Kathryn Snowdon | Schools Week

Poorer pupils ‘would miss out under PM’s school funding pledge’

Disadvantaged pupils would miss out on additional money under the prime minister’s pledge to “level up” per-pupil funding for schools, new analysis reveals. The Education Policy Institute found Boris Johnson’s plans for new minimum per-pupil funding levels “would disproportionately direct additional funding towards the least disadvantaged schools”. Johnson vowed to increase levels of funding from […]

Children in care ‘should only attend good or outstanding schools’

Children in care should only attend ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools, the children’s commissioner warned local authorities this week. Anne Longfield, children’s commissioner for England, said in her latest Stability Index report that she will be writing to councils where a “significantly lower proportion of children in care are in these schools”. Longfield said she will […]

MPs: Boost school-police links to tackle serious youth violence

Schools in high-risk areas should all have a dedicated police officer in order to tackle an “epidemic” of youth violence, MPs have said. In a report published today, the parliamentary home affairs committee also called for an end to part-time timetables in alternative provision. The cross-party committee urged the government to take urgent action to […]

New social mobility figures ‘a wake up call’ for new PM

New figures showing that efforts to boost social mobility among poorer pupils have stalled should be a “wake-up call” for the new government, a former schools minister has said. The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has revealed in its annual state of education report that, for the first time since 2011, the attainment gap between poorer […]

Poor pupils lag 18 months behind peers, and 5 other key findings from the EPI’s annual report

The education disadvantage gap has stopped narrowing for the first time since 2011, presenting a “major setback for social mobility”, a new report has found. Children from poorer backgrounds are finishing a year and a half behind their peers by the end of GCSEs, according to the Education Policy Institute’s (EPI) annual state of education […]

School-led teacher training routes see first fall in numbers for 4 years

The proportion of trainee teachers taking the school-led route has dropped for the first time in four years, new figures released on Thursday reveal. Initial teacher training statistics for 2017-18 show that 53 per cent of final year trainees went via the school-led route, rather than through a higher education institution (HEI). In last year’s […]

RSC league tables 2017-18: How regional commissioners are performing

Dominic Herrington is the top performing regional schools commissioner (RSC) for the third year in a row, according to Schools Week league table analysis. We have crunched the numbers to find out how the nation’s schools commissioners are faring after the Department for Education released data on the 2017-18 key performance indicators (KPIs) of RSCs […]

Ofsted’s warning as investigation finds most Steiner schools aren’t ‘good’

Ofsted has identified “serious issues” at Steiner schools across England, rating more than three quarters of them as ‘inadequate’ or ‘requires improvement’. Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools, has written to Damian Hinds, the education secretary, to outline her concerns about the schools, which advocate a holistic approach to education based on the teachings […]

Inspections cause teacher stress, and 4 other findings from Ofsted’s wellbeing research

Ofsted has found its own inspections are among a host of reasons for poor teacher wellbeing, according to new research published today. The new report also found that parents and senior leaders also contribute to teacher stress. Here are five of the most interesting findings from the research. 1. Ofsted is a big cause […]