John Dickens | Schools Week

OGAT to praise pupils more in behaviour system shake-up

A leading academy trust that pioneered the consequences behaviour system has shaken up its policy to introduce more praise for pupils. Outwood Grange Academy Trust is set to publish a heavily revised behaviour policy this week, to be rolled out across all its schools this September. It comes after a judicial review threat from lawyers […]

Parents want more ‘outstanding’ schools inspected, plus 4 more Ofsted findings

Parents want ‘outstanding’ schools inspected more often, but believe short inspections are increasingly behind unreliable judgments. Ofsted has published its annual parent survey today. A total of 1,111 parents responded to the poll, carried out in November last year. Here’s a round-up of some of the more interesting findings. 1. Parents think Ofsted is […]

Teachers buying more basic equipment for pupils, survey finds

Teachers say they are increasingly dipping into their own pocket to provide basic classroom resources and essentials for pupils, a union survey has found. Nearly half of the 4,386 teachers surveyed by NASUWT said they spent their own money on buying basic necessities in the last year. Three-quarters said they bought food, 29 per cent […]

Church MAT halts restructuring plan after parent protests

Parent power has prompted an academy trust to halt restructuring plans that involved making a headteacher redundant to balance the books. The Diocese of Leicester Academies Trust, which runs 14 Church of England schools across Leicestershire, planned to make Edy O’Connor redundant from his role as headteacher at Swinford Primary School. DLAT planned to replace […]

Parents in legal challenge over grammar schools’ plan to reduce 11-plus pass mark

Parents are raising cash to challenge an academy trust’s plans to lower the pass mark for entry to its grammar schools. The King Edward VI Academy Trust, which runs six grammar schools in Birmingham, plans to introduce new catchment areas from next September that will give priority to disadvantaged pupils who live close to a […]

England’s largest academy trusts see gender pay gap widen

The gender pay gap has widened at most of the country’s largest academy trusts, with women paid 55p for every pound earned by men at two chains. Our analysis found that the gap widened in 10 of the 16 largest trusts last year, despite the sector having already poor statistics. This is the second year […]

Tenth UTC closure announced

Yet another university technical college will close later this year, taking the total to 10 for the troubled programme. Wigan UTC, which is rated ‘good’ by Ofsted but has had a chequered history, has announced it will shut at the end of August 2019 after failing to recruit enough students to become financially viable. The […]

Nick Gibb refuses to say whether he backs controversial cost-cutting advice

Schools minister Nick Gibb today dodged calls to clarify whether he backs controversial proposals made by the government’s cost-cutting advisers, including suggestions to replace experienced teachers with support staff on term-time contracts. Schools Week revealed last week that reports included recommendations to limit lunch portions for pupils to save money, as well as keeping money […]

Ofsted suspends publishing MAT inspections during election purdah

Ofsted has said it will not publish any focused multi-academy trust reviews in areas set for local elections until after polling day. The watchdog has also confirmed today that any “inadequate” inspections of local authority schools will also not be published until after the elections. Local elections in around 270 English councils, and six directly […]