Author: Nicky Phillips

A move in 2016 to the new universal credit system for unifying benefits may make it more difficult to identify disadvantaged pupils, says the National Audit Office (NAO). Its warning comes amid concerns that the funding for poorer pupils has not protected budgets in schools in disadvantaged communities. Released this week, the NAO report on […]

The education secretary reassured governors that she knows how important they are – revealing that it’s something her husband Jonathan (a governor of three schools) is keen to stress. Nicky Morgan said that the importance of governors would grow as the sector moved to a school-led system. “But perhaps don’t tell that to my husband […]

A regional schools commissioner (RSC) has brushed aside any possible conflict of interest after being given new powers to turn “coasting” school into academies – although he will be judged on how many schools he converts. Under newly proposed legislation it will be down to RSCs to judge whether a school defined as coasting has […]

More than 50 free schools have postponed opening in the past two years amid concerns that some would not offer a good standard of education, Schools Week can reveal. Figures released to the paper under Freedom of Information laws show 53 free schools have pushed back their opening dates since September last year. All free […]

A fifth of secondary schools in two regional school commissioner (RSC) areas would be classed as coasting under current pupil data – raising fresh fears about the capability of their teams to cope. Exclusive analysis for Schools Week, put together by Education Datalab, has broken down the number of coasting schools per RSC area. It […]

The government’s view that the systematic teaching of phonics is crucial to reading success has been dealt a blow by a new evaluation commissioned by the Department for Education (DfE). The phonics screening check (PSC) is an individual, oral assessment of pupils in the second year of primary school. It requires pupils to read words […]

Art teachers are experiencing “fear and panic” as they are forced to teach subjects in secondary schools that they are not trained in, says a professional association. The National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD), which represents art educators, told Schools Week that a number of members are concerned that curriculum changes means […]

The national body for governors has questioned plans announced this week by the education secretary to look into axing the requirement for a school to have parents, local authority and staff governors. Nicky Morgan, speaking at the National Governors’ Association (NGA) Manchester conference on Saturday, said she wants to move away from the stakeholder model […]