Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

Angie Browne, principal, Steiner Academy Bristol

Steiner schools have a somewhat controversial reputation. Based on the ideas of Rudolf Steiner, an Austrian occultist who died in 1925, the schools were recently described as “playful and hippyish” in a Newsnight segment – whereas officials in the Department for Education have raised concern that Steiner’s works are racist and anti-Semitic. Two things are […]

Ofsted receives over 1,800 disqualification waiver requests

Ofsted has not turned down a single application for suspended workers to return to schools after scores of staff were caught in confusion over new safeguarding laws, Schools Week has exclusively found. Under childcare laws, workers previously convicted of certain types of crime, or those living with someone with a conviction, face automatic disqualification from […]

‘How the new SEND statement replacements work’

A new special educational needs (SEN) system has been in place for more than a year. But have the changes been positive? Laxmi Patel gives them a broad thumbs up – but warns that cuts are taking their toll 1. More involvement from children, young people and families The new system puts children and young people […]

‘Can I fail Ofsted if a child I teach goes to fight in Syria?’

Despite Ofsted’s changes to the framework, we are already doing what we can – and how is this new duty imposed on us any different to what went before? This week I received more than 50 emails trying to sell me things for our school – 15 of them related to radicalisation, extremism or the […]

Replacement SEN statements cause ‘postcode lottery’ in school funding

Schools are facing a “postcode lottery” in funding due to variations in the implementation of new special needs reforms, a legal expert has warned. A law introduced education, health and care plans (EHCPs) for people up to 25 who had previously had a statement of special educational needs. All pupils with high needs will have […]

Private school head pledges not to speak with media on results day

The head of Wellington College has said he will not speak to the press on GCSE results day, claiming newspapers do not give context to results. The independent school will, from this summer, no longer actively provide information on its results for league tables produced by newspapers in the immediate aftermath of the August results. […]

Holocaust survivor’s account streamed to schools

The testimony of Holocaust survivor Rudi Oppenheimer was streamed live into hundreds of schools across the country last week. More than 30,000 people watched the video to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on January 27. Rudi is a survivor of concentraction camp Bergen-Belsen and was awarded the British Empire Medal in the latest New Year’s Honours […]

One rabbit won: pupil’s drawing takes prize

Stanley Robb’s depiction of a rabbit in a forest has won a national arts competition to design the front cover of a schools art catalogue. The eight-year-old pupil (pictured) from Wooldale Junior School in Holmfirth was selected from more than 150 entries from across the country. In addition to his design being published on the front […]

United Learning pupils take part in musical

Pupils from United Learning schools across the country took to the boards for a performance of Zimbe! at London’s Lyceum Theatre last week. Conducted by the composer Alexander L’Estrange, more than 1,000 students and their teachers from the trust performed songs from the fusion of traditional African song and jazz. The students had all been […]