Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

More than 600,000 pupils off school due to Covid

More than 600,000 pupils were absent last week because of Covid, with around one in ten secondary pupils missing school. New Department for Education attendance survey data estimates 640,100 pupils, or 8.5 per cent of the total pupil population, were off school for Covid-related reasons last Thursday. This a 66 per cent rise from around […]

Government to remove school bubbles on July 19, says Javid

The government plans to remove bubbles and end routine contact tracing in schools on July 19, the health secretary has said today. On July 19 it is our plan to remove bubbles and to end the requirement for early years settings, schools and colleges to routinely carry out contact tracing Education secretary Gavin Williamson is […]

ITT review: DfE proposes re-accreditation for all providers

All initial teacher training providers would have to be re-accredited under proposals from a major government review that anticipates a “significant market reconfiguration”. The Department for Education is consulting on sweeping changes to ITT, including a new accreditation scheme, following the release of its ITT market review report. The government said it anticipated “significant market […]

DfE pulls plug on new voluntary-aided secondary over ‘lack of need’

One of only three proposed new voluntary-aided schools approved for government set-up cash has been cancelled because of a lack of basic need and an available site. Avanti Schools Trust applied to open a new Hindu secondary school in the London Borough of Redbridge in 2018 after the government reopened the process for new VA […]

DfE advisers DIDN’T back keeping school building reports secret

The government’s excuse for keeping key school condition reports secret has been called into question after members of its own advisory group said they were not involved in the decision. The Department for Education has repeatedly refused to publish condition data collection reports for 50 schools in the first phase of the new school rebuilding […]

Most £184m NPQ scholarships limited to those in deprived schools

Scholarships for four of the six new national professional qualifications (NPQs) will be limited only to staff in the most deprived schools, the Department for Education has announced. The reformed NPQs for experienced teachers and school leaders will launch in the autumn term, as part of a range of changes to school staff training and […]

Unity Howard to stand down as New Schools Network director

The director of the New Schools Network Unity Howard is to step down this year, the charity has said. Howard, who has run the free schools support organisation since July 2019, will step down in September and be succeeded by Sophie Harrison-Byrne, currently the NSN’s director of programmes. The NSN has not said why Howard […]

Covid: Poorer pupils missed 30% more school days last autumn

Poorer pupils missed almost 30 per cent more school days due to Covid in the autumn than their better-off counterparts, new data shows. The Department for Education has updated absences data for the autumn term with statistics broken down by pupil characteristics. It shows pupils eligible for free school meals missed 8.5 per cent of […]

ESFA chief executive Eileen Milner to stand down

The chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) Eileen Milner is to stand down, Schools Week can reveal. The senior civil servant told staff today that the “time has come” for her to “go to a new challenge”. Milner was appointed in 2017 shortly after the organisation formed through the merger of […]