Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Mental health charities call for more youth specialists to be trained

Schools struggle to get pupils seen by qualified mental health professionals because training for counsellors focuses too much on treating adults, warns the head of a children’s mental health charity. Patrick Johnson, the director of learning at Place2Be, told a meeting of headteachers, charities and academics in parliament last week that it was “no surprise” […]

Half of schools aren’t ready for GDPR data protection officer requirement

Half of schools are not yet ready to meet their legal duty to appoint a data protection officer, although the deadline for an appointment is fast approaching. New research by The Key, seen exclusively by Schools Week, asked headteachers who they planned to appoint to handle data when the new general data protection regulation – […]

Pupil absence fines down 5.4%

The number of fines issued to parents for unauthorised pupil absence has fallen by 5.4 per cent. 149,321 penalty notices were issued in 2016-17, down from 157,879 in 2015-16. The decrease reverses an upward trend seen since 2009-10. Of the fines issued in 2016-17, 102,301 (68.5 per cent) were paid within 28 days, 21,182 (14.2 […]

92 schools are waiting for a sponsor, and 4 other things we learned at education questions

MPs spent over an hour grilling the education secretary and his ministers in Parliament this afternoon. Damian Hinds answered questions alongside the schools minister Nick Gibb, the children’s minister Nadhim Zahawi, and others. Here’s what we learned. 1. 92 struggling schools are waiting for a sponsor… Asked for an update on the government’s academisation plan, […]

NUT spent £326k on general election campaign

The National Union of Teachers spent more than £326,000 on campaigning in the run-up to last year’s general election. Figures published by the electoral commission reveal the NUT declared campaign spending of £326,306 in the year to June 8 2017, which is the commission’s “regulated period” for last year’s election. Education, and in particular concerns […]

Train all teachers in attachment issues, says trauma expert

School staff should all be trained to deal with emotional trauma among children in care, according to an expert. New rules that require schools to appoint a specific member of staff to specialise in helping pupils in care are “insufficient”, said Tony Clifford (pictured below), who chairs the Attachment Research Community, who insisted that all […]

Single academy trust told to improve or face closure

A single-academy trust in West Yorkshire has been warned it faces closure if it does not improve after Ofsted found it was not taking effective action to get better. Unless Castle Hall Academy Trust can prove to schools commissioners that it can “achieve rapid and sustained improvement”, it will be issued with a termination warning […]

Damian Hinds faces first education committee grilling

The education secretary will take questions from MPs when he appears in front of the parliamentary education committee next week. Damian Hinds, who has been in the role for just over two months, will attend an accountability hearing on Wednesday morning. The committee said Hinds will face questions from across his brief, but is likely […]

Do the maths: Cost of new times-tables tests to top £5.2m

New times-tables tests for nine-year-olds will cost the Department for Education more than £5 million to implement, Schools Week can exclusively reveal. Figures obtained under the Freedom of Information Act show the government expects to have spent more than £2.8 million on the online tests between April 2015 and the end of this month, and […]