Alix Robertson | Schools Week

GCSE awards up two per cent as schools respond to league table changes

The number of GCSEs awarded in England increased by two per cent last year, reversing a downward trend. Ofqual statistics published this morning reveal that 4,983,980 GCSE certificates were handed out last year, up from 4,894,330 in 2015-16. The number of GCSEs awarded had declined in recent years, from 5,917,050 in 2012-13, caused by a decrease in […]

National Audit Office academies report: The key findings

The system used by the government to convert local authority-maintained schools into academies is under National Audit Office scrutiny. The government spending watchdog has published a report looking at the progress of the academies programme, in the context of recent moves to increase the number of academies across England. In the March 2016 white paper […]

EEF starts £250k project to boost maths and science teaching in 220 schools

The Education Endowment Fund has partnered with an education charity to run a £250,000 project to improve maths and science teaching in 220 schools across the country. It will join Kusuma Trust UK to develop training and resources for schools to help them implement evidence-based recommendations from the EEF’s guidance reports, which provide tips for […]

Expanded grammar schools ready for extra pupils by 2020

Grammar schools will be able to expand and take on extra pupils as soon as 2020 if long-awaited funding is made available, it has been predicted. Comments made by Damian Hinds over the weekend in support of expanding the country’s existing grammar schools have been taken by supporters and critics of selective schools alike as […]

Teacher workload crisis threatens examiner recruitment

Teacher workload and reforms to GCSEs and A-levels are affecting examiner recruitment. Union officials, school leaders and examiners have lined up to call for a change in approach after the organisation representing the four big exam boards admitted workload was a “barrier” to recruitment at a time when reforms mean more examiners are needed. Speaking […]

Slight fall in school absence fines in wake of Platt court case

Parents fined for their children’s unauthorised absence fell a little last year, but the figures did not change as much as expected given the law has become more lenient. New figures, taken by Schools Week from 112 councils, showed that last year the authorities issued 103,918 fines to parents, totalling £4.4 million, compared with 108,405 […]

Girls school holds off negative Ofsted report with legal threats

A Kent school that managed to suppress an ‘inadequate’ Ofsted report for eight months by threatening legal action has now been rated ‘good’ across the board after the watchdog opted to reinspect rather than fight in court. Ofsted has recently published two inspection reports on Chislehurst School for Girls. The first, based on an inspection […]

St Neots Learning Partnership issued with pre-termination warning notice

An academy trust in Cambridgeshire has been warned it faces closure over “unacceptably low” standards at one of its academies. The Department for Education has issued The St Neots Learning Partnership with a pre-termination warning notice, and suggested it give up one of its schools. St Neots Learning Partnership runs Ernulf Academy, Longsands Academy and […]

Primary MATs have the widest gender pay gap

Primary school academy trusts have the largest pay gaps between men and women according to new national data – and senior figures are pointing to the high numbers of female staff in low paid roles as the main reason. The government announced in April 2016 that academy trusts and schools with more than 250 workers […]