Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Unlikely allies gather in opposition to grammar schools

What do Jeremy Corbyn, Nicky Morgan, the Trades Union Congress, Sir Michael Wilshaw and the Scottish National Party have in common? Their opposition to new grammar schools. Labour leader Corbyn pointed out the diversity of those against the new grammar school plans during prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, saying that Theresa May had succeeded in […]

Pupil database changes made ‘without debate’

The government is facing calls to release details of the panel that approved plans for schools to gather data on pupils’ nationalities and countries of birth. Controversial changes to the national pupil database (NPD), which came into effect on September 1, require schools to get extra data in the annual school census. The information is […]

Justine Greening’s first education select committee: 4 things we learned

Justine Greening, the new education secretary, has faced her first grilling from MPs on the education select committee this morning. Here are the highlights… The government will not scrap the need for parent governors on academy boards One of the most controversial plans in the previous government’s white paper, released earlier this year, was the […]

Government ‘taking forward’ academies white paper, Greening confirms

The government remains committed to the idea of all schools becoming academies and is “pulling together” legislation to enact its Education for All white paper, Justine Greening has confirmed. School leaders had raised concerns with Schools Week about a confusion between the green paper plans for selection and the white paper focus on academies. Greening […]

‘Difficult to disentangle’ if teaching is improving, admits Ofqual boss

The exams watchdog Ofqual is struggling to link school exam results to teaching quality, its chief regulator has admitted. Sally Collier told a group of politicians and academics this morning that she was “finding it very difficult” to say to what extent rises and falls in GCSE and A level results were down to better […]

Cross-party MPs: Give schools legal duty to tackle sexual harassment

Schools should be legally required to tackle sexual harassment and sexual violence and inspected on their effectiveness in this area, an influential group of MPs has said. The House of Commons women and equalities committee has demanded in a report published today that the government include in its forthcoming ‘education for all bill’ a statutory responsibility […]

May’s grammar challenge revealed as Conservative MPs voice fears

The true extent of the opposition faced by the government over its plans to allow new grammar schools to open has been revealed as Conservative MPs voiced their fears in Parliament, with the Scottish National Party joining Labour in vowing to fight the policy “tooth and nail”. At least 12 MPs from the government benches have today indicated their potential opposition […]

Greening to unveil grammar schools green paper this afternoon

The government’s green paper on plans for new grammar schools and other school reforms will be laid before Parliament this afternoon. The Department for Education has confirmed that Justine Greening, the education secretary, will address MPs in the House of Commons at 3.30pm to kick off a consultation on the proposals, which were set out by […]

Grammar schools: Minister hopes to ‘persuade’ Conservative rebels

The full details of Theresa May’s plan for new grammar schools will be “very persuasive” for Conservative opponents of the policy, the schools minister Nick Gibb has claimed. Gibb told the ResearchED conference in north London this morning that the green paper consultation document outlining the details of the reforms would be released on Monday. School leaders […]