Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Couple convicted of operating illegal setting banned from running schools

A couple who were the first people convicted of running an illegal education setting have been banned from running schools. Maryam Bernhardt and Nacerdine Talbi were convicted of running the Al-Istiqamah Learning Centre in Southall (pictured) illegally in 2018 after a landmark case that was the first of its kind in England. They were investigated […]

Social segregation is a problem in schools, say half of heads

Half of secondary school teachers believe social segregation is a problem in the state school system, but a large proportion of schools aren’t taking the make-up of their communities into account in their admissions policies, a new poll shows. The Sutton Trust polled 1,506 teachers and leaders via the NFER’s teacher voice omnibus in November […]

EPI study reveals postcode lottery of support staff spending

Pupils face a postcode lottery when it comes to spending on school support staff, with some schools spending up to 64 per cent more than others on teaching assistants. Analysis by the Education Policy Institute found that although the number of teaching assistants employed by state-funded schools in England has more than trebled since the […]

Who’s who? Your guide to the new ministerial line-up at the DfE

The remits of the new ministerial team at the Department for Education have been confirmed following Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit reshuffle. For schools, the new line-up mostly represents business as usual. Gavin Williamson remains as education secretary, and Nick Gibb, the schools minister, is still in the role having survived his latest of many reshuffles. Here […]

Reception baseline assessment: 8 key findings from the DfE’s pilot report

The Department for Education has published a report on its pilot of the new reception baseline assessment, which will be rolled out to all schools this September. The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) was tasked with carrying out the process, which consisted of a trial with members of the September 2018 intake, and then […]

All schools should block employees from working as Ofsted inspectors, say leading heads

A group of leading headteachers has written to every school in England urging them to block their employees from working as Ofsted inspectors, as a dispute over the watchdog’s approach to inspection grows. The Headteachers’ Roundtable (HTRT) launched its #PauseOfsted campaign with an article in Schools Week earlier this month, amid growing concerns that inspections […]

Let MAT CEOs become national leaders of education, says DfE advisory group

“Transformative” academy trust chief executives and improvement directors should be allowed to become national leaders of education (NLEs), a government advisory group has said. Admission to the NLE programme, which involves leading headteachers using their skills to support challenging schools, has traditionally been restricted to the headteachers of individual schools who meet certain eligibility criteria, […]

Variation requests soar as primaries downsize, and 6 other OSA annual report findings

The official in charge of regulating schools’ admissions arrangements has published her annual report. Shan Scott, the chief schools adjudicator for England, said her report gave an overall impression of an admissions system “that as a whole works effectively in the normal admissions rounds, and in those rounds, the needs of vulnerable children, and those […]

EEF research to investigate impact of three-year GCSEs

The Education Endowment Foundation has commissioned research into whether teaching GCSEs over three years boosts pupils’ grades. The charity has enlisted the National Foundation for Educational Research for the study, which aims to give schools more evidence of the impact of their decisions. Schools have traditionally taught a three year key stage 3 between years […]