Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

Schools are tightening the entry criteria for A-levels and discouraging some pupils from studying difficult subjects in response to reforms of the qualification, Ofqual has revealed. According to a report published today, some schools have begun encouraging “lower ability” pupils to study alternatives like BTECs because they are no longer able to “take a chance” […]

A failed multi-academy trust that runs schools for vulnerable excluded pupils reported inflated GCSE results after double-counting some qualifications, it has been revealed. Accounts of the Schools Company Trust, which will walk away from its three pupil referral units in Devon and mainstream secondary school in Kent this summer, reveal concerns over executive pay, fears for the […]

The right of schools to exclude autistic pupils who exhibit bad or aggressive behaviour faces a legal challenge this week, on the grounds that it is discriminatory. The upper tribunal, the court that deals with appeals against school exclusions, is expected to hear the case of a 13-year-old boy with special needs who was expelled from […]

The chief inspector of schools has not visited a sufficiently “diverse” range of nursery provision, according to critics, after official figures revealed five of the six early-years visits she made in one year were to schools. Amanda Spielman told the told the Pre School Learning Alliance annual conference on June 1 that she had “had the […]

Ministers must “ditch their favourite line” that there are now 1.9 million more children in ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ schools than there were in 2010, according to the EPI, which warns the figure is “flawed in several ways”. The EPI’s new report wants this often repeated statistic to “gracefully depart” as it does not take into account population […]

Parents who want their children to opt out from sex and relationships education (SRE) lessons should have to go into schools and “physically” remove their child from each lesson, according to leading human and LGBT+ rights campaigner Peter Tatchell. The activist told the Festival of Education that new compulsory sex and relationships education lessons, which […]

The chair of the powerful public accounts committee has published her annual report, including criticisms of the Department for Education’s approach to making savings and scrutinising the academies sector. Labour MP Meg Hillier has concerns about lack of funding, poor oversight at multi-academy trusts and the government’s struggle to get a grip on the teacher […]

Another university technical college has been rated ‘inadequate’, the eighth to receive Ofsted’s lowest grade. Derby Manufacturing UTC has been placed in special measures after getting a grade four across the board in a report which warned it was “failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education”. Safeguarding at the UTC is “not […]

The University of Chester Academies Trust (UCAT) will close and give up all seven of its schools after leaders admitted it “cannot continue to operate financially”. After announcing plans to walk away from four of its schools last month, UCAT has confirmed this week that it will also give up the remaining three. Leaders say […]