Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

It’s easy. You too can be a graduate school

A ruling by the Advertising Standards Authority will allow many more organisations to use the title “graduate school”, explains Viv Ellis. What do you think of when you hear the phrase “graduate school”? A part of a university that deals with postgraduate and research degrees? An organisation that can award those degrees? You don’t need […]

What makes some schools stand out

What we can we learn from exceptional schools, and how can they support and challenge each other to improve. Josephine Valentine unveils the findings from a Challenge Partners pilot. The key question for school improvement is what are outstanding schools doing that sets them apart, and how can we bottle it? These schools have kept […]

Julia Skinner’s top blogs of the week June 17 2019

Here endeth the lesson? @dogpaws23 The media’s coverage of Ofsted’s latest framework and the changes it will bring has focused on the curriculum. For governors the changes could present an immediate problem as subject content traditionally has not been a part of the governance brief, which we all know is strategic. In this post, […]

LGBT protests school ‘profoundly let down’ by policymakers, says ex-DfE adviser

The school at the centre of a row over its LGBT relationships teaching has been “profoundly let down by policymakers”, a former senior adviser to the government and Ofsted has said. Luke Tryl, who served as a special adviser at the Department for Education between 2014 and 2016 and as Ofsted’s director of corporate strategy […]

Dwindling roll forces inner London primary to close

An inner London primary school is being forced to close because of a lack of pupils, prompting warnings that schools are suffering as families are driven out of the capital. The London borough of Camden and the Roman Catholic diocese of Westminster have confirmed plans to shut St Aloysius Catholic Primary after 40 per cent […]

Free sanitary products scheme may need more cash, admits DfE

The Department for Education doesn’t have enough money to pay for free sanitary products for every eligible pupil in the country, despite a pledge to “fully fund” the initiative. Tender documents published by the Department for Education (DfE) show the government is prepared to spend between £10 and £20 million on the scheme from this […]

Spielman: ‘We’re the arbiter of quality, whether you like it or not’

Ofsted’s grading system is “proven” and works, the chief inspector of schools has insisted, defying leaders’ demands for a shake-up. Amanda Spielman told the Wellington College Festival of Education today that Ofsted remains “the arbiter of quality in state education”, despite being “rarely loved”, and pointed to parents’ knowledge of the inspectorate’s brand as proof […]

Gove: Give premier league clubs ‘responsibility’ to support free schools

Michael Gove has pledged to give Premier League football clubs a “responsibility” to support free schools if he become prime minister – despite closing a scheme for clubs to support pupils when he was education secretary. The Evening Standard has reported the leadership contender and former education secretary intends to “draw on his past work persuading […]

Teacher workload has increased, and 8 other findings from TALIS 2018

A major international survey has revealed the views of thousands of teachers in England and across the world. The OECD has published the results of its latest teaching and learning international survey (TALIS). The organisation spoke to 4,000 teachers and leaders in 200 schools, who were all randomly selected for the study. We’ve pulled out […]