The Education Brief: Saturday 15 March 2025 - Top stories include:

• Ofsted Chief Inspector Sir Martyn Oliver insisted that inspections must involve grades.

• School leaders have warned that budgets for next year are even tighter than expected.

• Councils given approval to divert £82 million from education budgets to cover SEND deficits.

• The latest TES investigation into academy CEO pay has revealed soaring salaries.

• Teacher retention payments are failing to reach schools in areas hit hardest by staff shortages.

This week’s deep dive: 

• HEP Women’s Leadership Conference Day

(Special thanks to Heather de Silva)

We’ll also tell you what’s happening at HEP this week and what we’ve been watching, listening to, and reading!

Watching - https://www.bbc.co.uk/teach/live-lessons/articles/zrcf8p3

Listening - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-future-of-education-with-ravi-gupta/id1667373657?i=1000696228542

Reading - https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/stop-panicking-over-teens-and-social-media-a8aad571?st=Xa2dDr&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink

AI Tool - https://x.ai/blog/grok-3

Music by Slo Pony