Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

Ofsted’s “deep dives” into the curriculum have focused on reading and mathematics, but reports show inspectors are scrutinising subjects outside their expertise. Schools Week’s analysis of the 55 inspection reports published so far show they focused on maths in 50 schools and reading in 46. However, some lead inspectors are not listed on the Ofsted […]

Primary schools have been told they’re not expected to “teach in a secondary way”, as early analysis shows grades fell in fewer than one in five after new inspections. Previous analysis based on trial runs of Ofsted’s new framework found primaries scored poorly on curriculum quality. Ofsted pledged to give schools a year’s grace to […]

A police investigation into the collapsed Bright Tribe academy trust has been referred to the City of London’s fraud squad. The trust was reported to Cumbria police back in 2017 following allegations of financial mismanagement at Whitehaven Academy. However police have refused to provide information about the nature of their enquiries. Schools Week has now […]

Ofsted has criticised a school for running three-year GCSEs and having too few pupils taking the English Baccalaureate as the first wave of reports under the new inspection framework are published. The framework, which came into force last month, includes an overall quality of education judgement which Ofsted has said will place emphasis on the […]

A troubled academy trust has been hit with a rare second financial notice and told to bring in business experts as trustees after ongoing concerns about “weak financial governance and management”. Rodillian Multi Academy Trust, which runs four schools in Yorkshire, has been told it must appoint new trustees that are approved by the Education […]

Trainee teachers in physics, chemistry and modern foreign languages will get new retention payments of up to £9,000 staggered across the first four years of their teaching career – on top of their £26,000 bursary payment. The new phased bursaries, first set out in the government’s teacher recruitment and retention strategy in January, will come […]

With very little to announce on schools, Gavin Williamson and Nick Gibb introduced the Conservative Party conference to their newest superheads. Here’s what the four free school leaders had to say… Kerry Burnham Exeter Maths School A graduate of the University of Exeter and an advanced skills maths teacher, Burnham was appointed to run the […]

The number of schools asking to opt out of legal requirements to provide a daily act of Christian worship appears to be slowing, but more are choosing to run “multi-faith” alternatives instead. Of the 48 schools that applied to their local Standing Advisory Council on Religious Education (SACRE) board to opt out of the daily […]

Ministers are under pressure from their own supporters to bring forward reforms to school funding as soon as possible, as schools prepare to receive a promised cash injection from the government. At the Conservative Party conference, party activists spoke of the need for a fairer funding system to complement the additional £7.1 billion in funding […]