Ofsted’s common inspection framework, launched in September 2015, introduced a system of short inspections for “good” schools and changed how inspectors are employed. A few months later, when The Key surveyed 979 governors for its annual State of Education report, nearly 40% of respondents said they had found preparing for ... Read More »
In the first four years of Emma’s life, her parents had to deal with a diagnosis of autism and then leukaemia, but the most difficult challenge they faced was the battle with their local authority for special educational support, which saw them pitted against a specialist law firm. Their experience ... Read More »
A project helping disadvantaged UK pupils go to US universities has seen undergraduates accepted for courses starting in September 2016 at all of the prestigious Ivy League colleges. Between them, the 66 state-school pupils will receive scholarships worth $17m (£12m) from US universities. The numbers of UK students in US ... Read More »
Ofsted has criticised an Islamic independent school, after inspectors found leaflets which claimed music and dancing were “acts of the devil”. Inspectors made an unannounced visit to the Darul Uloom Islamic High School in Birmingham after having previously rated the school as “inadequate”. Inspectors said pupils were not being protected ... Read More »
A teacher who had sex with a student has been banned from the profession. Simon Bickford-Smith, 39, began a relationship with the girl when she was 17, while he was a teacher at Sixth Form College, Farnborough in Hampshire. A National College for Teaching & Leadership (NCTL) panel found he ... Read More »
A small but rising number of schools in England are diverting money meant for disadvantaged pupils to offset budget cuts, says an education charity. Of 1,600 teachers polled for Sutton Trust in March, 6% said pupil premium money was used to offset budget cuts, compared with 2% the previous year. ... Read More »
More than 16,000 new secondary school spaces are needed within seven years to accommodate new pupils starting primary education, official figures reveal. Data analysed by BBC News shows the scale of the challenge to meet rising demand by the time current four-year-olds move schools. Surrey County Council and Birmingham City ... Read More »
Mexico’s National Security Commission originally said in a statement that the police officers involved in the operation near the town of Nochixtlan were not carrying guns, But federal police chief Enrique Galindo later said that an armed unit was deployed after shots were fired at the police and the protesters ... Read More »
The Northern Ireland Science Park intends to develop another 1m sq ft of office space over the next 10 years as part of a major expansion plan. The organisation, which is changing its name to Catalyst Inc, is also aiming to support 5,000 additional jobs. It was founded in 1999 ... Read More »
A second teaching union is to ballot its members on taking industrial action over their workload. The Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association (SSTA) said an indicative ballot showed the majority of its 8,000 members supported taking action. Last week, Scotland’s largest teaching union, the EIS, said its secondary school members would ... Read More »
Welsh universities have nailed their colours firmly to the mast in the referendum on the UK’s membership of the European Union. They have received millions from the EU for research and new buildings. The representative body Universities Wales says this funding ultimately has huge benefits for the Welsh economy. But ... Read More »
More than 100 child rapes with online links took place in England and Wales in the last year, police figures obtained by the NSPCC show. Data from 38 out of 43 police forces suggested the internet was used in 3,186 sexual offences against children in the year to 31 March, ... Read More »
