NEED TO KNOW: Latest national updates

£17 million fund available to support trust growth and development

• The Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) will provide £17 million of capital funding to help grow and accelerate the development of trusts across England. An eligibility checker is available on the Gov.uk website so trusts can ascertain whether or not they would be eligible to apply for the fund.

• Further guidance and application forms are yet to be released, although the website states that applications will open in September and close in December 2019.

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Schools judged 'outstanding' by Ofsted will no longer be exempt from routine inspections

• Ofsted has announced plans to remove the exemption on 'outstanding' schools for routine inspection and intend to launch a consultation into how they can be included in the regular inspection cycle - read more

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Support for schools identified as 'requires improvement' 

• Different levels of support will be offered to schools entering the 2019/20 academic year with a 'requires improvement' judgement for overall effectiveness and to schools receiving an RI judgement during the 2019/20 academic year - read more

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 Plans for new Ofsted financial management rating

• The recent announcement from the DfE mentions plans to work with Ofsted to introduce a new "rating for financial management and oversight" within the school or trust - read more

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Plans to raise teacher starting salaries to £30,000 from September 2020

• The DfE have announced that they propose to increase teacher salaries by £6,000 (25%) over the next three years - read more

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New specialist academy trust to take on struggling schools 

• A new model will be piloted in the north of England with "the most challenging schools" being taken on by a specialist academy trust led by those with a "proven track record of turning around underperforming schools" 

For action: Primary and Junior Schools - 2019 Key Stage 2 Performance Tables

This exercise provides schools with the opportunity to check that the correct pupils have been attributed to them for the purpose of calculating performance measures and if this is not the case, allowing them to submit amendment requests.

The 2019 key stage 2 performance tables checking exercise opened at 9.30am on Monday 2 September and closes at 5.00pm on Friday 13 September 2019 for schools and LAs to check and amend their KS2 pupil cohort details. Any amendments made during this period will be reflected in December performance tables and in the Analyse School Performance release in early 2020, but not in the October data release.

Please note: if a pupil removal request needs supporting documentation, or if you submit a key stage 1 result amendment request, the evidence must be uploaded using the secure website. Documentation submitted by post or by an encrypted email will not be considered and the request will be automatically rejected. If you experience any problems with the uploading of evidence, please contact the schools helpline via email at examshelp@rm.com or by telephone on 0845 3077867

Website details

To access the checking exercise, please go to: https://tableschecking.education.gov.uk

Select '2019 Key Stage 2 Performance Tables Checking Exercise' and log in with your username and password.

• If you have forgotten your username, please use the 'Forgotten Username' link on the website
• if you have forgotten your password or it has expired please use the ‘Forgotten Password’ link on the website

If you need further help please follow the appropriate instructions on the checking website which can be accessed via the 'Help' link.

Action required by Friday 13 September 2019

You need to submit online confirmation of data via the website. Please submit confirmation of data even if you have no amendments to make. The performance tables, when published in December, will indicate whether the data has been checked.

Please note: all amendments to the performance data should be made by the deadline. The four week errata period, which follows publication in mid-December, cannot be used to make amendments that could have been made in the checking exercise.

Helpline enquiries

For enquiries regarding the school checking exercise only, please contact the helpline via email at examshelp@rm.com or by telephone on 0845 3077867.

The deadline for submitting marking reviews to STA was Friday 19 July and reviews outcomes will be available on Wednesday 11 September. For enquiries about results or reviews, please contact STA via email at assessments@education.gov.uk or by telephone on 0300 303 3013.