Jargon Buster

CiC – Children in Care.

CLA – Children Looked After.

CPD – Continuing Professional Development.

DBS – Disclosure & Barring Service – DBS refers to the new agency created out of a merger between the Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) and The Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), its full title is The Disclosure and Barring Service. The checks and information provided will remain the same but will be branded DBS Checks.

DfE – Department for Education.

Differentiation – a wide variety of teaching techniques and lesson adaptations that teachers use to pupils of differing abilities in the same class.

EAL – English as an additional language.

EBacc – English Baccalaureate.

EHC Plan – Educational Health Care Plan – An education, health and care plan is a document that says what support a child or young person who has special educational needs should have.

FSM – Free School Meals.

FTE – Full Time Equivalent.

GCE – General Certificate of Education.

GCSE – General Certificate of Secondary Education.

HMI – Her Majesty’s Inspector of Schools.

Inclusion – Removing barriers in learning so all pupils can participate at their own level.

INSET – In Service Education and Training – Training for staff which takes place during the school year.

ITT – Initial Teacher Training.

IWB – Interactive Whiteboard.

Key Stage 5 – age 16-18 (Years 12 and 13).

Key Stage 4 – age 14-16 (Years 10 and 11).

Key Stage 3– age 11-14 (Years 7, 8 and 9).

Key Stage 2 – age 7-11(Years 3,4, 5 and 6).

Key Stage 1 – age 5-7 (Years 1 and 2).

LA – Local Authority.

LAC – Looked After Children.

MLD – Moderate Learning Difficulties.

NC – National Curriculum.

NEET – Not in Education, Employment or Training.

NGA – National Governors’ Association.

NOR – Number on Roll.

NPQH – National Professional Qualification for Headship.

NQT – Newly Qualified Teacher.

Ofqual – Office of Qualifications & Examinations Regulation.

Ofsted – Office for Standards in Education.

PE – Physical Education.

Performance Table – Published by the DfE to compare schools’ results.

Phonics – Phonics refers to a method for teaching speakers of English to read and write their language. It involves connecting the sounds of spoken English with letters or groups of letters (e.g that the sound /k/ can be represented by c, k, ck or ch spellings) and teaching them to blend the sounds of letters together to produce approximate pronunciations of unknown words. In this way, phonics enables people to use individual sounds to construct words. For example, when taught the sounds for the letters t, p, a and s, one can build up the words “tap”, “pat”, “pats”, “taps” and “sat.”

PPA – Planning, Preparation and Assessment time to which teachers are entitled. Progression – pupils develop academically and personally from year to year and from one key stage to the next in a way which builds on what has already been achieved.

PRU – Pupil Referral Unit.

PSHE – Personal Social Health and Economic Education.

PTA – Parent Teacher Association.

QTS  – Qualified Teacher Status.

RE – Religious Education.

SATs – Standard Attainment Tests/Tasks – National Curriculum Tests and Tasks which take place at the end of Key Stage 1 and at the end of Key Stage 2.

SCITT School – Centred Initial Teacher Training.

SCR – Single Central Record – Schools must hold a single central record of all adults working with pupils. The records hold security and ID checks among other specific information.

SEN – Special Educational Needs.

SENCO – Special Educational Needs Coordinator.

Setting – Putting pupils of similar ability together just for certain lessons. So, for example, it would be possible to be in a top set for French and a lower set for mathematics.

SIP – School Improvement Plan.

SLT – Senior Leadership Team.

SMSC – Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural (development).

TA – Teaching Assistant.

Transition – The movement of pupils from Key Stage to Key Stage or school to school and the procedures associated with it.”