Alix Robertson | Schools Week

Mind the gap: The best and worst gender-based pay at multi-academy trusts

In 2017, the government passed a law forcing every organisation with 250 or more employees to publish specific figures about the difference in pay between genders, both on their own websites and on gov.uk. The stats had to include both the mean and median gender pay gap, the proportion of men and women who have […]

NFER to deliver reception baseline test

The National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) has been chosen to deliver the controversial new baseline test for reception children, which will be rolled out to all schools by the end of 2020. The reintroduction of the test was announced by former education secretary Justine Greening in September last year, despite a previous pilot of baseline […]

New lease of life for 11 WCAT schools

Eleven of the schools previously run by the collapsed Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) have officially transferred to new sponsors. WCAT announced last September that it was giving up all 21 of its schools, because it lacked “the capacity to facilitate the rapid improvement our academies need and our students deserve”. The move followed the appointment of a […]

Academy trusts with multiple staff on £100k+ told to justify pay

The government has written to all multi-academy trusts that are paying a salary of £100,000 to £150,000 to multiple employees, to ask them to justify why they are setting wages at these levels. Letters from Eileen Milner, the chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency, will go out to the chairs of trustees at […]

Schools could be fined if pupils are removed to home education

The government is consulting on whether schools should be fined if pupils are taken off their rolls to be educated at home. A consultation on home education launched today asks if parents should be forced to register home-educated pupils, and whether schools should face a “financial consequence” if parents withdraw children to teach them at home. The […]

RNIB chief executive resigns over ‘serious incidents’ at special school in Coventry

The chief executive of the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) has resigned over safeguarding failings at one of the charity’s special schools. Sally Harvey’s decision to step down was announced today, shortly after the Charity Commission launched an inquiry into “serious concerns” about oversight and management at the RNIB Pears Centre for Specialist Learning, a special […]

Academy trust gender pay gap is three times the national average

Women working for academy trusts in England earn 31 per cent less than men, new research shows. According to Education Datalab, the median gender pay gap at the 471 academy trusts that have submitted pay data to the government is 31.7 per cent in favour of men, more than three times the national average. The […]

Summer-born pupils disadvantaged by ‘unfair’ 11-plus test, adjudicator rules

An Essex grammar school has been ordered to age-weight the results of its 11-plus entry exam after the admissions watchdog found that the test disadvantages summer-born children. In a ruling thought to be the first of its kind, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator said a lack of any age standardisation in the 11-plus test […]

Newham expands special needs provision

Five new or expanded centres attached to mainstream schools will be created for pupils with special educational needs in Newham, east London, as part of a multi-million pound grant from the government. The new provision will provide an extra 100 places focused on speech, language and communication needs, including autism. The first are expected to […]