Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Sir Kevan Collins resigns as government education recovery tsar

The government’s education recovery commissioner Sir Kevan Collins has offered his resignation after ministers allocated just £1.4 billion in funding for the next phase of their catch-up plan, it has been reported. In his resignation letter to prime minister Boris Johnson, published by Tes, Collins warned he did not believe it was “credible that a […]

DfE looks to spend £800k on headteacher wellbeing and mental health support

The Department for Education is looking to spend £800,000 on “tailored mental health and wellbeing support” to school leaders across England. A prior information notice published by the department refers to a “potential upcoming procurement” of a new mental health and wellbeing support scheme modelled on a limited pilot currently working with up to 385 […]

Unions demand ‘immediate’ release of Covid-19 variant school outbreaks data

Unions representing heads, teachers and support staff have demanded the “immediate” release of data on the number of Covid-19 variant cases linked to schools and colleges. A joint letter from the NAHT, ASCL, NEU, NASUWT, Unison, Unite and the GMB also calls on education secretary Gavin Williamson to come clean over when ministers were first […]

Repairing England’s schools will cost £11.4 billion, DfE admits

Repairing or replacing all defects in England’s schools will cost £11.4 billion, the Department for Education has admitted. It is almost double a previous estimate for bringing the state up to satisfactory condition. The government has finally published key findings from its condition data collection, which ran between 2017 and 2019 in 22,031 schools. It […]

Spielman bags two more years as Ofsted chief inspector

Amanda Spielman has been given two extra years in the role of Ofsted chief inspector, the Department for Education has confirmed. Schools Week revealed earlier this month that the extension had been agreed by government but was awaiting Privy Council signoff. The DfE confirmed today that it is going ahead. Spielman joined the watchdog in […]

DfE to finally publish ‘summary’ of school condition data

The government will finally publish a summary report on the condition of England’s schools, a senior civil servant has confirmed, following repeated calls to make reports from a recent survey public. Officials have also said they hope to inform schools due to be rebuilt over the next 10 years where they sit in the queue, […]

DfE needs ‘proper lessons-learned’ Covid review, and 4 more demands from MPs

The Department for Education seems “surprisingly resistant” to the idea of conducting a “proper lessons-learned exercise” on its early response to the Covid-19 pandemic, a group of MPs has warned. The public accounts committee has published a report on support for children’s education during the Covid-19 pandemic. In it, MPs said the DfE had “no […]

Ofsted national education director Sean Harford to take early retirement

Ofsted’s national director of education Sean Harford is to stand down from his role to take early retirement, the watchdog has announced. Harford has worked at Ofsted since 2003, initially as a Her Majesty’s Inspector and then in a number of management roles. He has been in his current role since 2015, and was national […]

£10m ‘levelling up’ support will come from existing DfE budgets

None of the £10 million pledged today to improve the quality of teaching in four areas of England is new cash from the Treasury, and up to half of it will be given to expanding academy trusts, it has emerged. Boris Johnson announced today that the government’s “levelling up” agenda would include “more support” to […]