Hey Tappsters!
Christmas will come early for some lucky Tappers – our prize draw sponsored by HUE HD PRO visualisers, will see FIVE Tappers winning takeaway vouchers worth £100 each 🍔🌮.
Taking part is easy! Answer questions 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. Collect as many as you can before 30th November. After 3:30pm on 1st of December, we’ll draw the five winning tickets. 🎉
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 winners: it has a special code on it!
We’ll share the winning ticket codes on our socials, and email the winners too. Full terms and conditions here.
Okay, now for the results…
Sickness
Grab your tissues and stock up on the lemsip – the “cold season” is well underway 🤧.
Staff sickness poses challenges for schools to manage: cover arrangements can be costly, and whether a supply teacher is brought in through an agency or another teacher is reassigned to cover, the lesson is unlikely to run as smoothly as it would with the usual teacher.
And simultaneously – when people are unwell, they must have time off to get better! Staff sickness is inevitable, and avoiding taking time off to get well can mean longer absences in the future.
Last week, 7% of teachers were absence due to sickness or injury, and this level of absence is very similar to previous Novembers (8% in November 2022, 9% November 2021, 7% in November 2019).
Winter ‘flu jabs
With winter coming and potentially many viruses flying around schools, perhaps the ‘flu vaccine is on your mind. If so, you’re not alone.
🦠 32% have already had the influenza jab.
📆 19% plan to have the ‘flu vaccine soon.
📊 This is LOWER than in 2022 (39% had the vaccine and 23% intended to have it) but HIGHER than in 2019 when 20% had the vaccine and 20% intended to have it).
Classroom temperatures
How warm a school is also contributes to how well staff might feel – if someone is already under the weather the thought of spending the day in a freezing cold classroom might be off-putting.
Compared to two years ago, more schools have put the heating on in both primary AND secondary (91% in both primary and secondary, up from 75% for primaries and 82% of secondaries). And more good news – fewer teachers are reporting feeling the cold (4% of primary DOWN from 10%, 5% of secondary DOWN from 6%).
So far this year the weather has been very mild – with reports predicting colder temperatures ahead, perhaps all these numbers will soon change…
Teacher Tappers have been in touch to ask about another absence-related issue: parental leave for sick dependents. Keep an eye out for questions on this soon!
In class assessments
Now from chilly classrooms and onto a different kind of heat entirely – data reporting.
Different schools and departments have varying approaches to collecting and reporting data. But just how much do these methods differ? As expected, there are clear distinctions between primary and secondary systems — here’s the breakdown…
Secondary data reporting
When reporting data on KS3 students, 61% of teachers used the same test across a whole year group, whereas 21% used their own score based on their professional judgement by looking at several assessments or work in the book.
However, one faculty was more likely to take a different approach. Although maths, English, science, humanities and languages were more likely to use the same test across the year group (62%-70%), for the arts subjects, fewer teachers used the same test (39%). The most common response from arts, drama and music teachers was that they used a score created through teacher judgement (50%).
Primary data reporting
In primary schools, the assessments used to form the data submitted to SLT varied depending on the year group.
Year six teachers were the most likely to say they used an external practice paper for their data reporting (50%) however 25% used their own score based on either their own judgement or a culmination of assessments in their markbook.
In contrast, Reception teachers were the most likely to use a score based on their own judgement or a culmination of assessments in their markbook (66%) and just 17% using an external practice paper.
Extra time
Extra time is one of the access arrangements that students with additional needs can be awarded. The maximum extra time that can be awarded is 50%, but the most common increase is 25%. In fact, according to Department for Education data, out of all the students who took exams in the summer of 2023, 27.7% were awarded 25% extra time.
Do students who are entitled to extra time in their exams receive it in every in-class assessment?
🧫 Science is the subject most likely to ensure students are given their extra time; just 19% said ‘no’ and 45% ensured students had extra time in every assessment.
Arts including D&T are the most likely to NOT give students their extra time in every assessment. 32% of Arts and D&T said ‘no’ and 30% ensured pupils had extra time in every assessment.
Head lice part 2 🪳*
*Still not actual representation
Apologies again, if your hand is reaching to scratch your head – we’re back with more headlice updates.
Last week, the blog included the news that headlice in the US and England were spotted at similar rates in primary and elementary schools. This week, there is more data on what happens when lice are spotted in their hair of pupils.
51% contact the family of the child, and 73% send out communication to all parents in the class.
A small number tell the family to keep the child home until the lice have gone (3%), and an even smaller number get the comb out to check if other pupils have also got lice in their hair (1%).
Compared to our US neighbours (or neighbors – depending on where you’re reading this) far more tell the child to stay home until the lice are gone (19% in England vs 3% in the US) and far fewer English schools will send a child to the school nurse (3% vs 74%).
And the obvious reason for this must be…English schools are less likely to have a full-time nurse. But can we be sure? Look out for a school nurse question next week…
Parents evening
Back in 2021, necessity forced parents evenings online, and even after restrictions were lifted, many schools offered online or hybrid appointments – but what are schools offering now?
Just 18% have kept fully online appointments in the Autumn term this year, compared with 66% in October 2021 (when restrictions were still in place) and 43% in November 2022 (when all restrictions had lifted).
However – when this is broken into primary vs secondary there is a big difference between the offers. In primaries, just 6% of the parents evenings were online, whereas in secondaries 30% were online.
From a teacher point of view, which do you prefer? Let us know your thoughts on virtual parents evenings by joining in the conversation over on our Teacher Tapp socials – on BlueSky tag us @teachertapp.bsky.social and on X @TeacherTapp and share your thoughts on the findings!
🎩 Top events
We have a NEW top event this week: Getting Routines Right from Thinking Deeply about Primary Education.
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.
Tappers told us…
This week we wanted to find out more about rewards in primary schools, so we asked what you gave out as your most recent reward. Over 4,000 of you replied 🤩 and we have crunched the stats:
✅ 1,202 used merit marks or points and 880 gave out certificates. 🌠 509 gave postcards and 254 handed out a sticker, plus 239 picked up the phone to call home 📞.
🍬 135 gave chocolate or sweets and 27 involved a headteacher in the prize.
All of the above feel pretty familiar, but there was some out-of-the-box thinking going on too!
The chance to wear a laurel wreath in class after vocab test 🌺🌿.
“Framous award” – a piece of work displayed in a frame in the hall, celebrating success 🖼️.
60 seconds to speak to the person next to them 💬.
A rubber duck 🐥 appeared 13 times! Sometimes as a prize students kept for a week and then returned.
A smile 😊 and high fives 🙌.
Daily Reads
This week our most-read blog was a very timely piece on motivation in the run up to Christmas: How to help your team thrive in the autumn term.
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!
