Further to our article in the July 2011 issue of Smarter News we thought you’d be interested to know what’s happened with Studio Schools over the last year. In January 2012, the government approved the opening of 12 new schools later this year which, added to the 6 in existence, brings the total to 18.
Read more →
1 A Reminder of the Background Academies are independent state funded schools which receive their funding directly from central government rather than through a local authority. They may receive additional support from personal or corporate sponsors, either financially or in kind, and must meet the National Curriculum core subject requirements (only) and they are subject
Read more →
Michael Gove, Education Secretary recently said that: “Heads have told us that the current league table system incentivises weak schools to push students towards soft subjects and easier exams. Parents and students have told us that there are weaknesses with current GCSEs, which privilege bite-sized learning over deep understanding, gobbets of knowledge over real learning.
Read more →
The resignation of the Geoff Russell, Chief Executive of the Skills Funding Agency ( SFA) , took many of us by surprise earlier this year particularly as it coincided with the departure of Simon Waugh as CEO of the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS). At the time there was much speculation that both organisations would be
Read more →
Anyone who receives daily email alerts cannot help but have noticed that funding or rather changes to the funding methodology is a hot topic at the moment. The recent DfE launch of a consultation on 16-19 funding coincided with an announcement from the Skills Funding Agency(SFA) ,a partner of the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills,
Read more →
Yesterday I was visiting a school which, despite the lack of funding, has maintained an “Aimhigher Co-ordinator” who continues to work hard to ensure young people in his school have the best possible opportunity to move on to university. It was most heartening but is a real struggle at a time when the number of
Read more →
“I don’t think we can learn anything from you my dear” (A comment on State and Independent Sector Collaboration?) When these words were spoken to me I had taken a small group of ‘A’ level sociology students from my outer London comprehensive school to visit a very prestigious school in the independent sector. I was
Read more →
In this article , Kevin Munday shares some of the ways schools, colleges and work-based learning providers can work together to make Raising the Participation Age a reality…. The Coalition Government has confirmed, through the ‘Importance of Teaching’ White Paper and Spending Review announcements, that it will maintain the statutory commitment to raise the learning leaving
Read more →
Against a backdrop of uncertainty and gloom over proposed changes to 16 -19 funding, reported decreases in the numbers of 16 – 18 year olds enrolling on courses, and redundancies brought about by cuts in funding, it is heartening to find examples of FE colleges continuing the tradition of rapid response and transformation by identifying
Read more →
We’re all familiar with the benefit of external collaboration to extend the curriculum, gain access to specialist staff and resources, share practice, better meet the needs of our communities and deliver learning programmes more cost-effectively. But we also gain from paying closer attention to embedding effective processes and cultures to support internal collaboration. Internal collaboration
Read more →