Alix Robertson | Schools Week

Faith leaders and politicians write to Damian Hinds about faith cap

Faith leaders, politicians and education experts have signed a joint letter asking the education secretary to reconsider his plans to remove the 50-per-cent cap on faith-based admissions to over-subscribed free schools. The letter, which argues that the “divisive policy” is a threat to “social cohesion and respect”, is backed by 71 signatories, including former Archbishop […]

Headteachers Roundtable Summit 2018: Be bold, stay ethical and keep learning at the heart of solutions

Insufficient funding, excessive accountability, poor teacher retention and limited school autonomy were the core issues which 200 heads tackled last Friday at the second Headteachers Roundtable. The 2018 summit kicked off with opening remarks by the chair, Stephen Tierney, followed by Schools Week’s very own Laura McInerney, who grilled Robert Halfon on his recent work […]

Unions clash with big-spending single-school trust

An academy trust in Manchester will hold last-ditch talks with unions after staff at its only school passed a vote of no confidence in trustees and threatened to go on strike. The contretemps between staff at Parrs Wood High School in East Didsbury and bosses at its sponsor, the Greater Manchester Learning Trust, began after […]

Devon’s Bay Education Trust hit with financial notice to improve

A Devon-based multi academy trust has been handed a financial notice to improve by the Education and Skills Funding agency. Bay Education Trust has had many of its spending powers suspended, and has been warned it faces closure if it does not address concerns about its financial management. The notice was issued because the trust had […]

Postcode lottery of pupil absence fines revealed

Local councils are collecting as little as 25 per cent of the fines they issue for children’s unauthorised absences from school, a Schools Week investigation has revealed. Some even choose to forgive the fines if attendance improved after they were issued, or if they feel the charge will be detrimental to the family. All 153 […]

Arts-focused teacher development fund open for applications

Schools can benefit from up to £150,000 in grant funding to boost arts-based teaching through partnerships with cultural organisations using the Teacher Development Fund. The fund, run by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, an independent grant-making organisation, is accepting applications from schools until March 23. Applications that support disadvantaged pupils and show potential for effective collaboration […]

Academy trust CEOs among Ofqual board appointments

The exams regulator has appointed five new board members, including two multi academy trust chief executives. Ian Bauckham, a chief executive officer of Tenax Schools Trust and an adviser to the government on sex education, will join the Ofqual board on March 1, while Dr Jo Saxton, the chief executive of Turner Schools, also in Kent, […]

Secretive private school warning notices published for the first time

The Department for Education has finally published the warning notices it issued to underperforming private schools, over two years after a Schools Week campaign first pressed to make the information public. Nine notices issued in September and October 2017 were published today. They reveal how each school failed to meet national standards for education, safeguarding, governance and […]

DfE doesn’t check whether academy leaders are ‘fit and proper’

Academy trustees and senior leaders are not being properly vetted for their suitability to run schools, the government’s spending watchdog has warned. Labour MP Meg Hillier, the chair of the powerful public accounts committee said she was “concerned” by the latest report from the National Audit Office, which found that people taking senior jobs at […]