Jess Staufenberg

  • Ofqual confirms changes to reviews of coursework marking

    Changes to the way schools review coursework marks requiring leaders to judge marking consistency have been confirmed by the exams regulator. Ofqual launched a consultation in December, which proposed, among other things, a rule change around reviews of marking to make them “clearer and more effective”. Today, the regulator published its official response to the…

    17.28 Apr. 23rd, 2019 | News

  • Co-op Academies Trust slams 'fundamentally flawed' Progress 8

    A major academy trust has slammed the “fundamentally flawed” progress 8 performance measure for punishing schools with challenging cohorts – vowing to publish its own value-added progress scores for parents. The Co-op Academies Trust, which runs 20 schools in the north-west including in some of the country’s most deprived areas, said the performance measure favours…

    0.01 Apr. 23rd, 2019 | News

  • EPI: 50,000 pupils 'pushed around school system' in 'unexplained' moves

    Nearly 50,000 pupils in a single year group were removed from school rolls for “unexplained” reasons, a major new study has found. The Education Policy Institute has found one in 12 pupils due to finish secondary school in 2017 (8.1 per cent) were removed from school rolls for reasons that weren’t a permanent exclusion or…

    0.01 Apr. 18th, 2019 | News

  • More pupils miss out on preferred primaries in high-demand areas

    Fewer youngsters have been offered a place at any of their preferred schools in September, an analysis of the councils facing the biggest squeeze on primary places has revealed. More than 600,000 youngsters were told yesterday which primary school they will attend in September. National statistics will not be published until June. But a Schools…

    16.03 Apr. 17th, 2019 | News

  • Teachers face going unpaid over summer holidays as five trusts plan notice-period change

    Up to five academy trusts are at loggerheads with unions over their plans to shake up teachers’ pay and conditions – which could see staff go unpaid during the summer holidays, Schools Week understands. It has also been revealed that another trust recently backed down on similar plans, following discussions with the Association of School…

    17.34 Apr. 16th, 2019 | News

  • 12,500 youngsters to be offered places in 'stuck schools', warns NSN

    Around 12,500 youngsters are set to be offered places at primary schools that haven’t been rated ‘good’ in over a decade, a new analysis has warned on national offer day. More than 1.2 million pupils have passed through 290 “stuck schools” – those continuously graded ‘inadequate’, ‘requires improvement’ or ‘satisfactory’ since 2005 – the New…

    0.01 Apr. 16th, 2019 | News

  • DfE to fund free sanitary products in primary schools

    The government will “fully fund” free sanitary products in all primary schools, the Department for Education has announced. But the government has not confirmed when the cash will be handed to schools, or how much they will be given. The free products in primaries, which will be available from early 2020, follow the same being…

    0.01 Apr. 16th, 2019 | News

  • Half of schools start GCSEs in year 9, NFER survey suggests

    Around half of schools start teaching GCSE content when pupils are still in year 9, while some teach the courses to pupils as young as 11, a major new survey of teachers suggests. The National Foundation for Educational Research surveyed 1,678 teachers from 1,439 schools for its annual Teacher voice omnibus survey. Fifty-six per cent…

    16.41 Apr. 12th, 2019 | News

  • Attainment falls and absence rises among looked-after pupils

    GCSE grades among looked-after pupils fell last year and absence rates rose, new data shows. New statistics published this morning by the Department for Education shows the average Attainment 8 score of pupils in care was 18.8 in 2018, down from 19.3 the year before. It also means the gap in attainment between looked-after and…

    11.44 Apr. 11th, 2019 | News

  • Squeeze more cash for schools out of housing developers, DfE tells councils

    Councils have been issued with new guidance to help them negotiate financial contributions from housing developers when their work puts pressure on schools. New advice from the Department for Education today sets out how local authorities can best seek funding both for construction of more school space and suitable land from developers. Town halls are…

    0.01 Apr. 11th, 2019 | News

  • Let councils 'scrutinise' school approaches to exclusions, says Halfon

    The chair of the parliamentary education committee has demanded extra powers for councils to scrutinise schools’ approach to exclusions. In a letter to the education secretary Damian Hinds, sent following a recent inquiry into exclusions and knife crime, Robert Halfon made a set of recommendations to the government. Urging schools to “intervene early” with at-risk…

    13.23 Apr. 10th, 2019 | News