LBB Children and Young People Services Portfolio Plan for 2011-12

Appendix C
A summary of the Government Reform Agenda
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writing judgement, and to include a spelling, grammar, punctuation and
vocabulary test
• introducing three-year rolling averages to give a rounded picture of a
school’s performance
• giving a greater emphasis on the progress of pupils, by:
− making progress one of the two headline published measures,
alongside attainment
− providing a strong focus on the progress of every pupil, as well as
greater emphasis on the progress of each Year 6 cohort
− introducing a focus on the performance of lower-attaining pupils
• introducing new progress and attainment measures for pupils who have
completed all of Years 5 and 6 in a school
• easing transition to secondary school for pupils and their new teachers by
providing more detailed reporting to Year 7 secondary schools teachers
The Government will consider the report and its recommendations, and take
into account the views of the teaching profession, before formally responding
in July 2011.
Higher Education White Paper
Students at the Heart of the System, the Higher Education White Paper, was
published in June 2011.
The White Paper outlines the Government’s intention to:
• ensure better information for students before they apply
• review how university-industry collaboration can continue to improve
• encourage universities to engage actively with employers to accredit or
“kitemark” courses
• make universities more accountable to students on teaching quality, who
can trigger quality reviews where there are grounds for concern.
• review the extent to which Student Charters are adopted and whether they
should be made mandatory in the future
• free up student number controls among universities in 2012/13
• enable a wider range of providers to join the sector to offer more choice
for students
A number of the proposals in the White Paper will require legislative changes
to deliver them. To do this, the Government intends to introduce a Higher
Education Bill in the Houses of Parliament in 2012.
Review of the Admissions Framework
In May 2011 the Government published its revised Admissions Framework for
schools for a period of consultation.
Key proposed changes within the revised framework include:
• to remove the requirement on local authorities to coordinate in year
admissions
• to allow all schools to increase their Published Admission Number (PAN)
in response to parental demand
• to amend the list of exceptions to the statutory limit for infant school class
sizes of 30 children per school teacher to include twins (and other multiple
birth children) and service children
• to give admissions priority to children attracting the Pupil Premium, i.e.
those receiving Free School Meals, Children in Care and service children,
in the admissions process
• to allow children of staff at the school to be included as an
oversubscription criterion
The Government will publish a revised set of Admissions Codes which take
account of any changes by the end of September 2011 and aim to bring the
Codes into force in early 2012, subject to the passage of the Education Bill.