Sophie Scott | Schools Week

RSC agrees to expansion of Redditch schools, despite MP and parent concerns

A regional schools commissioner has granted permission for neighbouring academies to convert into two-tier schools – despite concerns it would “decimate” the town’s education system. Pank Patel, regional schools commissioner (RSC) for the West Midlands, approved two secondary school conversion applications for schools in Redditch, Worcestershire. Tudor Grange Academy Redditch (TGAR) will expand from being […]

No suggestion that tests for reception pupils are ‘traumatic’, say assessment providers

Children’s author Philip Pulman is among 80 signatories to a letter published in the Guardian today urging the government to scrap assessments for four and five year olds, but assessment providers have rebuffed the criticisms. The letter refers to calls by campaigners for reception baseline assessments to be stopped because they “are statistically invalid, will […]

Newspaper editor falls for April Fool’s prank: ‘I should have known – idea of transparency is just too far-fetched’

Schools Week editor Laura McInerney has said she should have known our April Fool’s day prank story was a dud – because the idea of transparency was “simply too far-fetched”. A Schools Week story this morning revealing three new free schools had been named after leading politicians was an April Fool’s prank. The joke article […]

EXCLUSIVE: Leaked documents reveal new free schools to be named after politicians

NB – This story was published as an April Fool’s story. Three new free schools due to open after the election will be named after leading politicians – including Prime Minister David Cameron. Leaked documents seen exclusively by Schools Week reveal deputy Prime Minster Nick Clegg and former education secretary Michael Gove will also have […]

Ninety per cent of teachers have no training on dealing with young carers, union survey shows

A survey by Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) found that ninety per cent of those surveyed said they received no training on how to support young carers. It also found that only one in three members said they work in a school providing special support to young carers. The union is now calling for […]

New rules demanding governors publish their interests online or face suspension “the right thing to do”

New rules demanding governors publish a register of their interests online – including relationships with school staff – have been cautiously welcomed. Governors in local authority maintained schools will have to publish the register on their school’s websites from September. It includes relevant business interests, other schools they govern and relationships between governors and school staff, including […]

Teachers need more support to stop their careers being ruined by false allegations from pupils, union warns

More than a third of school staff claim they or a colleague have faced false allegations from pupils – leading to calls for more support so careers are not “irretrievably damaged”. A survey of 685 Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) members found some staff had quit because of the false allegations and others were considering […]

Breaking: Firm chosen for new national reference tests with first exams set for March 2017

A firm has been selected to develop and introduce the new national reference tests – with the first pupils set to take the exams in March 2017. Ofqual announced today that the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) will deliver the tests, designed to anchor all GCSE standards. Ofqual is now working with organisations representing schools and […]

Plans for differently weighting the maths content of new science GCSEs have “little justification”

Ofqual’s proposals for differently weighting maths content in the new science GCSE exams have “little justification”, says a science subject leader. Vice chair of the Association for Science Education (ASE) Richard Needham was responding to today’s launch by the exams regulator of its consultation on the new single and combined science GCSEs to be taught in […]