Billy Camden | Schools Week

Winners take all

Ideas based on technology won the day for two teachers in the Let Teachers SHINE competition. Gavin Summerfield, assistant headteacher at Heber Primary, south London, and Katie Gibson, who teaches English at Minsthorpe Community College, Pontefract, were two of ten teachers recognised at the Capita SIMS annual conference, held in Staffordshire. More than 150 teachers entered […]

Hints on the world of work

Parents now have new tools to help their children get ready for the world of work. LifeSkills, set up by Barclays, is a set of resources that provide practical support and advice about employability skills that parents can pass on to their children. The resources include videos and first-hand tips from other parents. They were […]

John Tomsett, Dr Ian Stockford, Helena Mills, John Blaney, Nick Timothy and Rachel Wolf

John Tomsett, headteacher of Huntington School, York, is the first chair of the Headteachers’ Roundtable. Mr Tomsett co-founded the education think-tank in 2012, prompted by “growing frustration” with the government’s education policy and opposition response to it. Membership has grown through Twitter. Mr Tomsett says his goal is to “keep the think-tank working” and ensure […]

Education bill: What has happened so far?

The government must have the power to warn schools about performance and safety standards because “obstructive” councils “block the process”, says Nick Gibb. But the schools minister was unable to give specific examples when MPs called for him to back up his claim. Mr Gibb told the fifth committee hearing on the education and adoption […]

The good, the bad and the teacher recruitment stats

There are reasons to be cheerful; teacher numbers are up, for starters. But the School Workforce Census for last year shows that recruiting and retaining a top quality workforce is still a major challenge The School Workforce Census (SWF) is the main source of information on school staffing in England. It provides detailed statistics, such […]

School budgets: It’s staff that will have to be cut next

The Conservative manifesto pledged to maintain per pupil funding across the lifetime of the next government. Given that other parts of the public sector are facing deep austerity measures, schools have been urged to think of themselves as fortunate for avoiding cuts. But upcoming changes to national insurance and pensions mean schools are facing rocketing […]

Harpenden free school drops ‘free’ from its name

A primary school is taking the words “free school” out of its name to disassociate itself from politicisation of the phrase. Harpenden Free School in Hertfordshire, a primary that on its website says it will have a maximum capacity of 270 in the next school year, will be renamed Harpenden Academy from September when it […]

Early GCSE schools must teach ‘unaccredited content’

Schools that begin teaching pupils their GCSEs in year 9, as part of a three-year course, are faced with teaching content not yet approved by Ofqual. Prompted by the increased amount of content in the new GCSEs, several schools have introduced a three-year key stage 4, beginning in year 9, to give pupils more time […]

Over-50s are fleeing from the classroom

More than 10,000 teachers in their fifties have dropped out of the classroom in the past four years amid fears that increased workloads have prompted experienced teachers to take early retirement. The number of teachers aged between 50 and 59 has plunged from 87,397 in 2011 (20 per cent of the workforce) to 75,500 last […]