Hey Tappsters!
September is flying by! Your new reception starters are hopefully eating their lunch a bit more quickly, and all of the year sevens have stopped getting lost between lessons.
Despite the school year only just beginning, we already have lots of exciting data to share with you – solet’s start…
Free breakfasts
🥣 Before the general election, one of Labour’s policy plans was to provide free breakfasts to all primary school pupils (this blog from the Insitute of Fiscal Studies explains what the plans would mean for pupils and families).
But how many schools already offer free breakfasts to pupils? 27% of secondary schools and 13% of primary schools already provide free breakfast to all students. In secondaries, it is on the increase – since October 2022 it has risen four percentage point (up from 23%). In contrast, primaries have remained at the same level.
At present, around 1 in 5 schools does not have any breakfast club.
The context of the school plays a role in the likelihood of offering free breakfasts. Schools with the most Free School Meals (FSM) pupils are more likely to provide free breakfasts for all students. 59% of secondaries with the highest number of FSM pupils offer free breakfasts for every, compared to 10% of secondaries in the most affluent areas.
The pattern is the same in primary, with 29% of the schools with the highest number of FSM pupils offering a free breakfast to all, versus only 6% of the schools in the most affluent areas.
Although the government policy focuses on primary schools, a secondary roll out might be more straightforward given that so many are already offering it?
Do you feel free school breakfasts help attendance? Do you have a model that works at your school? Tell us your success stories by emailing england@teachertapp.co.uk or using the ‘contact us’ in the app. 📲
Apple vs Android…teachers edition
Apples for breakfast might be a good idea, but this is a different sort of apple altogether…this month our prize draw winner gets to pick between an Apple iPad (10th generation) 256GB Wi-Fi OR Samsung Galaxy Tab S9 FE+ 🤩
Naturally, we were curious…are teachers more likely to be Apple or Android?! Apple came out top with 62% 🍏 and Android 28% 🔴 with some using a mix of both (10%) 🍎.
In primary, teachers pretty much stick to the normal split (62% to 28%) but over in secondary, English teachers are the most likely to have Apple products (64%) and science teachers are the most likely to have Android (37%). Science folks: why might this be? Is it because you’re more keen on experimenting with customisations?!
To be in with a chance to scoop either an iPad or Samsung tablet, answer five days in a row on Teacher Tapp. You will earn a ticket visible in your app under prize draw and, if we have your permission, we’ll send an email each time you get a ticket too. After 3:30pm on 1st of October, we’ll draw a winning ticket. 🎉
Note: there’s no need to do anything with your tickets – they are automatically entered into the prize draw. BUT, you might like to check your tickets when we announce the winner: it has a special code on it! Full terms and conditions here.
Verbal abuse from parents
Unfortunately, the number of teachers receiving expletive-filled rants is on the up.
Verbal abuse from parents and carers is now at the highest level since the question was first asked in September 2019 (at 37%, up from 33%).
Breaking this figure down by phase: 42% of primary teachers reported verbal abuse (a two percentage point increase) and 32% of secondary teachers reported abuse (no change from last year).
School leaders are particularly vulnerable to verbal abuse, especially in schools located in deprived areas.
In areas with the highest levels of children on fee school meals, 72% of school leaders report experiencing verbal abuse—far higher than the 53% in affluent schools and 31% in fee-paying schools.
Middle leaders and classroom teachers also face the same issue. In deprived areas, 42% in both categories have faced verbal abuse. This compares with only 31% of middle leaders and 28% of classroom teachers in affluent schools, and 19% of middle leaders and 14% of classroom teachers in fee-paying schools.
We’ve written many times before about how much more challenging it is to work in areas where families are on low incomes – and this is yet another example of why these schools need so much more support.
What processes have you put in place to try and protect staff from being on the receiving end of irate parents? And in your opinion, what is behind the rise in parent-school conflicts?
You can download our home-school insights handout to use in staff CPD, training or just to find out more about how relationships with parents have been impacting learning at school.
Lockdown drills
Similar to a fire drill, a lockdown drill (also known as an ‘invacuation’ drill) is used to ensure pupils and staff know what to do if there is an intruder in the school.
In April this year, the Department for Education released more guidance for schools on how lockdown drills might be used in different settings, what to include in grab-bags etc.
Have people paid attention? How many schools are now running drills with their pupils? This week you said:
- ⬆️ 47% of primary schools have lockdown drills they practice with pupils, UP from 33% in 2022.
- ⬆️⬆️ In secondary, the rise is greater, with 59% now practising lockdown drills with pupils, UP from 38% in 2022.
- 📝 Some schools have a plan shared with staff but not practised with pupils (27% of primaries and 23% of secondaries).
Although most schools do a lockdown, there are still 26% primary schools (down from 37%) and 19% secondary schools (down from 36%) who don’t appear to have a drill in place.
🎩 Top events
👑 Our top event this week is a brand-new entry! 🎉 It’s an online webinar from School Surveys by Teacher Tapp: ‘Empowering Educators to Support Student Mental Health‘. It’s FREE (woohoo!), so why not join in?
But if you’ve got some CPD budget to spend and are on the lookout for paid events, use the handy filters in the app to find the perfect one!
Curious about other edu-events? Hop into the app and start browsing!
Ups and Downs
On the rise 📈
Primaries with deputy heads – More primary schools have deputy heads today compared to 2022. Just 8% said they do not have a deputy head, compared to 12% in 2022.
Heading down 📉
Disrupted lessons – Compared with the summer term, pupils are being less disruptive in lessons 🙌 Secondary teachers reported fewer disruptions this week (27% DOWN from 35% in June).
Daily Reads
This week our most-read blog was from Education Support on Work-Life balance.
If you would like to read the rest you can find them here 👇
