news in brief
Corbyn supports Sunday
Jeremy Corbyn, the newly elected Labour leader, announced his support for the campaign opposed to the change in Sunday trading laws at a Labour Party church service in late September.
Writing about the issue, Mr Corbyn wrote: ‘My ideal Sunday is a day of reflection and rest – everybody deserves that!’ The newly elected leader said he wanted to have conversations with Christian groups about common campaign areas.
Durham: Ofsted didn’t interview
The Northern Echo / en
Date posted: 1 Jun 2015
In cases including that of the Christian school which the government closed, Ofsted admitted in early May that it did not interview any pupils or parents over claims its inspectors asked children inappropriate questions about sex. This was despite the head of Ofsted claiming investigations had taken place.
The Christian Institute (CI) established this, using a Freedom of Information request, that Ofsted did not interview the pupils, parents or staff behind the complaints. Simon Calvert, the CI’s deputy director, said: ‘It defies belief that anyone could think such an inquiry could take place without speaking to those who complained, the children, parents and teachers – but this is exactly what happened.
Ofsted report defies logic
en staff
Date posted: 1 Mar 2015
Ofsted has been described as being ‘at war’ with the Government regarding the evaluation of ‘British values’ as further school reports in the North East of England in mid-January saw a top school placed into Special Measures and another told to close.
Grindon Hall, a Christian school in Sunderland with some of the best exam results in its area, was given the worst possible grading by Ofsted in a report blasted as ‘defying logic’. The report stated that its performance is inadequate and a draft version of it also included a paragraph attacking the school’s Christian ethos. This paragraph was removed by Ofsted in the report it eventually released.