By Gavin Mackintosh-
Bradford head teachers from failing schools are to receive leadership master classes as part of an £11 million push to improve education standards.
On Friday, news of increased funding to aid Bradford’s struggling schools from the Department for Education were announced. They include a variety of schemes to improve the life chances of the district’s young people. The funding is also expected to triple the resources provided by the National Citizen Service in Bradford.
One aspect of the funding includes strengthening school leadership and the quality of teaching. Several head teachers are expected to take the leadership classes to improve their overall teaching ability and performance success rate
It is hoped that the plans will improve the Ofsted ratings of at least half of the district’s schools that are currently rated ‘requires improvement’ or ‘inadequate’.
Literacy in many of Bradford’s primary schools are below par, although there are a few with impressive standards. The funding will benefit the 10 local primary schools furthest below the national average for reading and writing. It will subsequently be expanded to secondary and post-16 literacy schemes.
The money is also designed to “broaden aspirations” of young people, with the added goal of targeting 11-18 year olds to provide “at least four high quality encounters with the world of work.” The National Citizen Service will triple the resources it makes available to Bradford’s young people, with the aim of supporting 2,400 15-17 year olds by 2020. Another aspect will be “removing barriers to learning.” The Eye Of Media.Com has also heard that the scheme will include early identification of autism and related disorders, enabling trained teachers to address them as effectively as possible. Improving the standard of reading and writing in Bradford children is an urgent goal being pursued, and one that will gradually be extended across UK underperforming schools.
Bradford is the joint fifth worst performer in primary schools in terms of expected standards of maths, reading and writing.
Research from the Born In Bradford Project and the Bradford Research School will also be used to support teachers in 50 schools to help to students at risk of “social, emotional or mental health issues.” The priorities of this scheme will include early identification of autism and related disorders, as well as improving reading and writing. All children in the UK are expected to attain the minimum standard of reading and writing for their age; inadequate teaching standards cannot excuse slow academic development for kids anywhere. Uk primary schools receive progress scores based on the progress made by pupils in the three key areas of Maths, reading, and writing between the ages of 7 and 11.
With the standard of primary school education in the Uk raised higher since 2016, standards have fallen further in the weakest primary schools. The end of year Sats exams in 2017 was raised again above the high rate introduced the previous before, putting more pressure on UK state primary schools to deliver on results. Many primary schools have struggled to measure up to the new standards, but many others have been working hard to raise the academic standard of their pupils. The seasonal visits by Ofsted serves schools with a reminder that their progress or failures are being noted, but many head teachers and their staff are lacking in the necessary expertise in raising the standards of their pupils. Leadership classes will train academic staff to build their pupils to the required standards , using a variety of skills that will help stimulate their minds and implement effective strategies to achieve this.