Posts Tagged ‘schools’
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
The current examination system is said to encourage schools to focus their teaching towards the actual exam, rather than providing a general overview of the subject.
The purpose of new league tables, due out next week, is to incentivise schools to raise standards and teaching for all pupils, instead of encouraging them to jump through hoops to avoid intervention. The revised tables will show more accurate and detailed statistics of grades, offering a comparison between the schools that take on high achievers and those that started at a lower base. They will carefully monitor the improvements made in each school.
It is hoped that this will further the government’s agenda to close the attainment gap between different backgrounds. This is coupled with the extra Pupil Premium funding to support poorer children. The theory is that in return schools should deliver the same level of achievement for all children, regardless of background.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Education, further education, Public Sector, pupil premium, school league tables, schools, teaching standards
Posted in Education, Further Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, January 17th, 2012
David Cameron has backed Sir Michael Wilshaw’s plans to axe the current Ofsted rating of ‘satisfactory’, stating “Just good enough is frankly not good enough”. Bold plans to tackle ‘coasting schools’ and get them to switch gear have now been outlined with proposals to change the current 3,000 schools labelled as ‘satisfactory’ to ‘improvement required’. Schools will be given three years to improve, with earlier re-inspections after 12 to 18 months. If they fail to improve, they could face going into ‘special measures’.
This announcement comes hot on the heels of plans to carry out no-notice inspections to address flaws in the system after concerns were raised that in some schools poor teachers and naughty students were told to ‘stay home’ during Ofsted inspections.
Though critics have accused these changes as being part of a wider plan to force schools to become academies, there are many who see this as a welcome move to address inadequacies and strive for the best education for all children.
Posted by Hayley Roberts, who specialises in education law advice to schools and academies, including advice on teaching schools, collaboration models and partnership structures, school companies, and a wide range of pastoral issues.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.5/10 (2 votes cast)
Tags: academies, David Cameron, Education, ofsted ratings, schools, sir michael wilshaw
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, January 13th, 2012
The Government has today made a long overdue announcement following their consultation on changes to the Teachers’ Performance Regulations. The announcement confirms that the Government are going to remove a lot of the previous restrictions on schools to dismissing ‘underperforming’ teachers. The model policy that was consulted on combines performance management with capability and envisages dismissal for routine cases within a term. As part of the recommendation, the period teachers are given to improve could be as short as 4 weeks.
It will be up to individual schools to review their policies from September in light of the recommendations of the Government. Schools seeking to put this robust approach into practice should be mindful that the ultimate test is not the word of Mr Gove but that of the Employment Tribunal. Whether a Tribunal would consider the government’s timetable to be fair remains to be seen.
Posted by Heather Bragg, who specialises in contentious and non-contentious employment matters including; contractual issues, unfair dismissal, redundancy and all areas of discrimination.
Heather Bragg
0115 976 6553
hbragg@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Education, employment, employment tribunal, mr gove, schools, teachers, teachers performance regulations, teaching standards
Posted in Education, Employment | No Comments »
Thursday, January 12th, 2012
Ofsted’s new chief has announced the current two day notice before an inspection is set to be replaced with a no notice system for inspections for all schools in England from autumn.
Some schools believe these changes are a result of recent claims that schools attempt to portray a stronger impression during Ofsted inspections by sending “bad” pupils home or drafting in staff from other schools. There are also concerns that shorter or no notice inspections may stop schools properly engaging with the inspection process.
Ofsted has carried out 1,500 no notice inspections over the last 18 months and defends the new system by assuring that the sole aim is to provide a true picture of school performance. Schools should be able to trust the inspection process but no notice inspections may just aggravate the feeling that Ofsted is trying to catch them out.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Education, Ofsted, ofsted inspection, primary education, Public Sector, schools, secondary education
Posted in Employment, Public Sector | No Comments »
Monday, November 21st, 2011
A report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that though plans to implement a single national funding formula for schools will create winners and losers, the system needs to be more consistent, transparent and responsive. The IFS acknowledges that at present “formulae can be myriad and complex: different local authorities take into account different factors and fund particular types of schools differently”.
The formula must be carefully thought out, with a fair adjustment of secondary to primary school funding, recognition that current deprivation funding (i.e. the pupil premium) is geared strongly towards secondary schools and recognise that some of the most deprived parts of the country ought to receive extra funds.
IFS asserts that any transitional period of less than a decade will involve significant, sustained losses for some schools. With the coalition’s reputation for rapid change in the education system it will be interesting to see whether they follow the IFS’s recommendations on the transitional period.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: coalition government, coalition reform of education funding, Education, government, ifs, institute of fiscal studies, school funding, schools
Posted in Education, Government bodies | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 9th, 2011
Today the LGO published their report highlighting failures of admissions authorities when conducting admission appeals. The statistics in the report support the view that some admissions authorities get it wrong, but a bigger picture is being missed.
Traditionally admissions authorities were part of the local authority. However, academies can (and most do) act as their own admissions authority. For high performing academies particularly this presents a stressful and expensive problem – parents using the Admissions and Appeals Codes to put academies under enormous pressure during the appeal process.
It is not uncommon for parents to ask upwards of 30 questions before an appeal, employ a professional advocate to put their case and for individual hearings to last in excess of two hours. For an over-subscribed academy facing 30+ appeals, this results in a massive increase in cost – money that could be spent on education.
And the outcome if questions go unanswered or an appeal hearing cut short? A finding of maladministration.
I doubt this is what Mr Gove had in mind when promoting the freedom of academy status or what his predecessors envisaged when drafting the Codes.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: academies, admission appeals, admissions and appeals codes, admissions authorities, schools
Posted in Education, Local Authorities | No Comments »
Tuesday, October 11th, 2011
Michael Gove has announced his approval for 13 University Technical Colleges (UTCs) and around 55 free schools (which can be set up by parents, community groups or other organisations) to open from September 2012 onwards.
Pupils who choose to opt out of mainstream schools at 14 can enrol at UTCs, (which are sponsored by local universities and employers), where they will be taught specialist subjects such as engineering, manufacturing and construction. Silverstone plan to follow in the footsteps of JCB (whose UTC opened in Staffordshire last year) and open a UTC, teaching mechanics, engineering, and event management.
Critics argue that UTCs will mean pupils specialise at too early a stage in their school career. But for those disengaged pupils in mainstream education and/or those with a passion for these specialist subjects, enrolling at a UCT could be their lifeline. Looking ahead, these specialist skills could give a much-needed boost to the British economy, be an alternative to the university route and open more doors for young people upon leaving education – watch this space.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: browne jacobson, Education, free schools, Hayley Roberts, mainstream education, mainstream school, schools, secondary education, technical college, University technical colleges, UTCs
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Monday, October 10th, 2011
According to the government, more than 1.2 million pupils are now in education in academies. The 1000th academy to choose academy status has just opened and joins more than 1,300 academies that are already in operation across the country. The pace of change seems to be surpassing even the Department for Education’s expectations.
This week the government also announced its plans for stepping up funding into setting up free schools in areas where there are shortages of pupil places.
Pupils in the new models of educational establishments are able to benefit from greater freedoms, the ability to innovate and to raise standards. Ministers hope that the range of schools available now to parents, such as academies, Free Schools and Studio Schools, will help transform the attainment and achievement of pupils in England.
Laura Richards
0115 976 6249
lrichards@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: academies, browne jacobson, Education, education in England, education standards, free schools, government, Laura Richards, schools, student achievement, student attainment Government education initiative, studio schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, September 23rd, 2011
Ofsted’s latest survey shows that schools who join together to raise standards, see improvements across teaching and learning, behaviour and pupils’ achievement. The survey found that the main reason for the improvements was effective leadership, underpinned by ‘rigorous procedures for holding staff accountable’ and ‘assessing the quality of teaching and learning’. Greater flexibility of increased resources was also listed as an important factor.
While hard federations are only appropriate for specific circumstances, schools and academies are increasingly looking at various ways to partner and collaborate with each other on a far more formal platform than they may have done in the past. Key reasons for this include ensuring the longevity of relationships and sharing resource and expertise to improve pupil outcomes. New governance arrangements, multi-academy structures, establishing trading companies and entering into formal partnership agreements are just some of the possibilities schools are looking into.
Increased school collaboration is high on the government’s agenda as part of the ‘self-improving school system’, and will undoubtedly be staying there for the foreseeable future.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 5.0/10 (3 votes cast)
Tags: academies, browne jacobson, Education, federated schools, Hayley Roberts, Ofsted, school collaboration, school standards, schools, teaching and learning, teaching standards
Posted in Education, Shared services | No Comments »
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
The new school’s commissioner, Dr Elizabeth Sidwell, has said she is eager to see more all-through schools opening as academies under her watch. These schools are created by a secondary school joining up with one or more feeder primaries to educate children from age 3 through to 18.
Dr Sidwell hopes that removing the transitional period between primary and secondary education will eliminate the acknowledged ‘dip’ in performance between these phases of education. A child should be more confident and familiar in their surroundings if they do not have to switch schools at age 11.
However, it is not all plain sailing. Some schools, (especially small primaries) may be concerned that they would lose their autonomy by joining up with a secondary. Others may have concerns about bringing together two or more very different organisational structures. These concerns can be overcome by careful planning and by considering all aspects of an all-through school proposal to ensure each school is content with the arrangement.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: academies, Dr Elizabeth Sidwell, Education, primary education, schools, secondary education
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Thursday, September 15th, 2011
More than 1,300 schools are now academies, and the figure is set to rise dramatically over the coming months. This has led to a dramatic reduction in many councils’ budgets (plus an expected claw-back of £1 billion) and a struggle to provide services to schools still under their control. There have been many discussions around how the relationship between academies and councils will work in the future. Last week Nick Clegg reportedly stated that councils should be responsible for standards at schools not under their direct control, make decisions about who runs them and hold providers ‘more sharply to account’.
Mr Clegg’s comments appear to be in complete antithesis to the whole policy and rationale behind the academy programme – to free schools from local authority control. The poor working relationship between some schools and their councils has undoubtedly been a factor in decisions to convert to academy status, with the promise of freedom, independence and autonomy being an attractive offer.
It remains to be seen whether we will see a move towards involvement of council in academy affairs (e.g. being able to trigger inspections if they believe there are problems), or whether councils’ roles will be limited to the provision of services.
Hayley Roberts
0115 908 4862
hroberts@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: academies, academy conversion, councils' budgets, local authority, Nick Clegg, schools
Posted in Education, Local Authorities | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 13th, 2011
A recent Centre for Social Justice report has shown that some schools are acting illegally by excluding pupils by unofficial means. This includes transferring pupils to alternative educational provisions without officially excluding a pupil, encouraging a parent to remove their child from the school, or sending a child home to cool off rather than using fixed term exclusions as required. This practice can lead to schools breaching their legal obligation to provide education.
The report sets out that although the number of exclusions has dropped in recent years, the numbers of pupils in Pupil Referral Units has increased. However, to suggest actual exclusion numbers has dropped can only be done with caution given the unofficial means of avoiding ‘formal’ exclusions identified in the report.
Excluding a pupil can include a heavy administrative burden and costs – reviewing the exclusion, Governor’s meetings and an independent appeals panel – but the failure to take these steps can leave schools open to legal challenge.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: centre for social justice, illegal exclusions, pupil referral units, schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, August 12th, 2011
With the anniversary of the “converter” academy fast approaching, the Department for Education has recently published the August figures for academy converters and the programme is showing no sign of slowing down. As of 1 August 2011, there are 1,070 academies open in England, with 269 opening in the last month.
Those schools fortunate to meet the 1 August deadline were able to benefit from the 10% cap on the Local Authority Central Spend Equivalent Grant and this to some extent explains the steep rise in converters. However, with the programme now open to all schools and special schools being able to convert from 1 September the number of conversions is likely to remain high.
The educational landscape has changed significantly in the academic year of 2010/2011 and with the extension of the academies programme that transformation is set to continue.
Hannah Bramhall
0121 237 4563
hbramhall@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: academies, academy converters, Department for Education, Education, local authority central spend equivalent grant, schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, July 29th, 2011
The Department for Education (“DfE”) yesterday published statistics for 2009/2010 in relation to the number of pupil exclusions. The statistics show that 5,740 pupils were excluded permanently from primary, secondary and special schools during this period with there being as many as 331,380 fixed period exclusions. The DfE calculate that 900 children a day are suspended from school for abuse and assault.
The Coalition government has pledged to improve behaviour and academic standards and in response to the statistics, Nick Gibb has expressed concern that weak discipline remains a significant problem in schools. However, in light of the Education Bill, which will make it easier for head teachers to exclude disruptive students and give teachers increased powers to search students, we are likely to see a spike in these statistics come 2011/2012.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)
Tags: Department for Education, DFE, Education, education bill, government, Nick Gibb, pupil exclusions, schools, teachers
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 13th, 2011
The Department for Education announced on Tuesday that they are to reduce the threshold at which a pupil is defined as “persistently absent” from 20% to 15% in an attempt to solve truancy in schools. This reduction in the threshold is set to incorporate an additional 246,000 pupils but the move has been criticised by unions for failing to tackle the root cause of truancy.
On a practical level, the reduction in the threshold will impact on Ofsted’s evaluation of pupil attendance, and in some cases this could result in a lower grade. Ofsted has advised that they will explore ways of taking into account the lower threshold within the new framework expected early next year.
The government’s attempts to tackle truancy are unlikely to stop here. Nick Gibb has advised that in the coming months stronger powers for schools to deal with truancy will be announced. It remains to be seen whether these changes will actually deter persistent absences in schools.
Hannah Bramhall
0121 237 4563
hbramhall@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 8.0/10 (2 votes cast)
Tags: Department for Education, Education, Ofsted, persistent absence, schools, truancy
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
This week the government issued its new health and safety guidance for schools and having taken the view that 150 pages was simply too much, the new guidance runs to a mere eight.
This is not the first piece of guidance the Department for Education has scaled back – draft guidance on the use of force and searching pupils saw a similar approach.
Rather than support the efforts to reduce red tape, the teaching unions have been critical, referring to the approach as “potentially reckless” and question the need for change.
One key area on which the guidance focuses is school trips. It aims to make educational visits easier to organise and provide teachers with more confidence to do so. The HSE went further, saying that the new guidance “out those who hide behind red tape” when considering educational visits.
It should be noted that there is no change in the law here, the guidance simply seeks to clarify the existing position and promote a sensible balance.
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: Department for Health, educational visits, Health and safety guidance for schools, HSE, schools, teaching unions
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Tuesday, June 28th, 2011
In a move that has been highly criticised by teaching unions NAHT and the ATL, Michael Gove has suggested parents could step into the void left by striking teachers this week.
As well as appearing contradictory to the coalition line that teaching should be undertaken only by well trained and well resourced teachers, Mr Gove’s comment seems to cut through the fabric of the safeguarding measures put in place in schools over the last 10 years.
Under the current guidance a CRB check must be undertaken on volunteers with unsupervised access to children. Heads and Principals should also consider the suitability of each volunteer and consider getting references before allowing them to undertake volunteering duties.
Whilst Mr Gove has not suggested that the statutory guidance should be ignored for the purposes of the strike, perhaps it does hint at the government’s softening approach to safeguarding generally. Further amendments to Part 5 of the Protection of Freedoms Bill could follow…
Posted by Dai Durbridge, who specialises safeguarding of children and vulnerable adults in education, social care and health settings; defending claims against education, social care and health providers.
Dai Durbridge
0115 976 6578
ddurbridge@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 5.5/10 (2 votes cast)
Tags: ATL, Education, Michael Gove, NAHT, protection of freedoms bill, schools, striking teachers, teachers
Posted in Education, Social Care | No Comments »
Friday, May 27th, 2011
The Department for Education has today published its new proposed changes to the admissions code and appeals code. The changes would see a much slimmed down version of the codes making the admissions process simpler, fairer and more transparent for parents.
Local authorities will no longer be allowed to use lotteries in order to place children in schools, yet other admissions authorities will be allowed to continue the practice. The proposals also intend to make it easier for popular good schools to take more pupils and plans to end the 30 pupil limit on class sizes in some cases.
Interestingly, the proposals give academies and free schools the right to prioritise places for those children from more disadvantaged backgrounds whose family income is under £16,190. This is undoubtedly an incentive for schools to convert as following the introduction of the pupil premium they are likely to gain financially in comparison to their maintained peers.
The consultation on the proposals is set to close on 19 August 2011.
Posted by Katie Michelon, who specialises in education law advice to schools, colleges and LEAs, including commercial advice on education sector projects such as academies, trust schools and federations.
Katie Michelon
0115 976 6189
kmichelon@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: academies, admission code, admissions authorities, appeals code, free schools, local authorities, pupil premium, schools
Posted in Education, Local Authorities | No Comments »
Thursday, April 21st, 2011
The Church of England has announced that they intend to reserve no more than 10% of places for followers of its faith. The announcement comes ahead of the CofE’s publication of guidelines on admissions this summer and represents a huge development in church policy that could have a significant impact on CofE school admissions.
10% is a much lower proportion than the maximum reserve of 50% for new free schools with religious character. The guidance is intended to put pressure on faith schools to change their admissions rules. However, voluntary aided faith schools are their own admissions authority and there may be pressure from parents and other members of the church to maintain the status quo, thereby diluting the impact of the guidelines.
The Rt Revd John Pritchard believes that the Church of England’s admission policy should be changed regardless of whether the overall effect would be to reduce school results – the aim being to serve the community as whole.
Hannah Bramhall
0121 237 4563
hbramhall@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: Church of England, faith schools, free schools, school admissions, schools
Posted in Education | No Comments »
Friday, April 15th, 2011
More than 600 schools are now academies (compared to 203 in May 2010), with nearly 500 waiting to convert having already applied to the Department for Education. Nearly 550 secondary schools are now academies, representing 16.5% of secondary schools.
Until now, conversion was open only to schools judged by Ofsted to be Outstanding or Good with Outstanding Features (which have been able to convert in their own right) and other schools if applying as part of wider chains, supported by strong schools.
However, in response to demand from other mainstream and special schools wishing to become stand-alone academies, the Government will now consider applications from any school that can make a compelling case for converting to academy status. Criteria include exam performance over the last three years, and comparison with local and national exam performance.
It is clear that academy status is so far very popular amongst schools, which, it would appear, consider the greater freedoms promised by the Government to be a great incentive.
Posted by Chris Emm, who specialises in commercial property work primarily acting for local authorities and also deals with development and commercial freehold and leasehold matters.
Chris Emm
0115 908 4112
cemm@brownejacobson.com
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Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)
Tags: academies, government, Ofsted, schools
Posted in Education, Property, Public Sector | No Comments »
