Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

‘My child was supposed to go to grammar school – we shop at Waitrose!’

When Joanne Bartley’s daughter failed her 11-plus, her opportunities contracted drastically. She has done well, but now faces a move to a third Kent secondary before she goes on to university. Selection, says her mother, is a self-perpetuating system that has little to do with social mobility When my daughter failed her 11-plus I was […]

The 3 ideas every teacher should bin in 2016

Most teachers will already have thought about what they’d like to achieve this new year. But what about the things they’d like to see the back of? During the festive season I thought about the teaching ideas posed by the Department for Education (DfE) that I’d like to see banished this year. Here are my […]

The Yo-Yo School: How John Cass went from ‘oustanding’ to inadequate’ and back again in one year

In November 2014, Sir John Cass’s Foundation and Redcoat School in east London was stripped of its outstanding rating after a no-notice inspection amid fears of “extremism”. A wave of no-notice inspections were carried out in that autumn term in response to the alleged “Trojan Horse” plot in Birmingham. The inspectors said the secondary school, […]

Editorial: Nicky Morgan needs to change the record on times tables check

Once upon a decade ago, I told my friend that if a DJ at a regular event we ran continued to play rubbish music I would be forced to take over myself. Only, I didn’t send the text to my friend. I sent it (accidentally) to the DJ. He flounced and I was left sheepishly […]

Government ‘does not hold’ grammar school documents Nicky Morgan spent 11 months reviewing

The Department for Education has refused to confirm whether it holds a controversial application form presented by a Kent grammar school to open an annexe, despite mounting pressure from campaigners who say its refusal is derailing a legal challenge. Campaigners have been weighing up if they should appeal the government’s decision to allow Weald of […]

Morgan’s online times tables check leads way for more screen-based assessments

Nicky Morgan’s announcement that children will take “high-stakes” online times-tables tests at the end of primary school could herald the start of more examinations moving online. Mathspace chief executive and teacher Tim Stirrup says it is a shame the tests will be done in a single “high stakes”, setting given that schools already teach up […]

Gaming is ‘good for children’s brains’, study suggests

Playing computer games in the classroom can improve pupil attainment, a study published today suggests. Brain imaging shows that concentration levels increase when students are faced with game-based learning conditions as opposed to conventional and multiple-choice questions. The brain “wanders” less when an element of competition and “uncertain reward” is introduced. “Technology has a reputation […]

‘How many schools did Ofsted rate last term? (And what did they get)’

On December 18, Schools Week showed the huge drop in inspections in the autumn term compared with 2014 (585 compared with 1,642). Sophie Scott now looks at the outcomes of those inspections, comparing them with the same term in 2014 Overall grade distribution Fewer schools were rated good or outstanding last autumn compared with autumn […]

Grammar to admit pupils who fail 11-plus but convince ‘review board’ of worthiness

A grammar school wants to boost numbers by offering places to pupils that fail their 11-plus – as long as they show “sufficient evidence of being grammar school standard”. Chatham Grammar School for Boys, in Kent, plans to award any unfilled places to children who fail the test. But they must provide an “admissions committee” with […]