Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

How academy conversion affects primary schools’ performance

Sponsor-led primary academies improve substantially after conversion, but there is no evidence that converter academies get any better, reveals new analysis from a schools data website. Disadvantaged pupils at sponsor-led academies also improve more than their peers, show the SchoolDash findings, which are surprisingly similar to those for the secondary sector. With less than 13% of primary […]

Children ‘strike’ all over England to boycott SATs

Children all over England are being kept off school today, in protest at “a school system that places more importance on test results and league tables than children’s happiness and joy of learning”, according to organisers. In Brighton a rally attended by Children’s laureate Chris Riddell has attracted more than 500 parents and children, and local primary schools are reporting […]

Why effective heads don’t need to have been teachers

Too many headteachers are nearing retirement with too few to take their place. But there are plenty of highly skilled people with the potential to run schools, says Mike Buchanan. Toby Young, Sir Michael Wilshaw and Sir Anthony Seldon are all colourful characters who prod us with their pronouncements. They are all passionate believers in […]

Heads must decide on May 3 ‘protest’ absences

Headteachers must decide whether they will record pupil absences related to parent protests over this summer’s SATs as authorised or not. A petition started by campaign group Let Our Kids Be Kids has around 30,000 signatories claiming they will stop their children attending school in protest over new national curriculum tests due to begin next month. The petition proposes “a day of […]

£2m announced for research into marking strategies

Schools and academy trusts have been encouraged to apply for funding to run trials into effective marking strategies, as the result of a major marking review published today by the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF). The report by University of Oxford academics concluded that despite teachers spending on average nine hours a week marking, there is little evidence to […]

‘Inexpensive’ phonics trial improves disadvantaged pupils’ literacy

An “inexpensive” trial policy improved all pupils’ literacy in the early years and had long-term effects on children who struggle with reading, a major new study has found. The “teaching to teach” literacy study, which sent phonics consultants to support primary school teachers and tracked 270,000 primary school children from reception to year 6, showed persistent […]

What is teaching for mastery in maths?

I was very interested to read the item in last week’s Schools Week that suggested pupils in one primary school were being prevented from reading books ‘above their level’ because of a ‘mastery’ approach to English teaching. Teaching maths for mastery involves employing approaches that help pupils to develop a deep and secure knowledge and understanding of […]

Coalition by David Laws – review

Much has been made of the access David Laws, the Liberal Democrat had to Nick Clegg’s notes while writing this memoir. Paddy Ashdown, the former party leader, has even called it the “definitive account” of the coalition. However, woven throughout this highly readable story of a political party’s first forays into government, is the thread […]

St Aldhelm’s Academy: The school that got better with walls

No school managed to go from inadequate to outstanding in the spring term, Ofsted figures published today reveal. However, published on Monday (and so just missing last term’s figures) was the report for St Aldhelm’s Academy, in Poole, Dorset. The school, which has featured several times in Schools Week, has gone from special measures to good, […]