Freddie Whittaker

  • DfE seeks company for £20m contract to supply sanitary products to schools

    The government will spend up to £20 million supplying free sanitary products to schools and colleges across England, it has emerged. The chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his spring statement that all secondary pupils would get access to free sanitary products from September this year in a bid to fight period poverty. Details of the…

    12.13 Jun. 14th, 2019 | News

  • Suspensions and internal strife plague NASUWT as Keates stands down

    Three senior national officials at one of the country’s largest teaching unions have been serving lengthy suspensions following disputes with the organisation’s top team, Schools Week can reveal. In one case, a senior staffer at NASUWT has been off work for more than a year and a half, while two others were suspended around a…

    5.00 Jun. 14th, 2019 | News

  • We'll build trust in our school funding stats, says DfE chief

    The Department for Education’s most senior civil servant has said he wants to build the department’s reputation as “a trustworthy communicator of statistics” after ministers received another slap-down from the stats watchdog. Jonathan Slater, the permanent secretary to the DfE, has written to the UK Statistics Authority to promise action to make information provided by…

    15.11 Jun. 13th, 2019 | News

  • Ministers warned over RSE 'loopholes' as Charedi schools seek to block LGBT teaching

    Ministers have been accused of leaving “loopholes” in new relationships and sex education guidance after it emerged some Jewish schools were advised by lawyers to show a “united front” to prevent the teaching of LGBT issues. The new guidance, finalised last month, states that that schools are “expected” to teach LGBT content as part of…

    17.25 Jun. 12th, 2019 | News

  • 'Respect our staff' - union posters seek to stop pupils and parents abusing teachers

    Schools are being encouraged to put up posters to make it clear to pupils, parents and visitors that they won’t tolerate abuse of their staff. Teaching union NASUWT has produced two posters for schools as part of an ongoing campaign to support teachers and heads in tackling pupil indiscipline. The union wants schools to emulate…

    10.47 Jun. 12th, 2019 | News

  • Give WCAT's leftover cash to schools it left behind, says MP

    Money handed back to the government by an academy trust that collapsed two years ago must be returned to the schools it abandoned, a Labour MP has said. The Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) has confirmed it gave an undisclosed sum to the Department for Education after ending its latest accounting period with a cash…

    9.58 Jun. 12th, 2019 | News

  • Keep schools open late to tackle knife crime, says children's commissioner

    Schools in areas with high levels of serious youth violence should remain open in the evenings and at weekends as part of “emergency measures” to tackle the problem, the children’s commissioner has said. Anne Longfield told the parliamentary education committee that knife crime was a “massive concern” for her office, and warned of “a really…

    15.15 Jun. 11th, 2019 | News

  • Academy teachers promoted three years earlier than those in LA schools

    Teachers in the largest academy trusts are promoted on average three years earlier than their peers in LA-maintained schools, but they’re also more likely to quit the profession, new research has found. A study by the Ambition Institute and the Education Policy Institute found that teachers in so-called “system leader” academy trusts, those with 12,000…

    0.01 Jun. 11th, 2019 | News

  • NASUWT general secretary Chris Keates to stand down

    Chris Keates is to step down as general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union after 15 years in the role, Schools Week has learned. In an email to staff, seen by the newspaper, Keates confirmed she told the union’s national executive on June 7 that she will not be standing again for re-election. It follows a period…

    13.25 Jun. 10th, 2019 | News

  • Academy trust bosses recognised in Queen's birthday honours

    Nine academy trust leaders have been recognised in the Queen’s birthday honours this year, making up a fifth of all those recognised for their work in schools. Jon Coles (pictured top centre), the chief executive of United Learning, is to be knighted. He is one of 48 people honoured this year for their services to the…

    22.30 Jun. 7th, 2019 | News

  • Academy trust’s PRU was illegal for six years

    An academy trust had to register a pupil referral unit as a school after Ofsted found it had been operating illegally as a subsidiary company for six years. The government is now facing growing calls for tougher monitoring of alternative provision and provide more clarity around registration. The Rodillian Academy Trust had run the Southway…

    5.00 Jun. 8th, 2019 | News