Alix Robertson | Schools Week

Review launched into educational outcomes of children in need

A review by the Department for Education will examine and seek to improve the educational outcomes of children considered to be “in need”. Schools are being asked to respond to the consultation, which was launched today. The review wants to hear specifically from headteachers, designated safeguarding leads, special educational needs coordinators and educational psychologists. A child […]

Nine things schools need to know about the government’s integration green paper

A raft of measures for schools aimed at improving community integration have been announced by the government. The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has today published its Integrated Communities Strategy green paper, which sets out changes to the free schools application process and school admissions arrangements, new rules for private schools and unregistered settings, and […]

TAs forced to take on teaching as staff cuts bite, says NEU

Staff cuts are forcing teaching assistants, school librarians and lab technicians to step up and teach pupils, according to a National Education Union (NEU) survey of over 1,700 support staff members. More than half (54 per cent) of respondents said they were carrying out tasks that used to be the remit of teachers, such as […]

Police organisation teams up with NAHT to beat recruitment fraud

The NAHT union is teaming up with a Metropolitan Police website to tackle recruitment fraud. Schools will be told about an organisation providing free advice about job scams to which leaders can report any fraud problems. A Schools Week investigation last march found hundreds of schools are using apps to employ supply teachers, but union […]

WomenEd: Braving that first leap to leadership

Schools Week’s Alix Robertson attended the WomenEd conference last saturday. While she was there she caught up with Vicky Paver to discuss her whirlwind year from teacher to head When Vicky Paver mustered the courage to run a session at a WomenEd conference in London last year, she had no idea how much her career […]

Special-school closure will leave pupils with 45-mile commute

Staff and pupils from a special school in Cambridgeshire will have to travel 45 miles to a new location if plans to close their current site are approved. The TBAP multi-academy trust wants to close the Unity Academy – Fenland in Wisbech, which has just 24 pupils, and transfer them to another site it owns […]

Central Devon Academy and North Devon Academy threatened with re-brokerage to new sponsor

The Department for Education has threatened to rebroker Central Devon Academy and North Devon Academy, two alternative provision schools run by the multi academy trust SchoolsCompany, to another sponsor. Lisa Mannall, regional schools commissioner for the south-west, issued a termination warning notice to both academies on February 16, warning that their funding agreements may be terminated […]

Policy Exchange asks MATs to provide curriculum resources

Inadequate teaching materials are holding pupils in England back and increasing teachers’ workload, a right-leaning think tank with close links to the government has said. A report by Policy Exchange, an organisation founded by the former education secretary Michael Gove and ex-skills minister Nick Boles, found teachers rely too heavily on unregulated free online resource banks, […]

International Women’s Day: NEU demands action on teaching gender pay gap

The country’s largest education union has demanded action to make teaching a “genuinely equal” profession for women. To mark International Women’s Day on March 8, the National Education Union has challenged the government to address the fact that while teaching is a predominantly female job, women teachers are still paid less on average than men, […]