Part of schools having greater independence includes what food to offer as snacks and school lunches. The Guardian yesterday said that academies are selling in their tuckshops, "junk food" such as packets of crisps and cereal bars with high sugar content. This is in breach of official guidelines. The Guardian quoted findings from the School […]
Michael Gove's speech to Brighton College this week on the impact of schooling in promoting equality of opportunity was hard for Labour to refute. His speech encapsulates the argument for increasing equality of opportunity through levelling up, rather than the traditional socialist approach of levelling down. Equality is the big spur for people to join […]
John Bald welcomes progress on phonics but calls on the criteria for Ofsted inspections to change Two pieces of good news. First, the examinations regulator Ofqual, has agreed that A levels have been diluted beyond the bounds of credibility and need to be rebuilt. One of the key points is that the regime of endless […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter On Tuesday evening Graham Brady hosted the fourth parliamentary reception of 'Friends of Grammar Schools'. About one hundred Tory MPs turned out – one-third of the parliamentary party – to mix with representatives of the grammar school system and also the Education Secretary, Michael Gove. One Labour MP, Kate Hoey, […]
This week, employment minister Chris Grayling urged employers to ‘hire a hoodie’ – a reference to British-born young people often passed over in favour of more easily employable immigrants. But why do many employers prefer immigrant labour in the first place? Interviewed in Foreign Policy about America’s parallel youth unemployment crisis, Edward Luce – the […]
Labour-run Sandwell Council is proposing to make a redundant school building available to a new free school. The Oldbury College of Sport is moving out of its site in Moat Road and so the council is proposing to sell the building to the Department of Education so that it can be used for Griffin Schools […]
John Bald on the "Special Educational Needs" industry that thrives on failure Shortly after I started teaching in a secondary school, in the early seventies, I had a conversation with an eleven year old who had “bunked off” my English class, and who, I discovered, could not read. No-one had told me about this when […]
By Tim MontgomerieFollow Tim on Twitter I'd rather churchleaders used the holiest day in the Christian calendar to talk about one thing and one thing only – the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. They get two guaranteed opportunities every year when they know that news outlets will definitely report what they say. If, today, they talk about […]
Have a look at the latest league table for secondary schools in Enfield. You will note that Aylward Academy saw 48% of pupils achieved five or more good GCSEs including English and maths. While for the Nightingale Academy the results were 42%. Then compare the previous year for these two schools then called respectively Gladys […]
Amidst all the talk about what difficulties the Government is in little attention is being paid to a remarkable milestone. A majority of secondary schools are now academies or have applied to be so. There are 1,283 open secondary Academies, equating to 39% of all state secondary schools. A total of 50.3% of state secondary […]
The Manchester Evening News reports that a group running a Sure Start centre in Manchester are coming up with a proposal for a free school. If successful the primary school would open next year starting with a reception class. Head of Longsight Children’s Centre Emma Perry said: “We started talking to parents and families about […]
By Matthew BarrettFollow Matthew on Twitter The first big-hitter to be interviewed properly about the terrible headlines of the past few days was William Hague, who appeared on the Andrew Marr Show earlier this morning. The Foreign Secretary was first asked about Francis Maude's handling of the fuel strike situation: "It has been a controversial week […]
The Government are greatly reducing the red tape for teachers in nursery and reception classes from September. The Early Years Foundation Stage is the term for what children under the age of five should learn. At the moment there are 69 early learning goals – 117 tick boxes against which children are assessed. What sort […]
There is a meeting of Kent County Council this evening where the following recommendation will be voted on: The recommendation is that in response to an ePetition, Kent County Council pursues proposals to provide 2FE of selective secondary provision for boys, 2FE of selective secondary provision for girls and 2FE of mixed non-selective provision for […]
Anyone who hasn't spotted that there is a revolution taking place in our education system should have a look at this week's Times Education Supplement. The point is not a particular item. It's the whole thing. For a start the recruitment ads are stuffed with notices for free schools and sponsored academies. Then there is […]