Concordia Multi Academy Trust
‘Freddie Whittaker’
Schools Week is proud to announce the appointment of John Dickens, its former chief reporter, as its new editor. Dickens (above, right) will return to the newsroom in September following a year-long sabbatical. He will take over from Shane Mann (above, left), the managing director of Schools Week publisher Lsect Ltd, who has served as the […]
News
The National Union of Teachers and Association of Teachers and Lecturers held their last conferences as separate unions over the Easter break. The two sections will meet as one amalgamated National Education Union next year. Schools Week’s political editor Freddie Whittaker attended so you didn’t have to. 1. Ofsted ‘overstepped the mark’ during hijab row […]
The government is keen to reassure heads that its new times-tables test won’t become just another stick to beat schools with, but heads aren’t convinced, explains Freddie Whittaker. It’s official. Nick Gibb has spoken: times-tables tests are here. From next month, almost 300 schools will take part in a trial of the government’s new on-screen multiplication […]
Opinion
Ofsted has praised “inspirational leadership” at the first free school in England to be run by a for-profit company, rating it ‘good’ for the first time since it opened. IES Breckland in Suffolk was praised for its improving teaching quality and pupil progress . Inspectors complimented the “ambition” of and teamwork between the Sabres Education Trust, […]
Figures released last week reveal that registration for means-tested free school meals – which is linked to pupil premium funding – is at its lowest since records began. Freddie Whittaker delves into local authority data to see how rates vary across the country and how councils are encouraging parents to sign up. Schools across England […]
When I wrote my last general election supplement in 2015, I never thought I’d be doing another over two years. But that’s the world we live in now, so here we go again. Click here to download the supplement Education is once again a key issue on the campaign trail and in these 20 pages, […]
Supplements
Union leaders are demanding more of a say in the development of a new teaching apprenticeship to ensure it’s not “exploited” by cash-strapped schools. Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, admitted she was “extremely concerned” about the new one-year vocational route into teaching currently under development. The apprenticeship is […]
Ofsted inspectors have been accused of “fatally neglecting” the scrutiny of PSHE and sex education in schools after a study found the two subjects were rarely mentioned in inspection reports. Analysis by the British Humanists Association of more than 2,000 inspection reports shows sex and relationships education was mentioned in just 1 per cent of […]
The consensus on the need for compulsory sex education has never been stronger, but it’s understandable that campaigners are impatient, says Freddie Whittaker As pressure mounts on the government to make personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) and sex education compulsory in all schools, speculation is building over the form such a move could […]
