Howdy Tappsters!
Now finally we have reached the school holidays, has your body clock adjusted to a later wake-up yet?
VIP visits
Special visitors to the school can be a great way to inspire young people to dream a little bigger for their future. It often gives a real-world application for what they’ve done in their classroom and a chance to ask questions to someone who works in the industry they want to go into.
But what visitors do schools get – and are there types of visitors more common in some schools than others?
⚽️🏀🏉 While 14% of teachers in state schools were visited by a sports celebrity, 25% of private school teachers could say the same.
🎬 Film or TV celebrities were much more likely to visit private schools than state (14% vs 4%).
📝 MPs visited private schools slightly more than state-funded schools (21% vs 19%).
Younger pupils are less likely to have an MP visit (14% vs 24%) but otherwise primary and secondary results are broadly similar.
Results are also very similar even when taking into account regional differences. Slightly fewer teachers in London responded ‘none of these’ compared to Yorkshire and the North East (66% vs 69%).
Some of your best VIP brags have been shared on social media platform X and you can read them (plus add your own!) here.
Are we tied to ties?
Last week shorts had their sartorial scrutiny, this week, it’s the turn of ties to take their turn on the data catwalk.
Although we don’t have dramatic drops, we do have a small increase in the number of schools removing ties from their uniform.
👔🙋♂️ 73% of male students in secondary schools wear ties, down from 76% last year.
👔 🙋♀️ 56% of female students in secondary schools wear ties, down from 59% last year.
Younger pupils are less likely to be donning neckwear, and it’s going in the same direction as secondary.
Just 19% of male primary students wear ties (down from 21% last year) and 14% of female students (down from 18% last year).
Teachers ditching ties
If ties are less popular for the students, does this mean teachers are also no longer instructed to wear one too?
🚫 56% of male secondary teachers are expected to wear ties – down from 59% last year.
Their primary counterparts are even less likely to be tying Windsor knots. Only 10% of male primary teachers are expected to wear ties (no change from last year).
NO female teachers in primary or secondary are expected to wear ties.
Who IS wearing ties?
Your answers have thrown up some interesting facts about tie-wear.
Female students in schools graded by Ofsted to be Inadequate or RI are more likely to be required to wear ties compared to female students in Good or Outstanding schools (50% vs 36%/30%).
More state secondary schools require ties of their pupils compared to private secondaries (75% vs 63%).
Has the tie had its day? Let us know what you think on social media or through the app 💬.
Moving classrooms
Two words to strike fear into any primary teacher: classroom move.
898 teachers told us they are packing and repacking for a fresh start in September. Of those, 75% will be doing the hard work in their own time, but 25% have been given time to do the big relocation.
Teachers leaving due to pupil behaviour
Poor pupil behaviour is often linked to issues in teacher retention (Bridget Phillipson made this point recently in her Sky interview here).
This week, almost two-thirds of teachers (64%) said they know a colleague who left teaching due to poor pupil behaviour.
Overall, 44% know one or two, and 20% know several. This is broadly similar to when we asked in 2019, however, there has been a small change in the phase breakdowns.
In 2019, 76% of secondary teachers and 53% of primary teachers knew at least one colleague who left due to behaviour.
Today, that has shifted down in secondary to 71% ⬇️ and up in primary to 55% ⬆️. Could this be a reflection of other trends we’re seeing in primary suggesting teachers are facing more challenging behaviour?
You can read more about the primary vs secondary behaviour changes here.
Top events
This week’s top event is Mr Barton Maths Podcast: How to observe a lesson with Adam Boxer.
This is an on-demand event, but we also have in-person events to sign up for too.
If you want to know what edu-events are coming up then check the app and filter for your phase and subject.
Ups and Downs
On the rise 📈
Primary pupils rocking PE uniform all day- Although the number of secondary school pupils wearing PE uniform all day hasn’t changed (15%), compared to last year there has been an increase in the number of primary pupils who can arrive in their PE kit and stay in it all day (66% to 70%).
Heading down 📉
Online parents evenings – Compared to two years ago, there is far less enthusiasum for online parents evening. 41% agreed or strongly agreed that they preferred online compared to face to face, whereas in 2022 that figure was 53%.
Daily Reads
Our most read daily read this week was from Edapt on what admin tasks are on the banned list.
If you would like to read the rest you can find them here 👇
