Sophie Scott | Schools Week

“Free schools drive up standards in other schools” Policy Exchange claims

Free schools are raising standards in neighbouring schools, a think tank founded by Michael Gove will today claim. A report launched today by Policy Exchange shows analysis of schools in areas where free schools have opened and concludes that standards in nearby primary and secondary schools were driven up by the effects of competition. Teaching […]

Leaked document claims David Cameron will propose 153 new free schools

More than 100 new free schools could open under a Conservative government, a leaked announcement by the prime minister claims. According to reports by the Guardian and The Mirror, David Cameron is expected to reveal in a speech on Monday that if the party is re-elected after May’s election it would open 153 free schools […]

Founder of free school hailed by David Cameron charged with string of fraud offences

The former principal of one of the country’s first free schools has been charged with a number of fraud offences. Sajid Raza, founder of the Kings Science Academy in Bradford, has been charged with three offences of fraud by abuse of position, three offences of false accounting, two offences of obtaining a money transfer by deception, […]

NCTL has done “a botched job” on teacher training, union leader claims

A union leader has called for a thorough review into initial teacher training (ITT) – saying the National College for Teaching and Leadership (NCTL) had done a “botched job verging on criminally insane”. Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL), slammed the NCTL and said a long-awaited teacher training crisis is now […]

Ofqual confirms: exams to replace controlled assessments in GCSE science

Ofqual today announced the adoption of a new approach to GCSE science practical assessment – replacing controlled assessment with exam questions. Chief of Ofqual Glenys Stacey said the exams regulator had “consulted widely” on its practical assessment proposals for the new GCSEs in biology, chemistry, physics and combined science. For the new approach, students will […]

Disqualification by association: new guidance issued by DfE

New guidance on who can be “disqualified by association” has been issued by the Department for Education (DfE). The document sets out that only those working in an after-hours capacity with children up to the age of eight can be barred from working, if they live with someone who has been convicted of a relevant […]

Ofsted report of crisis-hit school reveals children running around corridors and assaults on staff

A damning Ofsted report has branded a crisis-hit academy as “dysfunctional and unsafe” – revealing “verbal abuse of staff is common with some physically assaulted”. The special measures monitoring report into St Aldhelm’s Academy, in Poole, Dorset – which lost £1.2m after being targeted by a fraud scam in 2013 – was published today. The […]

New reports call for moral values to be put at the heart of education

Teachers need more help to stop moral character being squeezed out of children’s education, reports have suggested. Two new reports, published today by the University of Birmingham’s Jubilee Centre for Character and Virtues, call for moral values to be put at the heart of British education. They say 80 per cent of teachers feel the […]

Number of girls not in education, employment or training rises by 6,000 in 12 months

The number of 16 to 17-year-old girls not in education, employment or training (Neet) has risen by 6,000 in the last three months of last year compared to the same period in 2013. Figures for the period from October to December were released today by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that 59,000 16 […]