Billy Camden | Schools Week

INVESTIGATION: Only 1 in 3 new schools has sprinklers – and ‘expectation’ to fit them due to be removed from DfE policy

The proportion of new schools being built with fire-preventing sprinklers has halved to just 35 per cent since 2010, prompting fresh concerns over pupil safety following the Grenfell Tower blaze. The figure could also decrease further as the government plans to water down the wording of its school fire safety guidance by suggesting sprinkler systems […]

Racial hate crimes in schools surge in wake of Brexit

Schools across the country have experienced a surge in racial hate crimes in the aftermath of Brexit, new figures suggest. The number of schoolchildren arrested for racism has also risen dramatically. Schools Week submitted freedom of information requests to all 43 of the UK’s police forces, asking how many racial hate crimes and subsequent arrests […]

BAME teachers need to be ‘endorsed’ by white people to get promotions

Black, Asian and minority ethnic teachers are not able to move into senior roles unless they are endorsed by white people in positions of power, an educationist has warned. Paul Miller, professor of educational leadership at the University of Huddersfield, told delegates at last weekend’s inaugural BAMEed conference in Birmingham that there was “no way” […]

Education union membership drops to lowest point in a decade

Membership of education trade unions is at its lowest level in nearly a decade, amid a 10 per cent plunge last year. The unions are blaming cuts to support staff, the increasing number of existing teachers leaving the profession early, and the introduction of zero-hour contracts in further and higher education as some of the […]

Brexit fallout stunts recruitment for first ‘super-SCITT’

The country’s first “super” school-led scheme to train language teachers has been given the go-ahead by the government to recruit its first cohort this September – though numbers will initially be lower than anticipated due to the fallout from Brexit. Sheffield Teaching School Alliance, based at Silverdale School, will be the first so-called “super SCITT” […]

University technical colleges plan to switch recruitment age to 13

University technical colleges across the country are planning to recruit pupils a year before their standard 14 starting age owing to the demands of the new “big fat” GCSEs. A Schools Week investigation has found five UTCs who are consulting on taking pupils in from year 9, instead of year 10, in future academic years […]

UTC applications surge after letters sent to parents

The body that runs the university technical colleges has been making bold claims about a surge in demand for places for 14-year-olds. New figures shared with Schools Week by the Baker Dearing Trust (BDT) indicate that applications from year 10s are running at nearly double the rate compared with last year. Silverstone UTC, for example, […]

Tory plan to ban school expansions is ‘not feasible’, experts warn

The Conservative pledge to ban councils from creating new places in schools graded below ‘good’ by Ofsted is not feasible unless academies can be forced to expand, experts have warned. Launched last week, the party’s general election manifesto promised “more good school places” from building “at least a hundred new free schools a year”, and […]

‘Doughnut’ catchment areas could be new Tory plan

If elected, the Conservatives could change school admissions to allow recruitment of pupils from further afield, using what is known as a “doughnut” catchment arrangement, Schools Week has learned. Experts are however warning that this “pernicious” proposal, hinted at in the party’s manifesto for the upcoming election, would disadvantage poorer children, as schools built in […]