Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Labour would cap secondary class sizes at 30

Labour’s pledge to cap primary class sizes at 30 will also apply to secondary schools, Angela Rayner will announce today. The shadow education secretary will promise to hire almost 20,000 extra teachers to cover additional classes created by the cap. Labour will transform education standards in this country for every child Rayner will also reveal […]

PISA 2018: Maths up, no improvement in reading or science

England’s pupils are performing better in maths, but have made no improvement in reading or science for 13 years, according to the results of an influential international study. The 2018 Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) results, published today, are likely to be seized upon by political parties amid the election run-up as a verdict […]

Stats watchdog warns Tories and Labour over ‘unclear’ manifesto claims

Both the Conservatives and Labour made “unclear” statements about education in their election manifestos, the statistics watchdog has said. The UK Statistics Authority said the two documents repeated claims it has already issued critical rulings on. The Conservative manifesto claims the party is providing “an extra £14 billion funding for schools”. The UKSA has previously […]

Layla Moran: Our manifesto pledges will help deliver 20k teachers target

The Liberal Democrats are counting on their reforms to school accountability, testing and teacher pay and development to deliver 20,000 extra teachers. Layla Moran, the party’s education spokesperson, told Schools Week the party was not launching one specific recruitment and retention initiative to meet its “ambitious” pledge. A crazy number of people just don’t stay […]

LGBT protest school head hopes court victory will help other schools

The headteacher of a school at the centre of fierce protests over LGBT-inclusive lessons hopes her landmark court victory will protect other schools from abuse. Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson has spoken of her “relief” after the High Court permanently banned protesters from outside the gates at Anderton Park primary in Birmingham. Now our case is a piece […]

Schools WILL get share of £100bn capital cash despite manifesto omission, insists Williamson

Schools will benefit from a share of the Conservatives’ £100 billion infrastructure fund if the party regains power, but will have to wait until after the election to find out by how much. Speaking exclusively to Schools Week, Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, also asked the sector “to please not read anything into” the omission […]

Johnson pledges ‘no-notice’ Ofsted inspections

Boris Johnson has pledged to trial “no-notice” Ofsted inspections for schools if he is re-elected. In a surprise announcement, Johnson said he wanted to change the way inspections work, so they give a “true reflection” of how well schools are performing. No-notice inspections will do more harm than good The proposal did not feature in […]

Academies struggling with apprentice hiring target

Just 7 per cent of academy trusts and large academies met a new apprenticeship recruitment target in the first year of its existence, new figures have revealed. The public sector apprenticeship target came into force for schools last March, requiring all individual institutions and trusts with more than 250 employees to recruit 2.3 per cent […]

Catholic diocese defends 20% non-faith admissions at new VA school

A Catholic diocese preparing to open a new voluntary-aided school has insisted its decision to admit a fifth of pupils based on where they live, rather than their faith, does not breach Canon Law. In June, the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia was granted permission in principle by the government for a new VA […]