Pippa Allen-Kinross | Schools Week

Ofsted to look at exclusions malpractice in the north-east

Inspectors will investigate whether schools in some parts of England are misusing exclusions, after it emerged that secondary schools in two areas suspended more than one in 10 of their pupils last year. Ofsted has ordered its staff to look at high rates of fixed-period exclusions in the north-east, Yorkshire and the Humber. Inspectors will […]

ESFA ‘to blame’ for rescinded school application

The government’s education funding arm “significantly contributed to the failure” of a new secondary school that had its planning permission rescinded just weeks before it was due to offer places, an MP has claimed. Bob Neill, the MP for Bromley and Chislehurst in London, has accused the Education and Skills Funding Agency of a “pattern […]

SENCO Forum finally fixed three months after DfE error

The National SENCO Forum is finally up and running again, in full almost three months after it was accidentally taken offline by the Department for Education. The 2,500 special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) who use the forum to contact each other for advice via an email chain were suddenly disconnected from the tool on November […]

Teachers need proper sex education training, warn experts

External speakers should not be used as substitutes for trained teachers under plans to make sex and relationships education compulsory in all schools, subject experts have warned. From September 2019 it will be compulsory to teach relationships education in all primary schools, and sex and relationships education in all secondary schools. However, there are concerns […]

United Learning and Ark in north-London turf war

Two of the country’s leading academy trusts have clashed over plans for an “unneeded” free school in north London. Plans for Ark to build the Ark Pioneer Academy – a secondary school with a sixth form – on the site of the former Underhill Stadium in Barnet are expected to be rubber-stamped soon despite objections […]

Questions over training and pay for school mental health leads

Schools are still none the wiser on the new mental health “leads” after it emerged the government is yet to decide how much training they will receive or whether teachers will be paid for taking on the role. The mental health support teams also being set up to help schools treat pupils may well be […]

Performance data on EAL pupils is ‘profoundly misleading’, warns EPI

Attainment scores for children with English as an additional language (EAL) are “profoundly misleading” and “distorted”, according to a new report. The Education Policy Institute (EPI) and the Bell Foundation want the government to add a “late-arrival premium” to its national funding formula to pay for additional support for EAL pupils, after their research found […]

SENCO forum is back up – but only for some

The National SENCO Forum has been partially restored nearly three months after it was taken offline by the Department for Education – but eight other special needs advice forums have faced the same issue. The forum, which allows 2,500 special educational needs coordinators (SENCOs) to contact each other for support through an email chain, was […]

Unions slam plan to rebuild burned-down school without sprinklers

The government has been accused of having a “shockingly cavalier” attitude to fire safety, as schools continue to be built without sprinkler systems. Unions have raised concerns about an announcement that Selsey Academy in West Sussex, which was almost completely destroyed by a fire in 2016, is set to be rebuilt without sprinklers because the […]