As James Pembroke and I say in Dataproof Your School (2022, p4), the extensive body of research into teaching, learning and schooling suggests that students need to be in school, in class, focused and learning what we want them to. Here, we will focus on the first two areas: are students in school and in […] Read article…

In 2016, Becky Allen wrote an excellent article for FFT Education DataLab, which looked at how teacher assessments of writing compared to the results of the reading test at key stage 2. The data showed that there was little consistency within and between local authorities, and concluded that this variability most likely resulted from differences […] Read article…

Most students are in school most of the time, most absence is due to illness and family holidays during term time represent a small but consistent rate of overall absence. Much of the discourse about attendance in English schools focuses on those students who are absent from school and what happens if families take children […] Read article…

Roughly half of pupils are in schools which have used the KS1 optional End of KS1 assessment framework materials. End of KS1 assessments became non-statutory from the 2023/24 academic year onwards. The first cohort to take the statutory Reception Baseline Assessment (RBA) had reached the end of KS1 and KS1 assessments were no longer need […] Read article…