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19 April 2026

Author: Nicky Phillips

Baseline assessments are an impossible idea

From next year, an approved reception baseline assessment will be the only accepted way of measuring how well a primary school’s pupils have progressed to Year 6. Thousands of heads, however, are declining to participate Over the years I have learned, on arrival at a wedding reception, to reconnoitre the best escape route (“My dear, […]

Sir Richard Lambert, Dame Julia Cleverdon, Lewis Iwu and Barry Sheerman

The Fair Education Alliance has appointed Sir Richard Lambert as chair, Dame Julia Cleverdon as vice-chair, and Lewis Iwu as its director. The alliance was set up last year to find solutions to educational inequality and to monitor the progress made to narrow the gap. Mr Iwu says the main goal is to “send out […]

All 154 teaching school alliances evaluated so far have passed the test

More than 150 teaching school alliances that have gone through a review of their success have passed the government test. Using the Freedom of Information Act, Schools Week asked to see the outcome of reviews into teaching schools – a process carried out every four years. The Department for Education (DfE) evaluated 154 alliances from […]

Mary Bousted: ‘Don’t tell me I have low expectations’

Teachers care passionately about their pupils and strive to close the education achievement gap, but their job becomes more difficult as inequality and poverty levels rise – as they will under Conservative party policies Speaking last week at a Schools and FE Week Fringe at the Conservative party conference, I was accused by Nick Gibb, […]

More school sixth form closures as funding reality bites

Warnings over the viability of school sixth forms as post-16 funding cuts begin to bite are becoming a reality as a second school in two weeks says it has no choice but to close its senior classes. Ormiston Ilkeston Enterprise Academy in Derbyshire last week told parents that it will shut its sixth form next […]

Ofsted SEN area reviews should focus on exclusions

A headteacher has called for the high exclusion rates among pupils with special educational needs to be the one of the main focuses of new local area reviews. Beginning next May, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) will inspect all local areas at least once over the next five years to evaluate how well […]

Education Fellowship Trust says Ofsted criticism of its management is “out of date”

Ofsted says that a multi-academy trust’s “poor financial management” is a “major distraction” to driving up standards in its schools. A focused inspection in June by Ofsted into The Education Fellowship found “no clear record of improvement” across its 12 schools. The report, published on Tuesday, acknowledged that the trust’s leadership team knew what it […]

Pupils forced to stay in teachers’ homes during exam season

Increases in requests for exam access arrangements have led to a rise in the instances of schools having to find overnight accommodation for pupils, the chief executive of the Examination Officers’ Association has said. Andrew Harland (pictured above) told Schools Week that rules preventing pupils from sitting exams for more than six hours a day […]