Samantha Booth | Schools Week

Exams 2021: Contingency plans revealed as ministers attempt to avoid another fiasco

The government will ensure grades for next year’s exams are as generous as those awarded this summer, under a new package of measures announced today to try and avoid another exams fiasco. Under the plans, pupils will also get advance notice of topics in certain subjects, be allowed to take in exam aids such as […]

Staff and pupils recommended to layer up as schools work to keep classrooms ventilated

Staff and pupils are being told to layer up as schools struggle to keep classrooms both ventilated for covid safety and warm during dropping temperatures. Unions are urgently seeking updated information on how schools should manage the winter period with windows and doors open, with heads predicting heating costs could double. The Health and Safety […]

Revealed: The details behind ex-superhead Sir Craig Tunstall’s dismissal

A superhead received “unauthorised” payments of nearly £300,000 that helped to plunge his former federation of schools into deficit, court documents have revealed. Sir Craig Tunstall is suing Lambeth Council in south London in the High Court for at least £200,000 over claims that an “excessive workload”, exacerbated by plans to open a free school, […]

Trust sets up own tutoring company to stop £1bn catch-up cash seeping into private sector

A former regional school commissioner turned trust CEO is spearheading a new school-led tutoring agency to ensure government catch-up cash doesn’t get “dissipated” on profit-making companies. Unity Schools Partnership (USP), which has 29 academies in eastern England, has set up a trading subsidiary company called Schools Partnership Tutors. They hope to get approval for a […]

Confidence in accuracy of new inspections falls, long-awaited full Ofsted survey shows

Fewer schools think Ofsted’s new inspections are accurate and clear, full survey results finally released by the watchdog have revealed. Ofsted has today published the full responses to it post-inspection surveys, which includes those dating back to 2015 under the old framework. It follows a Freedom of Information request battle by Schools Week to get […]

Barred: Teachers in challenging schools shut out of DfE schemes over EBacc rates

Teachers in the most challenging schools are being barred from shaping policy or sharing their expertise as government limits access to its schemes based on EBacc entry rates. Analysis by Schools Week has found at least five Department for Education initiatives where a quota of pupils entered into the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) was part of […]