Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

Anne Heavey, national director, Whole School SEND

Anne Heavey hated school so much that she dropped out when she was 13, and it took the local authority two years to find out. She did her GCSEs in a year at the local pupil referral unit, and a year later successfully applied to Oxford. “I think they like a wild card,” she says, […]

Ofsted backs education committee’s call for new ‘inclusion measure’

Ofsted has thrown its weight behind the parliamentary education committee’s call for a new “inclusion measure” that would incentivise schools to keep troubled pupils on their books. In its ‘Forgotten Children’ report in July, the cross-party committee said schools should be made accountable for the children they exclude. The number of children excluded from schools in England […]

Emphasis of Ofsted inspection to shift from classroom

The emphasis of Ofsted inspections will “shift up the management structure”, but lesson observations will continue because teachers want them, Amanda Spielman has said. The chief inspector of schools told Schools Week that although she wasn’t pledging “in absolute terms” that inspectors will spend less time in lessons, schools should see the “weighting” of involvement […]

The school giving pupils stolen bikes

When Churchill Community College brought in three local employers to talk about career opportunities, some of the “most disaffected” boys thought they were lying, says David Baldwin, executive head of Churchill and Norham High School in Tyneside. It was a disaster. The boys hated it. They learnt nothing from it. They were difficult. And at […]

Trust gets £300,000 for taking over troubled Whitehaven Academy

An academy trust was given more than £300,000 in government funding to aid its takeover of a troubled Bright Tribe school. The Cumbria Education Trust took over the Whitehaven Academy in September. The school has been in special measures since late 2016, and more recently was at the centre of a row between parents and […]

Should Ofsted be abolished? Bousted debates Mastin

Should it stay or should it go? Or should it be reformed? The debate on the future of Ofsted continues, this time between Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, and Steve Mastin, chair of the Conservative Education Society Mary Bousted: The question isn’t quite whether Ofsted should exist, because it does; […]

DfE funding ‘poster boy’ marches on Downing Street over cuts

Just two years ago The Weald School was lauded as an example of financial efficiency by the Education Skills and Funding Agency. Tomorrow its headteacher will march on Downing Street to deliver a letter to chancellor Phillip Hammond protesting against school funding cuts. “I am the poster boy on efficiency for the Department for Education,” […]

Better behaviour: A guide for teachers

Jarlath O’Brien brings his wide-ranging experience to bear in this plea to teachers and school leaders to truly understand children’s behaviour, and there is much to commend this book. Over the first chapters O’Brien advocates a highly empathetic approach to improving behaviour, drawing on lessons learned from psychological research and his own career. Throughout the […]

Shireland Collegiate Academy: The school replacing TAs with technology

Shireland Collegiate Academy has been signposted by the DfE as an example of EdTech best practice. Schools Week went to observe the teaching in their immersive room and chat to the leadership team about what they’re doing, and why If you ask the Department for Education which schools are doing EdTech well, Shireland Collegiate Academy […]