Jess Staufenberg | Schools Week

Schools can get £5k for getting ‘returner teachers’ back into classrooms

The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) has launched another pilot to try to encourage qualified teachers back to the classroom – with the biggest financial rewards going to schools employing part-time or “flexible-working” returners. Last year, schools were offered a “support package” of £1,900 to aid qualified teachers not currently in the classroom […]

Behavioural insights team tells schools how to ‘nudge’ behaviour

The team behind David Cameron’s controversial “behavioural insights” unit has told school leaders how they can use letters, texts – and coffee – to “nudge” pupil behaviour. Behavioural Insights (BIT), a company partly owned by the Cabinet Office that researches the impact of small changes on people’s choices, this week shared its annual report with […]

Ridings Federation of Academies issued with financial notice to improve over potential ‘£1 million deficit’

A trust in charge of two academies has been issued with a financial notice to improve – and the threat that its funding could be terminated if a reported £1 million deficit is not balanced out. The Ridings Federation of Academies, which runs the Winterbourne International Academy and Yate International Academy in Bristol, has been told […]

Drop in trainee teachers, and 4 other key findings from ITT data

The Department for Education has released provisional figures for the number of trainee teachers recruited for this academic year. With trainee places for some subjects half or less than half full, recruitment has remained below target in some key EBacc subjects, particularly computing. Design and technology had the lowest number of trainees overall, with nearly […]

Schools lack guidance on how to handle pupil exclusions

Guidance on pupil exclusions originally published in December 2014 and set for implementation in January 2015 was pulled from the government webpage in February on the grounds of “issues with process” – but has yet to be replaced 23 months later. The government has now been urged to develop new guidance handing schools greater statutory […]

School admissions watchdog rejects ‘Catholic certificate’

The school admissions watchdog has ruled that a new certificate used to confirm a pupil is from a “practising Catholic family” when applying for a school place is “unfair and arbitrary”. The certificate of Catholic practice was introduced by dioceses this academic year to provide a more consistent way of judging a pupil’s religious faith, […]

Revealed: How All-Party Parliamentary Groups influence education policy

Beginning this week, Schools Week is revealing its first investigation into all-party parliamentary groups (APPGs), uncovering how they influence education, set up meetings, and how they can label a report as “all-party” – when in reality it is the work of a single external body. Q: When is a report by MPs not actually […]

More business managers need to train for future senior roles

More school business managers must “aspire” to become senior executives as the rise in multi-academy trusts – and damaging financial scandals – require greater scrutiny of school accounts, says Stephen Morales, chief executive of the National Association of School Business Management (NASBM). Morales (pictured) told Schools Week at the association’s annual conference in Birmingham this […]