Author: Nick Linford

A consultation on plans to make year 7 pupils resit key stage 2 tests will go ahead in 2016/17, the government has confirmed. The future of the controversial resits for 11-year-olds who fail to meet the “expected standard” while at primary school was questioned after it was claimed that guidance on the policy was removed from […]

Schools will remain accountable for the education of excluded pupils and be held responsible for finding them alternative provision under new rules announced by the government. But the logic of introducing such a requirement when school budgets are already stretched has been questioned, with one union boss claiming it will put extra pressure on school […]

Secondary schools will be forced to promote the National Citizen Service under new legislation announced in the Queen’s Speech. A new “statutory footing” for the service, first launched by David Cameron in 2010 and which combines residential trips and voluntary work during the school holidays for 16 and 17-year-olds, was one of the key announcements in […]

Plans to “move towards” a fully-academised school system by targeting areas where councils are underperforming or unviable have been laid out in the Queen’s Speech, after the government gave up on proposals that would have forced all schools to convert. The speech, written by the government and delivered by the Queen today, included a pledge to […]

The state opening of Parliament will begin at 11.30am, with the Queen using her annual speech to announce upcoming legislation on behalf of the government. There are a few things for schools to look out for. School funding and structure The Queen is expected to announce plans for an “education for all” bill. This should […]

Weaknesses in current legislation on home-schooling are being exploited by illegal schools, which may be putting children at “significant risk of harm and indoctrination”, Michael Wilshaw has said after warning of more than 100 schools suspected of operating outside the law. The taskforce set up by Ofsted with extra resources from the Department for Education […]

The number of primary schools set to be deemed as “failing” this year by falling below government floor standards is likely to be much higher than first thought after Nicky Morgan mixed up statistics in a key speech. The education secretary’s announcement last month that no more than 1 per cent more schools would fall below the new standard this […]