Posts tagged state schools
TES: Why we must scrap GCSEs: 4 ways to form a better system
TES: Why we must scrap GCSEs: 4 ways to form a better system

Sarah Fletcher, the high mistress of St Paul's Girls' School in London and a member of the HMC, offers thoughts on better ways young people can be assessed than out-dated GCSEs.

Everything has changed over the past few months.

We have put students from across the world in the same classrooms, safeguarded new ways of working and shared resources and online platforms.

Most extraordinary of all, teachers have helped in the awarding of grades and we have cancelled all assessments from key stage 1 to key stage 5.

Imagining the unimaginable is something we should do more often! And what better place to start than with the curriculum?

Read More
Education, Business, Exam Results, Family, Higher Education, Lockdown, Media Article, Pandemic, Self & WellbeingSarah NorrisLando EducationSPGS, St Paul's Girls' School, independent schools, private schools, state schools, GCSE, kill off GCSEs, Sarah Fletcher, headmistress, students, classrooms, teachers, key stage 5, modern curriculum, outdated system, demagogy of a cyber world, demagogy, cyber world, Global affairsComment
The Guardian: Private and state schools bid to kill off GCSEs
The Guardian: Private and state schools bid to kill off GCSEs

A coalition of private and state schools is expected to launch a campaign to end GCSEs, as growing numbers of schools look at alternatives to the exams following the summer algorithm debacle.

Eton, Bedales, St Paul’s girls’ school, Latymer upper school and several substantial academy chains have been joined by Margaret Thatcher’s education secretary, Kenneth Baker, who created GCSEs, to discuss proposals for replacing the exam system.

The group, Rethinking Assessments, is likely to launch a formal campaign in the next few weeks, forcing ministers into a battle for control of school qualifications.

Read More
Education, Exam Results, Family, Lockdown, Maths, Media Article, PandemicSarah NorrisLando Educationprivate schools, independent schools, state schools, GCSE, Pandemic, Covid19, The Guardian, kill off GCSEs, Eton, Bedales, St Paul’s Girls’ School, Latymer upper school, exam algorithm, Kenneth Baker, Rethinking Assessments, formal campaign, Geoff Barton, Association of School and College Leaders, Gavin Williamson, education secretary, teachers, teacher-assessed grades, Tower College, Microsoft One Note, Zoom, Peter Hyman, Big Education Trust, Cognita, The Inspiring Futures programme, OfqualComment
The Times: Poorer pupils learn to benefit from Classics
The Times: Poorer pupils learn to benefit from Classics

Latin and the works of Sophocles are no longer the preserve of public schools thanks to a project that links professors with underprivileged teenagers.

An initiative between King’s College London (KCL) and Newham Sixth Form College in east London offering lessons in Classics to bright sixth-form pupils is now in its second year.

Read More
Charity, Education, Higher Education, Languages, Media ArticleSarah NorrisLando EducationLatin, The Times, media article, Sophocles, public schools, state schools, Kings College London, KCL, Newham Sixth Form College, classics, sixth-form, students, education, lectures, ancient literature, religion, theology, Persian History, philosophyComment
BBC - Could Labour really ban private schools?
BBC - Could Labour really ban private schools?

Could Labour really abolish private schools? That's the big question after the party's conference voted to "integrate" private schools into the state sector.

The plan would see the assets of private schools "redistributed".

Universities would have a quota imposed of admitting no more than 7% of their students from private schools, so their numbers were in keeping with their proportion in the overall school population.

And private schools would lose their charitable status and tax exemptions.

Read More
Education, Higher Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisLando EducationLabour, independent schools, state schools, policy, public ownershipComment
The Times - Buying homes near good schools ‘worse than going private’
The Times - Buying homes near good schools ‘worse than going private’

From Saturday.

Buying a house in the catchment area of an outstanding state school is worse for social mobility than paying for your child to go to private school, a prep school leader claims.

Critics of the private school sector are often hypocrites who buy expensive houses close to high-performing state schools, according to Christopher King, chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools.

The Labour Party conference opens today and a motion to abolish private schools is due to be heard tomorrow. Labour has already pledged to charge VAT on school fees.

Private school heads have reacted with anger and frustration, saying that many fee-charging schools are small and at the heart of local communities.

Speaking ahead of the conference on Thursday, Mr King said: “Vocal critics of the independent school sector are often the very same people who have enough money to buy expensive houses close to some of the most high-performing state schools in the country.

Read More
Education, Family, Media ArticleSarah NorrisLando Educationschool, education, housing, catchment area, state schoolsComment