Jess Staufenberg

  • Teacher vacancy website up-and-running in north east and Cambridgeshire

    The government has finally launched a free teacher vacancy website in two regions of the country, promising it will be rolled out nationally if all goes to plan by the end of the year. The website, which ministers claim will save schools about £75 million in advertising, will list all full-time, part-time and job share…

    0.01 Jun. 3rd, 2018 | News

  • Academy trusts invited to set up 'secure schools' for pupils in custody

    Academy trusts are being invited to set up “secure schools” for pupils languishing in youth custody, under new plans released by the government. The Department for Education and Ministry of Justice have jointly issued guidance laying out how trusts, as well as other children’s organisations, can set up a “secure school” and what legislation they…

    12.07 Jun. 1st, 2018 | News

  • Most free schools open in areas of need, and 4 other things we learned

    The majority of free schools opened in areas of need, research has found, but they are usually neither innovative nor opened by parents, and they do not take in enough poor pupils. The National Foundation for Educational Research, together with the Sutton Trust, have conducted an in-depth analysis of the 311 free schools open as…

    0.01 May. 31st, 2018 | News

  • Private alternative providers get worse Ofsteds than council provision, and 4 other findings

    The woeful state of private alternative providers can be revealed for the first time, as a new analysis reveals almost one in three are not rated ‘good’ or better by Ofsted. Only 71 per cent of private alternative providers, which are independently-funded settings that take in vulnerable pupils, currently hold one of Ofsted’s top two…

    0.01 May. 30th, 2018 | News

  • Highlights from Northern Rocks 2018

    The last ever Northern Rocks conference was held in Leeds last weekend. Schools Week was there to take in the action. Here are our highlights. Becky Allen: Beware the circumstances of your tests Commercial tests which compare pupil performance across several schools are fundamentally problematic, because not all schools place the same emphasis on the…

    7.00 May. 26th, 2018 | News

  • Grammar schools benefit from DfE’s largesse

    Grammar schools are getting proportionally more money from the government than comprehensives to spend on buildings, including brand new sports halls and laboratories. Forty per cent of the secondary schools which received money from the Condition Improvement Fund over the past three years were grammars, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. One school got…

    7.00 May. 25th, 2018 | News

  • Government publishes details of pre-key stage standards for SEND pupils

    The government has confirmed how it will track the progress of special educational needs pupils working “below test standard” in primary schools next year – but warned that teachers should not use the standards to grade pupils. The pre-key stage 1 and 2 standards, which are mainly for pupils with special educational needs not working…

    17.38 May. 24th, 2018 | News

  • Number of pupils with statements or EHCPs continues to rise

    The number of pupils with statements of special educational needs or education, health and care plans has risen by nine per cent in the past year. As of this January, there were just over 290,000 pupils aged five to 19 years old with a statement or EHCP, compared with around 270,000 at the same time…

    10.25 May. 24th, 2018 | News

  • Social Mobility Commission gets new chair - but no new powers

    Dame Martina Milburn, the head of the Prince’s Trust, has been nominated to chair the Social Mobility Commission. But the Department for Education has ruled out expanding the organisation’s powers, despite calls to that effect from senior MPs. The commission, which sits within the DfE and monitors progress towards improved social mobility, has been without…

    14.44 May. 23rd, 2018 | News

  • Academies will need government approval for related-party transactions

    Academies that want to buy services in from companies run by their leaders will soon need to get permission from the government under new rules proposed by the Department for Education. The DfE agrees with a recommendation made by the parliamentary public accounts committee earlier this year that academy trusts should be forced to clear…

    16.11 May. 23rd, 2018 | News

  • Inspiration Trust earns softer Ofsted report after four-month turnaround

    An academy trust founded and once chaired by the academies minister received a softened report from Ofsted after inspectors returned just four months after a damning inspection. Irate union leaders have now suggested the school got “a rehearsal before the real deal”. The Inspiration Trust, which runs schools across Norfolk and was chaired by Lord…

    8.31 May. 18th, 2018 | News