Richmond Council has accepted Kunskapsskolan as sponsor of 2 schools set to become academies. Kunskapsskolan is a Swedish company already operating 30 secondary schools in Sweden. They are independently run from the state, but still state funded. Kunskapsskolan believes that one size does not fit all when it comes to education and uses an individual personalized based learning, and ensures that each pupil achieves the very best grade/qualification that they are possible of. All Kunskapsskolan schools are independently run from the government, but they are still the main funding partner for the schools. The Conservative party have been championing this style of education for some time and have used Kunskapsskolan as an example

Ed Balls, Children’s Secretary has been accused of by-passing parliament when naming the new head of Ofqual, the new watchdog overseeing schools qualifications. He has been accused of not allowing MP’s to quiz the new appointee before she was named.
Kathleen Tattersall was named chief regulator of Ofqual, she had previously been chairing the interim Ofqual since it began work as part of the Qualification and Curriculum Authority last spring.
The decision to not hold a pre appointment hearing was made back in February, when former Education minister Sarah McCarthy-Fry told parliament of the plans.

“The permanent secretary advised ministers that – since this is not a new appointment – it need not be subject to the pre-appointment hearing process.”

Said a DCSF Spokesman

After the Department of Education released there revised child safety rules, the authority safeguarding the system predict the safety vetting list will grow further past the initial 9m, so the database which is already the largest of its kind will cover even more of the population.

The revision which was leased last week, reduced the amount of workers and volunteers requiring to be vetted in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Under the new rules people who have regular and frequent access to children will have to register with the ISA. It will cost £64 to register although this fee will be waivered for volunteers.

Some Academy Schools have been accused of pushing some pupils down, what is seen as easier qualifications, generally the vocational ones to boost the number of high grades the schools achieve. Some of these vocational qualification are whole up to 4 A*-C GCSE grades.

The state funded but independently run schools are exempt from the Freedom of Information act and can hide behind this. Researchers from a Think Tank, Civitas, believe that some academies which have shown a fast rate of improvement were using this method of selecting qualifications to boost their league position.

In Scotland over the past year there has been a drop in the number of teachers. The figure has dropped by 1348, and Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop has blamed the councils for spending money, set aside for teachers on other areas. The councils reply was to state that maintaining the number of teachers in schools would be “economic suicide”.

Ultimately with less teachers, class sizes are only going to get bigger than they already are. This goes against the government’s manifesto of cutting class sizes to a maximum of 18 for the first three years of primary school.

Now that Fiona Hyslop has admitted this drop in figures is unacceptable many are calling upon her to resign. It is difficult to see how, with this next failure, Fiona Hyslop will keep her in her role as Education Secretary.

Under the government’s current plans, in 2011 schools are set to teach pupils about domestic violence. The message will be that domestic violence against women and girls is unacceptable.

It seems to me that this is yet another step towards schools taking over the role of the parent. Schools should be a place for academic learning, where issues such as not committing violence towards others is something that should be taught at home. It is this that has led to some parent groups to criticising the government for its interference.

Surely if the government are going to go ahead and introduce these lessons in schools it is important that they be set to include the unacceptability of domestic violence as a whole and not just that against women and girls. What do you think?

Some parents who take their children to school in the car are continually causing congestion problems around school entrances. While some park in school car parks reserved for teachers, others are parking in the keep clear areas, which is a danger to other pupils.

One School in Northumberland which is fed up with parents not obeying the rules has brought in a three strikes policy whereby if they are caught disobeying the parking rules three times their child will be excluded from the school.
This obviously goes against government guidelines on how expulsions should be used, but it proves just how frustrated the school is with the problem.

The schools argument, apart from the fact that the parking rules are in place to protect pupils, is that how can parents expect children to behave courteously and have respect for the law if their parents do not.

This is a very valid point as parental behaviour has a strong influence on children. However it seems unfair to punish the child for the parent’s offences. Hopefully the move will work and parents will become more responsible when it comes to dropping their children of at school.

We all know that the government has been driving advertisement campaigns to encourage more people to take up teaching as a profession and now it appears that it has paid off. This year has been the first year in which the number of people joining teacher training courses has exceeded the government’s targets.

This may be due to the recession and the fact that people are now re-thinking their careers, or others wanting to stay in education for a bit longer until the worst of the recession is over. Whatever the reason these courses are not only seeing an increase in numbers but also an increase in the quality of candidates. In the subject of Maths alone the government’s target has been exceeded by 8%.

This can only be a good thing for things for school pupils ensuring that the quality of teachers remains high. However it remains to be seen how many of the people starting these courses will complete them and go on to stay in the teaching profession without being put off by the increasing number of other government targets set for teachers. The government may be able to get people to take up the profession but getting them to stay there is another matter.

Children in Need celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, and managed to raise even more money than last year on the night. This is a real achievement, especially as we are currently in a recession, proving that the British Public really do rise to the challenge and continue to give generously to worthy causes.

Children love getting involved in fundraising and if you’re a teacher looking for fundraising ideas for your school, a great way to raise money over the coming month is to get your pupils to be creative and create Christmas cards which can then be sold to the local community in order to raise money for charity. Creating Christmas Cards are a great way for school children to have fun, and express their creativity as well as raising money for good causes, whether it s for Children In Need or their own school. People like unique Christmas cards and during the season of good will be happy to know that by buying one of these cards they will be helping others. The Cards can be created cheaply; All that’s required are some crayons, paint, and perhaps a little bit of glitter. It couldn’t be easier; The kids will have a great time and your school could benefit from the money raised.

Teachers have a hard time lately. They have more targets to hit than ever before and are having to cope with an increase in the number of unruly children in the classroom, but the government are set to make things even tougher. From 2010 every newly qualified teacher will be given a license to teach. After five years this license will expire and a teacher will need to re-apply for their license. This is part of the government’s aim to boost the profession’s status. However Ed Balls the Education Secretary is due to receive over 11,000 postcards from teachers protesting about these plans.

Teachers already face routine assessments as part of teacher training and Ofsted inspections so will this new policy put yet more pressure on them resulting in a detrimental effect where more teachers leave the profession or where young people are put of taking up the profession altogether?