Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

Conquerors return from Mt Kilimanjaro

A group of 14 teenagers walked through their school gates feeling like conquerors this term after successfully scaling Mt Kilimanjaro over the summer. The team of sixth-formers from Nottingham Girls’ High School completed the climb as part of a three-week journey to Tanzania. The team, chosen after fitness tests and written applications, raised more than […]

Kim Knappett, Jamie Barry and Clive Paskell

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) has started the new academic year with a new president, secondary school science teacher Kim Knappett. Born in south-east London, Ms Knappett started her career in 1987. She taught for two years in Middlesex before returning to south-east London where she now teaches at Forest Hill School. She […]

You’re never too young to start coding, says Sir Clive

Entrepreneur Sir Clive Sinclair wants children as young as seven to learn how to code computers. Sir Clive’s new learning scheme, “Every Child Can Code”, created by Retro Computers, plans to encourage and enable children to code their own games programs. They can then exchange their games by email – with the company promising to […]

Don the denim next Friday

Pupils can swap their uniforms for denim next week and join Kate Moss and SpongeBob SquarePants to raise money for children with genetic disorders. Schools that sign up for the 20th Jeans for Genes Day on Friday, September 18, will receive free educational materials, toolkits, assembly and fundraising ideas, and event checklists. About one in […]

How to start addressing extremism in the classroom

Discussing extremism requires knowledge of a wide range of issues unconnected to the mainstream curriculum, as well as clarity, objectivity and the confidence to respond to difficult questions. Here are some suggestions as to how to frame the major questions — and approaches to answering them The Counter-Terrorism and Security Act 2015 introduced statutory obligations on […]

Gove former advisor urges government to scrap PGCE fees

A former adviser to Michael Gove has urged the government to scrap tuition fees for trainee teachers and to tear up the current School Direct application process, in a bid to increase teacher numbers. Sam Freedman (above), now a director at TeachFirst, told the delegates about the “depressing” current outlook. “As anyone involved in schools […]

Teaching assistant standards still delayed after six months

A review into the role of teaching assistants has been delayed by more than six months, with no date yet set for publication, Schools Week can reveal. In October last year, the Department for Education (DfE) launched a review into the “status and professionalism” of classroom assistants, promising a report in spring this year that […]

Summer-born admissions change raises questions about post-16 costs

Plans announced this week to allow summer-born children to enter reception classes after their fifth birthday have been warmly welcomed by campaigners for change, but outstanding issues on school funding will need to be examined first, the government has confirmed. A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson told Schools Week that a consultation on proposals to […]

Zero-hours contracts increase in education sector

Nearly one in four businesses in the education sector employ staff on contracts without a minimum number of hours, new figures reveal. An Office for National Statistics (ONS) survey published last week found the number of education businesses using contracts without guaranteed hours rose from 15 to nearly 25 per cent. These include the controversial […]