The vast majority of schools have sent off their reports by now: genuinely positive documents filled with insight for parents, and probably a tad too much ‘teacher speak’.

But what would the end-of-year report for the education look in July 2018?

As a nation we may be in the middle of a collective nervous breakdown triggered by Brexit, and had a moment of national hysteria brought by the World Cup, but surely for education in 2017/18 little has changed?

Is that really right?

Many might view these past 12 months as a period of stagnation, but that is unlikely to be a narrative familiar to those schools at the chalkface.

This, after all, is the year we have seen funding restraints truly bite hard. As the year ends we have nearly half of all secondaries setting a deficit budget, and a staggering average attached to this deficit of £400,000, and rising.

Primaries are no better, with the average deficit being over £100,000. The education of our pupils across the sectors are now suffering as a result.

Staff are being offloaded in droves, leading to a narrower curriculum, less support, a lack of choice and ultimately learner dissatisfaction.

And as teachers leave we see the problem exploding as insufficient individuals are waiting in the wings. This last year has seen recruitment crisis affecting all schools in all areas.

There continues to be no direction in education. 2017/18 has seen the usual number of countless initiatives heralded on arrival, only then to go quiet when it becomes clear they are pointless, or worse. God knows how many millions have been wasted.

This year has seen very little progress when it comes to inequality in education. In terms of areas in the country, in terms of choice, deprivation and funding, we truly have become a divided education nation.

Again the year has seen no discernible progress on teacher workload. The overwork epidemic still dominates every teacher’s waking hour, has not been addressed and is the main cause of the teacher exodus and the recruitment issue.

Last but not least, we come to testing and accountability. In primary, the stranglehold of Sats has become even tighter and in secondary, the new-look GCSEs are driving stress levels through the roof. Both are leading to a substantial rise in both pupil mental health issues this year.

So, how to finish my annual report? Of course, it is important that all such documents must have a positive slant... Well, this one is easy, the quality and professionalism of all teachers and support staff ensures that our broken education system still works as well as it does.

Thanks go out to them from me, and please enjoy a very well deserved holiday.

Colin Harris led a school in a deprived area of Portsmouth for more than two decades. His last two Ofsted reports were ‘outstanding’ across all categories

To read more of Colin’s articles, visit his back catalogue