All posts tagged: pupils

Pupils more likely to miss school on their birthday

Pupils more likely to miss school on their birthday

Published by skeptic

Pupils are up to 55 per cent more likely to miss school on their birthdays, according to new government absence analysis. Department for Education research also shows pupils are missing school after medical appointment and when the term ends with a “broken week”. The DfE has also produced new guidance for schools on how to communicate with parents about attendance. Common absences The DfE analysed school attendance patterns for years 1 to 11 in 2023-24. Across all pupils, overall absence rates were higher on birthdays. This gap peaked in year 8, when pupils are almost 55 per cent more likely to be absent on their birthday. Analysis also found that pupils were missing more of the school day after a medical or dental appointment. If pupils had an appointment during the morning session, just 54 per cent were present for the afternoon session. However, many of these pupils were recorded as having another medical appointment (39 per cent). Absence rates were higher in schools that had a broken week at the end of term. Analysis …

what secondary school pupils choose to eat

what secondary school pupils choose to eat

Published by skeptic

Changes are on the horizon for the food that students can choose in English schools. The government is proposing updates to the school food standards, which set out what schools can serve. The changes are aimed at increasing fibre and reducing fat, sugar and salt in school food. These will, for example, remove deep fried foods and fruit juice from school menus, while also limiting how often options such as pizza can be offered. Our new research examined what students chose in secondary school under the current school food standards, and highlights students’ established patterns of food choice. In our study, we examined more than a quarter of a million choices made by over 800 11- to 18-year-olds in a secondary school. By looking at what they chose over one academic year, we developed a profile for each student – and were able to look at patterns of food choice. We found that students fell into one of five groups, which we named according to the foods and drinks that dominated. Sandwiches and savoury snacks …

How Birmingham pupils are helping to break bad travel habits

How Birmingham pupils are helping to break bad travel habits

Published by skeptic

Our school’s work on travel and sustainability was recently recognised when we were crowned Modeshift STARS national secondary school of the year. This followed local and regional awards last year. We’re a city school so most of our young people do not get to us by car. But we believe there is always more we can do to encourage sustainable travel among children and young people, families and staff. Traffic and congestion are key issues in our local area and our pupils have driven a wave of initiatives that are reshaping travel habits across the school community. Source link

Humanist school speakers reach half a million pupils on 10th anniversary of Understanding Humanism – Humanists UK

Humanist school speakers reach half a million pupils on 10th anniversary of Understanding Humanism – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

Humanists UK is celebrating the 10th anniversary of Understanding Humanism, its education programme supporting teachers and pupils to learn about humanism as part of a broad, balanced education about religion and worldviews.  The anniversary coincides with a landmark of its own: humanist school speakers, trained and accredited by Humanists UK, have now reached half a million pupils since the programme launched. Since 2016, Understanding Humanism has gone from a fledgling service to a major national programme, helping to transform the teaching of religious education across England and Wales. It has produced over 500 classroom resources, supported more than 20,000 people through its online courses, trained 3,000 teachers, and delivered 5,000 school visits.  A decade of bringing humanism to life Among the programme’s most popular resources are its animated films and classroom materials. Over the past decade, Understanding Humanism has built up a library of short films, including a series with broadcaster and scientist Professor Alice Roberts exploring the humanist approach to life, human origins, and humanity’s place in the natural world, and a series with …

Government must tackle faith admissions as part of plans to support disadvantaged pupils – Humanists UK

Government must tackle faith admissions as part of plans to support disadvantaged pupils – Humanists UK

Published by Sam Flores

The UK Government’s new ‘missions’ to improve the outcomes of disadvantaged children need to be matched by a commitment to tackle unfair religious selection by faith schools, Humanists UK has said. The Education Secretary has announced new ‘missions’ in the North East and coastal communities which are aimed at improving the outcomes of children in some of the most disadvantaged parts of the country. While welcoming the focus on disadvantaged children, Humanists UK says the plan ignores one of the ways inequality is built into the school system: through the ability of state-funded faith schools to select pupils on religious grounds. Areas with more faith schools have higher levels of socio-economic segregation Research by the Sutton Trust in 2024 found that areas with more faith schools, particularly those areas with Catholic schools, have higher levels of socio-economic segregation than those areas with fewer schools with a religious character. An example in the North East is St Cuthbert’s High School, a Catholic secondary school in Newcastle that has a faith-based admissions criteria for applicants. Current government …

Pupils labelled ‘early’ when SEND could be poverty-driven

Pupils labelled ‘early’ when SEND could be poverty-driven

Published by skeptic

Some children are being labelled with special needs “early” when their needs could be driven by experiences of poverty, the government’s strategic SEND adviser has suggested. Christine Lenehan told the National Network of Special Schools in Liverpool how government is “worried” the current system is “not good at understanding” poverty and deprivation, as well as how culture and race interact with disability. Lenehan said she had thought it was an “urban myth” that children arrive at school not knowing how to use a book. “I went into a special school not long ago and watched them try to swipe a book to get it to move. So in terms of the stuff we’ve got behind us, we are labelling some children early, when actually we are not understanding poverty, deprivation.” She also told delegates the Department for Education are “trying to do something about race and culture” but did not explicitly say whether this was research or guidance. Lenehan said disability and cultural identity “are really strong factors in how communities live and what communities do, …

Maths pupils ‘make slower progress in mixed ability classes’

Maths pupils ‘make slower progress in mixed ability classes’

Published by skeptic

Pupils in mixed-ability classes make slower progress in maths compared to those grouped by attainment, a new report suggests. Using sets for maths also did not “significantly harm” the attainment of students from poorer backgrounds, or those with low attainment earlier in school. The report was published by the Education Endowment Foundation today, based on research conducted by the UCL Institute of Education. It investigated the impact of different ways of putting pupils in maths classes. The study compared the attainment and self-confidence of year 7 and 8 pupils taught in mixed-ability classes with those taught in sets between September 2022 and July 2024. Of the 97 schools that took part, 28 of them used mixed attainment groups while 69 used setting for maths. It found pupils in schools with mixed-ability classes made one month’s less progress in maths compared to pupils who were grouped based on attainment. Pupils with higher previous attainment in maths made about two months’ less progress when put in mixed ability classes rather than sets. But pupils with lower previous …

Sponsored academy pupils make ‘less ambitious’ post-16 choices

Sponsored academy pupils make ‘less ambitious’ post-16 choices

Published by skeptic

Pupils at sponsored academies are likely to make “less ambitious” post-16 choices, while the opposite is true for selective schools and free schools, a new report has shown. Female students are also more likely to enrol in post-16 courses that are less challenging than their results would indicate. The Nuffield College-funded report found “clear and systemic patterns”, with school type, gender and background being major factors in whether students enrolled in post-16 destinations that ‘matched’ their ability, based on their previous performance. It was conducted by Education Policy Institute (EPI) and the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, using national administrative data tracking students from secondary school through to higher education. While the report recognises that some “mismatch” between outcomes and prior attainment is normal and desirable, systemic differences in mismatch based on students’ backgrounds suggests that some groups face structural barriers. Sam Tuckett, associate director for post-16 and skills at EPI, said the differences in outcomes “are not explained by prior attainment”, but “reflect the environments students learn in, the peers and …

Falling rolls: Schools given ‘limited’ DfE help

Falling rolls: Schools given ‘limited’ DfE help

Published by skeptic

Schools have received “limited” government support to manage the risks of falling rolls to educational performance and value for money, the spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office estimated a forecast drop of 56,300 primary pupils in the system in 2027 “could mean that schools receive £288 million less in per-pupil funding”. Julia Harnden, deputy director of policy at the ASCL leaders’ union, warned there had been “no government strategy to mitigate that risk and there’s a real danger that more communities will lose schools which have been a feature of those communities for decades”. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the Conservative MP who chairs the Parliamentary public accounts committee, said: “It is deeply concerning that, despite pupil numbers declining since 2018, DfE has been slow to respond to the challenge and has not assessed the implications for education quality, particularly for the most disadvantaged pupils. “As pupil numbers are expected to continue to fall, DfE must make better use of its information and insights across the sector to support schools, clarify what a resilient and effective …

How different negative emotions change the size of your pupils

How different negative emotions change the size of your pupils

Published by José Betancourt

When people feel disgust or sadness, their pupils involuntarily widen. Conversely, feelings of anger are associated with a narrowing of the pupils, setting it apart from other negative mental states. These distinct physical responses occur even when individuals experience mixed feelings at the exact same moment. The research was published in Biological Psychology. The size of the human pupil is controlled by the autonomic nervous system, which governs involuntary body functions. Pupil dilation reflects the activation of the sympathetic nervous system. This is the same biological network responsible for the body’s fight or flight response. When this system springs into action, it engages a specific muscle in the iris that pulls the pupil open. A wider pupil increases a person’s overall field of vision, allowing them to scan the broader environment for potential threats. Pupil constriction relies on the parasympathetic nervous system, which usually helps the body rest and digest. When this system takes over, the dilating muscle relaxes and another muscle pinches the pupil shut. A smaller pupil narrows the field of view. This …