Jess Staufenberg
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A look inside the only grade 1 UTC
If Lord Kenneth Baker could take a blueprint for the beleaguered university technical college (UTC) and multiply it across the country, it’s likely that he would choose UTC Reading. Baker, who served as education secretary under Margaret Thatcher and who has pushed the UTC model of vocational education within the Department for Education (DfE) since…
5.00 Jun. 22nd, 2019 | Features
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St Peter's Catholic Voluntary Academy, Middlesbrough
Zahida Hammond, headteacher at St Peter’s Catholic Voluntary Academy, an 11-16 school in Middlesbrough, looks bewildered when I tell her how many schools seemingly don’t have good careers advice. There are eight separate careers criteria, called the Gatsby Benchmarks, and just 1.5 per cent of schools and colleges meet all of them. “It’s about having…
5.00 Jun. 18th, 2019 | Features
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School hopes fresh air will help clear exam minds
A Surrey school plans to keep its windows open during exams after a physics teacher showed carbon dioxide levels rocketed in classrooms without any airflow. Alby Reid of Reigate Grammar said he would “never close the window” in his classroom again after he tested CO2 levels during a double lesson. After one-and-a-half hours it had…
5.00 May. 27th, 2019 | News
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Failing schools more likely to improve under LA control, new study claims
Schools with poor Ofsted grades were more likely to improve if they stayed under local authority control than if they converted to academies, a new analysis has found. Not only that, the study found good schools that converted to academies were more likely to lose their strong Ofsted grade, findings which critics say undermine the…
0.01 May. 23rd, 2019 | News
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Nick Gibb is 'persuadable' to SEND-specific teacher training route
Schools minister Nick Gibb has said he is “persuadable” to an initial teacher training route (ITT) focused only on special educational needs, he told MPs this morning. Gibb told the powerful education select committee, which held its last evidence session on SEND provision this morning following a long-running inquiry, that it “might consider recommending” a…
12.58 May. 21st, 2019 | News
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'Welcome to the world of free schools': report reveals chaotic inside story behind closed academy
A since-closed free school was given the funding green light just nine working days before it was due to open, with civil servants issuing “dire warnings of impending closure” from day one, it has been claimed. In a damning report revealing the chaotic behind-the-scenes process of opening a free school, former trustees and staff at…
0.01 May. 21st, 2019 | News
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Trusts should avoid one-size-fits-all approach to retention, report warns
Academy trusts should avoid a “one-size-fits-all” policy for improving retention across their schools, new research suggests, after finding staff satisfaction varied more widely between individual schools than trusts. Forty per cent of 10,530 staff who took the Edurio Staff Wellbeing and Working Conditions Survey, published today, are at risk of resigning – with the quality…
0.01 May. 20th, 2019 | News
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Investigation: Number of pupils in private alternative provision soars
Spend on private alternative provision (AP) has rocketed by almost £7 million in the past three years, with councils sending more vulnerable pupils to settings that are not inspected by Ofsted or registered with the government. A Schools Week investigation has found 26 cash-strapped councils are now spending at least £23.8 million sending pupils to…
5.00 May. 17th, 2019 | News
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Grammar schools get more condition improvement funding
Grammar schools have won a bigger chunk of government cash this year, despite having their own £50 million expansion pot. Half of the successful bids in highly selective areas for the 2019-20 Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) went to grammars, despite them making up only one third of schools. This marks a rise on the previous…
13.00 May. 17th, 2019 | News
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Minister admits Opportunity Areas need 'more ambitious outlook' to continue beyond 2020
The children’s minister has admitted the Opportunity Area programme could do with a “more ambitious outlook”, after refusing to answer point-blank whether it will get funding to continue next year. Nadhim Zahawi came under pressure during an education select committee this morning to brush off rumours the £74 million programme in 12 social mobility “cold…
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9,600 schools sign up to baseline assessment pilot
More than 9,600 schools have signed up to the pilot of the government’s new baseline assessment, according to the Department for Education. Schools minister Nick Gibb has claimed the number of schools which have registered to take part is “significant” because they will help ensure the baseline assessment works. But Dr Mary Bousted, joint general…
0.01 May. 14th, 2019 | News