More 'stuck' schools to get support from RISE teams

The government is nearly doubling the amount of schools to receive support from its school improvement experts, called Rise teams - to reach to 377 schools and almost 100,000 more children.  

Made up of 65 advisers with success in driving school standards, the teams are now due to reach more than 200,000 children in total, working with ‘stuck’ schools that have received consecutive poor Ofsted judgements.

Later this term, the government will consult on how these teams could directly support schools with the lowest levels of attainment, recognising the need to go further and faster to raise standards for pupils.  

The Department for Education has also announced it will launch an online platform that will enable head teachers to benchmark their school’s performance against other, similar schools – for example by size or deprivation levels.

The tool will show Heads their school’s strengths and weaknesses across key metrics, including attainment, compared with their peers while also enabling collaboration to share best practice.  Testing begins this academic year and builds on the success of the government’s AI-powered attendance reports, which already helps heads identify where they’re falling behind and how to catch up. 

The government is also confirming it will introduce new ‘school profiles’ for parents – an online one-stop-shop that will give parents a complete picture of their local school, from attendance to attainment, helping families make the best choices for their children’s future. 

The government’s consultation response also confirms that the Department will continue to convert the worst performing schools to academies, and expect that combined with RISE, there will be twice as many mandatory interventions on average than in the two years before the policy change.

Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson, said: "From school inspection to new technology, to experts who have been there and done it – through our Plan for Change we will use every lever we can to boost the life chances of our children and ensure aspiration is not just the preserve of some, but the right of each and every young person, wherever they grow up."