Progress 8 | Schools Week

Primary assessment: the good, the bad and the ugly

The changes to primary assessment and accountability have been under review for the best part of five years, and even now there are many unanswered questions Many of the questions surrounding the new primary assessment are impossible to answer until the first round of statutory tests next May. Others will hopefully emerge in the coming […]

Secondary moderns must have a voice, too

Grammar schools are back in the news with Nicky Morgan’s approval of a Kent school’s expansion. But they’ve never been away, with one in five students in England attending a school affected by academic selection The National Association for Secondary Moderns (NASM) sees the expansion of a Kent grammar school as a chance to raise […]

The EBacc Effect: How different ability pupils are pushed to study different school subjects

In 2010 the government added a measure to school league tables. It signalled how many children studied a set of subjects called the ‘EBacc’. How did schools respond, and who did it actually help? Sophie Scott investigates Schools are changing access to English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects, but not all pupils are equally affected, new figures […]

Coasting school definition out for consultation

The government has today launched a consultation on the proposed definition of “coasting” schools. The Education and Adoption Bill, currently passing through Parliament, would make it mandatory for maintained schools rated as inadequate to be taken over by an academy sponsor. The bill also seeks to make it easier to force takeovers of “coasting” schools […]

The Wasted Years: Ofsted’s KS3 concern

Ofsted has raised “serious” concerns about the teaching of key English Baccalaureate (EBacc) subjects in years 7 to 9, claiming they are the “poor relation” in secondary education. Chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw commissioned a survey to look at the effectiveness of key stage 3 (KS3) after last year’s annual report highlighted the poor transition […]

Policy Exchange’s ‘resit levy’ will rob Peter to pay Paul

Policy Exchange’s “Crossing the Line” report explores “improving success rates among students retaking English and Maths GCSEs” and is a welcome acknowledgement of the funding difficulties faced in the further education (FE) sector, but presents a deeply problematic solution in a “per pupil levy” for schools where students fail to achieve a grade C. At […]

Schools should be fined if pupils don’t achieve Cs in English and maths, says new Policy Exchange report

Schools should be fined for each pupil failing to achieve a C grade in maths or English, with money going to struggling further education (FE) colleges who must offer resits, a think tank has proposed. A report released today by Policy Exchange — the right-leaning think tank founded by Michael Gove — calls for a “resit levy” to […]

Academy head apologises for Progress 8 ‘worry’

The headteacher of a Cambridgeshire school has apologised to parents after Schools Week revealed it was changing the year 10 GCSE curriculum to make it “Progress 8 compliant”. Last month Ely College’s new headteacher Evelyn Forde wrote to parents and carers to cancel a week’s work experience for 14 and 15-year-olds as they were not […]

Secondary moderns hit hard by coasting school definition

Secondary schools in areas where the brightest pupils are selected for grammar schools will be more likely to be classed as coasting under the government’s newly revealed definitions. Analysis by Education Datalab has found that nearly one in five secondary schools (18 per cent) in local authorities that also have grammar schools would be defined […]