Sophie Scott | Schools Week

Headteachers Roundtable to draft alternative white paper

An influential group of leading headteachers has launched a think tank to crowdsource an alternative white paper that focuses on classroom concerns rather than “political diktat”. The Headteachers’ Roundtable (HTRT) held a conference last Friday at the Sheffield Institute of Education, part of Sheffield Hallam University, to discuss the content of its own proposed policy […]

Birmingham schools still at risk of extremist ‘destabilisation’, says Sir Michael Wilshaw

Schools at the centre of the “Trojan Horse” investigations are now “much safer” but are still at risk of “destabilisation” from an “intent” minority, Ofsted’s chief inspector has said. In an open letter to the government about Birmingham City Council, Sir Michael Wilshaw said it was “distressing” to hear that in Birmingham schools allegedly targeted […]

New findings reveal teacher training drop-out rates

The government has this afternoon published three reports analysing recruitment and retention issues. The National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) released the documents, looking at the “customer experience” of initial teacher training (ITT), returning teachers, and an analysis of ITT routes by teacher retention. The reports highlight issues within the application process for ITT […]

Key stage 2 SATs results: What does this mean for floor standards and year 7 resits?

Concerns have been raised about the impact of today’s key stage 2 results on the number of primary schools falling “below the floor” and the number of pupils who might be expected to sit resits at secondary school. Figures released today by the Department for Education (DfE) show that just 53 per cent of year […]

Key stage 2 SATs results: Nicky Morgan’s ‘good start’ claim rubbished as teachers vent frustrations online

The government’s claim that today’s key stage 2 results were a “good start” to its new “rigorous” tests has been questioned, with teachers also taking to social media to vent their concerns. The Department for Education (DfE) published a short summary of results from this year’s tests, which revealed that just 53 per cent of […]

Key stage 2 SATs results: Nearly half of pupils fail to achieve expected standard in ‘tougher’ tests

Just half of year 6 pupils have met the new expected standard in their key stage 2 SATs tests, provisional figures released by the Department for Eduation (DfE) reveal. The DfE has stressed this figure (53 per cent) is not comparable to last year – when 80 per cent of pupils met the standard – […]

Scaled scores for 2016 key stage 2 tests announced

Note (added 4 July 2017): Here are the 2017 scaled scores for key stage 2 SATs The Department for Education has today released the marks pupils needed for this year’s key stage 2 tests to achieve the government’s “expected” score. Scaled scores replace “levels” for the first time this year. To meet government expectations, pupils must […]

Did education count in the Brexit vote?

In the week following the EU referendum, much discussion has centred around the educational background of the “inners and outers” and whether it affected the poll’s result. Schools Week decided to see if there was a relationship between a local population’s education and referendum outcome. Voters in areas with higher-performing schools were less likely to […]

Money for hate crime protection could go to religious schools

Schools may be able to benefit from extra government funding to protect them from racist attacks after last week’s Brexit vote. In the Commons on Wednesday, David Cameron announced a new action plan to tackle hate crime following an increase in racist incidents over the past few days. “Vulnerable” institutions could access extra security funding […]