Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

Schools Week editorials

Edition six editorial Ofsted ditches inspector who copied reports After presenting Ofsted with irrefutable evidence of recycled reports from inspections less than six months ago, they have sacked the inspector. Additional [contracted] inspectors have been caught doing this before and have been sacked. But what is truly shocking about this latest copy-and-paste story is Ofsted knew he […]

Councils take court action on free school

Two councils have launched separate High Court challenges over the location of a free school. In the latest development in a long-running battle, South Buckinghamshire District Council and Stoke Poges Parish Council both announced on Tuesday that they were taking a planning decision by the Secretary of State for Local Government, Eric Pickles, to the […]

GCSE grade appeals up 56 per cent

Exam regulator Ofqual has published provisional data showing that the number of enquiries about results and appeals against results “has increased noticeably this year”. The data, which follows this summer’s exams, shows that GCSE enquiries increased 56 per cent and A-level enquires were up 34 per cent. However, grade changes increased by just over one […]

Agnew considers formal complaint against newspaper allegations

The chairman of an academy trust alleged to have received tip-offs over the date of Ofsted inspections says that the trust is considering making a formal complaint about the claims. Theodore Agnew (pictured below left), chairman of the Inspiration Trust, also said that a new investigation into the allegations would be a “huge waste of […]

Sikh-ethos school opens two months late as funding restored

A Sikh-ethos free school that had its funding withdrawn five days before it was due to open in early September will begin lessons on Monday, after being given the final go-ahead from the Department for Education (DfE). As previously reported by Schools Week, funding was withdrawn for Falcons Primary school in Leicester after two trustees […]

MPs shun select committee hearing on PSHE

An MP has spoken of her disappointment that as few as three MPs were present at an inquiry into making sex education compulsory in schools. The education select committee heard from eight professionals in its first session on personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE), and sex and relationship education (SRE). For most of the […]

Ofsted calls – when the teachers are on strike

A secondary school in Suffolk has been inspected last week, despite most staff taking part in industrial action at the time. NASUWT members were on strike at Lowestoft’s Benjamin Britten High School when inspectors visited last Wednesday. The union said that most teachers at the school – about 30 – took part in the industrial […]

Fifth change in junior post since 2010 as Fovargue joins Labour’s education team

New junior shadow education minister Yvonne Fovargue (pictured below) says she will “relish the chance” to take forward Labour’s education policies. In what was described as a “mini” reshuffle by the Labour party this week, Fovargue replaced Rushanara Ali in the education team. Ms Ali stepped down on September 27 after refusing to take part […]

Labour appoint new Junior Shadow Minister for Education in ‘mini’ reshuffle

In what has been described as a “mini” reshuffle by the Labour party this evening, Yvonne Fovargue MP has been appointed Junior Shadow Minister for Education. Fovargue (pictured) replaces Rushanara Ali, who stepped down on September 27, after refusing to take part in a vote on military action in Iraq. The new role in Labour’s education team […]