The Liberal Democrats claim school meals are in «meltdown» with two - thirds of secondary school and 60
per cent of primary school pupils now rejecting «healthier» school lunches.
53
per cent of primary schools now feel that they have the ideal bandwidth (up from 50 per cent last year) and 65 per cent of secondary schools feel the same (up from 62 per cent in 2014).
The «State of Education» report also revealed that 99.5
per cent of primary school leaders believe that a proportion of their pupils were joining school below the required level of school - readiness.
The research showed that while 84 per cent of secondary schools and 56
per cent of primary schools offered some form of counselling services for students, almost half said that a lack of local services and knowing what support is appropriate hindered their provision of support.
The latest report published by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) shows that 42
per cent of primary schools identify teacher willingness to use EdTech as a key obstacle in making more use of the technology.
The research also showed that 48
per cent of primary schools already offered updates to parents through an online portal and 37 per cent offeredupdates by text, but just 32 per cent offered a mobile app or mobile - enabled website.
Twenty - one
per cent of primary school heads reported that their school had got rid of teaching staff, and over half (54 per cent) said their teaching assistants had been cut.
The Ofsted data shows a growing gap between primary and secondary schools, with 90
per cent of primary schools rated as good or outstanding, compared to 78 per cent of secondaries.
It also found that although 64 per cent of secondary schools and 16
per cent of primary schools nationally were academies, the proportion of academies varied by region and phase, leading to a difference in workload between RSCs.
«The opportunity for promotion appears more prevalent in secondary schools with 80 per cent of preschool teachers and 68
per cent of primary school teachers revealing promotion was «limited» or «very limited» compared to 51 per cent of secondary teachers.»
Croydon Council saw many benefits to using the system, and now more than 80 per cent of secondary schools in the area have become cashless, along with 75
per cent of primary schools in the same area.
BESA's research found that only 33 per cent of secondary schools and 60
per cent of primary schools consider that they are sufficiently equipped with ICT infrastructure and devices.
Almost 100
per cent of primary school respondents would support the inclusion of «what to do if you feel unsafe» in the primary relationships curriculum, 96 per cent would welcome the inclusion of how to deal with appropriate and inappropriate touching, and 96 per cent would like online safety and privacy covered.
Enthusiasm for kitchen gardens in schools has swept across Australia over the past decade, springing up as tiny pocket - sized patches and vertical gardens in the inner city to expansive plots in country areas.Nobody knows what proportion of schools have a kitchen garden, but anecdotal evidence at least in New South Wales suggests about 50
per cent of primary schools now have them.
In the annual report, the Chief Inspector of Schools is also expected to reveal that 90
per cent of all primary schools and nearly 80 per cent of all secondary schools are now rated either good or outstanding.
Ofsted found that pupil behaviour is good in the majority of schools, including 99
per cent of primary schools.
Of course if you look at this the other way around, a healthy 55
per cent of primary schools and 57 per cent of secondary schools agree or strongly agree that they have adequate furniture funding to provide a suitable teaching and learning environment.
In both primary and secondary schools, as expected, there is a strong shift to focusing budgets on maths resources (a purchasing priority for 24
per cent of primary schools and 27 per cent of secondary schools).
The survey also found that 51
per cent of primary school teachers, and 49 per cent of secondary school teachers need training in e-safety issues, while 51 per cent of primary school teachers are seen to need training in using assessment solutions.
37
per cent of primary schools and 35 per cent of secondary schools said that this would feel the greatest impact from their budget uncertainty.
One thing that came out of the research that gives me cause for concern is the fact that 61
per cent of primary schools and 39 per cent of secondary schools still feel it is important or very important to wait for the government to support adoption.
12
per cent of primary schools are moving away from investing in English resources and 13 per cent are doing the same with science.
The uncertainty continues Only five
per cent of primary schools and four per cent of secondary schools have a positive outlook over the next three years, which is naturally affecting their purchasing plans.
Poor Wi - Fi provision is cited as an issue affecting 65
per cent of primary schools and 54 per cent of secondary schools, and a significant number (42 per cent of schools in the primary sector and 31 per cent of secondary schools) said their broadband provision did not meet requirements.
Councils have already created an extra 300,000 primary places since 2010, but this has often been achieved within the 85
per cent of primary schools that are council - maintained, converting non-classroom areas, increasing class sizes and diverting money away from vital school repair programmes to create more spaces.
While back in the academic year 2014/15, 55
per cent of primary schools and 38 per cent of secondary schools said this would be a focus in budgets, this year we are seeing seven per cent of primary schools reducing their spending.
BESA's survey of 1,204 school leaders (719 primary and 485 secondary) supported this notion of a divide between schools; revealing that 39
per cent of primary schools and 45 per cent of secondary schools felt their budget was big enough and that they were likely to maintain their planned ICT investments.
For example, 61 per cent of secondary schools and 15
per cent of primary schools are now academies or free schools and so do not have to teach the national curriculum.
Only nine
per cent of primary schools and 10 per cent of secondary schools are known to involve parents in the writing of online safety policies.
The research revealed that 27
per cent of primary schools are high - performing with the potential to provide support.
The BESA Leadership Briefing report showed that 38
per cent of primary school pupils and 20 per cent of secondary - level students will continue to suffer from poor internet access in 2016, meaning that a great deal of superb and helpful resources for computing, such as Espresso Coding, 2Simple's 2Code and J2e's J2Code will remain out of reach no matter what they cost.
Caroline Wright, director general designate at BESA says: «Our latest research shows that there is a growing desire and need by teachers for high quality CPD: 48
per cent of primary schools and 41 per cent of secondary schools state that CPD will be a focus for 2016/17.