Author: Jess Staufenberg

The number of GCSE grades changed at marking review this year has fallen by 23 per cent, with 16,749 fewer changes than in 2017. This year, 57,100 GCSE grades were changed compared with 73,840 last year, meaning that the proportion of grades which were changed fell from 1.4 per cent to 1.1 per cent. The […]

A high-profile academy trust faces a legal challenge over claims a pupil at one of its schools spent almost a third of his time in isolation rooms last year. Lawyers acting for the pupil’s family have applied for a judicial review against Outwood Grange Academies Trust over its use of “consequences rooms”. The mother of […]

Teachers at Catholic schools are being urged by their union to resist plans by bishops to academise, even though they are contractually required to follow their bishop’s command. A letter to members from the National Education Union signed by joint general secretaries Mary Bousted and Kevin Courtney, and a blog post, have set out the […]

Ofsted has found schools in the most deprived communities outscored their more affluent counterparts in its new study on the quality of curriculum – suggesting the watchdog’s new focus could turn the tables on inspections unfairly grading schools in poor areas. The inspectorate has published the findings of its third phase of curriculum research this […]

Inspectors will not be fooled by schools “talking a good game” on their curriculum but not turning their plans into reality, the chief inspector of Ofsted has said after research found many primaries failed to implement their ideas. The inspectorate has published the findings of its third phase of curriculum research this morning, in which […]

Pupils known to social services lag far behind their less vulnerable peers at GCSE, even if they are no longer classed as being “in need”, the Department for Education has warned. New research found pupils who had been classed as “in need” at some point between 2011 and 2017 scored an average attainment 8 score […]

The government has named the nine organisations that will recruit and manage a new raft of cost-cutting consultants to help schools save money. The Department for Education has confirmed today it is massively extending its ‘schools resource management adviser’ scheme – where consultants are sent into schools to help find savings – as first revealed […]

Teachers will get advice on “adapting how they speak” to pupils who have been in contact with social services as part of a government review. The Department for Education will today publish its “children in need of help and protection” review, which collates expert advice on improving outcomes for some of the most vulnerable pupils. […]