Jess Staufenberg | Schools Week

Gloucestershire school threatened with closure over standards

A school in Gloucestershire will have its funding terminated unless it can produce an effective plan to pull itself out of special measures. St Anthony’s School in the Forest of Dean has been in special measures since 2015, and an inspection just before Christmas found weak teaching, low expectations, and poor governance had not abated. […]

QTS reforms may put applicants off, warn teacher trainers

Reforms to qualified teacher status (QTS) risk putting applicants off and making the benchmark seem less legitimate, according to teacher training providers and unions. Responses to the government’s consultation on “strengthening” QTS, seen by Schools Week, reveal unease about a plan to make trainee teachers wait two years before they qualify. Under the proposals, trainee […]

REVEALED: The local authorities with the biggest staffing cuts

Secondary schools have lost more than 15,000 members of staff over the last three years, but teacher-to-pupil ratios have remained relatively stable. Schools Week analysis of new data from the education unions shows that although there were 15,065 fewer people working in secondary schools in 2017 than in 2014, teachers are still teaching roughly the […]

Ofsted allows newly-trained staff to lead short inspections

Ofsted will allow 25 junior inspectors who signed up to a fast-track training programme with a cash incentive to lead new short inspections. Payments of £5,360 were made to 25 junior inspectors for a 10-day training programme to prepare them to lead short inspections – a new form of one or two-day visits to schools […]

Sweet-talking the government worth six figures to struggling trusts

Some academy trusts are getting extra money simply because of their “powers of persuasion” while others struggle with their finances, leading accountants have warned. The government’s “official message” is that no further funding is available for schools but “there appears to be a pool of money” available to some trusts, while others cover restructuring costs […]

Pupils with certificate signed by a Catholic priest can get school place priority

Catholic schools can continue to accept a certificate signed by a priest as proof of pupils’ faith when giving them priority in admissions, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) has ruled. The future of the Certificate of Catholic Practice, first used in 2015 to replace a range of criteria that had to be met by […]

Zero-tolerance behaviour policies exclude more vulnerable children, MPs told

Increases in exclusions are being driven by “shaming” school behaviour policies backed by the Department for Education, experts have warned MPs. Jane Pickthall, chair of the National Association of Virtual School Heads, which oversees children in care policy at local authorities, told the parliamentary education committee that humiliating classroom control techniques made schools “less inclusive” […]

LKMCo: ‘Give schools £10k per vulnerable pupil to stop exclusions’

Schools should get a large cash windfall to help them support pupils at risk of exclusion, a leading education think-tank has said. In its evidence to a parliamentary education committee inquiry into exclusions and alternative provision, LKMCo told the government to establish an “avoiding exclusion” fund of up to £10,000 per pupil to help ensure […]

Access arrangements for SEND pupils ‘too strict and confusing’, say exam officers

Schools find exam access arrangements increasingly strict and confusing, according to the body that represents exams officers. Many schools want “much clearer” guidance on access, as well as special consideration for pupils with additional needs, according to research by the International Examination Officers’ Association. Some officers have even warned that extra help may be being […]