Billy Camden | Schools Week

Ofsted ignores more than 100 schools for a decade

More than 1,200 schools in England have not had a full Ofsted inspection in seven years, with more than 100 given respite for longer than a decade, a new Schools Week analysis reveals. A policy introduced by the government in 2011 exempts schools graded outstanding from further routine inspection as long as data shows they […]

Councils face £600m blackhole in special needs funding

More than half a billion pounds must be found by 2025 to top up an already unsustainable special needs budget and fund an “unprecedented” demand of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities. A Schools Week investigation has found scores of councils proposing top slicing from other school funding pots to recoup multi-million pound shortfalls in […]

Christmas appeal: literacy charity Hackney Pirates needs help to get shipshape again

Schools Week is making a Christmas appeal for our readers to help an education charity that was left “shipwrecked” after a car crash destroyed its boat-themed building. Hackney Pirates, in east London, has run literacy sessions since 2010 for pupils who are “both falling behind and facing disadvantages in their personal circumstances”. A group of […]

Plymouth CAST academy trust issued warning notice after leadership failings

An under-fire academy trust has been given a warning notice and told to urgently improve, just weeks after an Ofsted inspection found serious weaknesses among its schools. The government has told Plymouth CAST, which runs 36 academies in the south west of England, to “urgently address weaknesses in its education provision” or face intervention. The […]

First sixth form college and academy trust merger planned

The first merger between a sixth-form college and an academy trust is on the cards after the submission of plans for a “pioneering” partnership. Ninestiles academy trust, which runs seven academies across Birmingham and Solihull, hopes to bring The Sixth Form College Solihull into the trust from the start of the next academic year. If […]

Fewer schools punished for exam malpractice, but penalties for staff soar

The number of school staff penalised for helping students cheat in exams has risen by nearly 50 per cent, as the number of penalties issued to schools and colleges falls. Ofqual figures published today show that 388 individual teachers or invigilators were issued penalties for malpractice during GCSEs and A-levels this year, up 48 per […]

Russell Group sticks by ‘preferred subjects’ list – but still has no evidence

The Russell Group has continued to advise pupils to take a group of “preferred subjects” at A-level to help them to get into top universities, despite research suggesting that they are not necessary. The higher education group, which represents 24 “elite” universities such as LSE, Oxford and Cambridge today released the fifth edition of its […]

Schools struggle with rise in special provision requests

The Exams Officers’ Association (EOA) is pushing for a consultation with Ofqual to review exam access for students with a learning disability or difficulty. It follows association research that found school staff struggling to cope with a rising number of requests for special provision. Andrew Harland, chief executive of the EOA, said the rise was […]

Teachers ‘need more incentives’ to become examiners

An awards scheme for examiners should be created to entice more teachers to take on the “unattractive” job, a veteran examiner has suggested. Roger Murphy, an emeritus professor at the University of Nottingham, has been an examiner for about 40 years, but says the role is more bother than it is worth. He said as […]