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20 April 2026

Author: Alix Robertson

DfE ‘minded to terminate’ funding of Steiner Academy Exeter

A Steiner Academy in Exeter has been warned by the government that it is at risk of having its funding terminated due to significant concerns about safeguarding, which led to the school being temporarily closed after a recent Ofsted visit. The government has today published a ‘minded to terminate’ warning notice that was issued to […]

Attainment 8 and progress 8: Which regions performed best?

Today the government has released the provisional GCSE results in England for 2017-18, which reveal the attainment 8 and progress 8 scores across the country. The lowest average attainment 8 score per pupil in England’s state funded schools was 35.2 this year, in Knowsley, a borough in Merseyside, while the highest was 58.0 in Sutton, London (excluding […]

A-level results 2018: Scores stable, but fewer students get top grades

The average point score per entry for A-levels, as a grade, remained stable at C+ this year, but the proportion of students getting the top grades fell, according to provisional data released today by the Department for Education. As a number the average point score this year was slightly higher at 33.05, compared to 32.12 in […]

Minister’s £340k free schools flop revealed

A trust set up by a Conservative peer and former policy supremo of David Cameron was handed £340,000 for two free school projects that never even got off the ground. The Floreat Education Academies Trust, founded by the now health minister Lord James O’Shaughnessy, received the cash to set up new primary schools in London […]

Leaders should lift admin burden off staff, says academy trust boss

Multi-academy trust leaders must be prepared to make “ambitious and bold” changes to drive improvement, and should avoid burdening teachers with bureaucracy, according to the founder of a chain regularly praised by ministers. In a rare public intervention, Mufti Hamid Patel, chief executive of Star Academies chastised schools that defend curriculums that don’t deliver results […]

Hinds wants school leaders’ ideas to improve MAT assessment

Education secretary Damian Hinds has called on school leaders to come forward with their views on how to better hold multi-academy trusts to account, in a speech at the launch event of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST) today. Hinds said that he does not have “a preconceived idea” about how to change the current […]

Spielman to reveal new inspection judgment headings

Amanda Spielman will today announce planned new inspection judgment headings, as she suggests some teachers have been reduced to “data managers”. According to the BBC, Spielman will tell the Schools NorthEast summit that the current inspection model has led to “excessive workload” in some schools. She will set out plans to replace the current “pupils […]

Supportive letters boost national leader of education applications, study finds

School leaders who receive a letter of encouragement are more likely to both apply and get accepted to become a national leader of education, according to new research. A new study by the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), commissioned by the Department for Education, ran a trial scheme where school leaders were sent letters encouraging them […]