Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

One of the country’s largest academy trusts has told its schools to ditch three-year GCSEs by next September, despite warning the change will have “budgetary implications for any school”. Harris Federation has instructed its 27 secondary and all-through schools to make the change amid growing concerns that Ofsted will mark down schools that have an […]

Confidential documents used to train Ofsted inspectors for curriculum “deep-dives” have been leaked to at least one school, prompting fears of unfair advantages under the new framework. The inspectorate insists the documents are still in development and will not give any school an undue benefit over others, but confirms inspectors have been instructed not to […]

Inspectors allegedly told school leaders that awarding an ‘outstanding’ rating was out of the question because they ran three-year GCSEs. The findings question Ofsted’s insistence it has no “preferred curriculum” or stance on the length of a schools’ key stage 3 and 4. It is making judgments about things it really doesn’t need to More […]

The attainment gap between poor pupils and their peers widens when off-rolled youngsters are taken into account, a new study has found. Meanwhile separate research published today suggests Michael Gove’s reforms have also widened the attainment gap – leading to calls for more support for disadvantaged pupils.   ‘Off-rolling’ widens gap – but ‘reweighted’ league […]

Academy bosses being secretly banned from running other schools has happened on just the one occasion, the government claims. Schools Week revealed last month the Education and Skills Funding Agency wrote to former leaders of two collapsed Manchester free school trusts “strongly discouraging” them from “further involvement in schools”. Lord Agnew, the academies minister, also […]

A secondary school rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted for entering all its year 11 pupils into a vocational PE qualification says it is fighting the “flawed” and “nonsensical” judgment. St Antony’s Catholic College, in Trafford, has denied it is “gaming” after the Ofsted verdict and launched a legal challenge against the report which its headteacher described […]

A project to deter vulnerable teenage girls from radicalisation may be extended to reach working-class boys at risk of far-right extremism. The Compass project, run by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, has supported more than 500 young women in the four years since its creation. Embedded in six secondary schools in east London […]

An academy trust accused of planning to off-roll its underperforming pupils has been criticised over unexplained pupil moves and the over-use of isolation at one of its schools. The Farnley Academy, run by the Gorse Academies Trust, has dropped from ‘outstanding’ to ‘requires improvement’ after inspectors raised concerns that it was not doing enough to keep […]

An academy trust spent almost £20,000 renting a two-bedroom flat for its chief executive – and won’t say whether it got government approval for the deal. Floreat Education Academies Trust spent £15,000 renting the flat, near to Floreat Montague Park primary school in Wokingham, for Janet Hilary. The rental, which incurred another £4,000 in utility, […]