: RSE age limits and call for ‘digital Sats’

Catch up on your must-read Tes news and analysis from the past week right here:

• Ofsted’s curriculum unit ‘scrapped’ and subject leads ‘sidelined’
  Insiders have exclusively told Tes that the watchdog’s expert subject leads are now focused mainly on routine school inspection and that Ofsted’s big curriculum unit project has “gone”.
• Schools face sex education age limit and gender theory ban
  In new draft guidance from the Department for Education, schools have been told not to teach pupils any form of sex education until Year 5 and are prevented from teaching the “concept of gender identity” to all students.
• Sex education: the RSE teaching age limits schools need to know
  Dan Worth, analysis editor at Tes, explains everything teachers and leaders need to know about the planned age-limit guidance for when certain subjects should be taught.
• Daily worship in schools opposed by most leaders
  The law requiring schools in England to hold daily acts of collective worship is “divisive” and “deeply unpopular”, according to a survey for the National Secular Society.
• Call to replace GCSEs with ‘digital Sats’
  GCSEs and A levels should be replaced by a four-year baccalaureate and “digital Sats” should be introduced for 14-year-olds, an education think tank has recommended.
• Three school website updates leaders need to know
  This week, the DfE published three updates to its guidance about the information schools and trusts either “must” or “should” publish on their websites. Tes sets out what you need to know.
• Managed moves ‘more than double’ over two years
  Pupils involved are more likely to be disadvantaged and less likely to achieve grade 4 in GCSE English and maths, analysis finds.
• DfE: Schools need ‘strong’ Friday curriculum offer to reduce absence
  School system minister Baroness Barran sets out how attendance can be improved among pupils missing between 5 and 15 per cent of lessons, including ensuring a “strong” Friday curriculum and extracurricular offer to help reduce absence.
• ‘Significant’ primary teacher shortages likely despite falling rolls
  Teacher supply is likely to remain significantly below target for primary schools in the coming years, despite falling pupil rolls, according to an analysis of the “critical” state of the recruitment and retention crisis.
• Revealed: 42% jump in MAT reserves falling below DfE threshold
  Figures analysed for Tes show the “difficult choices” facing trusts and schools owing to “government underfunding”.

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