Parents plan to take children out of school for a day in protest of difficult Sats exams

Plans to boycott Year 2 Sats exams are underway, as parents decide to take their children out of school on 3 May as a form of protest against stressful testing. The parents argue that the exams are over-demanding and leave six and seven-year-olds unnecessarily anxious over tests that do not affect their future options, as they …

Be bold, be brave but don’t be a bruiser or a battle-axe!

When Carla asked me if I would contribute to the Talking Heads blog my initial reaction was ‘Fantastic! Yes!’ However, since agreeing to it I have had time (too much time probably) to contemplate the topic and with some trepidation I finally settled on sharing some of what works for us. I say with trepidation …

North East MPs grill Nicky Morgan over academy plans

The Education Secretary defended government plans for academisation to two North East MPs who challenged the Department's decision to "inflict" it on all schools. Nicky Morgan faced the Education Select Committee on Wednesday, answering questions about the Department's White Paper proposals. Committee member and MP for Gateshead Ian Mearns pressed for an explanation as to why …

Achieving Excellence Areas – implications for the North East

The DfE set out plans in its white paper Educational Excellence Everywhere to prioritise support to a number of areas of the country where “low standards are exacerbated by a lack of capacity to drive improvement”. Using a mix of indicators, the Department has identified 53 local authority districts in England where standards and capacity …

Bigger size, different challenges?

I was recently reminded by the ‘new Head of English’ of the specific leadership challenges of schools that are large and diverse. With the advent of super-sized education providers as a ‘system’ organisational solution I began to wonder what it means to a new middle leader and whether thinking more about this may be prudent. …

Schools reap benefits of new regional teacher recruitment drive

Jobs in Schools | North East, a not-for-profit recruitment portal, plays a key role in fighting teacher shortage in region’s schools A not-for-profit teacher recruitment initiative set up to tackle school staff shortages has exceeded expectations in its first eight weeks in operation. The regional schools network, SCHOOLS NorthEast, created the recruitment portal - Jobs …

Sats spelling exam accidentally published months ago as practice paper

The Government has been left red-faced after it emerged a primary school spelling test was accidentally published online as a practice paper. The Key Stage 1 Sats examination was accidentally uploaded in January on the Standards and Testing Agency website along with other practice papers. Unions are now urging the Government to scrap this year's …

Fears for funding in North East schools if new national formula weights in favour of South

Schools are urging the Government to rethink their approach to school funding, or education in the North East will suffer under new, “fairer” arrangements.  Plans for a new formula that will replace legacy funding which saw schools in the North East worse off by £45m, were announced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement. SCHOOLS …

A closer look at the Hartlepool girls tragedy

As the recent trial of two young girls from Hartlepool reached its conclusion, I have no doubt that many of you, like me, found yourselves examining the appalling details of the crime with a professional scrutiny.  Clues as to why it happened were easy to glean from the media reporting;  insights into how it might …

Academisation angst over the break

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers conference that took place last week made many national headlines, most of them regarding academies. Below is a round-up of the key news from the conference and more. ATL members unanimously voted to consider "industrial action" in response to recently announced academisation plans. The motion rejects the government's proposals …