Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

Ukip keeps schtum on plans to deny school places to immigrant children

The UK Independence Party (Ukip) this week remained tight-lipped about a policy to deny free state education to immigrants’ children for five years after their entering England when figures revealed it would destabilise pupil numbers and school funding. On its website, Ukip says immigrants “must financially support themselves and their dependants for five years” after […]

EXCLUSIVE: Grey Coat school apologises for donation ‘confusion’

A top state school has apologised to parents after Schools Week exclusively revealed their admissions letter appeared to breach laws by asking for donations. Grey Coat Hospital School in Westminster requested a £120 cheque from prospective parents of sixth-form students, despite admission rules forbidding it. Parents at the Church of England school also claimed they […]

Oremi Evans, headteacher, the Brookfield School

The only person at Brookfield who doesn’t seem to believe that the special school’s head is now a dame is the recipient herself. Staff are still buzzing about the New Year’s Honours award, but Dame Oremi Evans seems dumbfounded. “I had the letter on a Saturday morning and froze. I didn’t even see the damehood. […]

ISC and NASUWT – Comparing Manifestos – Part 2

In the run up to this May’s general election, Schools Week will analyse the manifestos of various education organisations, typically from opposite ends of the political spectrum. This second pre-election manifesto comparison is between the Independent Schools Council and the teachers’ union NASUWT Click here for part two.

Progress 8: New measure undervalues low ability pupils

Schools adding value around the bottom of the ability range during the transition from legacy GCSEs to the new 1 to 9 grading system will get “significantly less recognition” within the new Progress 8 headline score, claims the leader of a successful academy trust. Progress 8 aims to capture the progress pupils make from the […]

Pupil premium: is the £2.5bn cash injection raising standards?

Schools Week is exploring the way vulnerable groups of learners have fared under the coalition. In the third of a five-part series, John Dickens looks at who exactly is benefiting as schools receive more than £6bn of pupil premium funding and questions if is really closing the attainment gap between disadvantaged pupils and their wealthier […]

Eight months in and how have the RSCs fared?

Regional Schools Commissioners are part of the government’s middle tier of accountability for academies. Brought in last September, they were told to tackle underperformance and to boost the number of academy sponsors. So what have they’ve done so far? A Freedom of Information request to release full details of the meetings of England’s eight Regional […]

Former free school head charged with fraud

A free school’s former principal has vowed to clear his name after he was charged with multiple fraud offences. Sajid Raza, founder of the Kings Science Academy in Bradford, was last week charged with three offences of fraud by abuse of position, three offences of false accounting, two offences of obtaining a money transfer by […]

PSHE teacher slump in face of £700 course fee

The number of teachers training in personal, social, health and economics (PSHE) education has fallen 90 per cent, according to figures released by the education select committee. After the coalition stopped funding free access to accredited PSHE courses, the numbers in the scheme fell from 1,937 in 2010 to just 175 last year. Only 141 […]