1. education
2. school

‘frequent
but short’
Ex-Dragon
on show
Page 3
Page 4
Quiz
time
otes
Party qu
Page 7
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2014 | EDITION 4
ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
Schools reject
GCSE failures
claim colleges
Commissioner
in the North
Janet Renou
• GCSE English and maths now required
•Schools not letting pupils continue at 16
•Policy change driving ‘poor behaviour’
SOPHIE SCOTT
@SOPH_E_SCOTT
Teenagers are being prevented from
continuing into their schools’ sixth
forms after failing to get C grades and
above in English and maths at GCSE,
leading college groups have warned.
Government changes now require
students between 16 and 19 to
continue to study English and maths,
unless they have already achieved at
least a GCSE grade C in the subject.
James Kewin, deputy chief
executive of the Sixth Form Colleges’
Association, said: “Our enrolment
survey published this week has
shown a 14.6 per cent increase in the
number of students starting a course
at a sixth-form college without a
GCSE in maths at grade A*-C.
“This is an astonishing finding,
given there was a national increase of
4.8 per cent in the proportion of young
people awarded an A*-C in GCSE
maths this summer.”
He said the survey “suggested
that the new funding condition had
led many school and academy sixth
forms to become more selective.”
Meanwhile, the 157 Group, which
represents large further education
colleges, said: “We have heard from
several of our members that this
[students not being able to continue
in their school’s sixth form] is
happening in their localities; that
young people are being turned away
because they don’t have grade C - and
that it is made a condition of entry
before they have arrived.
“It seems sadly inevitable that it
might have happened and is another
example of what is often said to be
an unintended consequence of policy
change driving poor behaviour.
“It feels like it is a symptom of
competition where there doesn’t need
to be competition. What should be
done is working together to make
sure every person gets into the right
place. Students are potentially being
ill-advised . . . which means that
guidance issue is back on the table.”
Brian Lightman, general secretary
of the Association of School and
College Leaders (ASCL), said that
difficulties with this year’s GCSEs
following changes in the syllabus
might be to blame.
“The volatility in GCSE exams
. . . has affected a very significant
number of young people this year
who have received lower results than
schools would have expected.
“I am very concerned to hear about
a number of examples where this has
led to them not being able to continue
with their education because they
haven’t passed the English exam.
We are still investigating why those
results have dipped in the way they
have. “A lot of schools have appealed
and we are hearing a significant
number of grades have been changed.
At the moment the only option for the
students is to retake English unless a
college will accept them.”
A DfE spokesperson said it was
unable to comment on specifics as it
had not been presented with evidence
of where this was happening.
P14
Consensus
is hard
to find in
education
Party conference round-up
Brett Wigdortz
P7
2
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014
3
NEWS
EDITION 4
NEWS
ACADEMIES WEEK TEAM
Jobs for the boys at UTCs Ofsted plan ‘frequent but shorter’ visits for good schools
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BILLY CAMDEN
@BILLYCAMDEN
PHILIP NYE AND BILLY CAMDEN
@PHILIPNYE | @BILLYCAMDEN
As few as one in 20 students at some
university technical colleges (UTC) are
female, analysis by Academies Week shows,
prompting claims that the current model
is not the best way to help girls to get into
traditionally male-dominated industries.
The news comes after Education
Secretary Nicky Morgan said that the lack
of women taking STEM (science, technology,
engineering and maths) subjects was one of
the reasons for the pay disparity between
men and women.
Analysis of the 2014 schools census by
Academies Week shows a paucity of female
students at many UTCs – most of which offer
courses in areas such as engineering and
other technical fields.
In total, just over one in five students at
a UTC is female. But the gender split varies
considerably across institutions, with girls
making up more than half the pupils at three
UTCs. However, four UTCs have proportions
in single figures.
The three UTCs with at least 50 per cent
girls on roll specialise in life sciences and
healthcare, digital media production, and
supporting technical skills for the film,
theatre and visual arts industries. One of
these UTCs, in Hackney, is set to close at the
end of the academic year.
Speaking on Monday at the Wealth
Management Association, Education
Secretary Nicky Morgan, who is also
Minister for Women and Equalities, linked
the low number of girls studying technical
subjects and the gender pay gap.
“Too many young women embark on
less well-paid careers than their male
counterparts.
“We’re working to improve careers
advice in schools and colleges, and we’re
encouraging more girls to take the STEM
subjects that lead to better-paid jobs.”
Responding to the new figures, Professor
Alison Wolf of King’s College London warned
that even “well-equipped” UTCs might not be
the way to get more girls into these subjects.
“Engineering is genuinely desperate to
attract more talented women. But it is going
to be difficult to persuade many 14-year-old
girls to opt for a boy-dominated specialty
and boy-dominated classrooms for the rest of
their school lives.
“Governments have tried advertising
campaigns, and have now tried well-equipped
UTCs. Keeping girls’ options open, so they
can make choices when they are more
mature, strikes me as a better bet.”
The UTC model is currently being
expanded, with the number of students
attending a technical college set to grow from
about 2,300 last year to more than 8,000.
A spokesperson at Baker Dearing
Educational Trust, which promotes the
UTC model, said: “There is an urgent need
to attract more young women into STEM
careers and all UTC principals are committed
to this. However, the shortage of girls in
engineering and associated areas has been
a problem for decades and needs a joined-up
approach if we’re to make a difference.
“UTCs work with lots of organisations to
tackle the issue such as the WISE [Women
in to Science and Engineering] campaign
which is running workshops across the UTC
network, and the government’s Your Life
campaign.”
Central Bedfordshire UTC has 5 per cent
female students – which it has acknowledged
is not as many as it would like.
Headteacher Lesley Glover said: “By
coincidence we have been meeting this week
The UTC gender imbalance
School
Girls
Boys
Total Percentage female
Black Country UTC
25
120
145
Central Bedfordshire UTC
5
100
105
5%
Aston University Engineering Academy
35
260
295
12%
Wigan UTC
10
50
60
17%
Hackney University Technical College
65
50
115
57%
The JCB Academy
50
380
430
12%
UTC Reading
15
125
140
11%
Daventry UTC
15
80
95
16%
The Elstree UTC
115
115
230
50%
UTC Plymouth
30
110
140
21%
Buckinghamshire UTC
5
85
90
6%
Liverpool Life Sciences UTC
120
60
180
67%
Bristol Technology and Engineering Academy
15
175
190
8%
Silverstone UTC
20
140
160
13%
UTC Sheffield
25
185
210
12%
University Technical College, Royal Borough of Greenwich
55
225
280
20%
Visions Learning Trust UTC
x
70
70
<5%
Total
605 23302935
Source: Schools census 2014
Notes: Schools census figures are rounded to the nearest five.
‘x’ indicates that a figures was suppressed due to low numbers – either one or two
Hackney UTC is to close after this academic year
17%
21%
with a nationwide engineering employers’
organisation, and our sponsors Bedford
College, and among the topics of conversation
was how we can all work together to attract
more young women into engineering
education and careers.
“This is a much wider issue than UTCs.”
Phil Lloyd, principal of the Liverpool
Life Sciences UTC, which had the highest
proportion of female students at 67 per
cent, said that it offered something to girls
“unsatisfied with the status quo” of their
previous schools.
And this doesn’t
help...
A report presented by the Royal Society
outlining its vision for science and maths
education was challenged this week due to its
under-representation of girls.
Presented during a fringe event at
the Liberal Democrat party conference
in Glasgow last week, the report “Vision
for science and mathematics education”
summarises the society’s recommendations
for science and mathematics education over
the next 20 years, including how to encourage
girls to join STEM courses.
An audience member at the event criticised
the report after bringing to light the fact that
the front cover only included pictures of boys,
and of the 17 people shown in photographs
throughout it, just three were girls.
“One girl is doing biology and we can’t see
what the other two are doing,” the audience
member said.
Commenting on the report, Dr Allan
Colquhoun, a panel member at the event,
said: “I agree that we need to be very careful
in our portrayal of gender when illustrating
STEM careers. One particular issue is the
cliché of showing female engineers in hard
hats in ‘dirty’ environments.
“Whilst the ‘Vision’ addressed the gender
issue I don’t feel it had sufficient emphasis.
Gender is the biggest issue in the STEM
area. We are not accessing nearly half of the
potential workforce.”
In defence of the report, Professor Dame
Julia Higgins, chair of the society’s education
committee, said: “The Royal Society is very
aware that more girls need to be encouraged
to take science subjects and this is a point
made
very
strongly
in our
recent
report.”
Ofsted’s chief inspector has set out plans for
“frequent but shorter” inspections for good
schools and colleges from next September.
Speaking yesterday, Sir Michael
Wilshaw (pictured) launched an eight week
consultation on reforms to the inspectorate
intended to “maintain and accelerate”
improved educational standards in England.
Sir Michael said: “Most schools and colleges
have been improving over the past couple of
years at a faster rate than ever before. It is
absolutely vital that this progress is sustained
and that our system does not falter.
“The time has come, therefore, to introduce
frequent but shorter inspections for good
schools and further education and skills
providers.
“These inspections will be different to
what has gone before. They will have a much
clearer focus on ensuring that good standards
have been maintained.
“In particular, inspectors will be looking to
see that headteachers and leadership teams
have identified key areas of concern and have
the capability to address them.
“For good schools and further education
and skills providers who have the capacity
to show this, the changes being proposed will
mean that there is no longer any need for a
full inspection.”
The shorter inspections for good schools
would be carried out by no more than two
inspectors on site for one day and are likely to
take place every three years.
“Led by Her Majesty’s Inspectors, these
short inspections will encourage professional
dialogue and the sharing of good practice
from across the country. They also mean that
we can spot signs of decline early and take
immediate action.
“If we find significant concerns then we will
carry out a full inspection. Where we think
the school or provider may have improved to
outstanding, we may also decide to carry out a
full inspection to confirm this.”
The consultation also sets out proposals
for four categories of judgements; leadership
and management, teaching, learning and
assessment, personal development, behaviour
and welfare and outcomes for children and
learners.
“I believe that our new inspections should
place emphasis on safeguarding, the breadth
of the curriculum in schools, the relevance
of courses and training in further education
and skills, and the quality of early learning.”
In March the right-wing think tank
Policy Exchange published a report called
‘Watching the Watchmen: The future of
school inspections in England’ which made
similar proposals.
Jonathan Simons, Head of Education
at Policy Exchange, told Academies Week:
“I am pleased to see Ofsted recognise the
need for reform to school inspections. Our
recent work recommended a new, two stage
inspection process with shorter inspections
for stronger schools and more tailored
support for those in need.”
In addition, the consultation includes
plans to introduce a new common inspection
framework from next September which will
standardise the approach to inspections for
nurseries, schools and colleges.
Sir Michael added: “In the past academic
year alone 860 schools we inspected,
attended by 335,000 children, declined in
performance.”
However, no changes are proposed to the
inspection frequency of those providers
classified as outstanding, inadequate or
requiring improvement.
The consultation runs until the 5 December
and is available on the website at www.
ofsted.gov.uk
EXCLUSIVE: HAWTHORNE’S
FREE SCHOOL TAKEN OVER
PHILIP NYE
@PHILIPNYE
A free school judged to be ‘inadequate’ earlier
this year is in the process of transferring to a
new academy trust, Academies Week can report.
The Hawthorne’s free school, in Bootle,
became the fifth free school to be rated
‘inadequate’ after being visited by Ofsted in
February.
The school will now join the Great Children
for All Children trust, which currently runs
the King’s Leadership Academy free school in
Warrington.
Sir Iain Hall, chair of the trust, confirmed to
Academies Week that the Hawthorne’s school
was “in the process” of transferring in, and this
was expected to be completed in January.
“Officially now we are dissolving the board
of trustees for the Hawthorne’s,” he said.
Sir Iain said that he had been contacted by
the Department for Education in March, and
had been working with the Hawthorne’s school
to turn around their performance since then.
Sir Iain said that the school’s governors
had recognised they did not have suitable
experience to carry on overseeing the school
and had all stepped down on 30 September.
The headteacher has also left the school,
with an interim leader to be brought in after
half-term. Sir Iain said that he would not be
recruiting a permanent head until the school
was out of special measures.
“I can see the green shoots of recovery,” Sir
Iain said.
The transfer means that all but one of the
free schools judged ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted have
either closed or moved to a different academy
trust. Discovery New School was forced to
shut earlier this year, while Hartsbrook E-Act
Free School, the Al-Madinah School and now
the Hawthorne’s Free School have all changed
sponsor.
A fifth free school, IES Breckland in
Brandon, Suffolk, was placed into special
measures after receiving an ‘inadequate’ grade
following an inspection in January.
It has remained with the same trust who
contract the running of the school to Swedish
education company IES.
Andrew Challiss, chair of the SABREs Trust,
said: “SABRE’s Trust are firmly committed,
with IES and the governors, to take the school
forward and we are working hard on progress
for the future.”
IES Breckland principal Alison Tilbrook
said that IES also remained fully committed to
the school, and that “positive steps” had been
taken since the school’s Ofsted inspection,
with a new principal and assistant principal
appointed.
Asked whether the school would be expected
to transfer to a new trust, the Department for
Education said: “Where a school is found to be
inadequate we expect the governing body or
trust to take swift action to address the failure.
We are working with IES Breckland to ensure
this happens.”
For the latest school jobs turn to page 20
or visit academiesweek.co.uk/jobs
4
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
NEWS
Hypnotist
teacher struck
off for ‘abuse’
SOPHIE SCOTT
@SOPH_E_SCOTT
The government agency responsible for
disciplining teachers has heard 14 cases
relating to sexual misconduct since April 1,
all resulting in prohibition orders, Academies
Week can reveal.
In one of the most recent cases, the
National College for Teaching and
Leadership (NCTL) banned a teacher in a
West Sussex school after it was discovered he
had hypnotised and sexually abused a pupil
at a South African school in the 1980s.
A report of the hearing, which took place
on September 18, states that Stephen Pieter
Grobbelaar hypnotised a 16-year-old boy
when he was working as an English teacher
at Grey High School in Port Elizabeth in 1987.
He left the school in 1990 and has been
working in England. The name of the school
has not been released.
It says that when the 16-year-old South
African complainant, referred to as “Pupil
A”, became concerned about his performance
in maths, Mr Grobbelaar invited him to a
room, alone, that evening.
The report said: “He told Pupil A that
the solution was hypnosis to implant the
suggestion that he enjoyed mathematics. He
hypnotised Pupil A.”
He then sexually abused the boy.
It added that he hypnotised the boy a week
later to prevent him from remembering what
had happened.
The boy later remembered what had
happened and told his school, but the report
states it is “unclear” what action was taken
other than Mr Grobbelaar, who is now 53,
left.
Last August, Pupil A found out that he was
teaching at an English school and reported
what had happened.
Mr Grobbelaar resigned.
The NCTL panel’s recommendations said
he had breached a position of trust in “a
deliberate and carefully planned manner,
including an attempt at concealment”.
It added: “The panel is also persuaded from
his employment record and references over
the past 22 years that he is an excellent and
inspirational teacher.
“The panel believes the risk of repetition of
the behaviour is low.”
Mr Grobbelaar admitted all the facts
and was banned from teaching indefinitely
in any school, sixth-form college, youth
accommodation or children’s home.
A Department for Education (DfE)
spokesperson said: “All schools must carry
out comprehensive criminal records checks
on all applicants – including those who have
lived or worked outside of the UK.
“Employers should also carry out checks
with overseas employers before allowing an
individual to work in a school.”
DfE guidance, “Keeping Children Safe in
Education” can be downloaded at: http://
tinyurl.com/nxgrfgp
EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014
5
NEWS
New primary school opens with no mains
electricity and an ‘unreliable’ generator
Theo hops
on for
the Skills
Show
PHILIP NYE
@PHILIPNYE
REBECCA COONEY
@REBECCAKCOONEY
Pupils will have access to careers advice
and the chance to experience a huge
range of jobs at the third annual Skills
Show, which will run from November 13
to 15 at the Birmingham NEC.
Organisers last week unveiled their
plans for the event, which is expected to
attract about 80,000 children from schools
across the UK.
Show patron Theo Paphitis and former
Dragon’s Den investor said: “This show
goes a long way to helping and inspiring
kids and giving them the opportunity to
just start imagining what they’re going to
do for the rest of their lives.”
The entrepreneur told Academies Week
that it was important to keep school pupils
returning to the show.
“Why would we expect a kid to get
inspiration the first time around?
“We need to keep bringing them here
want to do for the future changes.”
There will be more than 50 hands-on
activities, including furniture design, media
make-up, games design and forensics.
Ross Maloney, chief executive of Find a
Future, which organises the show said: “We
know schools have a statutory requirement
to deliver careers advice and we see the
and guidance.”
A Skills Show roadshow will also take
place between October 21 and November
8, with a specially commissioned bus
kitted out with have-a-go activities
visiting Leicester, Ipswich, Durham,
Liverpool, London, Portsmouth, Bath and
Birmingham.
every year from a very early age and seeing
lots of things because as their character
changes, what turns them on and what they
Skills Show as a very tangible way of doing
that — bringing your young people to it will
enable you to impart some of that advice
Anyone interested in taking pupils to the
Skills Show or the roadshow should visit
www.theskillsshow.com.
A minister has been forced to intervene after
a free school in his constituency has been
without mains electricity for five weeks.
The Heights Free School in Caversham,
near Reading, opened in early September in
temporary accommodation, and at the time of
going to print was still without mains supply.
The primary school has been forced to use
a generator at a cost of £1,200 per week – but
while this has provided regular electricity,
limited capacity means it has not been able
to use all of its interactive whiteboard and
iPads.
Rob Wilson, MP for Reading East and the
newly-appointed Minister for Civil Society,
told Academies Week that he arranged a
meeting between the school’s electricity
company and the local council last Friday to
secure action on laying a mains cable to the
school.
Headteacher Karen Edwards said that
while the school was able to operate
normally, the lack of a full power supply
meant that only ten of the school’s 60 iPads
could be used at the same time, as well as
a sole interactive whiteboard in one of the
school’s three classrooms.
The shortage also meant that
administrative staff had to use laptop
machines, she said.
The school, which has 61 pupils, was set up
in portable classrooms on the site of a former
nursery, a plan pulled together at high speed
shortly before the school year began after
problems with its permanent site.
Academies Week reported last month that
a £1.2m three-bed home purchased by the
Education Funding Agency may not now
be used after fierce opposition from local
residents.
A temporary site was only found in April,
and is outside the school’s catchment area.
Ms Edwards said: “We have been on the
site for four-and-a-half weeks, something
pulled together by quite an amazing group of
contractors.” She said that six weeks ago, the
school had not existed at all.
Mr Wilson said: “Following numerous
emails and telephone conversations between
my office, the Heights, [electricity company]
SSE and Reading Borough Council, it has
now been agreed that the work will take
place this week, with the connection to be
established by October 10.
“I hope that this will indeed be the case, as
the unreliability of the generator has had an
SUFFOLK SCHOOLS IN COUNCIL SPAT
SOPHIE SCOTT
@SOPH_E_SCOTT
A row has broken out between Suffolk
county council and local primary school
headteachers after every school was sent
a letter by the council rating them as ‘red’,
‘amber’, or ‘green’.
Each of the primary schools’ chair of
governors and headteacher received the
ratings on the September 26 - according
to the Suffolk Primary Headteachers’
Association (SPHA) written reply to the
council seen by Academies Week.
The SPHA letter describes the council’s
communication as demonstrating a
“continued and fundamental lack of
understanding about what is required to
improve schools in Suffolk.”
It adds: “School leaders are already
keenly aware of their schools’
performance, given their Ofsted ratings
and HMI inspections.
“Your rating system, without an offer of
support, is a blunt instrument that adds
no value whatsoever. It merely serves to
demoralise those schools that are working
hard on school improvement.”
The letters come after Ofsted criticised
Suffolk County Council’s support for
underperforming schools.
In an Ofsted report published this
January reviewing the council’s education
services, HMI James McNeillie said:
“Officers have not intervened
quickly enough in those schools
that are declining.
“They have been equally
tardy in addressing ineffective
leadership in maintained schools.”
The SPHA also objected to
the “threat of using the Local
Authority’s statutory powers to
replace Governing Bodies with
Interim Executive Boards”– a
move local authority’s use to
improve under-performing
schools.
The letter criticised Suffolk
County Council’s request for
asking schools in receipt of
‘Warning Letters’ to provide a
recovery plan.
“You have asked the schools
in receipt of Warning Letters to
provide you with, “a recovery plan” within
fifteen days of receipt of the letter.
“We have no confidence in the Local
Authority’s ability to make an informed
judgement about the standard of these
plans, given your lack of knowledge about
these schools.”
Responding to the criticism from
the SPHA a council spokesperson told
Academies Week: “Suffolk County Council
is committed to increasing the pace of
improvement in schools. Standards are
start
something
special.
V Certs - All the great benefits of vocational study for your
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improving but they are not rising
quickly enough.
“Following analysis of data from the
Department for Education and schools
themselves we have identified schools
where the available evidence tells us we
need to take action. The council will use
all the tools at its disposal to improve
outcomes for children.”
Libby Brown, chair of SPHA and head
at Kyson Primary School in Woodbridge,
declined to comment.
Talk to us
0191 239 8000
schools@ncfe.org.uk
@NCFE
ncfe.org.uk/vcerts
adverse impact of the efficient running of the
school – especially on the occasions when it
has failed.
“The school is a real testament to the
hard work and dedication of the parents and
teachers and it is essential that the basic
utility connections are in place to ensure its
immediate success.”
A spokesperson for the Department for
Education said: “The Heights Free School
has recently opened on a temporary site.
“While the mains supply is being
connected, we have arranged for electricity
to be supplied by a generator as a short-term
solution – so that the school could open as
planned.”
6
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
NEWS
BRETT
WIGDORTZ
Founder and
chief executive of Teach First
More a quiet gathering than a party…
a desire for stability, with reform shifting focus
on to people rather than structural change.
It was steady as it goes at the three main
party conferences this year with education
ministers signalling their intentions to
reduce structural change
The emerging
theme seems
to be a focus on
people-based
change, rather
than structural
transformation
T
Clegg bites at Tory Right after a term of policy snubs
BILLY CAMDEN
@BILLYCAMDEN
Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg says
that the Conservatives have been spitting
“frenzied bile” throughout their coalition
government, while suffocating his party’s
education policies.
During his speech at the Lib Dem
conference in Glasgow this week, Mr Clegg
attacked the “Tory Right” and former
education secretary Michael Gove.
“If power is still hoarded at the centre,
the ability for people to liberate themselves
from the circumstances of their birth is still
denied to too many people,” he said.
“I have fought tirelessly to instil
opportunity in the earliest years of a child’s
life. Did you know Michael Gove raided the
budget for much needed school places in
order to fund his free school obsession?
“Did you see the frenzied bile from the
Tory Right against our plan to give young
children at primary school a healthy meal
at lunchtime? Have you ever heard the
dated snobbery from some Conservatives
against the value of vocational
qualifications and good quality careers
advice?
“Of all the fault lines that have opened
up in this coalition government, the one
that has been most revealing is the way
in which self-proclaimed Conservative
educational reformers sought to suffocate
almost every single initiative designed to
instil opportunity at an early age – for all
children, not just some.”
Mr Clegg highlighted the Liberal
Democrats “three key achievements”
during the coalition – pupil premium,
extension of free childcare hours for 2-yearolds to parents with low incomes, and
protection of education budgets.
He said: “My mother drummed into us
what seems so obvious today. That you
don’t write anyone off. You don’t overlook
anyone’s talents. Given half a chance,
everyone can shine.
“For me, that is what our new
commitment to expanding childcare to all 2,
3 and 4-year-olds is about.
“Almost exactly 13 years ago Phil Willis
and myself visited a number of schools in
Denmark, Holland and Sweden. The idea
of the pupil premium was born. Today it
funds breakfast clubs; homework clubs; it
helps involve parents who are otherwise
disengaged.”
A Liberal Democrat official confirmed
that the party was drawing up plans to
EDITOR’S COMMENT
H
aving Academies Week reporters
for nine days across the three
main party conferences proved
something of a resource and logistical
challenge during our first four editions.
But it was worth it to share the fringe
debates and key speech announcements (or
lack of them) as they happened.
Highlights included Tristram Hunt talking
of a ‘value neutral’ approach to school
structures at the Labour party conference
in Manchester, Nicky Morgan describing
teachers as the school story ‘hero’ at
the Conservative party conference in
Birmingham and David Lawes not giving a
speech so instead stalked by deputy editor
Laura McInerney at the Liberal Democrat
party conference in Glasgow.
Being out-and-about, or ‘on location’ as
we call it, is an important way to hear from
the school sector as well as be the first to
tweet, blog and report on the news.
So if you have an event for us to report
from then get in touch, and to hear from
our reporters as they travel up and down the
country follow @AWonlocation on twitter.
secure a new approach to policymaking
that would impact on education. “A
coalition always requires compromises
and in many departments there were
commonalities between Liberal Democrat
and Conservative policies. In education the
divisions were more stark, leading to more
aggressive negotiations.”
In a fringe event before the party leader’s
speech, Schools Minister David Laws preempted this sentiment.
He said: “Although we were able
to identify all the biggest policies and
decisions we wanted to make, we didn’t
have more time in something like education
for going under the top three or four.
“Next time, if there were a coalition, we
might take a little more time to do that.
Not a lot more time, but even 24 hours or 48
hours would make a difference.”
@nicklinford | nick.linford@academiesweek.co.uk
Correction
Contact the team
An article in last week’s issue (Ofsted
website inspections on the rise) included a
graph with figures for 2011.
This gave the impression they were
full year figures, when in fact they only
include the last three months of 2011. This
was an error on our part, although the
premise of the article remains correct.
To provide feedback and suggest stories please
email news@academiesweek.co.uk and tweet
using @academiesweek
To inform the editor of any errors or issues of
concern regarding this publication email
nick.linford@academiesweek.co.uk with
Error/Concern in the subject line.
Please include the page number and story
headline, and explain what the problem is.
he party conferences had one element
in common this year when it came
to education – an emerging sense of
stability in a sector in which there has been
significant reform over the past decade.
Labour were the first to kick-start everyone’s
favourite political season, with Tristram Hunt
making his debut speech as Shadow Education
Secretary. Honing in on three main areas for
Labour’s plans for education, Hunt highlighted
the party’s aims to bring down childcare
costs, ensure that all teachers are qualified or
working towards qualification, and to support
the “forgotten 50 per cent” in accessing quality
vocational education. In fringe events beyond
the main hall, he also defended Labour’s
academies programme while insisting that
Labour would halt further free schools.
Though signalling her intention to continue
the legacy of Michael Gove, the new Edcuation
Secretary, Nicky Morgan, similarly advocated
Highlighting her intention to collaborate
more with teachers and unions, she also
suggested reducing teacher workload, and put
a welcome emphasis on teacher wellbeing and
morale.
Morgan signalled her plans to ensure that
children have soft skills such as resilience and
confidence with a new £5 million fund. She also
announced her intention to raise the quality
of careers advice and business engagement in
schools – one that will come as welcome news,
particularly for those working with children
from disadvantaged communities.
Indeed, it is these pupils who often lack
the professional advice and networks that
their wealthier peers have access to, and
which are so crucial in today’s competitive
labour market. It is an area that Teach First
is seeking to support further through our
Futures programme, with partners such as
Deloitte, supporting students from low income
backgrounds to make informed and ambitious
decisions.
The Liberal Democrats also signalled a
commitment toward stability as Schools
Minister David Laws stressed, during fringe
events, the party’s commitment to extend
the protection of the schools’ budget to
early years and colleges. Despite budgetary
pressures, he reaffirmed a commitment to the
pupil premium, rightly stating that tackling
the attainment gap was “one of the biggest
challenges” the country faced and which, if not
tackled, risked other countries “leaping ahead”
of us.
One area that did not make it into the main
conference hall, but emerged as a theme across
the fringe events, was a growing concern about
the supply of new teachers.
Through our own work in schools, we see
an increasing demand for the best teachers
and leaders – with primary and early years
particularly struggling to attract people into
leadership roles.
This week findings from the Social Mobility
and Child Poverty Commission showed that
only 15 per cent of surveyed teachers would
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014
consider teaching in a school more challenging
than their own.
A recruitment crisis, coupled with a growing
young population, risks putting further
pressure on this earliest stage of education:
a crucial time for children’s learning –
particularly in addressing the attainment gap
for those from disadvantaged communities.
Let’s hope that while the issue was not
addressed in the main hall, plans are afoot.
Coming away from conference, the emerging
theme seems to be a focus on people-based
change, rather than structural transformation.
Sometimes it can feel like consensus is hard
to find in education, but working towards a
joint and shared vision for transforming the
opportunities of our next generation must be
our ultimate goal.
Personally, for me, the highlight of the
last month wasn’t hearing the plans of
the Whitehall corridors, but the buzz of
transformations up and down school corridors.
Over the past few weeks I’ve visited
incredible schools serving low-income
communities.
Schools such as Loxford School of Science
and Technology in Barking, Greenwood
Academy in Castle Vale, Birmingham,
and Perry Beeches Academy in central
Birmingham.
Like many other schools, they are raising
the bar and showing that young people from
all backgrounds can achieve highly when
supported by adult leadership focused on this
belief.
It showed yet again that the most exciting
innovations now happen at school level –
any future government’s agenda has to be
about how we let this excellence grow and
increasingly become the norm.
Party conference ‘who said what?’
Below are quotes from the three education leaders during their party conference. Can you guess who said
what and put a name to each one? See back page for answers.
e
Quiz tim
1) “Our plan says every child
should have access to the skills
and experiences they need to
help them get on in life.”
2) “A ‘Forgotten 50 per cent’ of
young people - not heading
to university - who are too
often denied the rewarding
education they deserve.”
3) “Education is a moral
calling. One that delivers social
justice and rewards the talent
of all our young people.”
4) “The reasons that teachers
in England work longer
hours than their counterparts
elsewhere in the world are
many and varied.”
5) “…thanks to Dom Cummings
everyone is aware of that [free
meal] projects beginnings.”
7)“Around the world, no
education system exceeds the
quality of its teachers.”
6)“…don’t quote me on this but
the problems we have are not
about budgets.”
8) “One teacher, one child,
one book, one pen truly can
change the world”
7
9) “It says that every child
should learn the core
knowledge in subjects like
English, maths and science
– because those are the
subjects that universities and
employers value the most.”
8
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
EXPERTS
JAMES KEWIN
DR TANYA
OVENDEN-HOPE
EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
JULIAN
STANLEY
Chief executive of the
Teacher Support Network Group
Director of the School of Education and Professional
Development, The Cornwall College Group
Becoming an academy can help to raise
school performance, but it’s more difficult
if you’re on the coast
L
ocation really makes a difference to
learners’ outcomes. I know: I have spent
most of my 25 years in education as a
teacher, senior leader, teacher educator and
researcher in coastal regions.
Only recently has there been an increase
in government and media concern about the
achievement of students in these areas.
For years there’s been a myth that they all
live beside the seaside, where the sun is out
and the surf is good and the houses are in
nice surroundings. The reality is that many
students may never have visited the sea (with
or without a beach) and that their lives are
touched by poverty, brought on by the loss of
tourism and marine industry.
In 2010 I was asked to be a governor for a
school about to become an academy. It had
been under-performing for several years, had
a poor local reputation and was in a socioeconomically deprived coastal region.
Academies were introduced to play a key
part in the social and economic regeneration
of deprived regions by helping to break the
cycle of under-attainment and poor school
performance. This seemed completely
appropriate for disadvantaged coastal regions
and the school that I joined as a governor.
Supporters were quick to advocate
independence from local authorities as
strength: the governing body could pursue
innovative school policies and the academy
sponsor could offer experience and resources.
In opposition, it was argued that academies
brought “back-door privatisation” and social
segregation. Tales of over-expansion by multiacademy trusts (MATs) and money given to
businesses linked with academy directors has
done nothing to quieten these objections.
I decided that I needed to know more, and
developed a study of this “coastal academy”,
a term to signify the difference locality makes
to the school. The “Class of 2010” project
investigated how converting to academy
status would impact on the learners’ outcomes
over time and is due to finish in 2017 when the
academy’s first year group leaves at 18.
It is in an early stage but preliminary
findings suggest that transformational
leadership can engage staff, improve
behaviour and raise student aspirations.
My colleague, Dr Rowena Passy, and I also
studied six other “coastal academies”, in
different regions around England, to see how
they changed school culture in a bid to tackle
underperformance.
The results suggest each school responded
in different ways to the challenges of
their environment. All six demonstrated
some improvement after conversion, with
commonalities in their journeys. They all
had new principals or executive principals;
they made it a priority to raise student
attainment, initially by improving behaviour
and encouraging higher aspirations, followed
by a focus on teaching and learning; they
used an entrepreneurial leadership style to
create a shared vision with clear targets and
accountability; they all invested in staff CPD.
Most parents
believed that
school “wouldn’t
change anything”
for their children’s
employment
prospects
Each also faced challenges as a consequence
of their location. All six struggled to engage
parents, with teachers suggesting this was
because most had attended the predecessor
school and believed that their child would
experience the same poor education. Parents
were also reported to be predominantly in lowpaid employment or unemployed, believing
school “wouldn’t change anything” for their
children’s employment prospects.
All were affected by long-standing negative
reputations, and so several had built new
school premises hoping that this would change
perceptions.
All also suffered poor staff recruitment. This
was reportedly due to few job opportunities for
spouses, poor social and recreational facilities,
and high housing costs inflated by second
homeowners.
It therefore seems that the coastal location
presents historical, social, economic and
cultural issues that schools struggle with,
even when using inclusive leadership, sponsor
expertise, “growing their own” staff and
inviting parents to become part of the school
community.
Becoming an academy does bring autonomy
that can be used to raise school performance,
but being on the coast appears to bring further
disadvantages that make the task more
difficult.
small sixth-form providers
Encouraging small school and academy
sixth forms to open has exacerbated nonprogression between years 12 and 13
L
ast week’s story in Academies Week,
“Free school ‘forced me out’ for not
being top university ready”, featured
case studies of students who were asked to
leave the London Academy of Excellence
(LAE) at the end of year 12 because they did
not achieve three grade Cs in their AS-levels.
It seems particularly unjust that the students
were only made aware that this was the
minimum grade requirement for entering
year 13 after they had enrolled.
The fact that LAE is a highly selective
institution has, until now, been largely
overlooked by journalists seduced by
the idea of an “Eton of the East End”.
Prospective students are required to have at
least five A or A* GCSEs and at least a grade
B in GCSE maths and English language.
We now also know that three grade Cs are
required to enter year 13.
But the issue of selection in sixth-form
education is not limited to LAE or free
schools. Our members report that school
and academy sixth forms are becoming
increasingly selective, with many increasing
the grade requirements for entry to both
years 12 and 13.
Sixth-form
colleges should not
be penalised for
giving students a
second chance
While all sixth-form colleges have some
form of entry criteria, this is typically five
GCSEs at grades A-C and students usually
have the chance to resit GCSEs in English
and maths. They also offer a second chance
to students that have needed one after their
first year in a school or academy sixth form.
Recent parliamentary questions by
Kelvin Hopkins, MP, chair of the All-Party
Parliamentary Group for Sixth-Form
Colleges, have attempted to extract national
data on rates of progression between years 12
and 13. The Department for Education claims
that it does not hold data on the number of
students that drop out of AS-level courses
in-year. More information comparing rates
of progression between AS and A2 level in
schools, academies and sixth-form colleges
has been promised for later this month.
The policy of encouraging small school and
academy sixth forms to open has exacerbated
non-progression between years 12 and 13.
The typical sixth-form college curriculum
is broad and typically contains more than
40 academic and vocational subjects. By
contrast, ten of the A-levels offered at LAE
are in “facilitating subjects”. Providers
with a small, narrow curriculum leave
their students with no option but to study
elsewhere if they need to change course after
their first year.
The government’s obsession with
facilitating subjects limits the choice
available to students, and is based on a
remarkably narrow definition of success —
progression to Russell Group universities.
Each year, thousands of sixth-form college
students successfully progress to other
higher education institutions or directly to
employment.
The recent reduction in funding for
18-year-olds now means that sixth-form
colleges are financially penalised for
stepping in to educate students that need an
extra year to get their studies back on track.
This will include many of the learners that
have left a school or academy sixth form at
the end of year 12.
To add insult to injury, sixth-form colleges
already receive significantly less funding
than school and academy sixth forms
to educate their students (as a report by
London Economics highlighted earlier this
year). It is important that these colleges are
not also penalised by Ofsted and the new
16-19 accountability measures for doing the
right thing – giving students a second chance
and providing them with the sort of high
quality education that they need to get on
in life.
The lack of impartial information, advice
and guidance, coupled with cuts to 16-19
funding, mean that many year 11 students
are being advised to stay on in their school
or academy sixth form, even when it is
in their best interests to study elsewhere.
Addressing these issues, and halting the
proliferation of small sixth-form providers,
would help to minimise the growing trend of
non-progression at the end of year 12.
9
EXPERT
Deputy chief executive of the
Sixth Form Colleges’ Association
Location, location, location: it
Stop the proliferation of
really does make a difference
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014
How unsustainable workloads are
destroying the quality of teaching
Many teachers blame poor mental health
on the stress on increasing workloads.
The approaching general election makes
it a prime time to lobby for change .
T
eachers do not enter the profession
expecting to work 9 to 5, but workloads
are spiralling out of control.
Struggling to maintain a healthy worklife balance is a big issue for many teachers
who routinely sacrifice their lunch breaks,
evenings and much of their weekends to
planning, marking and what many deem
unnecessary paperwork. The Labour Force
Survey 2013 showed that teaching staff in
schools, colleges and universities across
the UK work, on average, an extra 12
hours unpaid overtime each week – that’s
more than any other profession, including
financial directors, lawyers and health
workers.
The Department for Education’s Teachers’
Workload Diary Survey 2013 found that
teachers work more than 50 hours a week,
rising above 60 hours for primary teachers
and secondary heads. More than half (55 per
cent) said that some of their time was spent
on unnecessary or bureaucratic tasks; 45
per cent said this had increased from the
previous year.
Time locked up in offices filling out forms
could be better spent in the classroom or on
continuing professional development, both
of which could have more tangible benefits
for our students’ learning. As the paperwork
mounts up, we at Teacher Support Network
know how it can lead to mental and physical
illnesses as staff struggle to cope. More than
12,800 calls to our helpline in the past two
years have highlighted a range of mental
health issues, many them work-related.
Our Education Staff Health Survey 2014,
published this week, found that 91 per cent
of school teachers have experienced stress
in the past two years, while a further 74 per
cent suffered anxiety and 47 per cent had
depression. Ninety-one per cent blamed
excessive workload as the major cause.
This is a rise of 13 per cent over the past
six years, showing that workloads are
unabating. Four in five teachers told us
this year that their mental health could be
improved if managers worked with staff to
reduce workload.
Teachers work
an extra 12 hours
unpaid overtime
every week — more
than any other
profession
And what is the impact on their teaching?
Around three in four told us they lost
confidence, 59 per cent said their work
performance suffered, while more than a
quarter took time off as a result of mental
health problems.
A primary school teacher from Greater
London, who was off sick with a double
chest infection in December 2012, said: “I
love teaching and hate it in equal measure.
I work 65 hours a week. My doctor said he
should give me a prescription for a new job.”
Another sixth-form science teacher
from the north of England was signed off
for four months this year with myalgic
encephalomyelitis. “I physically collapsed
at school because of stress. I spoke to my
line manager but she said everyone is
struggling, it’s hard in the run-up to Ofsted,
it’s normal.”
Teacher burnout can be costly – the Audit
Commission calculated in 2011 that teacher
sickness absence costs more than £500
million – while our research already shows
there could be a link between a teacher’s
health and their students’ outcomes.
Education Secretary Nicky Morgan
chimed with this when she told the recent
Conservative Party conference: “I don’t
want my child to be taught by someone too
tired, too stressed and too anxious to do the
job well.”
Teachers will be pleased then that Ms
Morgan has recognised that the government
can no longer ignore the elephant in the
(class)room and is keen to talk to unions
and teachers about cutting workload.
It comes after years of feeling sidelined
by government, feeling the weight of
curriculum reforms and being told by
Ofsted’s Sir Michael Wilshaw that teachers
don’t know what stress is.
Our health survey shows how poor mental
health at work, as a result of unsustainable
workloads and a lack of support, it is
destroying the quality of teaching. We need
to ensure that politicians do not use teacher
workload as an election tool but understand
that changes are needed now.
#NGAawards
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10
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
REVIEWS
TOP BLOGS
OF THE WEEK
This week’s research reviewer is Katherine Richardson,
a lecturer in chemistry education at King’s College London
Research: Secondary school teachers’ perspectives on
teaching about topics that bridge science and religion
Authors: Berry Billingsley, Fran Riga, Keith S. Taber and
Helen Newdick
Curriculum Journal, 2014, vol 25, issue 3, p.372-395
hat happens to the future of science and religion
when many students see them as fundamentally
opposed? This is the question at stake for the
Learning About Science and Religion (LASAR) project team.
We know some students dislike science because they
perceive it as hostile to their religious views. We know that
some dismiss religious studies, believing that science and
religion are inherently in competition, and that science
has emphatically won. What we don’t know is how teachers
respond to these students, and how they understand their
role in this issue.
Enter the LASAR team, who have explored this question
with a small number of science and RE teachers. Due to the
small sample, the study is exploratory; illustrating issues
rather than describing large-scale patterns.
The science teachers studied did not want to discuss
science and religion during science lessons. They knew
the discussions were controversial, and worried about
parent complaints. They therefore developed many ways
of disengaging from such discussions: closing down
conversations, avoiding a personal stance, giving students
the responsibility for presenting different viewpoints, and
using exams to justify learning science content, even if the
students didn’t accept it.
One teacher said that science and religion were
incompatible, which made it difficult to discuss the subject
positively. However, two science teachers said they
deliberately discussed science and religion: one seeing it as
entirely compatible, the other including religion because it
was such an important part of his students’ lives.
The science teachers suggested that religion should
be treated with respect, which meant accepting different
viewpoints, not dismissing religion but also not trying to
convert students, though one resented “tip-toeing” around
science as a result.
From teachers I have worked with, I would expect this
respect for religion to vary from “this is nonsense, but I
don’t want a dozen parents complaining”, through “this is
nonsense, but my students have the right to diverse views”,
to “I’m personally not religious, but my students are and I
think that’s very valuable”.
In contrast, RE teachers in the study said they actively
tried to develop students’ views about religion and science.
They described students who thought religion was no longer
credible or that science trumped religious explanations;
moving students beyond this oppositional view was
necessary for them to take RE seriously. However, the
teachers said that they often didn’t know enough science to
respond well to student questions.
Both RE and science teachers were aware that a “science
vs religion” viewpoint turned some students off their
subjects. Science teachers responded by emphasising
“respect” for religion but avoiding controversial discussion,
whereas RE teachers tackled the tension. While there is
some curriculum guidance about science for RE teachers,
science teachers have little guidance or help on how to
address science and religion, and so are negotiating their
own way through this difficult territory. Similarly, where
can RE teachers go for help on answering the science
questions relevant to religion?
Given the investment in widening diversity in science, the
question of science and religion deserves further attention
from practitioners and researchers.
The International Baccalaureate’s compulsory course on
“theory of knowledge” asks students to compare the nature
and knowledge of natural sciences and religious knowledge,
among other disciplines. Is this effective?
And what can we learn from faith schools with thriving
post-compulsory science programmes? As the LASAR
researchers note, while science teachers were concerned
about the influence of religious beliefs on science learning,
none had considered inviting a scientist of faith to talk to
their class.
This research therefore offers a description of the status
quo, but also a challenge to break the “don’t ask, don’t tell”
culture surrounding religion in science lessons.
A week in Westminster
Your regular guide to what’s going on in central government
thursday:
Figures revealed by the Department
for Education showed that thousands
more school leavers are staying on in
school after the age of 16. It’s always a bit
dispiriting when press releases go heavy
on ‘whole number’ increases like this one
did. It said things like “a rise of 6,000 more
young people” were in school. But how do
I know if 6,000 more is a lot? Perhaps this
was a freak birth year and there are just
more children around?
Buried within the data was a better
figure: there had been a rise of 1.3 per cent
in participation overall. A less headlinegrabbing number, perhaps – but it shows
there was genuine growth. Pat on the back
to all involved.
While ‘PR-dazzle’ was word of the day
at DfE, over at the qualifications regulator
were being told alarmingly straight. In
a speech at ‘The Key’, the CEO of Ofqual
Glenys Stacey (see cartoon) explained
that any new government wanting to ‘recouple’ AS and A2 exams can do so “but
our advice is that it would take two years:
recoupling is not a simple task”. This is
not good news for Tristram Hunt, who has
promised to re-couple on the double.
FRIDAY:
Glenys Stacey says slow down
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 11
REVIEWS
RESEARCH REVIEW
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EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
In the morning, the government
announced a review of the “status and
professionalism” of teaching assistants
(TAs), with the aim of “enshrining” a new
set of standards. It’s a move welcomed
by groups such as Unison, who will
be represented on the panel by Karen
Jackson, a higher level teaching assistant
and Unison member. Three other
teaching assistants are also on the panel
– extending more hope that the DfE are
making a concerted effort at listening to
frontline practitioners.
By the afternoon, a letter was released
that had already winged its way from
Lord Nash to directors of children’s
services reaffirming the importance of
good governance (just in case anyone had
been locked in a box all summer while the
Trojan Horse “extremism” story, and its
ties to governance, was reported on a daily
basis).
MONDAY:
In a speech more related to her role as
Minister for Women and Equalities rather
than Education, Nicky Morgan made
a speech to the Wealth Management
Association’s annual conference
in London. Much was made of the
depressingly small number of women who
work in hedge fund management. (Just
3% worldwide – perhaps this is why so few
women run academy chains?). But Morgan
also gave another airing of the argument
that the male-female pay gap is caused
by women not going into STEM subjects.
Unfortunately her own government’s
policy of UTCs doesn’t appear to be doing
much for that either (see page 2).
TUESDAY:
Quiet day. Maybe the sudden drop in
temperature caught everyone by surprise.
WEDNESDAY:
The National College for Teaching
and Leadership released a case study
of specialist leader of education, Tim
Summersby, head of a Birmingham School
in the Greet Teaching Alliance.* No doubt
Summersby has done a fantastic job in
his school, but the 976-word briefing
predictably boils school improvement
down to “observe other people in other
schools” and “be a specialist leader of
education”.
*Yes Greet. Not Great. Pedant.
CHECK OUT THE @ACADEMIESWEEK
TIMELINE FOR LIVE TWEETS OF
WESTMINSTER EVENTS
To view individual blogs visit
www.academiesweek.co.uk/reviews
to hand their lesson plans in every week,
before they teach. This led her to the further
discovery that many teachers still believe
that Ofsted will ask to see lesson plans when
they inspect a school. While defending the
principle that teachers should be planning
their lessons, the author argues that, if
managers trust their teaching staff to do
their job, such checks are unnecessary and
likely to waste time that could be used in
ways that would actually improve teaching.
Can you be too independent?
by @learningspy
Our guest reviewer of the week is
Andrew Old, teacher and blogger
@oldandrewuk
Character, Resilience and Grit
by @thegoldencalfre
An RE blogger turns his attention to the
recent fashion, endorsed by Nicky Morgan
and Tristram Hunt, of directly attempting
to teach character in schools. He argues
that: “Whilst character development within
schools is unquestionably important,
Morgan’s belief that the government can
encourage it to happen meaningfully is
not only optimistic, but also requires
her to navigate dangerous obstacles.” He
claims that good schools already teach
character implicitly and argues that doing
so deliberately could be a distraction from
more academic aims. He also suggests the
pitfalls of trying to teach character directly.
My defection to FE: Notable differences
by @gwenelope
This blogpost by a former secondary teacher
who is now an FE lecturer describes the
many differences between her old and
new job. These cover how her employer
is organised; extent and nature of her
workload; the level of autonomy she has,
and the attitude of her students. She
concludes: “In short, it’s damn lovely. I am
still busy, but I am more productive because
I am less stressed, much, much, much less
stressed. I wish I’d done this years ago.”
To plan or not to plan? Please RT as there
are misconceptions.
by @cherrylkd
In this blogpost, a senior manager of a
special school responds to her discovery (via
Twitter) that there are teachers who have
Probably the most controversial of my
selection, an education consultant describes
how he was let go by a consultancy firm.
He received in writing the news that other
consultants were complaining about [his]
“attitudes, actions and behaviour” and
the possibility that he could be having a
“negative effect” on the organisation. He
questions who could have complained,
what he could have done to deserve it,
and whether his scepticism about certain
educational ideas could have been a factor.
He concludes that the most likely cause for
their parting of the ways is the development
of ideological differences with his colleagues.
Bridging the Gap to A-level
by @mathsjem
This post by a maths teacher describes the
problems of moving from GCSE to A-level.
It points out that many students with grade
B at GCSE, who could have got as little as
48 per cent in their exam, struggle with the
demands of A-level. The deficiencies of maths
GCSE as it currently stands are discussed
and it is claimed that: “The problem is that
GCSE grades currently do not give us a clear
indication of who is suitable for A-level
maths and who isn’t.” The writer suggests
strategies and resources that can be used
to help students who might struggle and to
make them understand the greater demands
of A-level.
Group Work
by @websofsubstance
This is a very sceptical analysis of the
desirability of groupwork as a teaching
method. It covers many of the arguments
and evidence for its effectiveness, including
its likely effects on student motivation.
Observing some of the common problems
with groupwork, and that even some of
its advocates acknowledge that certain
conditions have to apply for it to be effective,
the writer concludes that: “The value of
group work has been exaggerated and the
resulting ubiquity of poor-quality group
work should be a serious cause for
concern.”
BOOK REVIEW
Make It Stick: The Science of
Successful Learning
Authors: Peter Brown, Henry Roediger and
Mark McDaniel
ISBN: 0674729013
Publisher: Belknap Press
Katy Theobold Author of “Education and
Learning:An Evidence-Based Approach”
I
’ve always considered humans to be
natural learners. After all, we’re primed
to do it from the day that we’re born. So
when I received a copy of Make it Stick I did a
bit of a double-take. Was it really necessary
to have an entire book on the science of
successful learning? No wrangling with the
controversies of curriculum content, no
international comparisons of pedagogy, just
a straightforward guide to the most effective
techniques that
we can use to
learn. It took one
chapter before I
was convinced my
preconceptions
were wrong.
Henry
Roediger and
Mark McDaniel
are cognitive
psychologists who
have spent their
careers studying
how people learn,
effectively or
otherwise. In
recent years,
they have focused
on translating
these findings to
education. With the help of storyteller Peter
Brown, they have distilled their work into an
informative and entertaining book in which
they explain their evidence for effective
learning techniques and the practical ways
that we can apply it.
My favourite aspect of Make it Stick is
how cleverly it’s structured. The authors
start with a set of claims. For example:
learning is effortful; immediate repetition
and re-reading are not the best ways to
retain information; spacing out practice
and elaborating on concepts are far more
effective.
Then, over the next seven chapters, they
put these principles into practice. They
repeat and elaborate on their statements,
helping the reader to understand and
remember the key messages of the book.
Take chapter 3, in which they explain how
it is more effective to learn something, move
on to another concept and then return,
retrieve and build on the original learning,
than it is to focus on mastering one concept
at a time. In exactly the same way, the
authors repeat and expand on their key
claims across each chapter.
Thanks to Peter Brown’s engaging style,
Make it Stick is an easy read. The chapters
are filled with anecdotes that hold your
attention regardless of the underlying
principles they illustrate. Woven between
these stories are explanations of empirical
studies, providing evidence to back up
claims. For academic readers, there
are useful pointers towards additional
details and references in the back of the
book.
At times, I found myself so absorbed in
the various accounts of sporting success
and airline disasters that I risked missing
the underlying point of these tales. Overall,
though, the balance between evidence
and anecdote makes this book apt as
stimulating fodder for a morning commute
or as an introductory
academic text.
As well as
explaining the
science of learning,
Make it Stick
includes practical
recommendations
for teachers, trainers
and learners. Some
of the techniques
promoted, such as
frequent testing,
may trigger a
negative response
from readers who
associate them
with an old-school
approach. Reading
the book in full,
though, it is clear
this is not what the authors are aiming
for. They are not just providing a list of
techniques for effective memorisation: this
book is about effective learning and the
techniques they recommend can be used to
enhance understanding too.
I have three tests for a good book: was
it easy to read, would I read it again and
would I lend it to someone else? The balance
between engaging content and practical,
applicable recommendations means that
Make it Stick was effortless to read. At times,
I did feel myself pressing for the authors to
get to the point, but I was entertained along
the way.
As someone who delivers professional
training programmes and lectures at
university, I plan to return to some sections.
I am eager, for instance, to start testing some
of the techniques in chapter 8. Most notably
though, and the slight hitch in this plan, is
that I am equally keen to lend the book to a
friend who just started a PGCE, another who
is a tutor and my co-trainers at work. It may
be some time before I have it to hand again.
12
@ACADEMIESWEEK
ACADEMIES WEEK
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 13
EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
PROFILE
IT’S A PERSONAL THING
If you were stuck on a desert island, would you take a
Best day of the week?
book or a film to keep you interested?
Saturday! It’s the weekend and you’re in full control of what
Definitely I’d pick a book. If I was going to take just any
you’re doing.
book... I’d probably end up picking Pride and
Where would you ideally go on your next holiday?
Prejudice. I know – it’s not usually a man’s
I have a house in Spain, so it’s kind of
choice.
a second home – I go there when I
can, long weekends and all, but the
Tea or coffee? And how do you want it
place I really want to go more than
made?
anywhere else is Peru. I want to go to
Coffee, definitely. Depends what time of
Machu Pichu and I would really like to
day. After a meal, double espresso. Early
walk the Inca Trail. I want to be able to
in the morning, a white coffee to dunk
retire fit enough to be able to walk the
my croissant.
trail, or at least attempt it.
Above:
Frank Green in
1992 when he was appointed
head of Lincoln School of Science & Technology
FRANK GREEN
LAURA MCINERNEY
@MISS_MCINERNEY
F
rank Green’s name is half-prophetic. Within seconds
of entering a small office in the Department for
Education, he is already being outrageously honest.
“Have I been briefed?! I’ve never been so briefed for the
press since I started working at the department. Almost
every word you have to memorise.”
If the press officer at his side looks concerned, he needn’t.
Green’s honesty is refreshing and reveals a forthrightness
that no doubt helps with his role.
As England’s Schools Commissioner he now leads the
eight Regional School Commissioners, people tasked
with scrutinising academy performance and encourage
collaboration.
However, if “Frank” is perfect nomenclature; “Green” is
anything but. After all, he has no shortage of experience.
Before becoming commissioner, he headed two schools,
began an academy trust, taught science for many years and
once worked as a taxi driver in Philadelphia.
Yet his beginnings did not suggest a career in education.
Born in Kent, he first attended primary school in Goudhurst
before being “packed off to boarding school” at 10.
“I was taught by the Jesuits,” he says. “First at Beaumont
College, which no longer exists, and then they sent me off
for my sixth form years to Stonyhurst College.
“I really hated, hated my time at school, and I swore when
I left... I can remember walking down the drive one last
time, it had this long drive, and thinking, ‘I’ll never be back
in a school in my life.’ Haha!”
History was top of his list of dislikes, although one
teacher, Mr Fish – or “Fishy” as the pupils called him –
helped to inspire his interest in science.
He then studied metallurgical engineering at Imperial
College, London, but a stint at the Central Electricity
Generating Board put him off it as a career.
“It wasn’t fast enough, it was boring, and you had
to work fairly tightly to rules. I thought, ‘If that’s what
engineering is, I
don’t want it’.”
When he
finished
university in
1971, Green was
a full blown rebel
– hair grown past
his shoulders
and harbouring
a love of rock music. Matching his wild spirit he headed
to the US and worked as a cabby in Philadelphia, before
travelling across the country.
He was offered a PhD place at the University of Denver
but turned it down after getting a call to say that his father,
now living in Spain, was sick.
“Being half-Belgian [Green’s mother is Belgian] there is a
view that the eldest son is the one responsible for parents,”
he says. At the time, however, Green’s older brother had a
newborn baby and was unable to leave England. He asked
Frank to look after his father, instead.
Academies Week deputy editor Laura
McInerney interviewing Frank Green
“I said I’d take a year off. So I did that, and nursed my
father for the last two months of his life. He never knew
who I was for those two months... you can learn a great deal
about life when you see somebody that close to the end of
it.”
Returning to England he wanted to stay near his mother,
and needed a job quickly. Knowing that science teachers
could then be employed without full qualification, he filled
out a Bromley council supply teacher form.
Alongside
chemistry,
physics and
maths he
unthinkingly
ticked a
box marked
“technical
drawing”, a
skill that he
didn’t have. Inevitably, this was the subject that he was sent
to teach.
“Don’t worry, they said, you’ll pick it up quickly!” Did
he? “Yes! I did!”
After a year of supply teaching he completed his teacher
qualifications at Westminster College in Oxford, before
teaching science for more than seven years. One of his
pupils was the actor, Kenneth Branagh: “Great school plays
at that school!”
His first leadership role was as head of science at a school
in Brighton where he soon realised that three existing
“I hated school. When I left
I swore I’d never be back
in one in my life”
staff members had also interviewed for the role - and they were not
happy about his selection. Concerned they wouldn’t be responsive to
change, fate threw Green a lifeline.
“Through luck, serendipity, fate or whatever you want to call it,
about a week after I got there the head said they were going to have
a full HMI inspection. And in those days, full inspections involved 22
HMIs who came in for a week; you had two alone just for science for
a week!
“So the great thing about it was, after HMI had done their bit, we
had a final briefing and they said, ‘We’ve found these issues and
those’, and I said, ‘Can you please add this, this and this, because I
think they’re real problems too’, because they hadn’t spotted those.
Basically I got them to write me a report that I would then use very
easily and depersonalise all the key decisions that I had to take!”
How did he know to be so strategic? “I don’t know – it just seemed
like the right thing to do at that time. If you ask the question of how
much formal training have I had to be a headteacher, then the answer
would be zero.’
His first headship in 1992 was another controversial project.
Lincoln School of Science and Technology was born out of the city
technology college (CTC) movement of the late 1980s and was the first
of the new “specialist schools”.
“In those days, CTCs were worse than vampire stuff. They put the
garlic round the door.”
He dealt with the negativity by standing apart from it. “You say,
‘No – we’re here to do what we need to do – this is about the children’.
You don’t sink to the kind of negative commentary that came
from a lot of other heads who took a rather silly view of what was
happening.”
From there he went on to be headteacher at another school
that came from being far below average in results to achieving
significantly above-average and was rated outstanding by Ofsted.
Asked to help other struggling schools, he spent five years as chief
executive of the Leigh Academy Trust, which enabled him to oversee
six academies.
One secret to his success is surrounding himself with like-minded
people who share information. During the late 90s he helped to
pioneer an email list for headteachers. “They said that the head
had to be technically proficient enough to operate it. So, you had
to disconnect your phone, connect your modem, reprogram your
computer and do it yourself.”
Speaking with other heads taught Green a great deal, and it is clear
that a similar cross-pollination of information is what he wants to
encourage in his new DfE role.
Beyond school, Green talks about his wife (who was also a teacher)
and his three sons – all of whom are now grown. One of the perils
of headship is that it can mean moving around the country, and the
boys had to move from Brighton to Newark, though Green managed
to do so when they were all at school transition ages, which made it
easier. His wife has now officially retired, though she still teaches
French at the University of the Third Age.
As our time comes to a close and the recorder is switched off,
Green looks disappointed. He hasn’t been asked why he wanted to be
Schools Commissioner.
The recorder is duly switched back on.
With bright eyes he simply says: “I took the job because I could
influence more children’s lives than in my previous role. There
would be no other reason to do it.”
The message is clear. If Frank Green is going to be memorising
anyone’s lines, you can be certain they are going to be his own.
Curriculum Vitae
Born: August 27 1950
Education: Beaumont College
Stonyhurst College
University: Metallurgical Engineering,
Imperial College, University of London
Career Highlights:
1992: Headteacher of Lincoln School of
Science & Technology
1997: Leigh City Technology College (now
Leigh Technology Academy)
2002: Named as a Commander of the British
Empire for Services to Education
2007: Chief Executive Officer of Leigh
Academies Trust
Current Role:
National Schools Commissioner at the
Department for Education
14
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 15
EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
FEATURED: the new regional schools commissioners
North of England
13%
The board
RSC
A MAJOR
PRIORITY IS
TO BUILD
OUR POOL
OF ACADEMY
SPONSORS
A
B
C
open academies**
Janet Renou
Regional schools commissioner based in Darlington
Zoe Carr – elected
Executive headteacher, Town End Academy, Sunderland
Headteacher, Queen Elizabeth School, Kirkby Lonsdale
4
C
8
14
Headteacher, Cardinal Hume Catholic School, Gateshead
D
E
Les Walton – appointed
3
D
Principal, The Academy at Shotton Hall, Peterlee
RSC
2
Chair; adviser, Northern Education Trust; Education
14
12
A
Nick Hurn – elected
1
7
E
7
Chris Clarke – elected
Lesley Powell – elected
13 6
16
5
11
B
Funding Advisory Board, Newcastle-upon-Tyne
F
20% across
england
10
11 2
Andrew Bayston – appointed
9
Executive principal, Harrogate High School, Harrogate
Janet Renou
F
Regional schools commissioner for the north
NORTH OF ENGLAND
No.
PHILIP NYE
Regional schools
commissioners (RSCs) are the
government’s ‘middle tier’,
introduced as a new layer
between individual academy
schools and trusts, and the
Department for Education.
Announced in December
last year, RSCs have a remit of
monitoring the performance
of the academies in their area,
making recommendations on
free school applications and
of supporting academisation.
Each RSC will be supported
by a headteacher board, made
up of elected, appointed and
co-opted members.
Over eight weeks we
are profiling each of the
RSC regions.
ackling the isolation of small, rural
schools in the north will be one of
the priorities for the headteacher
board covering the region, Janet Renou, the
Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) for
the area has said.
Speaking to Academies Week, Ms
Renou also said that the geographical
isolation of schools could present a barrier
to academisation – and that growing
the number of converter academies was
something that the board she leads was
focusing on early.
Ms Renou said: “We’ve been looking
at underperformance and considering
appropriate ways to intervene where there
are concerns. But we’re also looking at
increasing the number of converters
to consider becoming sponsors.
Of all of the RSC regions, the north is
joint with Lancashire and west Yorkshire in
having the lowest proportion of academies
– and Ms Renou said that this stemmed
in part from the geography of the school
system in the region.
“I think we’ve got more than our fair share
of small schools. And if you look at North
Yorkshire and you look at Cumbria, we’ve
got a lot of rural isolation,” Ms Renou said.
“Because of that I think it makes it more
difficult for them to make the leap, because
they’re so isolated. So one of the big jobs is
to set those networks up and to make sure
that we try and pull people together so they
don’t feel that isolation. That’s one of the big
issues of this area.”
Asked how schools were being
encouraged to convert to academy status,
Ms Renou said that the headteacher board
networks we work through,” Ms Renou said.
“We are getting the headteacher board
and all of the academy heads to work and
to spread the message. So it’s by rolemodelling and showing what can be
done, and using the headteacher board as
advocates for the programme.”
Ms Renou was previously headteacher at
Skipton Girls’ High School, which converted
to academy status in 2011. She said that her
strong roots in the region was one of the
reasons why she took the new RSC role, as
well as the opportunity to offer her expertise
to a wider audience.
“I’m a product of the north, born and
brought up in Middlesbrough and Redcar,
so it’s an area that I know, it’s an area that
I’ve got family in. It’s great to come back
and work with the leaders in the area to
move the academies programme forward in
the north,” she said.
that we get in the region, and a major
priority is to build our pool of academy
sponsors.”
Ms Renou said that she would be looking
for more academies, and more businesses
and charities with educational experience,
played the main role in this.
“We use the headteacher board, and
colleagues, rather than it come from me.
One of the things that I’ve said about this
job is that it isn’t about me. It’s about the
people that we work with, it’s about the
The board has yet to co-opt an additional
two members, as is its right, though
Ms Renou said that she thought it would be
beneficial to appoint someone representing
the far north of the region and someone
with special educational needs experience.
@PHILIPNYE
T
NORTH
LANCASHIRE
AND WEST
YORKSHIRE
EAST
MIDLANDS
AND HUMBER
EAST OF
ENGLAND AND
NORTH-EAST
LONDON
WEST
MIDLANDS
SOUTH
CENTRAL
ENGLAND AND
NORTH-WEST
LONDON
SOUTH WEST
SOUTH-EAST
ENGLAND
AND SOUTH
LONDON
Statistics provided by
www.Watchsted.com
(@Watchsted), which is
owned by Angel Solutions Ltd based on data
published by the Department For Education in
September 2014
Local authority
Open school count*
Open academies**
1Cumbria
319
33
2Darlington
39
29
3Durham
269
25
4Gateshead
84
11
5Hartlepool
38
6
6Middlesbrough
55
17
7Newcastle-upon-Tyne
97
13
8
North Tyneside
78
3
9
North Yorkshire
375
13
10Northumberland
178
15
11
Redcar and Cleveland
58
13
12
South Tyneside
59
7
13Stockton-on-Tees
76
17
14Sunderland
111
36
TOTAL
North of England
England 1,836 21,648 238 4,418 *The open schools total includes all types of state-funded school, including special schools and alternative
provision schools.
**The academies total includes all free schools and non-free school academies, including special schools and
alternative provision schools.
16
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
NYE ON
We make it simple: how the government’s
new 16-19 league tables are calculated
@PHILIPNYE
The new accountability measures will give a
significant refresh to the performance tables
published for school sixth forms and colleges.
Headline measures will be pulled out,
displaying the key indicators of a school or
college’s performance more clearly.
Additionally, new indicators will be published,
with information about retention and student
destinations among the headline measures.
STUDENT attainment ENGLISH
AND MATHS
PROGRESS
GCSE
+0.5
Students
average more
grades per
academic
qualification
compared to
the national
average
B
Students
average this
grade in their
academic
qualifications
RETENTION DESTINATIONS
+0.2 93% 80%
Students
average this
many more
grades in maths
compared to
others with the
same results at
16 who had also
not achieved A*
-C at 16
% of all students
retained to the
end of their
studies
% of all
students
going on to
sustained
education,
employment,
or training
at the end of
their course
(Example)
HOW WILL IT WORK?
There are a number of stated aims of the new
accountability measures, with informing
student choice and helping schools and
colleges better assess their own performance
key among them.
The government has also said that the new
data will help Ofsted in their judgments.
Although not explicitly stated in the
guidance, it should also make it easier to
compare school sixth forms and colleges,
by broadening the range of performance
indicators reported.
The new accountability system will come
into force in 2016 (with the exception of
Substantial Vocational Qualifications at level
2 which will be factored in in 2017), with the
first performance tables under the new system
brought into the new measures in January
2017. Students starting two year courses from
September 2014 will therefore fall under the
new system.
The Department for Education (DfE) has said
that it plans to share pilot results under the
new accountability system with schools and
colleges in summer 2015, based on 2014 exam
results, but not to make these publicly
available.
Perhaps the biggest change under the new system is the
introduction of headline measures that will be published
for every school and college. These are intended to provide
a snapshot of performance, that make it easy to absorb the
key indicators of a sixth form or college’s performance.
Five headline measures are being brought in: progress,
attainment, progress in English and maths, retention and
destinations.
And a separate score will be
published for these measures for
each type of qualification offered
by a school or college: academic
programmes, Applied General
programmes and Tech Level
programmes at level 3, and
Substantial Vocational Qualification
programmes at level 2.
Alongside these headline
measures, national averages will
be published.
And the Department for
Education (DfE) has said
that additional measures
and underlying data on
performance will also be
available to students, parents
and other interested parties.
Additional measures will
provide details of specifics
such as attainment in
qualifications below level 3
and A-level attainment, while underlying data will
be allow people to explore things such as attainment in
specific subjects.
Download the document from:
http://tinyurl.com/o2jchc4
SECTOR REACTION
Joy Mercer, the Association of College’s senior policy
manager for quality and assurance, said: “The new
performance tables, which will be introduced in January
2017, move away from success in exams, towards a
range of measures with a focus on the progress students
make while they are at the college.
“This is a positive move, but we have concerns about
how easily this will be understood by parents and
potential students.”
Stephan Jungnitz, the
Association of School
and College Leaders’
colleges specialist said,
“The accountability
measures themselves
aren’t the problem, it’s the
policies that lie behind
them that are the issue,
especially the perpetuated
notion that colleges can
somehow transform the
attainment of post-16
students in GCSE maths and
English.
“By and large, schools
will have done their utmost
to wring every last drop of
attainment in these GCSE
subjects from young people
already.
“It’s mostly colleges that
work with students who haven’t
already achieved a grade C in maths or English, and the
performance table may thus reflect unfairly on providers
of post-16 education.”
Calculation of an institution’s progress score’s
In this fictitious example, Sanctuary Sixth Form has nine students and
offers two subjects, economics A-level and French A-level.
Subject
Entry
Valueadded
score
Economics
A-Level
Nicky
+2
Michael
-1
Ed
+1
Alan
0
Ruth
-1
above average
Charles
+1
= +1+1+0+0
Estelle
+1
4
David
0
Gillian
0
STUDENT
PROGRESS
THE
PROGRESS +0.5
MEASURE
Under the new system the progress
measure will carry particular
significance, as the basis by which
minimum standards are measured.
This represents a significant shift
from the current system, where
attainment is used as the basis for
judging whether minimum standards
have been reached – currently
school sixth forms are considered
to be underperforming if fewer than
40 per cent of students achieve an
average score per entry in academic
qualifications of 172 points.
No details are available yet on
where the minimum standard will
be drawn, though the DfE says that it
expects to publish details on this next
summer.
For academic subjects (for the
purposes of this explainer, the focus
will be on this type of qualification),
the progress measure will set out
how much progress students make
in their studies – compared to
equivalent intakes.
This is calculated in the following
way.
For any given subject, the DfE will
work out the relationship between
students’ GCSE performance – no
other key stage 4 qualifications
are taken into account in the
calculation of the progress measure
for academic qualifications – and
their performance in the level 3
qualification (see the graph below).
Then for every student at a
particular institution it will be
possible to see how, based on the
average grades they came in with at
level 3, they performed versus others
taking the same qualification. This
leads to a value-added score being
calculated for each student, for each
subject.
Once these have been calculated
the results are aggregated, beginning
at subject level (see table). The
value-added scores for pupils who
took the qualification are averaged,
to give the value-added score for the
qualification as a whole.
The progress rating for the school
or college at large is then is worked
out by averaging each of these
subject-specific scores, weighting
each qualification by the number of
students who took it.
It is this overall value-added score
for academic qualifications that will
feature in the published headline
Calculation of students’ value-added
A*
A
Outcome attainment
The 16-19 accountability measures are
changing. As the government releases its
(very dense) guide setting out how the new
measures will work, Academies Week’s Philip
Nye, a former National Audit Office auditor,
takes on the gruelling task of guiding you
through the key features
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 17
EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
French
A-Level
performance measures.
A score of +0.5 would be equivalent
to performance half a grade above
average for the intake of the sixth
form. Confidence intervals will also
be published alongside the headline
score.
Other things to bear in mind
are that re-sits of key stage 4
qualifications once they have
started at sixth
form or college
will not affect a
progress scores
student’s prior
attainment rating.
Additionally, noncompletion of a
course will not be
treated as a fail.
C
D
Student gets E grade when
average attainment is D grade :
Value added score is -1 grade
E
fail
F
E
D
C
B
A
Prior attainment (equivalent average GCSE grade shown on axis)
= +2-1+1+0-1
5
= +1 / 5
= +0.2 grades
Provider’s
overall
score
Weighted
average =
(+0.2 x 5)
+ (+0.5 x 4)
9
= +0.3 grades
above average
= +2 / 4
= +0.5 grades
above average
Overall, the school would be reported with a progress grade of +0.3 grades above average
Student gets A grade when
average attainment is C grade:
Value added score is +2 grades
B
Subject
level
score
A*
Source Vocational
qualifications for
16-19 year olds, June
2014, Department for
Education
ENGLISH AND MATHS
A second progress indicator will feature in the
headline measures, focusing specifically on
English and maths GCSEs for students who had
not achieved a grade A*- C in one or other of these
subjects by the age of 16. Separate average progress
grades will be reported for each of these subjects for
every institution.
This comes as new rules are brought in which
require students with only a grade D or lower
in English or maths to continue studying these
subjects until the age of 18.
The English and maths measure will be
calculated in a similar manner to the main
progress measure, albeit only prior attainment
in English and maths will be taken into account
when considering what progress has been made by
students.
So if a student enters with a grade D, and achieves
a B versus an average of a grade C achieved by
their peers, this will count as value-added score
of +1 for the pupil. The institution’s English and
maths progress grade will then be calculated as the
average of individual students’ performance scores.
Importantly, though, where a student achieves a
lower English and maths grade than they entered
with, a cap will be applied to their performance
– meaning they will only be treated as if they
achieved one grade lower than their previous grade,
even if they actually achieved a lower grade.
So a student who entered with a grade D and
achieved a grade F would be treated as if they
gained a grade E for the purpose of working out
their value-added measure.
This would be the case, too, if they did not take
the exam.
This would ensure that school sixth forms
and colleges who take on students “with poor
motivation” are treated fairly, the official DfE
guidance says.
18
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
SCHOOL ASSEMBLY
FEATURE
May opens new drama centre Icy deluge for primary staff
A
n open morning
with a difference
was held at a
Rochdale primary school
that raised £750 for a
cancer charity.
Parents joined
their children
from Littleborough
Community Primary
School last week at an
open day where they
took part in lessons
before attending a
Macmillan coffee
morning.
Children brought
money into school for
the charity; the child
from each class who had
raised the most money
was selected to pour
water over the teachers
and headteacher in an
ice-bucket challenge.
Headteacher Martine
Sinker said: “We would
like to thank everyone
who took part to help
us raise money for this
worthwhile charity.”
Home Secretary Theresa May cuts the ribbon to open The Jacoby Studios
T
he Home Secretary Theresa May took
centre stage at a Maidenhead school
last week.
The MP for the area cut the ribbon to
mark the opening of The Jacoby Studios, the
new performing arts centre at Desborough
College.
The facilities, which include a studio and
theatre, will be used by more than 300 key
stage 3, GCSE and A-level students each
week. They will also be used for activities
such as after-school drama and dance clubs,
assemblies and sixth-form lectures.
Johnson Kane, chief executive of The
Education Fellowship, said: “We take our
responsibility as sponsor to Desborough
College very seriously and are grateful to the
minister for joining us to complete what is an
undeniably special day in the college’s life.
“We all look forward to seeing and hearing
some great performances here over the
coming years.”
Connor takes the top prize
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 19
EDITION 4
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
Interested in being featured by School Assembly?
Email us: news@academiesweek.co.uk
Contest win leaves Kent pupils in a spin
BILLY CAMDEN
@BILLYCAMDEN
A
team of six secondary school pupils
from Kent has sped to victory in a
national car engineering event.
Year 10 pupils Dean Wickes, Jack Smith, Jack
Gwynne, Harry Compton all aged 14 and
Lewis Moorcroft and George Plumbe aged
15, from Greenacre Academy in Chatham last
week won The Car Design Challenge at the
University of Greenwich.
The engineering pupils will now have
their names displayed on the tailfin of the
Bloodhound SuperSonic Car (SSC) car when
it attempts to break the current world land
speed record in 2016.
Andy Green, a Royal Air Force pilot, will try
to rocket the car to its maximum potential of
1,000mph.
The 14m car weighs more than 7 tonnes,
and has a Typhoon jet fighter engine that
provides more than 135,000 horsepower.
The team of six became involved in the
challenge when 30 of the academy’s students
attended a STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Maths) event as part of a
nationwide educational project funded by
Rolls-Royce.
The team was the youngest in the
competition, challenging five other teams of
older students.
The groups did a variety of workshops,
based on engineering and technology, and
were then tasked to design a car based on
the Bloodhound. The aim was to design and
manufacture a car from a supplied kit that
would travel the furthest on a single launch.
Winner from Greenacre, Harry Compton
said: “We learnt a lot through the whole day,
but having our names on the Bloodhound car
when it smashes the land speed record across
the desert is simply amazing.”
While fellow winner Dean Wickes said:
“There was a part of the car that we built, that
needs improving, which held it back from
progressing further. But never mind. I’m still
ecstatic to have our names on the tailfin, its
brilliant.”
Gary Hake, head of Greenacre’s engineering
and design technology department and a
former engineer, said: “We are so proud of our
students and this is a massive success story
for them and Greenacre.
“We are committed to enthusing and
engaging young people in career oriented
studies in engineering, technology and
science.
“Every Monday evening in term time we
have a STEM club and for the University
of Greenwich’s STEM
event I selected
15 technology students from our STEM club
and my colleague Dan McCarthy selected 15
science students.
“By 2020 60 per cent of people working
in engineering will have retired, so we are
passionate
about training and educating
the
engineers of the future.”
Nikki King OBE, the
chairman of Greenacre
Academies Trust said:
Competition winners from Greenacre Academy. From left: Jack
Gwynne (14), Lewis Moorcroft (15), Dean Wickes (14), Harry
Compton (14), Jack Smith (14) and George Plumbe (15)
Inset: Design of the Bloodhound SSC car
“This is an incredible result for the academy
and we are so proud of everyone involved.”
The Bloodhound SSC team will attempt
to hit 1,000mph and beat the current world
landspeed record of 763mph in the South
African desert in 2016.
Miss Brown, teaching assistant braves the ice-bucket challenge
Olympian becomes a mentor
AN
PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION
Schools are magical places, full of creativity and opportunity. But what
makes your school so magical?
selection to a public vote before December.
Academies Week is on the hunt for the best picture representing the
“magic” of school.
the winning school a brand new prospectus and photo-shoot!
Magic could mean witches and wizards, but also: illusions, magical
occasions, something unexplained, it’s up to you!
All you have to do is email us one photo before 5pm on Monday,
November 3, illustrating the magic of your school.
The Academies Week team will select its top ten and then put the
Connor celebrates with Beast Quest character the
good Wizard Aduro. Inset: The good Wizard Aduro
visits St Nicholas’ Catholic Primary School
O
ne lucky pupil from a Liverpool
school has been picked out of more
than 2,000 children as the winner of
a national summer reading challenge.
The National Literacy Trust teamed up
with publisher Orchard Books to give away
books to children across the country who
entered the challenge: reading for more than
11 hours, at home and at school.
The students were then entered into a prize
draw and the winner was Connor Lamont,
a Year 3 pupil from St Nicholas Catholic
Primary School.
He won prizes, including book vouchers,
an eReader and a Beast Quest goody bag.
Connor said: “I felt surprised because I
have always enjoyed reading but I did not
think that I would win the competition.
“I am thrilled with my prize and have
already read up to page 44 of my new book.”
We’ve teamed up with education marketing & PR experts, EMPRA to offer
EMPRA will design and print a lovely new prospectus for your school and
our resident photographer Ellis O’Brien will spend the day at your school
making sure you have some great photos to include.
Please visit academiesweek.co.uk/competition for more information.
British Olympian Craig Figes (centre) with students from John Cabot Academy
A
n Olympic water polo player will
help a Bristol academy to launch
its Sky Living for Sport project this
year.
John Cabot Academy is taking part in the
free initiative sponsored by Sky Sports to use
sports stars and skills to boost confidence,
increase attainment and improve life skills.
Craig Figes, who captained the GB water
polo team at the 2012 Olympics, will mentor
15 students from years 7-11.
Figes attended the school last week where
he held a Q and A session, a practical sports
session and met and coached the water polo
team.
Mark White, the academy’s schools
sports co-ordinator said: “Our students are
really looking forward to taking part in this
initiative and meeting an Olympic star.”
He said the project would improve life
chances and benefit students “both now and
in the future”.
D E A D LIN E E N T RY: m o n day 3 r d n ov e m e b e r 2 0 1 4
to enter em ail : c om p etition@ac adem ies.c o.u k
in
partnership
with
20
@ACADEMIESWEEK
ACADEMIES WEEK
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014 21
EDITION 4
jobs
ASTON MANOR ACADEMY
CHILWELL CROFT ACADEMY
as part of Equitas Academies Trust
as part of Equitas Academies Trust
Teacher of English with Responsibility
for Raising Achievement
Early Years Foundation Stage Lead
Chilwell Croft Primary School, Chilwell Croft, Birmingham, B19 2QH
Salary Band 1 – 3 (Pay policy available online)
+ TLR2b (£4,309)
Starting January 2014
Aston Manor Academy, Phillips Street, Aston, Birmingham, B6 4PZ
Tel: 0121 464 3402, Fax: 0121 464 2088
Tel: 0121 359 8108
Salary Band 1 – 3 (Pay policy available online)
+ TLR2b (£4,267)
Equitas Academies Trust was formed in September 2012 and incorporates Aston Manor
Academy (Secondary) and Chilwell Croft Academy (Primary). Both Academies are happy,
exciting and inspiring learning environments for their children who are from a vibrant mix
of cultures. The staff and Trustees have a great sense of pride in their schools and care
passionately about the pupils they serve.
Chilwell Croft Academy is seeking to appoint a motivated, committed and creative Early
Years practitioner to lead the Early Years unit. The successful candidate will be an exemplary
classroom practitioner and will be leading an already successful Key Stage in a rapidly
improving school. They will also have the ability to use a dynamic and innovative teaching
style to drive Chilwell Croft Academy forward to become an ‘outstanding’ Academy of the
future.
In return the Trust can offer:
•
A friendly, supportive and inclusive ethos
•
An outstanding team of learning support and administrative staff
•
Extensive opportunities for professional development
•
A chance to make a difference to young people’s lives
Equitas Academies Trust was formed in September 2012 and incorporates Aston Manor
Academy (Secondary) and Chilwell Croft Academy (Primary). Both Academies are happy,
exciting and inspiring learning environments for their children who are from a vibrant mix
of cultures. The staff and Members of Equitas Academies Trust board have a great sense of
pride in their schools and care passionately about their students.
Aston Manor Academy is seeking to appoint a Teacher of English to join our outstanding
English department. The successful candidate will play an active role within the Department
and will have the skills and abilities to help drive Aston Manor Academy from a ‘good’ to an
‘outstanding’ Academy of the future. The ideal person will be an excellent practitioner, have
enthusiasm for their subject, have experience teaching KS3 – KS5, be keen to support the
whole school literacy programme and share their outstanding practice.
This is a great opportunity for an enthusiastic and creative Early Years professional!
Our pay policy can be found on our website. Informal visits to the Academy are most
welcome. Arrangements can be made through Joanne Kyte on 0121 464 3322.
Salary
Location
Permanent
Fir Vale School provides an exciting and fulfilling challenge to dedicated, well-qualified
professionals who believe in the philosophies of school improvement and school
effectiveness.
We are looking to appointment an enthusiastic and dynamic member of the Senior
Leadership Team to raise standards and drive forward the teaching and learning of
English. The successful candidate will be an energetic and innovative English Specialist
with successful middle or senior leadership experience and a proven track record of
outstanding classroom practice. Applicants should also be well qualified, versatile and
enthusiastic teachers who can meet our plans for the ongoing development and evolution
of this successful school. A full induction, mentoring and CPD programme is in place for all
employees.
•
Extensive opportunities for professional development
•
A chance to make a difference to young people’s lives
I have definitely made the right decision in working for Aston Manor Academy.
The support I have received has been fantastic. I feel I am able to approach any
member of the Academy regardless of their position and receive a wealth of help
and support”
(NQT, 2014)
welcome. For further details and an application form, please contact jobs@astonmanoracademy.com
Interviews will take place W/C Monday 20 October 2014.
the school website www.astonmanoracademy.com/vacancies
or alternatively you may download a Job Description / Person Specification and application form from
Closing date: Friday 17 October 2014, 12 noon.
Interviews will take place week commencing Monday 20 October 2014
HMC Co-educational 978 pupils: 266 in the Sixth Form
Teacher of Religious
Education with additional
Humanities subjects
Dates
Apply by Thursday, 16th October 2014.
Salary
MPR/UPR
Wilton Road, Southampton SO15 5UQ
Web: www.kes.hants.sch.uk
Please do not apply online from this site. Fir Vale School Application Form to be completed
Leadership scale 12 – 16 (£50,119 - £55,398)
Contract Term
An outstanding team of learning support and administrative staff
Closing Date: Friday 17 October, 12 noon
Fir Vale School provides an exciting and fulfilling challenge to dedicated, well-qualified
professionals who believe in the philosophies of school improvement and school effectiveness.
Sheffield
Full Time
•
Our pay policy can be found on our website. Informal visits to Aston Manor Academy are most
Apply by 9.00 am, Monday, 20th October 2014.
Contract Type
A friendly, supportive and inclusive ethos
staff to share this commitment.
Assistant Headteacher with
responsibility for English
Dates
•
The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of all our children and expects
staff to share this commitment.
school website www.chilwellcroft.coms
In return the Trust can offer:
Aston Manor Academy’s motto ‘all different, all equal, all achieving’ is at the heart of
the Academy life, with staff fully embracing this ethos. The successful candidate will be
The Trust is committed to safeguarding and promoting the safety and welfare of all our children and expects
Our pay policy can be found on our website. Informal visits to the Academy are most welcome.
Arrangements can be made through Joanne Kyte on 0121 464 3322.
For further details and an application form, please contact jobs@astonmanoracademy.com or
alternatively you may download a Job Description / Person Specification and application form from the
passionate about teaching with the ability to inspire young people and colleagues.
We are…
>
Oversubscribed, highly successful, ethnically diverse comprehensive school. An
exciting place to be!
>
Constantly improving results
>
Committed to an ethos of high expectations and outstanding student behaviour
>
Expanding to 1050 students by September 2015
>
Business and Enterprise specialism renowned for very high levels of progress and
innovation
>
A happy school with a very supportive, friendly and motivated staff team
For further information and to obtain an application pack, please visit www.firvale.com. Telephone enquiries can be made to Cath Chapman, Admin & HR Manager on 0114 2439391.
The closing date for receipt of applications is 9.00 am, Monday, 20th October 2014 interviews will be held on Thursday, 23rd October 2014.
This opportunity is to join a dedicated team of colleagues within the Humanities Department
and to a school where there is a commitment to Investors in People. A full induction, mentoring
and CPD programme is in place for all employees. Applicants should be well qualified, versatile
and enthusiastic teachers who can meet our plans for the on-going development and evolution
of this unique school.
We are:
• Oversubscribed, highly successful, ethnically diverse comprehensive school. An exciting
place to be!
• Constantly improving results
• Expanding to 1050 students by September 2015
• Business and Enterprise specialist status renowned for very high levels of value added
performance and innovation
Required for September 2015
Following the retirement of Mrs Jane Thomas as Deputy Head, we wish to appoint another outstanding individual
for this critical role. You will have significant management experience and first rate leadership, management and
communication skills. You will report to the Head as his principal deputy and will share with him the responsibility
for promoting the vision, ethos and values of this leading HMC independent day school.
The successful candidate will have responsibility for and will manage the pastoral system throughout the School.
A clear focus on the promotion of the School as a centre of educational excellence, particularly with regard to the
maintaining of high academic standards, co-curricular achievement and pastoral welfare is essential.
King Edward’s has its own generous salary scale and private medical insurance is offered.
Further details and application forms are available from our website:
http://www.kes.hants.sch.uk/job-opportunities
or contact the Head’s PA on 023 8079 9204 or email: hm@kes.hants.sch.uk
Closing date: Friday, 24 October 2014.
Applications welcome from both experienced and newly qualified teachers
If you are excited by this opportunity, we want to hear from you. Is this the challenge for you?
For further information and to obtain an application pack, please visit www.firvale.com.
Telephone enquiries can be made to Cath Chapman, Admin & HR Manager on 0114 2439391.
Fir Vale School, Owler Lane, Sheffield. S4 8GB
If you are excited by this opportunity, we want to hear from you. Is this the challenge for you?
Our vision: To inspire learners to be aspirational independent citizens who have the skills to contribute positively to, and succeed in, an ever-changing world.
Deputy Head (Pastoral)
King Edward’s is committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children; applicants must be willing to
undergo child protection screening appropriate to the post, including checks with the Disclosure & Barring Service
and past employers (where applicable).
22
ACADEMIES WEEK
@ACADEMIESWEEK
FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014
jobs
Director of School:
Teaching & Learning
Ramsden Hall School
Job start As soon as possible
Ramsden Heath, Billericay, Essex CM11 1HN
Location: Essex
Tel: 01277 624580
Contract type: Full Time
Email: finance@ramsdenhall.essex.sch.uk
Contract term: Permanent
www.ramsdenbillericay.co.uk
LPS with NRDA allowance (Orange Book)
Ramsden Hall School Billericay is seeking to appoint a Director of
School: Teaching & Learning as soon as possible to work with the
Executive Head Teacher and IEB (Interim Executive Board) to further
develop the vision and direction of the school.
You will be expected to take responsibility for the operational
running of the Billericay site and deputise for the Executive Head
teacher when she is not on the site and where appropriate or
necessary. You will be expected to lead and be accountable for the
curriculum throughout the school and be responsible for effective
and timely data management and reporting. Housing maybe
available for the right candidate.
Ramsden Hall School is a community residential special school for
boys who have a statement of special needs for behaviour, emotional
and social difficulties aged 11 - 16. The school is situated on two
sites. One in Ramsden Heath Billericay and one in Langham near
Colchester. The Billericay site comprises a large victorian country
mansion build in 1854 in which residential house and administration
offices are situated. There is a newly constructed academic provision
situated close to the original building which has been furnished and
resourced to a high standard. The buildings are set in 14 acres of
grounds including a playing field, swimming pool mature gardens. A
number of staff live on site ensuring support and safe supervision for
pupils at all times.
Ramsden Hall School is committed to safeguarding and promoting
the welfare of children and vulnerable young persons and expects
all staff, governors and volunteers to share this commitment. All
appointments are subject to safer recruitment procedures including
satisfactory references, medical and enhanced DBS clearance and
previous employment verification.
To arrange an informal visit please call the school office.
For an informal discussion please contact Emma Paramor Executive Head Teacher at the school or email eparamor@ramsdenbillericay.co.uk.
THE NEW KID
ON THE BLOCK
A
W
BASIC LISTING - £95
FEATURED ONLINE ONLY £250
HALF PAGE 261MM (W) X 165MM (H)
£3,200
ICT Teacher
Part-time (0.5)
MPS
Ashlyns School, Chesham Road,
Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire, HP4 3AH
Required from January 2015, an enthusiastic, motivated and dynamic
teacher of ICT to join our highly achieving ICT Department. ICT is a popular
subject choice at GCSE and A Level. The successful candidate will be able
to teach ICT and Computing to GCSE level. Applicants should be willing to
organise and participate in extra-curricular provision for ICT.
Ashlyns School, located in Berkhamsted, is a determined and forwardthinking school committed to providing an exceptional education for all.
Closing date: By 9.30am on Monday 20 October
You can learn more about our school and download an
application pack from the school website
www.ashlyns.herts.sch.uk
OFF
50%
YOUR FIRST PRINT
ADVERT WITH
ACADEMIES WEEK until
31.10.14
We would be delighted to show you around our school. Please
call Tricia Whelan on 01442 863605 to arrange a visit.
Interview date: Thursday 23 October 2014
To advertise call us on: 020 81234 778
Ashlyns School is committed to safeguarding children and young people. All applicants must be willing to undergo child protection screening.
SIMPLE PRICING | COMPETITIVE | TARGETED | EFFECTIVE
24
ACADEMIES WEEK
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FRIDAY, OCT 10, 2014
s
p
a
w
p
e
e
n
r
a
≈
for all schools
Special offer
by 31.10.14
SUBSCRIBE @ ACADEMIESWEEK.CO.UK
We Have Launched
ACADEMIES WEEK Sudoku challenge
How to play: Fill in all blank squares
making sure that each row, column
and 3 by 3 box contains the numbers
1 to 9
Spot the difference
to WIN an ACADEMIES WEEK mug
Last Week’s solutions
9 Difficulty:
6 EASY
8 2
4 1 8
4 6 8
3 5
2
4
4
5
9
4
9
1
5
8
7
4
9
4
5
8
4
7
1
3
2
6
9
9
6
1
4
2
5
7
8
3
6
3
7
5
9
1
8
4
2
1
9
8
2
4
6
3
5
7
2
4
5
3
7
8
6
9
1
8
2
3
9
5
4
1
7
6
7
1
9
6
8
2
4
3
5
4
5
6
1
3
7
9
2
8
1
3
9
2
5
7
4
8
6
5
7
2
4
8
6
3
1
9
4
6
8
3
9
1
5
7
2
7
2
1
5
6
3
9
4
8
8
9
5
1
2
4
7
6
3
3
4
6
8
7
9
1
2
5
Difficulty:
EASY
Difficulty:
5
6 1
MEDIUM
8
1
6 9
4
7 9
2 4
1
5
8
3 7
1
1
8 7
2
9
5
7
6
4
2
8
3
1
6
1
4
9
3
8
2
5
7
2
8
3
7
1
5
6
9
4
Spot five differences. First correct entry wins an Academies Week mug. Tweet a picture of your
completed spot the difference using @academiesweek in the tweet.
ANSWERS to Party conference ‘who said what?’ quiz
Solutions:
Difficulty:
Next week
MEDIUM
David Laws – fringe
Tristram Hunt – conference speech
Nicky Morgan – conference speech
Nicky Morgan – conference speech
7
3
7
2
8
6
9
5
1
4
6)
7)
8)
9)
9
Nicky Morgan - conference speech.
Tristram Hunt – conference speech.
Tristram Hunt – conference speech.
Nicky Morgan - conference speech.
David Laws – fringe
5
7
4
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
8
1
5