Weekly round-up: Labour’s big schools mission begins

Catch up on all your must-read Tes news and analysis right here:

• Bridget Phillipson to meet with unions as a “priority”
  The newly appointed education secretary is prioritising meeting with teaching unions as the profession awaits a decision on next year’s teacher pay award, the Department for Education has said.
• Phillipson: “I need your help to deliver school reforms”
  Bridget Phillipson has told school leaders, teachers and the wider sector that she needs their help to deliver on the new Labour government’s education pledges because she “cannot do it alone”.
• Read: Bridget Phillipson’s opening speech to the DfE
  Tes brings you Bridget Phillipson’s first speech as education secretary, delivered to staff at the DfE.
• How soon could Labour’s education promises become reality?
  Expert analysis of when - and if - seven key Labour manifesto pledges for schools are likely to be delivered by the new government.
• How will the DfE operate under Bridget Phillipson?
  Expect the new education secretary to pursue long-term solutions rather than populist short-term policies - but she might not have it all her own way, writes Tes editor Jon Severs.
• Labour government names DfE ministers
  Anneliese Dodds, Catherine McKinnell and Jacqui Smith are among five Labour ministers appointed at the Department for Education.
• Who is Catherine McKinnell?
  Tes takes a look at the background and career of the Labour government’s new education minister.
• DfE hires Sir Kevan Collins as schools standards adviser
  The former education recovery commissioner will scrutinise and advise the DfE on school standards.
• How Labour can put learning at the heart of its nursery plan
  Avoiding the “baby blindspot” and recognising the value of early years educational theory could ensure that Labour’s plan for more nursery spaces has wider educational impact, says Sally Hogg.
• Sats results 2024: Slight rise overall
  The proportion of Year 6 pupils achieving the expected standard in all three areas of reading, writing and maths has increased slightly but is still behind pre-Covid levels, government data shows.
• Don’t leave “orphan” schools to languish, trusts urge Labour
  The Labour government cannot afford to be “agnostic” about the future of “orphan” primary schools, academy trust leaders have warned.
• Exclusive: Just “one in three trusts” could afford 3 per cent teacher pay rise
  More than three-quarters of academy trusts are eating into their financial reserves just to cover costs, according to the survey of more than 100 trust finance bosses.
• IB results 2024: UK students beat global average again
  More than 190,000 students worldwide have received their International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme exam results, with pupils in the UK beating the global average by more than four points.

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