Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

School Funding Changes: Made Simple

The way in which the Dedicated Schools Grant, one of the main components of school funding, is calculated is changing. The Department for Education says that, for the first time in a decade, funding will be based on pupil characteristics rather than historic levels of spending. With additional guidance recently brought out on this, Schools […]

Wrestling stars muscle in on anti-bullying assembly

Three stars from the wrestling ring formed an unlikely alliance with a Tory politician last week. But it was all in a good cause. Kofi Kingston, Paige and Big E from World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) joined children and families minister Edward Timpson for a special assembly on bullying at the Ark Globe Academy, south London. […]

Schools Week editorials

Edition eight editorial New DfE building to include gym and art collection When Nicky Morgan said spare money should be spent in schools, she was right. Given we have reported on schools with malfunctioning generators and temporary premises there are plenty of places that need it. Though the government may save money with the move, it […]

FEATURED: the new regional schools commissioners

Would-be whistleblowers need to know that all avenues to tell their stories are “quite open”, says Pank Patel, the regional schools commissioner for the West Midlands. He said that in light of the Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham “we need to be very clear that . . . people should be listened to”. Allegations about […]

Commodore opens new academy building

A new state-of-the-art building in a Portsmouth academy includes staircases covered in times-tables and portraits of some of the city’s most famous residents, including Rudyard Kipling and Arthur Conan Doyle, on the walls of its canteen. The new building was officially opened at Charter Academy last week with the help of a high-ranking Royal Navy […]

‘Passionate’ teacher wins award

When Suzy Pett took this year’s outstanding new teacher award, she didn’t know a former head girl was in the star-studded audience. The English teacher from Surbiton High School, Surrey, became the first in 15 years from an independent school to win the Pearson Gold Award for new teachers. Guests at the teaching awards final, […]

East End pair raise funds on a bicycle built for two

A partially sighted teenager has completed a 60km charity cycle ride on a tandem with one of his teachers. Year 11 pupil Abdirahman Ibrahim and teacher Stuart Block from Morpeth School in Bethnal Green, east London, joined 60 other cyclists for the final leg of the Dallaglio Cycle Slam, a fundraising event held every other […]

Joshua heads for the bright lights

An 18-year-old Birmingham pupil is set to tread the boards with the help of an Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation scholarship. Joshua Gannon, a pupil at Birmingham Ormiston Academy (BOA), will now go on to the Guildford School of Acting where a three-year BA Musical Theatre course will further develop his acting, singing and dancing skills. […]

Fired up with a host of new skills

Learners from a London school know how to use ladders, hoses and breathing apparatus after a week’s fire training course at London Fire Brigade’s Tottenham fire station. Octagon Alternative Provision Academy students marked the end of their training with a full uniform parade. Mason Mustafa, Narimane Rebhaoui and Eren Kocager were presented with training certificates […]