Author: Billy Camden

Schools minister Nick Gibb fears more regional schools commissioners could be poached for top education jobs after one was “headhunted” less than a year into his new role. Paul Smith (pictured), regional schools commissioner (RSC) for Lancashire and West Yorkshire, has resigned to take up a new role. It is believed he will leave the […]

More than 125 schools have applied over the past three years to be exempt from the legal requirement to hold collective worship of a “wholly or broadly Christian character”. Information released to Schools Week following Freedom of Information (FOI) requests shows 127 schools have requested a “determinations” from their local Standing Advisory Council on Religious […]

The head of England’s largest multi-academy trust has said that there is less autonomy for schools in academy trusts than there is for schools overseen by local authorities (LAs). Ian Comfort (pictured), chief executive of Academies Enterprise Trust, also cast doubts on the ability of the Education Funding Agency (EFA) to continue its control over […]

Eight schools are set to get £10,000 to help spread “excellent phonics teaching” – but the Government should review other approaches about learning to read, say headteachers. Schools minister Nick Gibb (pictured right)announced on Tuesday that grants of £10,000 would be given to eight groups of schools – led by “top-performing” primaries – to help […]

Schools have been reassured their pupils’ personal data was not compromised after a “serious security flaw” was found in internet safety software used by more than a quarter of schools. A security researcher discovered the flaw in the Impero Education Pro program, which the software company says is used in 27 per cent of secondary […]

– One in four children from poorer families now access higher education – Pupil premium will make a difference to ‘cohort coming up now’ Pupils on free school meals are catching up to their more advantaged peers when it comes to taking a university place after they finish school. New official statistics released by the […]

The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) has defended the research methodology used in its philosophy for children (P4C) report, which came under public criticism this week. The education charity released figures suggesting that philosophy sessions for pupils as young as 9 and 10 could improve maths and reading progress by an average of two months, with […]

Intervention measures for ‘coasting’ schools set out in the new education and adoption bill could be extended to around 400 pupil referral units (PRUs) across England at the discretion of the government, schools minister Nick Gibb has confirmed. Mr Gibb told the final day of the committee stage of the bill that the education secretary […]

Whitehall education officials will take “immediate steps” to beef up rules requiring headteachers to establish and record the destination of pupils leaving the education system amid fears they could become radicalised. The pledge follows the call from Ofsted chief Sir Michael Wilshaw (pictured) for an urgent review into what schools record about pupils deleted from […]