Sophie Scott | Schools Week

Nicky Morgan lauds free schools as “modern engines of social justice” as next application window opens

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has hailed free schools for “breaking the cycle of disadvantage” as the latest window for new proposals opens today. Ms Morgan has reaffirmed the Conservative’s pre-election pledge to open 500 more free schools – equating to 270,000 more school places. And she is calling on high performing schools, sponsors, charities, community groups […]

College of Teaching announces 15 committee members to choose founding trustees

The search has started to find 13 trustees who will lead the formation of the College of Teaching. The Government announced in March it would fund the college to help raise the status of teaching. It will champion the profession by sharing knowledge and supporting teachers’ development. Now a committee has been set up to […]

Exam boards told to rewrite GCSE maths papers following difficulty row

The qualifications watchdog has told exam boards to rewrite parts of their GCSE maths exam papers following the row over some accredited papers being too easy. Ofqual today published the findings of its review into the difficulty of exam boards’ sample papers in GCSE maths. They found OCR, Pearson and WJEC Eduqas needed to “refine their […]

Number of pupils missing school rises slightly, new figures show

Pupils have missed 800,000 more days this autumn term compared to last year as school absence rates crept up. Government figures released today chart absence rates from the autumn term 2014 compared to previous autumn terms. The overall absence rate across state-funded primary and secondary schools increased slightly from 4.3 per cent in 2013 to 4.4 per […]

Three Ofsted inspections into free schools published in election run-up – compared to 10 last year

Only three Ofsted inspections into free schools were published in the run up to the election – compared to ten in the same period last year. Schools Week looked at the number of free school Ofsted inspections published between March 30th and May 7th this year, and the same period last year. Those are the dates of […]

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt announces he will not be standing for Labour leadership

Tristram Hunt has today ruled himself out of the running to be the next Labour leader. The shadow education secretary was speaking at an event in London this morning. During his speech he also called for reform of leadership rules to allow the party to reconsider the position of the leader ahead of elections. He also […]

Property website lets home hunters check schools’ Ofsted ratings

Property website Rightmove has added a resource on its website to allow people to easily find the Ofsted result of schools close to where they plan to move. Rightmove will now include catchment “indicators” on all properties on its website, as well as inspection results for all the schools in the area. It has teamed […]

Graham Stuart to step down from education select committee

After eight years in post, Graham Stuart has said that he will not be putting his name forward to be chair of the education select committee this parliamentary term. The Conservative MP held the post for five years and was a committee member for a further three, but is now understood to be putting his […]

Primary headteacher charged with sex offences against pupils

A former headteacher has been charged with sexual offences against two pupils at the primary school where he worked. Christopher Field, 56, of Green Lane, Chieveley, Berkshire, last Thursday was charged by Thames Valley Police with three counts of assault of a girl under 13 by touching and one count of inciting a girl under […]