Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

What school leaders need to know about HSE spot checks

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) published an Education eBulletin on 4 September announcing its intention that, alongside businesses, it will be carrying out spot checks on schools, writes Hayley Dunn. Spot checks will be in the form of a phone call to review measures taken for reopening to “minimise the spread of the virus […]

Ofqual accused of ‘scapegoating’ heads’ union over deflated grades fall-out

Ofqual has been accused of trying to “scapegoat” a headteachers’ union amid the fall-out over deflated grades. The regulator has been facing challenges to offer an appeal route for schools that followed advice to mark down their own teacher grades in line with historical results. Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and […]

It’s official: DfE doesn’t know how many schools have covid cases

The Department for Education does not hold information on the number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in schools, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. The return to school has been disrupted with reports hundreds of schools have sent children home after suspected covid-19 cases, or a struggle to get those with symptoms tested. An […]

Academy trust co-founded by Tory donor has primary school terminated

A academy trust co-founded by a multi-millionaire Conservative party donor and luxury hotel chain owner will be stripped of one of its schools after “failing to improve” standards. Landau Forte Academy Moorhead saw only 28 per cent of pupils met the expected standard in reading, writing and maths in 2019, compared to a national average […]

‘Widespread frustration’ among school governors over ‘nonsensical’ roepening rules

Decisions over reopening schools “weighed heavily” on school governors who say a “lack of clarity” from authorities, “nonsensical” competing demands and pressure from unions caused “widespread frustrations”. The concerns are revealed in the ‘Governing in unprecedented times’ study published today by Ofsted and the National Governance Association. One of the main concerns from governors and […]

TV star and celeb GP hired for ‘back-to-school’ promo

Ministers have come under fire for paying a television presenter up to an estimated £15,000 for social media posts promoting the government’s back-to-school campaign. Kirsty Gallacher used her Twitter and Instagram accounts to “reassure parents on the changes and safety measures in place at schools”. There’s a point where you wonder whether the government is […]

Exams 2020: Education unions call for ‘urgent’ inquiry into grades fiasco

Unions representing hundreds of thousands of school staff have demanded an independent inquiry into the exam grades fiasco. Teaching unions the National Education Union and NASUWT, along with leadership unions NAHT and ASCL, have written to education secretary Gavin Williamson calling for an “urgent and independent” inquiry into the process of awarding A-levels, GCSEs and […]

Schools cry foul over missing BTEC results

Schools and colleges across England are still awaiting the results of some vocational qualifications, despite a promise from government that all grades would be issued by today. Some pupils have been told they may have to wait until next week to receive grades for BTECs and other vocational qualifications. The Department for Education and Pearson, […]

Schools that deflated own grades can’t appeal, says Ofqual

Schools that followed advice to mark down their own teacher grades will not be allowed to appeal because they did not make an error, Ofqual has said. The regulator has confirmed today that schools “cannot raise concerns about its CAGs on the basis that another institution took a different approach, that different teachers could have come […]