Students at East London Science School were approached by the astronaut Tim Peake at a stall they were running at New Scientist Live . They demonstrated their remote-control robotic elephant and showed him how to make ice cream using liquid nitrogen. Monika Patel, head of physics at the school, said: ‘Tim Peake is a real inspiration to our pupils, and others across Britain, so it was fantastic that he came to watch our demonstrations and talk with pupils.’
Free School News
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Free Schools in the media
Free Schools in the media
Fri 5 October 2018
Fri 5 October 2018
I'm going to start off with a confession, which is normally when I introduce myself I explain that I was a maths teacher for 16 years – but I have a dirty secret, which is I didn't do a maths degree, I actually did economics.
NSN News
NSN News
Wed 3 October 2018
In her speech at the Conservative Party Conference, Theresa May stated that the Government would build more free schools to raise standards and improve parental choice. In addition, Damian Hinds confirmed continued investment in free schools.
The announcement follows last week’s provisional Key Stage One and Phonics results which showed free schools were once again the highest performers at these stages. Last year, free schools were also the top performing type of school at GCSE and had the highest proportion of students gaining AAB at A-Level across the state-funded sector.
Thu 27 September 2018
At a Labour Party conference fringe event this week, Angela Rayner said that she would “turn her back” on Michael Gove’s education reforms. While this rhetoric will certainly play well with her party’s membership, I want a lot more detail on how she would actually implement changes.
Free Schools in the media
Free Schools in the media
Thu 27 September 2018
Provisional phonics results released by the Department for Education indicate that free schools have outperformed other schools for the fourth year running. Overall, 88% of pupils in free schools met the expected standard in phonics, compared to 83% nationally. In addition, Key Stage One results released today also show free schools at the top of the table, with more students reaching the expected standard than other schools across every subject.
Results at phonics check by school type:
NSN News
NSN News
Mon 24 September 2018
Mark Lehain, Interim Director, said: “We know that with a rising school population we will need more school places across the country, and free schools are the best means of meeting this need. They are the most cost effective way to create new school places, and are on course to provide more than 400,000 places in areas of need. Without free schools these places would be created by expanding existing schools, placing further pressure on schools that are already at capacity.
Free Schools in the media
Free Schools in the media
Fri 21 September 2018
Oasis Academy Silvertown has received a grant of £15,000 to purchase musical equipment. They plan to buy electric guitars, violins and a loop pedal, as well as specialist staff to lead lessons. The grant came from Restore the Music UK, who offer grants to deprived schools. The school, which plans to move to its permanent home on North Woolwich Road in 2020, has welcomed the grant. They have faced considerable challenges to their music programme due to planning delays.
Fri 21 September 2018
Despite knowing that Ofsted would be visiting us during our third year of opening, nothing prepares you for the phone call announcing they will be with you the next day. We had talked about the inspection at length at various SLT meetings, had a battle plan ready and a huge folder of evidence carefully labelled but as soon as we received the call all of that went out of my mind and I just wallowed in blind panic on my own for a few minutes before sanity slowly returned.
