Alix Robertson | Schools Week

Lambeth council remains tight-lipped over Tunstall investigation

Lambeth council has refused to confirm whether it will publish the outcome of an investigation into the former executive headteacher of a federation of south London schools who left his role this summer. Sir Craig Tunstall, formerly England’s best paid primary headteacher on £330,000 a year, was suspended in May last year from the Gipsy […]

Alternative provision academy trust turns to online learning to make savings

An academy trust in charge of 11 alternative provision academies intends to increase its use of online learning as part of a plan to cut more than £2.5 million from its budget, it has emerged. The TBAP trust, which runs AP academies in London, Essex, Cambridgeshire and the North West, is planning widespread cost-cutting measures after […]

Seven ways to improve science teaching, according to the EEF

The Education Endowment Foundation has published a new report on ‘improving secondary science’, which gives seven recommendations to try out in the classroom. Sir Kevan Collins, chief executive of the EEF, said he hoped the research will help to boost science teaching, particularly for disadvantaged pupils. “The attainment gap in science may not be as […]

Be ready to challenge ‘inappropriate’ use of money, academy chiefs told

Academy leaders must be prepared to call out inappropriate behaviour within their organisations, especially if it involves public money, the government’s top school funding boss has said. Eileen Milner, the head of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), has written to the heads of single and multi academy trusts, to remind them that as […]

School sixth form funding down 21% since 2010, IfS finds

Funding for students in school sixth forms has plunged by 21 per cent since 2010–11, new research has found. Government funding for 16 to 18 year olds has been cut “much more sharply” than funding for pupils in pre-school, primary, secondary or higher education, according to the ‘2018 Annual Report on Education Spending in England’ […]

Educating Greater Manchester head Drew Povey resigns

Drew Povey, the headteacher featured in the hit TV series Educating Greater Manchester, has resigned from his post at Harrop Fold School. In a letter to the school’s governing body published on his Twitter account, Povey referred to a “heavy handed” approach from the council, which he claimed has “completely ignored the best interests of […]

DfE allowed trust to take on new schools despite serious financial problems

The Department for Education (DfE) allowed an academy trust to take over two schools and approved bids for it to open two new free schools – despite it being £1 million in deficit and the government monitoring its finances. The TBAP multi-academy trust, which runs 11 alternative provision academies, was served with a financial notice […]

Education department property head on Future Academies board

The head of the Department for Education’s property arm is also a director on the board of the trust founded by former academies minister Lord Nash, Schools Week has learned. Lara Newman, chief executive of LocatED – the company set up by the government to find and buy land for the free schools programme – […]

FLEECED: Are schools pulling the wool over parents’ eyes on uniform costs?

An academy sponsor’s uniform supplier is charging nearly three times the price for blazers in its grammar school than in its non-selective schools, while a Schools Week investigation has also discovered one school selling branded ‘drama socks’ for nearly £5 a pair. Government guidance urges all schools not to use exclusive suppliers for school uniform […]