South Thames College
‘civitas’
Jon Yates one of six new appointments alongside former Tory councillor candidate and Jewish schools group chief
News, Ofsted
Implementing a trust-wide curriculum for primary schools wasn’t easy, but two years on we’re reaping the benefits, writes Rowena Hackwood. Notwithstanding Ofsted having made clear its position, the debate in the education sector as to the merits or otherwise of knowledge-based curricula rages on. At the David Ross Education Trust we have been quietly getting […]
Opinion
The attainment gap between the wealthiest and most disadvantaged pupils almost disappears by the end of primary school before reappearing at age 16, new data suggests. Analysis by data site SchoolDash shows that pupils from poorer areas draw level with their more socially advantaged peers by the end of key stage 2, but that the […]
News
Every time an English school is forced to take a day off for bad weather, the usual suspects ooze out of the woodwork and make a fuss about the terrible effects of kids missing lessons. So why don’t we follow what they do in the states, and add a day at the end of July? […]
The government appears to be tightening its grip on what is taught in schools, and is advertising three senior jobs handling curriculum policy. According to the job advert, the curriculum policy division is “responsible for policy about the knowledge and skills taught in state-funded schools in England, and for policy on improving the teaching of […]
Choose the words you use in the battle against selection with care, says Anita Kerwin-Nye, as they can frame the entire debate. Lots of clever people are writing on inclusion. Julian Astle of the RSA recently published a beautifully argued anti-grammars piece called The RSA Enters the Grammar School Debate. The argument is clear and […]
If you’ve heard the schools minister Nick Gibb deliver a speech in the past few years, there’s a strong chance it was written by one of his “teachers in residence”. The scheme, which sees serving teachers employed as civil servants by the Department for Education (DfE) for periods of between eight and 12 months, has […]
Over the past few years, there has been a grassroots professional rejection of bogus ideas within education, coupled with a wellspring of enthusiasm for more credible alternatives. New ideas — such as direct instruction, spaced and massed practice, curriculum sequencing, and mastery learning — are gaining popularity amongst certain teachers and schools. However, the 65 […]
Ofsted have acted swiftly to remove a lead inspector after Schools Week presented damning evidence of whole report sections being identical or near identical. The inspection reports shown to Ofsted were all written by David Marshall, an inspector working for the private contractor, Tribal. Ofsted chief operating officer Matthew Coffey said they had raised concerns […]
