James Carr | Schools Week

Ofsted slams council and diocese at ‘forgotten school’ in five-year takeover limbo

A “forgotten school” waiting five years for an academy takeover has been put into special measures again, with Ofsted criticising the council and diocese for “failing its pupils for far too long”. St Anne’s Roman Catholic High School, in Stockport, has been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted following an inspection in January. The report, due to […]

Williamson calls for silent corridors and banned mobiles ‘to be the norm’

Education secretary Gavin Williamson wants the school culture created by behaviour policies such as silent corridors and banning mobile phones to “be the norm”. The comments follow the Departments for Education’s announcement it will be launching a new £10 million behaviour taskforce to tackle classroom disruption and unruly behaviour. It’s the latest sign of the […]

1 in 4 parents with SEND children unhappy with school support, Ofsted reveals

A quarter of parents with SEND children don’t think they are offered enough support at school, according to the first Ofsted parent survey results published since the introduction of its new framework. The schools watchdog today released management information from its online Parent View survey tool reflecting submissions collected between September 2019 and January. Parents […]

Expanding trusts issued warning notices over school failures

A quarter of the academy trusts recently issued “termination” warnings after standards dropped at one of their schools had expanded considerably in the past few years. Experts have warned that rapid expansion can “easily result in lower standards”, but school bosses urged caution over the analysis. Regional schools commissioners (RSCs) send “minded to terminate” letters […]

Heads’ ‘impossible situation’: Spielman criticises cuts recommended by Agnew’s advisers

Government advisers told schools to carry out cash-saving actions such as reducing curriculum breadth, which has now been slammed by Ofsted as ‘to the detriment of pupils education’. Chief inspector Amanda Spielman flagged concerns over breadth of curriculum, quality of teaching and SEND provision last week in a controversial report investigating the impact of funding […]

Williamson appoints adviser whose recent report slammed Ofsted

A policy expert who recently co-authored a critical report claiming Ofsted was overstepping its brief has been appointed as special adviser to the education secretary. Iain Mansfield will now advise Gavin Williamson on post-18 education and skills, Research Professional News has reported. Following the appointment Mansfield will step down from his role as head of […]

Ofsted refuses to say whether senior official ‘approved’ content for curriculum firm

A curriculum provider has insisted a senior Ofsted official “approved” articles in its promotional magazine that featured alongside the Ofsted logo – despite the watchdog claiming it doesn’t approve “commercial products”. Cornerstones Education distributed The Curriculum magazine to schools earlier this week having released an online version last month. The front page bears the schools […]

Schools running 3-year GCSEs twice as likely to be ‘inadequate’, new report finds

Ofsted has been warned by a former education secretary not to undermine academy freedoms “by the back door” in a report that found schools running three-year GCSEs were more than twice as likely to be rated ‘inadequate’. A report published today by think tank Policy Exchange, The Watchmen Revisited, claims the schools watchdog has created […]

Schools ‘reducing curriculum breadth’ because of funding pressures, says Amanda Spielman

Schools are “responding to funding pressure by reducing curriculum breadth”, the chief inspector of schools has warned. In a blog post published this morning, Amanda Spielman said it was “particularly concerning” to see schools reducing access to subjects such as languages, computing, design and technology and music. However, the blog post has now been removed […]