John Dickens | Schools Week

Former Cameron adviser’s free school rapped over ‘improper’ appointment of principal’s associates

A free school chaired by a former prime minister’s adviser broke academy rules over appointing associates of its principal and spending £1,600 on a drone for marketing pictures despite “weak” finances. A damning investigation report also found the East London Science School Trust broke finance rules by handing out undocumented pay rises to senior staff. […]

Hancock on further school delays: ‘I’ve learnt not to rule anything out’

Health secretary Matt Hancock this morning refused to rule out further delays to reopening schools after Christmas following large parts of the country being put into the new tier 4 lockdown. Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show, Hancock said “the plan” is still for a staggered start for schools – announced last week. But when […]

DfE pledges another 440k laptops by Easter

The government has bought a further 440,000 laptops to distribute to schools, it has been announced today. It will take the number of laptops bought by the government for schools to over one million, pushing the cost of the scheme up to £300 million. However, new figures published alongside the announcement show the National Tutoring […]

Mass testing in schools: Everything you need to know

The government has this week announced mass testing in schools from January 4. The announcement – in the last week of term – has caused uproar in the sector, with unions claiming the plans are “inoperable”. Here’s everything you need to know about the plans. 1. Mass testing ‘opportunity’ for all secondary schools… All […]

Time and again school leaders have risen to the Covid challenge – but at what cost?

There is no doubt as we enter the final turbulent days of 2020 that the parameters that underpin our education sector have been turned on its head. I was appointed to my first school leadership post in 1995, and for the past 25 years have been a leader and now a developer of leaders and […]

Ministers chose confrontation over collaboration when our communities needed them most

When the government issued Royal Greenwich with the threat of legal action on Monday night, I was completely shocked. At no point in the previous 24 hours did I genuinely think that trying to do the right thing for my local schools, in the face of surging infections and almost 4,000 pupils in self-isolation, could […]

Ofqual chief suggests traffic light rating system for differential lost learning

Teacher ratings of students’ lost learning could be issued alongside grades next year to help level up the playing field for those who have been worst-hit by the pandemic, Ofqual’s chief has told ministers. Speaking to the education select committee today, Ofqual’s interim chief regulator Dame Glenys Stacey said the rating system could be a […]

Ofsted’s new ‘supportive’ inspections: everything you need to know

Ofsted has today published an operational note for how its new “supportive” monitoring inspections will look. As we reported last week, these inspections are only for ‘inadequate’ and some ‘requires improvement’ schools from January. Full inspections won’t be back until at least April. Here’s everything you need to know. 1. Which schools will be […]

Exams and accountability in 2021: The proposals in full

The government has finally announced today its plans for next year’s exams, when Ofsted will resume and other outstanding issues such as league tables and primary assessment. Here’s your speed read of what’s been announced. *It’s important to note this information is all based on a press release from the government, which had limited details. […]