Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

Delays over Khalsa free school legal battle leave founders in limbo

A delayed landmark decision has left a free school in limbo over its future. Khalsa Secondary Academy opened in a former office on greenbelt land in the wealthy village of Stoke Poges, South Buckinghamshire, in September 2013. It was granted a temporary planning application for 12 months while a full planning application was lodged. In […]

What has happened to the teacher workload groups?

Few teachers answered the series of questions in the DfE’s workload challenge on “unnecessary and unproductive tasks”. But apathy is no excuse for the government putting the challenge on the backburner — which will probably mean another wasted year until anything is done. Why are we still waiting? The 43,855 responses to the Department for […]

Free school rated inadequate after pupils locked in class

A free school supported by former education minister Liz Truss has been rated inadequate after being criticised for locking pupils in classrooms to “manage behaviour”. Ofsted also raised concerns about locked fire exits, no fire extinguishers in classrooms and missing statutory pre-employment checks of staff at The Pinetree School in Thetford, Norfolk. The alternative provision […]

Lucy Powell: This education bill will reverse support for heads

The government’s changes to education legislation are based on “narrow political tactics” that could have “serious unintended consequences”, Lucy Powell has warned as she launched Labour’s most vocal attack on the plans yet. In her first House of Commons appearance since her weekend appointment as shadow education secretary, Ms Powell attacked her Conservative opposite number […]

Creative writing and food-technology A level at risk of chop

More than 5,000 people have signed petitions against government plans to cull two A-level subjects. A consultation into the scrapping of the food technology A-level was launched days before the summer term ended, a move that has raised concerns that the proposal has been hidden from wider notice. In the documents, the Department for Education […]

Life after levels report finally published: the full list of recommendations

The government’s Commission on Assessment without Levels finally published its report today – nearly seven weeks after its scheduled release date. Created in response to concerns that teachers were struggling to prepare for the abolition of levels, it contains six recommendations for helping schools implement new assessment systems. The government’s response to the commission […]

Pupils told to behave for ‘success’ rather than ‘moral value’

Setting a clear moral purpose for pupils beyond the achievement of academic success could reduce the risk of students being attracted by extremist movements, research being presented tomorrow claims. Schools are currently telling pupils that they ought to behave because it will help them do well in exams, the British Educational Research Association will be […]

Ethnic minority pupils more likely to receive private tuition

Primary pupils from ethnic minority groups in the UK are more than twice as likely to receive private tuition outside school than their white peers, research has revealed. Children from Chinese, black or Indian backgrounds also appear to be doing more homework than white children. These findings will be presented by researchers from Newcastle University and from NatCen Social Research at the British Educational Research Association conference today. The researchers have been studying how a cohort […]

Sir Michael Wilshaw, chief inspector, Ofsted

Sir Michael Wilshaw has just revealed that his favourite childhood toy was a silver gun, and his favourite film is The Godfather. It is an emblematic moment. Known as a say-it-straight, rough, tough, make-‘em-sit-in-silence type headteacher, it fits his legend perfectly. Given that Ofsted is sometimes talked about by teachers as a form of mafia […]