Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

Chris Tweedale, chief executive, CfBT Schools Trust

It is raining heavily outside Abacus Belsize Primary, a chalet-like wooden structure hidden among a series of houses accessible via an almost invisible path near London’s grand King’s Cross Station. It’s early enough in the school year that parents are still hovering in the entrance, partly to avoid the wet, partly to watch their little […]

Moral character is built by more than sport

Research suggests that widely held beliefs about the character building nature of sport are wrong, with students who take part in music, choir or drama outside school responding better to moral dilemmas than those who do not In May this year education secretary Nicky Morgan invested more than £500,000 in a schools project which, despite […]

Education Funding Agency staff bag £510k in bonuses

The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has paid performance bonuses of £510,000 to its staff, angering school leaders as their members try to manage squeezed budgets. Figures exclusively obtained by Schools Week show the top 10 per cent of directors at the agency were awarded £15,000 each. Top performing deputy directors received £12,500, while the average […]

You don’t need to be paid to do a professional job

Sir Michael Wilshaw is right: governors need professional development. But he’s wrong about the money. It would be a mistake to do away with the voluntary nature of governance altogether Governance is getting better. Boards are taking their development seriously, many more understand performance data than five years ago, and far more are concentrating on […]

Academy warning notices: What are they? And how do they work?

The first termination notice issued to an academy in October has raised the question: just how many different types of “notice” are there? What are warning letters and notices? Sent to academies by regional schools commissioners, these letters and notices outline why the school has displeased the commissioner or is flouting its funding agreement. If […]

Are UTCs (vocational free schools) really stealing pupils from nearby schools?

Critical evaluations of the impact that vocational free schools — also known as university technical colleges (UTCs) — would have on nearby schools are inconsistent and in some cases inaccurate. Impact reports on UTCs opened in the past three years — and finally released this week by the government — reveal concerns about pupil numbers […]

Wayne Norrie, Delyth Roberts and Fran Abrams

Wayne Norrie will take over as chief executive of the Greenwood Dale Foundation Trust (GDFT) from January 1. He is currently an executive principal at the GDFT where he oversees quality assurance and supports nine of the trust’s academies in Northamptonshire. He was formerly a senior HMI inspector responsible for the East Midlands. In his […]

Teacher recruitment could turn from a serious problem into a crisis

The government risks making a bad recruitment situation worse through its reforms to teacher education. Under its “school-led” policy, the infrastructure is becoming increasingly fragmented, undermining long established, and often genuinely schools-led, training partnerships On December 9, the education select committee will take oral evidence as part of its inquiry into teacher supply. The witnesses, […]

Duchess supports Place2Be charity

The Duchess of Cambridge has spoken out about the crucial role schools play in tackling mental health problems early in life. Addressing school leaders and mental health experts at Place2Be’s headteacher conference in London, she spoke about how the roots of poor mental health in adulthood are “almost always present in unresolved childhood challenges”. She […]