Nick Linford | Schools Week

David Cameron announces 18 new free schools

The first wave of newly-approved free schools announced this Parliament will consist of 18 new institutions, David Cameron has announced. The Prime Minister said the 18 new schools will create 9,000 new places. Two rounds of schools will be announced per year between now and the end of the Parliament in 2020 in a bid […]

36 per cent of young people worried about bullying in new school year, Diana Award survey reveals

More than a third (36 per cent) of young people are worried about returning to school because of bullying, according to research by the Diana Award, which also shows 45 per cent of pupils said they had been bullied every day. The charity’s online survey revealed 73 per cent of respondents considered avoiding parts of […]

18 New Free Schools: The Complete List

The latest wave of approved free school applications is as follows… Opening September 2016 – Rugby Free Secondary School, Warwickshire. 1,260 places for 11 to 19-year-olds. Set up by Knowledge School Trust. Opening September 2017 – John Donne Primary Free School, Peckham, London. Almost 500 spaces (including 60 at nursery). Set up by the John […]

Our ‘Top 10’ most-read expert articles so far

It is our first birthday this week and – in typical bank-holiday style – much of England is due to experience a bit of a washout. So to ease you back into school mode, and distract from gathering grey clouds, here’s our ‘Top 10’ most-read expert articles so far. Have a glance through these to remind […]

Academy chains and social enterprises face ‘apprenticeship tax’ as government rules out charity exemption

Large academy chains, exam boards and other education sector charities will have to pay the new apprenticeship levy, the government has confirmed. The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills told Schools Week today that charities which meet the size threshold for the tax will need to pay, but will also be eligible for funding to hire their […]

Pupils score top grades on teacher-assessed speaking and listening tests

More pupils scored the top mark on speaking and listening GCSE English tests this year compared to any other grade. It won’t help the pupils, though, as the exams no longer count towards their final English GCSE grades. In this year’s tests, the second not to count toward English language and literature final grades, 32.2 […]

GCSE Maths 2015: Has there been a big drop in scores?

Something is apparently amiss with maths. Several school leaders raised concerns in the past 24 hours with Schools Week regarding much lower scores in GCSE maths. Brian Lightman, general secretary of union ASCL, confirmed this view. He said: “You have stable national statistics but under that there is a significant number of schools – we […]

GCSE 2015 Results are in: Maths and English up, Science down

This year’s GCSE results are out and show that the GCSE A*-C rate has increased to 69% – a 0.2 percentage points increase on last year. Top grades across all subjects have declined slightly. Grade A*s made up just 6.6 per cent of results – a 0.1 percentage point fall compared to last year. […]

Where pupils live affects their A level choices, data reveals

Regional differences in post-16 provision could affect young people’s chances of getting into top universities, data released today shows. Analysis by Education Datalab’s chief statistician Dave Thompson, based on children who completed GCSEs in 2011, found that pupils at secondary schools without sixth forms were less likely to get places at Russell Group universities. A […]