Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

PE teacher fights his way to Las Vegas

A PE teacher from Essex will fight for Team UK in the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) event in the sport’s history. Joe Harding (pictured right), 25, of Maltings academy, was crowned British MMA champion last month in front of a 35,000-strong crowd, and will now join Team UK in this year’s international championships in […]

Why we’re all on board in the north east

Heads in the north east say that teacher recruitment is one of their greatest problems. So its regional network set up a jobs board all of its own – and so far things are blossoming, says Mike Parker It was a scene worthy of George Orwell’s dystopian masterpiece, Animal Farm. “Four legs good, two legs […]

Church leaders sign academies agreement

Catholic and Church of England leaders will have the final say on whether 5,500 schools under their control become academies, according to two new agreements with government. Academy conversions will take place only if the relevant church authority is satisfied that the school’s religious character will be maintained. It is expected most church schools will […]

Helping hand from school alumni

Thousands of state school pupils across the south west will soon be able to connect with successful alumni to give them confidence about entering the world of work. The scheme will link 12,000 students from 40 secondary schools and sixth-form colleges across Cornwall, Devon and Somerset to former students who will act as role models […]

Character education: teaching through subjects

Dr Tom Harrison, Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, University of Birmingham What have you been working on? The Teaching Character Through Subjects publication and programme of activities – funded by one of 12 character grants handed out by the Department for Education – is built on our prior research at the Jubilee Centre into […]

Angela Watts, Chris Hatherall, Tom Middlehurst and Bill Watkin

Angela Watts, deputy headteacher of King’s Oak Primary School in Bedford, is the new principal of Ruskin academy in Wellingborough. She will take up her new post in September. She says she wants to focus on “getting the teaching and learning right while making sure the curriculum is as exciting and as innovative as it […]

Church academy trust to absorb non-faith schools

The Church of England is planning to take over four non-religious schools in the north east as part of the government’s academisation plans. Secular campaigners have raised concerns that this will represent a “transfer of public land to the church”, while the diocese has downplayed the matter. Five schools are expected to become part of […]

Science lessons go live . . .

A primary school in Essex has brought practical science lessons to life, literally, as pupils watched in their classroom as a batch of chicks hatched. Teaming up with Wellgate community farm in Romford, Rob Hanmore and his reception class at Oasis academy Pinewood cared for the eggs in an incubator as part of a series of […]

Small sixth forms risk closure

New rules restricting the ability of academies to open sixth forms could prompt the closure of existing post-16 institutions, some school leaders believe. The government’s guidance for academies that want to make “significant changes” to their structure – including adding a sixth form – sets out four criteria that leaders will have to meet to […]