Hey Tappsters!
It’s Week 2 of our December prize draw, and it’s sure to stick with you! Sponsored by Classroom Secrets, THREE lucky Tappers will win 100 glue sticks each. 🎉
Joining in is simple! Answer questions five days in a row on Teacher Tapp to earn a ticket, which will appear in your app under prize draw. If we have your permission, we’ll send a weekly email updating you on your unlocked tickets. Collect as many as you can before 31st December! After 3:30 pm on 1st January, we’ll draw the three winning tickets. 🎉
Remember: you don’t need to do anything with your tickets—they’re automatically entered into the prize draw. BUT, you might want to check them when we announce the winners: each ticket has a special code! ✨
We’ll share the winning ticket codes on our socials, and email the winners too. Full terms and conditions here.
And here is a glue stick edu-stat…a glue stick is the TOP CHOICE when classroom teachers want to splurge the cash and want a quality item (38% picked glue sticks vs just 1% opting for sticky notes!). Right! Enough glue sticks – the results…
How Christmassy are classrooms this week?
The vast majority of teachers finish for the year on Friday 20th December (87% in state-funded schools). Independent schools have their earlier finish, with 59% ending for the year on Friday 13th December.
For those still in the classroom, things are getting festive…
- Four in ten (40%) primary teachers are using their own money to buy their own advent calendars (compared to 14% of secondary school teachers).
- 15% of secondaries put on a staff pantomime or show…but just 9% of primaries do the same.
- 62% of primary students spent Wednesday last week doing a Christmas-related activity!
When that last day comes, for some teaching will stop a little earlier when pupils finish for the day at lunchtime, rather than in the afternoon. 72% of secondaries and 38% of primaries have an early finish on the last day. This is broadly the same as last time we asked, suggesting these early finishes are here to stay, but not on the increase.
Detention watch 👀
Although the end of term is near, that doesn’t mean detentions won’t be issued…but who gives out the most detentions? And are more being given this year than in previous years?
35% of classroom teachers gave out one or more detention on Wednesday.
That is about the same as in December 2022 (just a smidge higher – 3 percentage points).
Maths teachers were the most likely to give out a detention (33%) and art teachers the least likely (25%).
Schools in the most disadvantaged areas are more likely to issue a detention compared to schools in the most advantaged areas (43% vs 24%).
…and how many minutes were disrupted at 11am on Friday 13th?
70% of primary classrooms and 63% of secondary classrooms were disrupted on Friday 13th after 11am.
Art including DT were the least likely to have disruptions, whereas English had the most disruptions (34% vs 47%).
In primaries, KS2 was as likely to have disruptions as KS1/EYFS (28% vs 30%).
Handwriting lessons for 4 year olds
Now, from detentions in secondary schools to our youngest learners in primary schools – handwriting lessons in reception.
Since 2018, fewer children are taught cursive handwriting in primary school – and this is likely to be due to the change that came in April 2021 from the Department for Education that announced in the new Reading Framework for Teaching Literacy that children should –
- Practise a correct pencil grip
- Be taught the correct start and exit points for each letter, which should not include ‘lead-in’ strokes from the line
- Teaching of joined-up handwriting should be delayed.
However, 20% of schools still teach cursive or pre-cursive handwriting.
What are your thoughts on teaching pre-cursive handwriting? Should it be brought back into the curriculum again? Let us know your thoughts on socials or via the app and tag us @TeacherTapp
A Teacher Tapper asked…
We love it when teachers contact us with question suggestions. This week, we asked about informal support plans.
An informal support plan is often put in place to help a teacher struggling with one or more aspects of their role. How supported teachers feel by them can vary greatly: at their best, they can be a useful tool to help a teacher who is finding things tough, and others can feel overly scrutinised and set up to fail.
2% of teachers have been on an informal support plan in the last year, and 10% have been on a plan more than a year ago.
The numbers don’t really change when accounting for primary or secondary, however using the old ‘single word judgement’ Ofsted gradings, teachers in Requires Improvement or Inadequate schools are more likely to have been on a plan when compared to teachers in Ofsted Outstanding schools (15% vs 10%).
🎩 Top events
We have a repeat entry for the top event this week:
Autism Education Trust Summit – Unmasking AI, Tech And Its Place In The Classroom from the Autism Education Trust.
Have you used our events feature and enjoyed the CPD you received? Let us know how it went by emailing england@teachertapp.co.uk. Remember, the app offers a wide range of in-person and online events! Visit the Events page to find something for everyone.
Ups and Downs
On the rise 📈
Staff comms via WhatsApp – Since December 2023, there has been a DROP in staff who have received job related information via text/Whatsapp or similar. 29% DOWN from 37%.
Heading down 📉
Primaries with union reps – Fewer primaries have union reps compared to 2022. 52% do NOT have a rep, UP from 45% in December 2022.
Daily Reads
This week our most-read blog looked at how line managers should tackle leading a subject outside their expertise.
Have you seen a great blog you think would make a great daily read? Let us know by emailing england@teachertapp.co.uk and we will check it out!
