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18 April 2026

Author: Nicky Phillips

US politics presentation for Norwich pupils

Pupils at City Academy Norwich have given their thoughts on the some of the world’s biggest issues. As part of a major listening exercise with British young people by the Embassy of the United States, US diplomat Tim Gerhardson visited the school last week to deliver a presentation and discussion with 23 year 11 students. […]

Stomp! beats a path to Rickstones’ door

New Rickstones Academy pupils received a masterclass in dustbin banging and crashing from the former stars of West End show Stomp! Cast members Manasseh Jackson and David Gallagher brought their musical bins to inspire the music and drama students in Essex. The pupils were encouraged to first use their bodies and then the props to […]

Transparency is needed from schools commissioners, not marketing

Six months ago I sat in a room in Oxfordshire full of top school leaders – mostly chiefs of multi-academy trusts – and chaired a discussion where they could ask education policy experts questions. To my surprise, the most popular questions were about regional schools commissioners (RSCs). What were they for? How much of a […]

Featured: Windmill Academy pupils speed to science success

The world’s fastest accelerating vehicle took centre stage at Windmill Academy as a reward for pupils who won an inter-school science competition. The Top Fuel Dragster from the Santa Pod raceway and some of the Santa Pod team taught the Northamptonshire pupils all about the science behind the car before they got the chance to […]

Forget the local school model, we need to break the housing price influence

The evidence is clear: local schools favour well-off parents, while more enrolment in publicly-funded private schools increases equity. The government should be encouraging more private providers to enter the market Every child should have the opportunity to succeed educationally. But for many, education equity is hard to come by. Disadvantage has proven stubbornly difficult to […]

Maths teachers get highest bursaries – but drop out more

Maths had the largest drop-out rates among trainee teachers despite offering the biggest bursaries, Schools Week can exclusively reveal. A survey of 30 providers by the National Association of School Based Teacher Trainers (NASBTT) has for the first time collected figures by subject and reason for trainees who leave before completing their courses. It found […]

Teaching Leaders programme to double in size

The government is more than doubling its support for a social enterprise offering professional development to middle leaders in schools with challenging intakes, in a bid to improve teacher retention. Started in 2008, Teaching Leaders has supported 1,958 classroom teachers across more than 900 schools with a leadership responsibility – for example, a subject lead […]

Sir David Carter: National schools commissioner dodges transparency questions

The new national schools commissioner, Sir David Carter, is keeping quiet about plans to make his office more open, despite promising to bring transparency to the role since he took over. Sir David (pictured), who started the job at the beginning of February, was unable to answer questions about his plans to introduce a new […]