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Henry Stewart: The Remarkable Research of Janet Downs

The FOI debate between Janet Downs and the Department for Education, over Michael Gove's mis-use of surveys to claim modern teenagers were ignorant, hit the headlines today. So far it has been covered in the Guardian, the Telegraph and the Huffington Post. Regular readers of Local Schools Network will know Janet's work well. She is renowned for digging out obscure facts ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Peter Prince: "It might aid the readership here if genuine FAQs were separated out from what appears to be a series of highly selective P.R. rebuttal briefing guides on various Education orientated reports. For example, the answer to the FAQ ‘What problems do ......"

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Mike Baker: The DfE is trying to force academisation on our school, on the basis of one inadequate Ofsted report

I'm a parent at Gladstone Park Primary School in Brent, which has always previously been rated by Ofsted as good or outstanding, but at the latest inspection in November was astonishingly rated as “inadequate”. This follows a change in Ofsted’s rules last summer whereby the school as a whole is rated according to the worst feature found, and the inspectors ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Mike Baker: "Andy, thanks for this suggestion. I've now got hold of and gone through our RAISEonline data. The data for 2012 is overwhelmingly positive, the one and only blue (statistically significant negative) figure being for a category with one ......"

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Henry Stewart: Gove’s Abacc is Crude, Misleading and a Misuse of Data – Careers Advisers

The Institute of Careers Guidance has this week joined the critique of the new Department for Education (DfE) measure of 3 'facilitating' subjects (known as the 'abacc'). This measure is supposedly a test how well a school prepares its students for the top, Russell Group, universities. We have already pointed out how ridiculous the measure is, as the Russell Group ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The flawed "facilitating A levels" measure was announced in July (thereby showing a level of premeditation) and crudely used in January to damn state schools that performed poorly on this unecessary and damaging measure. Far from encouraging pupils to choose what ......"

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Henry Stewart: £1 Billion Overspent on Academy Conversion & Results Go Down

Two months ago the National Audit Office revealed an overspend of £1 billion on the academy conversion programme. This week in the Financial Times Christopher Cook described how, in addition, government errors have led to an overspend of £174m on new academies, with individual academies receiving up to £1 million extra due to the mistake. In December,at the Public Accounts Committee, ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Daz - well done for sticking to your principles. Re collaborating schools. According to the Government schools will co-operate with each other in this brave new academy world. But, as you rightly say, they won't because they're in competition. John ......"

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Henry Stewart: If the DfE had £1 billion to spare, should it have spent it on the strongest schools?

The National Audit Office report on academies revealed the "estimated £1 billion additional cost to the Department (of Education)" of the expansion of the Academy programme from April 2010 to March 2012. Some reports have suggested the extra cost was just £350 million or that this £1 billion wasn't extra income but simply transfer of spending from maintained schools to ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "There are over 20,000 state schools in England. Only about 2,000 are academies (although nearly half of secondary schools have academy status). Nevertheless, spending on academies (whether conversion costs, transition costs, whatever) seems out of proportion. I'm at a ......"

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Fiona Millar: A postscript on KS4 Reform

Pondering the KS4 Reform consultation again last night, after listening to Stephen Twigg deliver the Caroline Benn Memorial Lecture, I decided to phone the DFE to ask a few more questions. Apart from anything else, I would like to be able to raise the consultation at the two governing bodies of which I am a member and several issues are ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "They not the..."

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Janet Downs: No template, says Ofsted chief, just so long as you avoid mixed-ability teaching, says DfE

It’s encouraging that Chief Inspector of Schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw said, “There will be no OFSTED template which compels teachers to do things they wouldn’t normally do. We need to celebrate diversity, ingenuity and imagination in the way that we teach.” However, this diversity isn’t extended to teachers with mixed-ability classes. Sir Michael acknowledged that it’s possible to teach mixed-ability classes ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "I agree that that is the point...."

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Fiona Millar: GCSE English results – sign this e-petition

Please sign this e-petition calling for a full enquiry into this year's GCSE English results. it needs 100,000 signatures. read more and comment →

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Janet Downs: Rise in number of academies will worsen financial malpractice

Auditors in one local authority (LA) have raised major concerns over financial malpractice and issued a warning that the rise in the number of academies is likely to make the problem worse. Following a “robust” audit, Brent Council is concerned about financial management in six out of 10 schools it checked. Some of its primary schools had been locked into “toxic” ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Ricky Tarr: "Yes, and those are the sort of people who serve on academy boards. As opposed to LA stooges...."

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Janet Downs: Schools Adjudicator finds fault with admissions criteria in two free schools

The Maharishi Free School, Lancashire, and the Langley Hall Primary Academy, Slough, have had to amend their Oversubscription Criteria for 2013 by order of the Schools Adjudicator. Both schools had named privately-owned fee-paying schools as feeder schools – this is not allowed under the new Admissions Code. Both schools are required to amend their Oversubscription Criteria accordingly. In addition, both schools have ... read more and comment →

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Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Brown - unfortunately the schools adjudicator waits until there is a formal complaint before investigating possible breaches of the code. This means that there is a good chance that schools with admission criteria which name private, fee-paying nurseries will ......"

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