Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Five-fold increase in secondary pupils isolating due to in-school Covid contact

The number of secondary pupils self-isolating because of a potential contact with a Covid case in school increased more than five-fold last week as settings welcomed back more older pupils. Data published by the Department for Education shows 58,400 secondary school pupils were self-isolating due to a potential contact in school last Thursday, up from […]

DfE refuses to release reports on school buildings

The government has been accused of “knee-jerk secrecy” after refusing to release reports on the condition of school buildings in England – leaving heads in the dark over future funding. Schools Week requested copies of condition reports for 50 schools selected in the first year of the government’s ten-year rebuilding scheme. It comes after school […]

Geoff Barton to serve second term as ASCL leader

Geoff Barton is to serve a second term as general secretary of the ASCL school leadership union, after being re-elected unopposed. Elected in a landslide victory in the first contested election for the role in 2017, Barton’s first term was due to end next year. But ASCL announced today that the former secondary school headteacher […]

DfE finally deletes pupil nationality and country of birth data

The Department for Education has finally deleted its controversial migrant children database, years after it stopped collecting pupil nationality data. Data collected from children in schools is for educational purposes. Not immigration enforcement Additional questions on nationality and country of birth were added to the school census in 2016, but removed in 2018 after a […]

Ofqual chair: Exam grade evidence not a ‘topic for negotiation’ between teachers and students

Evidence used to issue exam grades this year will not be a “topic for negotiation” between teachers and students, the chair of Ofqual has said. Ian Bauckham, interim chair of the exams regulator, told the annual conference of the ASCL school leadership union today it would be “wrong and fundamentally unfair” for teachers’ decisions to […]

Labour calls on DfE to ‘guarantee’ free school meals support over Easter

Labour is calling on the government to provide free school meals vouchers or cash payments over the Easter holidays, warning extensions to a Covid grant for councils and the holiday activities and food programme don’t go far enough. The government has said free school meals vouchers won’t be offered over Easter, although some councils are […]

School rebuilding: DfE to announce 50 more projects this year

The Department for Education has said it will add 50 more projects to its school rebuilding programme this year. Ministers announced earlier this year the names of 50 schools that will split £1 billion in rebuilding cash. Today, the DfE said it hoped to announce 50 more in the summer. However, the government has not […]

Attendance: 1 in 10 secondary pupils not in school in second week of reopening

More than one in ten secondary pupils were not in school yesterday, the day attendance for older pupils became mandatory, new data shows. The latest attendance survey data published by the Department for Education shows 89 per cent of pupils were on-site in state secondary schools yesterday. The data also shows that tens of thousands […]

‘The Big Ask’: New children’s commissioner starts role with plan to survey school pupils

School pupils will be surveyed by the new children’s commissioner for a “once-in-a-generation review of the future of childhood”. Former academy trust boss Dame Rachel de Souza, who took up the post on March 1, has announced plans for “the largest consultation with children ever undertaken in England” as part of her plans for a […]