Schools that receive requests to review coursework marks will have to judge whether their teachers are marking all pupils’s work consistently before submitting data to exam boards, under new rules proposed by Ofqual. The exams regulator is consulting on changes to the rules governing reviews of marking, which will give schools ... read more

Multi-academy trusts should be entrepreneurial and willing to take calculated risks to remain sustainable “in an age of austerity”, according to a new report. Forum Strategy, which represents a group of 80 MATs across the country, has said trusts should place a greater importance on chief operating officers, rather than ... read more

The government has refused nearly 7,000 requests from schools for their pupils’ GCSE scores to be wiped from league tables after applications rocketed following the introduction of Progress 8. Schools can apply for the results of seriously ill pupils or those in police custody or who are home-educated to be ... read more

The government will spend another £9 million testing solutions to holiday hunger across England, but has abandoned plans to run a pilot in the Easter and summer holidays next year. According to tender documents seen by Schools Week, the Department for Education is seeking organisations to test the “co-ordination” of ... read more

Thousands of council schools have not had their finances independently scrutinised for more than five years – three of which were last audited by their local authority nearly 20 years ago. Schools Week can also reveal that council schools have been breaking rules over tax checks, issuing contracts and unauthorised ... read more

Students at Aureus School in Oxfordshire who feel at risk of misbehaving are encouraged to “self-refer” to a nurture room to watch an aquarium or “sit and smell in the darkness”, says Julie Hunter, the school’s deputy headteacher. “To nurture their minds, we need to support them, maybe by giving ... read more

Referrals by educational institutions to “prevent”, the government’s anti-extremism programme, rose by almost a quarter in the 2017-18 financial year. New data from the Home Office shows the number of referrals from the education sector rose from 1,976 in 2016-17, to 2,462 in 2017-18. The rise brings the number of referrals ... read more

One of the country’s largest academy trusts has vowed to turn around an ‘inadequate’ school threatened with having its funding terminated by the government. Reach 2 said it had “already put in place a number of significant changes” at Sprites Primary Academy in Burton-upon-Trent, which has been hit with a ... read more

The removal of national curriculum levels has left teachers struggling to understand the assessment information they get about pupils arriving from other schools, a new report has warned. Schools would welcome a “form of national standardisation for non-statutory assessment” guided by “annotated exemplars of pupils’ work” to help reduce the ... read more

If primary schools have to offer a broad curriculum, does that mean less time for English and maths, asks Karen Wespieser Can you have a broad curriculum and focus on the basics? In her commentary accompanying the third and final part of Ofsted’s curriculum research project, Amanda Spielman admits that ... read more

Education secretary Damian Hinds has warned Ofsted to ensure its new academy trust “summary evaluations” do not create “undue burdens” on schools. Ofsted chief inspector Amanda Spielman revealed earlier this month the watchdog was introducing a new inspection regime for academy trusts. In its annual report, the watchdog said the ... read more

The number of security breaches relating to GCSE and A-level exams fell by 40 per cent this year, despite a number of high-profile leaks on social media. In its 2018 summer exam series report, exams regulator Ofqual reported that there were 68 security breaches in 2018, down from 114 in 2017. Breaches ... read more

Pupils who pass the phonics reading screening check on their first attempt are almost three times more likely to meet the “expected standard” in reading at key stage 2, the government has revealed. New data published by the Department for Education tracked the performance in the SATs reading test of ... read more

The second annual National Reference Test has shown improvement in maths scores, but no real change for English language. Ofqual introduced the National Reference Test last year to provide more information about the awarding of GCSEs. According to Ofqual, the results –which are reported at grade 7, grade 5 and grade 4 ... read more

The number of teachers facing penalties for exam malpractice fell this year, but the number of pupils rapped for bringing banned items like mobile phones into exams rose by more than a fifth. Figures from Ofqual show the number of penalties issued to staff for helping pupils cheat or for maladministration ... read more