Nicky Phillips | Schools Week

Swinging back to the Fifties

You could be forgiven for thinking you’d become Doctor Who and travelled back in time if you visited Watford university technical college (UTC) last month when events and hospitality students arranged a “Back to the 50s” event in aid of a local charity. More than 70 people attended the afternoon, which included a diner menu […]

Girls receive less financial education than boys

Girls are receiving significantly less financial education than boys, a report today reveals. Only 36 per cent of girls currently study personal finance in comparison to 45 per cent of boys the same age, despite the topic being compulsory at GCSE level. The figures revealed by the Young Persons’ Money Index, published by financial education […]

Mike Cladingbowl, former national director for schools, Ofsted

Mike Cladingbowl is an imposing figure with a real “headteacher vibe” – although he’s just six months into his new job. When Knutsford Academy pupils pass him in the corridor there is a sense of awe, and slight trepidation. They are still getting used to their new leader. It is most likely his early family […]

Tech wizards run with their imaginations

Young tech wizards are revelling in their successes after showing off their winning innovations at the TeenTech Awards 2015. An e-water tap for Africa, a flatpack home for areas struck by disaster, sunglasses to monitor epilepsy and a colour-changing condom were just some of the winning ideas pitched by school students aged 11 to 18. […]

Cuckoo’s sweet sounds of success

Pupils at the Cuckoo Hall academy in north London struck the right chord at the finals of the recent Edmonton Glee Club competition. The 18-strong crew from years 3 to 6 at the London-based academy headed to the Lyric Theatre in the capital’s West End where they received the West End Vocal Excellence award. But […]

Matthew Pike, Julie Bloor and Jay Davenport

Matthew Pike will lead MacIntyre Academy in Nuneaton when it opens in September. The new school, part of the MacIntyre Academies Trust, will take in students aged 9 to 19 with autism, and emotional, social and mental health needs. “I have always wanted to make a difference to children who suffer with autism,” Mr Pike […]

Exercise is good for you and can be fun

Primary teachers have teamed up with Virgin Active and the University of Bedfordshire in a year-long programme to encourage children to be more active. The Active Inspiration scheme – which aims to get 500,000 young people more active over the next five years – will use summer camps and lesson plans to help staff develop […]

A chance to switch on to engineering

Youngsters are being invited to be a part of history by designing the keys for the fastest car in the world, the Bloodhound Supersonic. The aim of the design contest is to fire up pupils about careers in science, technology, engineering and maths, with the winning entry manufactured by the British Army Royal Electrical and […]

Ethnic minority students do better in sponsored academies

Black and Chinese pupils at sponsored academies were hit less hard by a dip in GCSE pass rates last year than their peers at converter and local authority schools, according to information released by the Department for Education (DfE). Figures in the Academies Annual Report, released on Tuesday, compared GCSE outcomes for pupils from different […]