Sir Martyn Oliver, Ofsted's chief inspector, has insisted that the inspectorate is listening to and acting on the feedback it received from the responses to its Big Listen consultation. In an interview with Tes, Sir Martyn explains how the grading process will be reformed, including the introduction of a new inspection framework and report cards. From this year, schools will know by Monday afternoon if they are to be inspected that week, and they will also be given three months to rectify any safeguarding issues identified during an inspection. By Dan Worth.

Sir Keir Starmer has said that Ofsted's new grading system will not cause confusion for parents, after announcing yesterday that the overall ratings of Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement and Inadequate would no longer be issued to schools. The prime minister rejected the suggestion that the new system lacks the simplicity of the old one, saying the changes are key to "driving up standards" and providing parents with a "richer picture" of a school's performance. By Branwen Jeffreys and Nathan Standley, BBC News.  

Schools Week summarises 12 new policies schools should be aware of following Ofsted's Big Listen consultation. By Lucas Cumiskey. 

Parents affected by the closure of Cedars School, an independent school in Scotland, have condemned Labour's policy to add VAT to school fees. The small Christian school was one of two independent schools in Scotland to announce closures in August, with the board describing the tax plan as "the straw that broke the camel's back". Douglas Marks, whose two sons attended Cedars School, said: "We're not elitists. We're not wealthy people sitting on millions. We couldn't stretch to pay anymore." Rudolf Eliott Lockhart, chief executive of the Independent Schools Association (ISA), has called on the government to exempt small and financially fragile schools, warning: "Some schools may not survive, leading to more closures than usual." By Adam Forrest, iNews.

The school day should be extended by an hour to help the "lost generation" of Covid children, according to the Centre for Social Justice. A new report from the think tank, which sets out a series of proposals designed to give children a "world class education", urges the government to add an extra five hours to the school week and prioritise tackling truancy. By Michael Searles, The Telegraph. 

The maths curriculum in the UK should be reformed to prepare young people for the growing needs of computing and data, according to a new study by the Royal Society. Sir Adrian Smith, Royal Society president, described the UK as a "really peculiar outlier" in allowing children to drop the subject at 16, adding: "If we are late, we'll be in the slow lane." By Andrew Jack and Jim Pickard, Financial Times. 

An article in The Scotsman explores how Merchiston Castle School is taking pupils outdoors to boost their learning and wellbeing. Davina Bowers, headteacher of "The Forest" at Merchiston, says: "I have always done outdoors learning. There are teachers who have always taken their teaching outdoors, and had massive success with it... you will find generally across the board that the engagement level of children is, I would say, tripled, compared to when you teach that same lesson inside the classroom." By Calum Ross. 

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