Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

Paul Luxmoore, CEO, Coastal Academies Trust

When we exchanged descriptions so we could recognise one another on the platform, Paul Luxmoore, CEO of the Coastal Academies Trust, described himself self-deprecatingly as “an overweight old grey man in a grey suit”. Thankfully, I don’t have to spend too much time dealing with awkward identification scenarios – he’s the only one waiting at […]

Celebrating 50 years of the International Baccalaureate

The International Baccalaureate Diploma programme is recognised as a rigorous preparation for universities in the UK and worldwide. And since 2012 the IB Organization has been offering a Career-related programme that schools can run in parallel, which offers a mix of academic and vocational training. Employers also appreciate the qualities the IB brings to job […]

David Laws and Natalie Perera, Executive chairman and Executive director, Education Policy Institute

I’m at the new Education Policy Institute offices at 9am on a sweltering Monday to meet its executive chairman, the former Liberal Democrat schools minister David Laws, and Natalie Perera, an ex-civil servant turned executive director. I’m envisioning some kind of breakfast banter over croissants, a la Richard and Judy, or maybe more Fern and […]

Peter Lee, Head of School, Q3 Langley

I emerge from the loo at Q3 Langley to find my path blocked by a single-file procession of year 7s snaking through previously deserted corridors. The line is bouncing with exuberance. Heads bob this way and that, apparently seeking adults to greet, a merry cacophony of kids greeting me with “good morning miss”. It’s a […]

Sabrina Hobbs, principal, Severndale specialist academy

A nine-year-old boy in a wheelchair is delightedly pressing the large button on a battery-powered speaker that calls Betsy the dog by name. Every time he does, a chocolate sprocker spaniel comes bounding across to a small circle of children. This all happens under the watchful eye of Sabrina Hobbs, the executive principal of Shropshire’s only […]

Carole Willis, Chief Executive, National Foundation for Educational Research

Education researchers are a strange breed. While the think-tanks openly court the press, and even the university academics are starting to reach out these days, there’s one megalith of British education research that seems determined to remain aloof. I’m on a mission to find out why. It’s taken five months to score an interview with […]

Katharine Birbalsingh, Headmistress, Michaela Community School

A customised Marmite jar stands on Katharine Birbalsingh’s desk, with the name “Michaela” emblazoned across it. It’s a stroke of marketing genius. The education world seems to be divided into those who adore the no-excuses, knowledge-focused, silent-corridor secondary school she established, and those who recoil at its very mention. Controversial policies include ditching SEND labels, giving […]

Debra Rutley, Executive headteacher, Aspire Alternative Provision

“I didn’t have a positive experience at school,” admits Debra Rutley, “and I think that has had a massive influence on the teacher and the leader that I am – and is linked probably to the fact that I work in alternative provision. “I know what it’s like to try and hide things and think […]

Caroline Wright, Director general, British Educational Suppliers’ Association

The British Educational Suppliers’ Association that she heads up is just round the corner, on the dingier side of the block. It’s her dream, she jokes, to start a day with breakfast in the café, pass through the curtains into the restaurant for lunch, and drift into the bar for the evening. For someone who […]