Alix Robertson | Schools Week

Teach Firsters return to the classroom ten years on

Teachers who trained with education charity Teach First when it launched 15 years ago are returning to the profession, after leaving it behind to try out different industries. Data gathered by Teach First on trainees who joined the programme in 2003 and 2004 have shown that more of them were back in the classroom last […]

Now Teach trainees get ready to celebrate QTS success

Three in four of the older career-changers who joined the Now Teach programmme, co-founded last September by Financial Times journalist Lucy Kellaway, are still standing and will graduate with qualified teacher status this month. But 25 per cent of the cohort have deferred or quit, blaming schools’ “data-led, assessment-heavy culture”. Kellaway (pictured below) left her […]

Ofqual: Don’t enter grade four pupils for higher tier GCSE papers

Pupils aiming for a grade four at GCSE – a ‘standard’ pass or the equivalent of a C grade – should only be entered to sit foundation tier exam papers, Ofqual has advised. Speaking at the exam watchdog’s summer symposium on July 5, Cath Jadhav, associate director of standards and comparability at Ofqual, said too […]

UK triumphs in the IB – even in an alternative provision academy

UK pupils outdid the global average score in the International Baccalaureate this year, with one academy trust also successfully trialling the programme in an alternative provision school. The International Baccalaureate diploma programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16 to 18-year-olds. Pupils study six subjects and complete an extended research essay, explore […]

Inspection gap for outstanding schools widens to 11 years, and other findings from Ofsted

The amount of time between inspections of outstanding schools with the longest gaps has risen to 11 years, Ofsted’s annual report and accounts have revealed. Even though the inspectorate did a better job meeting its inspection target for schools this year compared with last year, stretched resources means it is increasingly struggling to visit the schools that […]

Due diligence must be improved, and 4 other findings from MPs’ damning report on academies

A damning report released today by the public accounts committee has slammed the government’s academisation agenda, claiming that it not only sacrificed due diligence in the rush to convert large numbers of schools, but also failed to respond effectively to serious failures in the system. Here are the MPs’ key findings and recommendations: 1. Due […]

More academy trusts in the spotlight over executive pay

The government has issued another warning to academy trusts over executive pay, this time asking those that paid employees more than £100,000-a-year in 2016-17. The letter from Education and Skills Funding Agency boss Eileen Milner is the latest in a series of interventions by the government over largesse in academy pay. Letters went out yesterday to to all […]

‘Inadequate’ academy faces termination of funding over standards

An academy in Central Bedfordshire faces having its funding withdrawn and being rebrokered to a new sponsor after it was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted. The Sandye Place Academy Trust has been issued with a termination warning notice by the Department for Education (DfE). It means that if the trust does not meet certain conditions, it […]

Use creative arts to ‘challenge perceptions of what boys do and are like’

Schools need to give boys the skills to “be the best dads they can be”, delegates heard at a special conference that explored how to encourage boys to embrace feminism. A crowd of teachers sacrificed their Saturdays last weekend and gathered at Westminster City School for a unique CPD experience organised by Carly Moran (pictured […]