Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

The government has published new guidance to remind mixed schools that segregating pupils by gender is “unlawful discrimination”, following Ofsted’s battle with an Islamic school. Ofsted criticised Birmingham’s Al-Hijrah school for its policy of teaching boys and girls entirely separately, including making them “walk down separate corridors” and have separate lunchtimes. In October, the Court […]

A government scheme to encourage former teachers to return to the classroom missed its targets and is “unlikely to represent good value for money” after large numbers of people without the right experience signed up. The Return to Teaching pilot programme, which ran from 2015, aimed to support 650 former teachers to teach EBacc subjects […]

A Jewish girls’ school which redacted textbooks showing men and women on the same page, paintings by Picasso and bare skin on ankles, wrists or necks has been placed in special measures. Ofsted has condemned the Yesodey Hatorah Senior Girls School in north London, which teaches pupils exclusively from the Charedi community, as ‘inadequate’ and […]

Trustees of an academy in Gloucestershire have been warned it could be rebrokered to a new sponsor if serious concerns raised by Ofsted are not addressed. The Gloucester Academy, run by The White Horse Federation, was rated ‘inadequate’ after inspectors visited in April, and urged to undertake an external review of pupil premium funding to assess […]

Ofqual has acknowledged “allegations of malpractice or wrongdoing” in an A-level maths exam taken today. In a statement posted online, the exams regulator said it is working with Pearson to “establish the facts” about what happened with the Edexcel C4 maths paper and asked anyone with information to come forward. Commentators on social media alleged […]

A last-ditch attempt to prevent Suffolk county council from making drastic cuts to its free school transport provision has been made by opposition councillors. The drastic cuts, which are expected to have a “significant impact” on pupil numbers at some schools in the county, were unanimously approved at a meeting of Suffolk’s Conservative cabinet on […]

Ofsted will focus more on pupil behaviour from next year, and headteachers who make badly behaved pupils write lines or do community service will be given its “full support”, the chief inspector of schools has said. In her keynote speech to the Festival of Education, Amanda Spielman explained how Ofsted’s new inspection framework, which comes […]

Pupils in disadvantaged areas are more likely to be taught by inexperienced maths teachers or someone without a maths degree, according to a report into the impact of teacher shortages. Key stage five maths pupils at the most disadvantaged schools are almost twice as likely to have an inexperienced teacher than those in the most […]

The Treasury does not know whether private finance initiative (PFI) contracts offer value for money and has no plans to find out, a powerful committee of MPs has warned. A report from the public accounts committee, released today, told the government to be “much clearer” about the use of PFI contracts and their benefits. PFI […]