Schools Week reports that Ofsted has confirmed schools scheduled for inspection this week will have all deferral requests approved, following the culmination of headteacher Ruth Perry's inquest last week. This is the last week in which visits are due to take place before the Christmas holiday, but Ofsted has confirmed it would “use our existing deferral policy to give headteachers the ability to defer their inspection to the new year, if they don’t want it to go ahead this week”. In a joint statement urging Ofsted to immediately pause all inspections, Geoff Barton and Paul Whiteman, general secretaries of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) and the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said: "It is important that we have clarity from Ofsted about a plan and timetable to address each area before further inspections take place.” By Jack Dyson.

A report into public support for education reform has found parents and teachers wish to see Ofsted inspections reformed so they are more transparent, well-rounded and less 'high-stakes'. The research, by Public First, suggests 85 per cent of parents agree that Ofsted should continue to inspect schools and 60 per cent feel inspections need to change. The Telegraph.

A House of Lords report has called for an immediate overhaul of secondary education in England, which would include reversing many of the Conservatives’ key changes of the past decade. Published today, the report says the education system for 11- to 16-year-olds is too focused on academic learning and written examinations, resulting in not enough opportunity for children to pursue creative and technical subjects. By Sally Weale, The Guardian.

Research by Ofqual suggests pen and paper exams are hard on the environment and much of the impact would happen even with digital exams. According to the findings, more than 50 per cent of the carbon footprint comes from pupils and staff travelling to and from the exam hall, approximately 30 per cent is energy used during the exam itself and 10.2 per cent is from printing exam papers. By Nicola Woolcock and Emma Yeomans, The Times. 

Jack Worth, school workforce lead at the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), has called for more funding for teacher pay amid warnings that average UK salaries are expected to rise by more than previously forecast. Mr Worth has said that “to improve competitiveness, the best current estimate is that the teacher pay award for next year would need to exceed 3.3 per cent”. By Matilda Martin, Tes.

Pete Jones writes in Tes about how new weekly composition lessons and an in-house art project based in the school's corridors are motivating his students to write. Pete Jones is head of art at a school in Jersey.

In a blog marking National Choral Day, director of music at Burgess Hill Girls David Black talks about the benefits of singing in a choir - from improving mood to academic performance - and how pupils of all ages are encouraged to get involved.

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