Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

Teaching Assistants: are they worth it?

In light of Durham County’s decision to cut teaching assistants’ pay, and the recent warning that teaching assistants risk being replaced by poorly-paid “interns”, Helen Saddler makes a case for the invaluable classroom support staff – and argues they need better professional development. When you hear ‘Teaching Assistant’- what comes to mind? “Jack of all trades”, first […]

Speed read: mental health in schools – IPPR report

Ofsted should inspect schools’ mental health provision more frequently, says a report published today by a leading policy think tank. Secondary schools are facing a “perfect storm” of mental health problems and early intervention in schools should be a government priority, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) report on mental health in schools, […]

Government plans to change term-time holiday law

The government will look to change the law on term-time holidays, after the high court backed a father who took his daughter to Disney World during the school term and refused to pay the fine. The ruling opens the door to other parents taking their children out of school for holidays, and raises difficult questions […]

Sutton Trust expands Pathways to Law schools programme

GCSE pupils from deprived areas will receive workshops to introduce them to the legal profession, in a drive to increase social diversity after it was revealed that 75% of top judges went to private school. Education foundation the Sutton Trust today announced the expansion of its Pathways to Law programme, aimed at improving access for […]

Speed-read: NASBM school efficiency report

A new study published today by the National Association of School Business Management (NASBM) claims to have found ways for a school to slash up to 20 per cent on their administration costs. The report follows NASBM chief executive Stephen Morales writing for Schools Week last year urging schools to “think differently” to make large-scale savings. Recommendations […]

Does an elite education benefit health?

Dr David Bann, Lecturer/Research Officer, Centre for Longitudinal Studies, UCL Institute of Education What have you been working on? Trying to better understand health inequalities in society using longitudinal data – in this case, data from a British study which began in 1970 (the 1970 British Cohort Study). In particular, how the education system relates to later […]

‘Rogue marker’ blamed for attempted SATs leak

The government has blamed a “rogue marker” for attempting to leak a key stage 2 SATs test after a copy of the exam paper was apparently sent to a journalist last night. Schools minister Nick Gibb is also looking to “seek redress” from the exam board after today’s spelling and grammar tests were erroneously uploaded onto […]

KS2 grammar test published online in second exam breach

Today’s key stage 2 English test has been leaked online, adding to the chaos surrounding standardised testing in England after a similar key stage 1 test was accidentally published by the Department for Education (DfE) last month. The answers to the spelling, punctuation and grammar (SPAG) test were uploaded onto a password-protected site accessible to exam markers last night, before […]

A quarter of year 6 pupils are stressed about SATs

Twenty-seven per cent of children are “stressed” about their SATs, but only 10 per cent “hate” the tests, reveals a survey of year 6 pupils as standardised testing gets underway across England this week. According to a ComRes poll of 750 10- and 11-year-olds for the BBC, 14 per cent admitted they “enjoy” the tests and 48 per cent “don’t mind” taking them. Pupils […]