Nick Linford | Schools Week

Ofsted report reveals fall in school behaviour ratings

Schools are scoring less highly on behaviour relative to other factors since Ofsted introduced tougher inspection guidance in January, according to a new report. The findings came in the inspectorate’s Below the radar: low-level disruption in the country’s classrooms report – which claims that the equivalent of up to 38 days of teaching was lost […]

First edition review with Laura McInerney and Sam Freedman

Sam Freedman, director of research, evaluation and impact at Teach First and former adviser to Michael Gove, joined deputy editor Laura McInerney on the sofa to review the first edition. Watch the video below to find out which articles made Sam’s top three, and why…

Childcare, qualified teachers, the forgotten 50% – Hunt’s policy pillars for 2015

Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt today outlined his three key campaign pillars as Labour heads into its general election campaign. Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Manchester, he outlined his priorities, including childcare reform, a qualified teacher in every classroom, and an education system “which works for the forgotten 50 per cent”. On childcare, […]

UTCs struggled to reach 30 per cent capacity last year

Recruitment across the 17 University Technical Colleges (UTCs) averaged around 30 per cent in 2013/14, it has been revealed. An investigation by Schools Week’s sister paper FE Week has revealed there were around 9,500 places in total available in UTCs, but fewer than 3,000 were filled [see below]. Figures obtained by FE Week under the freedom of information […]

School performance project worth £24m ‘not the right time’ says DfE

Plans to display school performance data on one platform have been shelved by the Department for Education (DfE). The department has confirmed it has abandoned its development of the £24m School Performance Data Programme, which aimed to pull together performance data for schools across England on one platform. The DfE told ComputerworldUK magazine that the […]

EXCLUSIVE: Secondary opens with 17 pupils

‘Near empty’ free school in South West London opens on land bought by government for £18m A free school has opened in South London this month with only 17 pupils, Schools Week can reveal. Trinity Academy – a secondary free school in Brixton – opened two weeks ago and originally had a planned admission number of […]

Free schools ‘creaking’ property search system should be given to professionals, says charity boss

The government should consider handing over responsibility for finding new school sites to property companies, the head of a charity that supports proposed free schools has said. Writing exclusively for Schools Week, Natalie Evans (see page 8), director of the New Schools Network, called on the government to look into alternatives to the “creaking” system […]

Bradford ‘destitute’ pupils missing out on extra cash

Yorkshire schools are missing out on at least £650,000 pupil premium funding with foreign children ineligible for free school meals (FSM). When families from the European Economic Area (EEA) are able to claim for certain benefits such as Jobseekers Allowance, which allow them to claim for FSM, the schools can access additional cash to benefit […]

Letter exposes U-turn on AET outsourcing

The Department for Education (DfE) appears to have made a U-turn on its involvement in a plan by the country’s largest academy chain to outsource non-teaching roles. Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) announced earlier this year it wanted to outsource non-teaching roles in a contract worth up to £400m. In February, Dominic Herrington, the former director […]