Sophie Scott | Schools Week

Admission appeals 2014-15: The 7 key points

The Department for Education (DfE) has this morning put out figures on the number of admissions appeals for the last academic year (2014/15). Below we go through the main figures from the statistics. 1. The number of appeals has risen compared to last year, across all levels. Other primary classes (years 3 and above) […]

Extra members appointed to initial teacher training expert group

Four new members have been appointed to the group tasked with developing a “core” initial teacher training (ITT) framework. The new faces will join Comberton Academy Trust chief executive Stephen Munday and eight other education professionals on the board, which was set up in March in response to the Carter Review of ITT. As reported […]

Coach new secondary pupils to tackle low self-esteem

Schools should work with year 7 pupils to coach them to be more confident, says an expert, as a new survey reveals one third of young people are “not confident”. A study, released today by Sky Academy, shows that girls are the least confident of the genders, with 61 per cent saying they struggle on […]

Grindon Hall free school making ‘reasonable progress’ after British values concerns

A free school rated inadequate by Ofsted after concerns were raised about its teaching of “British values” has been told it is making “reasonable progress” towards removal of special measures. Grindon Hall Christian School (GCHS), in Sunderland, was placed in special measures in January, the same week the report into the now-closed Durham Free School […]

New behaviour panel has more people called John than women

Last weekend, there was much criticism of gender representation in the shadow cabinet. Meanwhile, I was getting worked up over the selectivity of a different line-up. Last Sunday, schools minister Nick Gibb announced eight behaviour experts that will be assisting Tom Bennett in his review of teacher training to deal with student behaviour. As teachers […]

Skills Show organisers Find a Future appoint new chief executive

Skills Show organisers Find a Future has appointed Dr Neil Bentley as its new chief executive, it has been announced today. Dr Bentley will join the education careers advice organisation in Autumn from OUTstanding, a start-up not-for-profit membership network for LGBT leaders. He replaces Ross Maloney who left to join the Scouts as director of […]

Let universities write school curriculum, says academic E.D. Hirsch

An American academic who influenced the curriculum thinking of schools minister Nick Gibb and former education secretary Michael Gove has said that universities should lead the way in writing a national curriculum for English schools. Speaking to Schools Week, Professor E.D. Hirsch from the University of Virginia, who is visiting England this week, discussed how […]

Charity wants parents to have power to sack headteachers

A charity has today called for a shake-up to the powers of regional schools commissioners (RSCs) to challenge poor performance – including opening a route for parents to demand the sacking of a headteacher. The New Schools Network – a group that supports new free school founders with their applications – has also called for new […]

Members of new behaviour expert group revealed: the full list

Schools minister Nick Gibb has today announced a team of behaviour experts to assist a review of how teachers are trained to tackle poor behaviour. The Government appointed teacher Tom Bennett as its new behaviour guru in June to investigate how to cut out low-level disruption in schools. But today it was announced his remit has been […]