Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

Head denies creating a ‘technical academy’ is a form of streaming

An all-through trust that will give pupils a “choice” between two schools offering a different “type of teaching” once they reach year 9 has denied that it is streaming pupils. In September next year, the Bury St Edmunds all-through trust will open a free school that it is calling a “technical academy”. It will take […]

Government confirm £300m available for academy conversion – the rest will go to existing trusts

Half of the £600 million earmarked to support the conversion of schools into academies will be handed to existing multi-academy trusts. The Department for Education has finally released the breakdown of the funding to convert all schools by “building capacity” in the system. However, it has confirmed that just £300 million will be handed to […]

Schools at risk of losing premises after charity defaults

Two schools have been put at “significant risk” of losing their shared building and playing fields after the charity that owns their land was put under investigation after missing loan repayments. The Charity Commission launched an inquiry last week into the Wolverhampton-based Nanaksar Thath Isher Darbar (NTID) charity. Commission officials said they had “serious concerns” […]

Government plans ‘super SCITT’ for MFL teacher training crisis

A “super” school-led scheme to train language teachers is the latest government plan to ease staff shortages. Schools Week understands teaching schools and universities have been approached to create a “super SCITT” [school-centred initial teacher training]. The government would encourage teaching schools, of which there are more than 600, to focus on training language teachers. […]

Two new expert groups will review MFL and primary schools

The government has commissioned two more expert review groups, despite its delay in publishing a number of other reports. Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has asked the Teaching Schools Council (TSC) to review modern foreign languages pedagogy in secondary schools and effective teaching practices in primary schools. The reviews were announced in April and come […]

Academies and sponsors – who’s being approved (Feb 2016)

The government has released the decisions made by headteacher boards between January 16 and February 15. The boards are comprised of between four and eight elected and appointed members and chaired by the area’s regional schools commissioner (RSC). Nearly a quarter of requests to convert schools to become academies were deferred, but none was declined. […]

Dr Ranj goes live into schools

Paediatrician and TV doctor, Dr Ranj Singh, will deliver a live first-aid lesson next month to teach lifesaving skills to schoolchildren around the country. The Big First Aid Lesson Live, which was presented by Claudia Winkleman last year, will deliver two lessons – one for primary and one for secondary schools. It will cover topics […]

How you can evaluate the impact of your decisions

With the government increasingly asking for evidence that initiatives have had “impact”, Stuart Kime writes a step-by-step guide for creating those documents Professor John Hattie’s entreaty for teachers to “know thy impact” is a laudable and important one. But knowing is hard. How can a teacher or school leader know what impact their choices had […]

Over-60s go back to school

Computer whizzes from a school in Milton Keynes shared their skills last week when a local over-60s group attended a technology drop-in session. Working in small groups, the guests received a masterclass on how to use and get the most out of their laptops, tablets and smartphones from year 9 computing and business students at […]