This week it snowed, and snowed, and snowed.
The beast from the east weather dominated the news and we at Tes towers we were not immune to the icy charms of a winter weather story. Shaun Fenton, a publicity-hungry independent school leader from Surrey (and son of the late rocker Alvin Stardust fact fans) got the (snow) ball rolling.
Mr Fenton, head of Reigate Grammar, kept his school open but encouraged parents to keep their children at home for snow days so that they could build “special memories” that he said were more valuable than classwork.
Quite how that advice went down with working parents who had paid thousands of pounds in fees so that their children could complete that classwork is unclear. But as far as headlines were concerned it certainly delivered.
Thousands of other schools across the UK were not in a position to give their pupils the same choice and were forced to close in the face of the Siberian blast. What should the conscientious head do to impart such bad news? Send an email to parents? No silly. You should film yourself singing about your snow day.
It was, in fact, a week of days. There was ‘national offer day’ when more than half-a-million 11-year-olds found out which secondary school they will be attending from this autumn. Early indications suggested that while virtually all pupils in some areas were getting their top preference, in other locations, such as London, up to a third are missing out.
And then there was World Book Day which, as we reported, is beginning to see a backlash as some complain it heaps unnecessary pressure on parents forced to come up with creative costumes, while others say it allows companies to “cash in”. Nevertheless, such carping did not prevent legions of Hermiones, Harrys and assorted superheroes turning up for class.
Away from such frivolity, there were, as always, more serious matters at hand. Following evidence that the DfE is finally starting to take teacher supply seriously, we were given some more detail on how it planned to tackle the crisis. Teacher training providers must now ‘maximise’ recruitment if they want to get an ‘outstanding’ rating from Ofsted, it was revealed.
Meanwhile, another DfE official popped up, to tell to tell us that subject-specific training could help tackle the retention crisis by “rekindling teachers’ passion”. But new figures provided further evidence of just how serious the supply problem still is, with teacher training applications down by 23 per cent in a year.
Elsewhere the debate over whether schools north of the Watford gap had gone to hell in a handcart rumbled on. Education Datalab provided some much-needed facts by showing how most of the North-South divide on the DfE’s key accountability measure was actually unrelated to school effectiveness.
So had kicking schools in the north finally gone out of fashion? No. Clare Marchant, Ucas chief executive, was on hand to resume hostilities. Asked what was behind regional variations in university application rates for 18-year-olds that ranged from 47.5 per cent in London, to just 31.7 per cent in the North East, she replied: “It will be school aspiration and attainment, it’s as simple as that”.
Other notable stories included an academic paper concluding that setting pupils by ability helped the middle classes at the expense of the disadvantaged; and a warning from Ofsted that teachers are still falling victim to fads.
The schools inspectorate is set to take centre stage next week as chief inspector Amanda Spielman appears before the Commons Education Select Committee on Wednesday to answer questions on a variety of subjects including Ofsted’s relationship with regional schools commissioners (RSCs) and its controversial early years report Bold Beginnings.
At the end of week, the Association of School and College Leaders will gather for its annual conference in Birmingham where speakers are set to include Ms Spielman, Professor John Hattie, and education secretary Damian Hinds.
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