Billy Camden | Schools Week

Hartsdown Academy pupil Holly gets top grades after devastating house fire

Cerebral palsey sufferer Holly Brooks, from Hartsdown Academy in Margate, is heading to Canterbury Christ Church University after achieving a double distinction in child care and health and social care, just weeks after a fire wrecked her family home. Holly, 18, lost her independence when her specially designed £7,000 electric wheelchair perished in the blaze […]

From Syria to Oxford – Maan Al-Yasiri set to take up place at top university

Ark Putney Academy student Maan Al-Yasiri, a boy who lodges with a family in London while his parents live in Iraq, is off to study history and politics at Oxford University after getting As in English and history and a B in economics. Just a year ago Maan was planning to skip university altogether. He […]

LIVE BLOG: A-level results day

Results are out today at 9.30am for A levels and 11am for AS levels. We are celebrating everyone’s successes, but with a particular interest in secondary modern pupils. There are 88 schools across the country who admit students who did not pass the 11+ exams and have sixth forms that teach A levels. An often […]

Exam system shake-up is not ‘hot air’ warns government official

Exam boards have been warned by a government insider to take seriously plans for a drastic reform of the exam system amid underperformance concerns. Schools minister Nick Gibb said over the weekend that he has commissioned officials to look at the case for “fundamental reform” and is considering what options are available to address the […]

Teach First trainees to boost National Citizen Service ranks

Education charity Teach First is teaming up with the National Citizen Service (NCS) to expand the number of volunteers working with the scheme, the Prime Minister announced today. Participants on Teach First’s teacher training programme, who are selected based on their potential to be influential teachers in disadvantaged communities, will be offered the chance to […]

Contest offers £14K worth of writing equipment to primary schools

Writing tools worth more than £14,000 are up for grabs for primary schools taking part in a handwriting Olympiad. Stationery seller BIC, in partnership with handwriting tool Start-Bee, launched the nationwide competition to get primary school children writing by asking them to complete the sentence: “I love being able to write because…”. Winners from more […]

New research service calls on teachers’ advice

Education news distribution outlet “On Tap News” is calling on teachers’ advice to find out what they would like to see incorporated into their new research service. The team, who you can follow on twitter as @schoolsontap, will start disseminating evidence-based research at the beginning of 2016. They are asking teachers to complete a questionnaire […]

Pupils hit the high note at BBC Ten Pieces Prom

Performing in front of thousands of music lovers in the grand setting of the Royal Albert Hall would be daunting for most people, but not for these primary school pupils who belted out their classical music renditions in style. The performances by the four schools were for the BBC Learning Ten Pieces Prom, which took […]

Peer mentoring as an alternative to exclusion

Tutors of school-leaving age can help to unlock hidden potential in pupils excluded from mainstream education In the face of ever-changing goals schools are having to run just to keep up. They are (rightly) judged for the continuous improvements of their students – and there is nowhere more difficult to achieve this than in alternative […]