Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Schools to make teacher body cams permanent to blitz bad behaviour

Three secondary schools in England are piloting the use of body-worn cameras for teachers to tackle bad behaviour, with two already vowing to deploy them in the long term. Southfields Academy in south-west London, together with a further two unidentified schools, are deploying the surveillance technology amidst its growing use within the public sector. At […]

DfE extends academy trust capacity fund to rural maintained schools

Rural local authority-maintained schools will be given access to government expansion funding for the first time next year to encourage them to academise and form new chains. The Department for Education has added a fifth “strand” to its trust capacity fund, which launched last year. However, the amount of funding on offer – £17 million […]

Can’t afford the zoo? Then weed the allotment for activities week

A school plans to charge pupils to do weeding during lesson time as part of a range of options during activities week, whilst other pupils go abroad. At £1 for the day, ‘clearing the weeds and helping out on the allotment’ is at the bottom end of options set out by Sir William Romney’s School, […]

School league tables 2019: MAT progress scores improve, and 5 other findings

New figures published by the government today reveal how well the country’s multi-academy trusts are performing. The Department for Education’s MAT league tables rank chains based on their progress scores and other metrics recorded in last summer’s GCSEs. The data covers 102 trusts with three or more schools that have been with them for at […]

School league tables 2019: How did your academy trust perform?

The government has published its multi-academy trust league tables for 2019. The annual data release gives a ranking of trusts above a certain size by various measures, the most important being progress 8. Here are how the trusts fared last year. Well Above Average Star Academies 0.74 Dixons Academies Charitable Trust Ltd 0.72 The Cardinal […]

Remove incentives to ‘depress or inflate’ early years outcomes, Ofqual urges DfE

Ministers must review the way they present data on the performance of reception children to remove the incentives for schools to “depress or inflate outcomes”, the exams regulator has said. Ofqual has published its response to a government consultation on reforms to the early years foundation stage. The Department for Education has proposed a number […]

Government backs proposal to cut the cost of school uniforms

The government has announced it will back a draft law aimed at cutting the cost of school uniforms. Mike Amesbury, the MP for Weaver Vale and a shadow work and pensions minister, will introduce a private member’s bill today which seeks to put the Department for Education’s 2013 school uniform guidance on a statutory footing. […]

Lucy Powell, Ian Mearns to serve again on education committee

Former shadow education secretary Lucy Powell has been selected to serve again on the Parliamentary education committee, Schools Week has learned. Labour has also put forward Ian Mearns, a long-serving committee member, for another term. He served as a de facto deputy to chair Robert Halfon during the last Parliament. Labour has also nominated Fleur […]

Police probe finances of failed Schools Company academy trust

Police are investigating the finances of the failed Schools Company academy trust, according to reports. A BBC Inside Out South West investigation, which airs tonight, will report that Kent police are looking into the chain, which collapsed in 2018 after it was stripped of its four schools by ministers. The Schools Company Trust (SCT) ran […]