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28 April 2026

Author: Alix Robertson

Ofsted rejects plans to monitor schools via social media

Ofsted will not use information posted on social media by pupils and parents to identify schools in need of intervention, to the relief of opponents of the plans. The approach was floated in the watchdog’s ‘Innovation and regulation plan’, published in March, but a spokesperson has now told Schools Week that the strategy “was not […]

Lack of tech in exams is denying pupils their ‘normal way of working’

Pupils taking exams are being denied access to their “normal way of working” because the use of technology has not been embraced by exam boards. Speakers at a Westminster Education Forum seminar this morning called for greater integration of technology into testing in England, but representatives of a leading exam board and regulator Ofqual raised […]

Ofsted inspectors enter hijab row school

Ofsted has begun an inspection of a school at the centre of a row over its decision to ban younger pupils from wearing the hijab. The watchdog has not said why its staff are at the ‘outstanding’-rated St Stephen’s Primary School in Newham, east London, today, but Schools Week understands the school had not been due […]

WCAT: Outwood Grange confirmed as sponsor for six schools

The Department for Education has confirmed that Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) will take on six schools given up by the troubled Wakefield City Academies Trust. But two more schools that had been earmarked to join OGAT have been found alternative sponsors after feedback from parents and staff. Today’s announcement confirms that Bell Lane Academy, The […]

NAHT: Mental health proposals shouldn’t be a ‘stick to beat schools’

New proposals to improve mental health support for pupils risk becoming “another stick to beat schools leaders with”, according to the leader of a headteachers’ union. Paul Whiteman, the NAHT’s general secretary, said that although heads welcomed the recognition of the role schools could play in improving pupil wellbeing, some leaders are worried about the […]

A deep dive into Progress 8 and disadvantage

The Department for Education released its revised GCSE results for the 2016-17 exams on January 25, and Schools Week has taken a deep dive into the data to see how disadvantaged pupils fared at different types of schools. Pupils are defined as “disadvantaged” if they have been eligible for free school meals in the past […]

How Progress 8 disguises grammar school pupils’ true performance

Grammar school pupils are not making as much progress as official figures suggest, according to new research into the government’s Progress 8 measure. Tom Perry, a research fellow from the University of Birmingham, and research manager at the Centre for the Use of Evidence in Education, has written a new academic paper on the Progress measures which finds […]

Warrington UTC enrages neighbouring schools by ‘poaching’ pupils

A university technical college in Cheshire has infuriated local schools after it invited its 2018 intake to start this month – a potential breach of the government’s school admissions code. The pupils were due to join UTC Warrington, which offers science and engineering courses for 14- to 19-year-olds, in September, but it suggested they move […]

Wild disparity between PISA tests taken on paper and PC

Pupils taking international aptitude tests have scored much worse since organisers switched from paper exams to a computer-based system – and the new method makes comparisons highly unreliable, according to new research. The latest Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) used computers for the first time in 2015, making it much harder to compare results […]