Freddie Whittaker

A learning centre for home-educated children taught pupils for more than 18 hours a week and set homework each night, despite not being registered as a school, a court heard today. In a landmark case, senior district judge Emma Arbuthnot, the chief magistrate of England and Wales, is hearing the first prosecution of an unregistered school…

15.29 Oct. 22nd, 2018 | News

A charity run by the academies minister Lord Agnew donated £12,000 to a project set up to look into cutting regulations after Brexit, it has emerged. Accounts for the Public Interest Foundation, a charity founded by Agnew, his wife Clare and businessman David Tibble, show the Red Tape Foundation was one of eight main benefactors…

5.00 Oct. 22nd, 2018 | News

The former head of an academy trust who drew a second salary from a private company contracted to his own schools has been found guilty of unacceptable professional conduct. A Teacher Regulation Agency misconduct panel ruled today that the actions of Liam Nolan, the former chief executive of the Perry Beeches chain, “lacked integrity”. The…

14.32 Oct. 18th, 2018 | News

The rate at which pupils are absent from English schools without permission has risen again this year. New data for the autumn of 2017 and spring of 2018 shows the rate of unauthorised absence from primary and secondary schools was 1.2 per cent over the period, up from 1.1 per cent in the same period…

9.59 Oct. 18th, 2018 | News

The proportion of reception pupils reaching a “good” level of development has risen again this year, according to the latest early years foundation stage profile results. In 2018, 71.5 per cent of pupils achieved what the government deems to be a “good level of development”, up from 70.7 per cent last year. The proportion of…

9.39 Oct. 18th, 2018 | News

A former superhead who earned a second salary from a private company contracted by his own academy trust has insisted his business interests were “out there and transparent”, and that he never tried to cover up the deal. Liam Nolan, the former chief executive of the now-defunct Perry Beeches academy trust, denies dishonest conduct and…

17.54 Oct. 17th, 2018 | News

The government has released provisional key stage 4 data this morning that reveals how schools have fared in headline accountability measures. The data includes figures on the new Progress and Attainment 8 measures and also provides an update on EBacc figures. Here are the key findings.   1. Progress 8: Free schools soar as sponsored academies…

11.01 Oct. 16th, 2018 | News

New government data has undermined boasts by the architects of university technical colleges about the “excellent destinations” of their pupils. The Baker Dearing Trust, which backs UTCs, has repeatedly asserted that just 1 per cent of 18-year-olds leaving the 14 to 19 technical schools were not in employment, education or training, or “NEET”. However, according…

13.18 Oct. 16th, 2018 | News

The government is not ruling out legislation to make schools more accountable for the children they place in alternative provision, the education secretary has said. Ahead of a round table meeting about alternative provision at the Centre for Social Justice today, Damian Hinds said a legal mechanism to hold schools to account for permanently excluded…

0.01 Oct. 17th, 2018 | News

Schools that entered large numbers of their pupils for the English computer driving licence have seen their progress scores slump this year after the controversial qualification was removed from national league tables. The average progress 8 score among schools which entered between 90 and 100 per cent of their pupils for the ECDL in 2017…

12.13 Oct. 16th, 2018 | News

The proportion of pupils in England entering the EBacc has increased slightly this year. New provisional GCSE results data published this morning shows 38.4 per cent of pupils entered the EBacc in 2018, compared to 38.1 per cent last year, but less than the peak of 39.7 per cent seen in 2016. However, data on…

9.52 Oct. 16th, 2018 | News