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11 May 2026

Author: Freddie Whittaker

£24m committed to extend breakfast clubs programme for two more years

The Department for Education will spend £24 million extending its breakfast clubs programme for a further two years. The government initially launched the programme in 2018 with £26 million in funding. A further £11.8 million was allocated in 2020 to extend the scheme to this year. Now the DfE has confirmed it is looking for […]

Gibb rejects call for 11-plus results to be linked to national pupil database

The schools minister has rejected calls to collect 11-plus data and link it to the national pupil database. His decision comes as new figures show that fewer poorer pupils passed the test in two of the country’s most selective areas. We do not intend to ask schools and local authorities to collect the data you […]

Ditch ideology and ‘knowledge-rich mantras’ to fix education, union leader tells ministers

Ministers must ditch “ideology, politicking and knowledge-rich mantras” and acknowledge a “relatively small number of changes” are needed to make education “world class”, a trade union leader will say this week. Could we now move beyond the ideology, the politicking, the knowledge-rich mantras Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, […]

School uniforms: No outright ban on ‘sole supplier’ deals, says Gibb

The government will not ban controversial sole supplier contracts for school uniforms outright, but will ask leaders to re-tender at least every five years, the schools minister has said. A draft law requiring the government to issue statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms passed its third reading in the House of Commons today. […]

DfE sneaks in £25m saving with teaching school hubs switch

The government has quietly saved £25 million by switching to a system of teaching school hubs, a Schools Week investigation can reveal. Special schools are also being squeezed out in the process. The Department for Education named 81 new teaching school hubs last month. With six already commissioned, it takes the total to 87. Each […]

Pupils ‘expected to know’ up to 1,700 words under reforms to MFL GCSEs

Pupils will be “expected to know” up to 1,700 different words under proposed reforms to GCSE modern foreign language (MFL) qualifications. The Department for Education has published revised subject content for French, German and Spanish MFL GCSEs alongside a consultation on the changes. Ofqual, the exams regulator, is also consulting on new assessment objectives for […]

DfE proposes school business rates change to cut ‘substantial bureaucracy’ 

The government is proposing to change the way “complex” school business rates are collected to cut out “substantial bureaucracy”. Currently, individual schools receive business rates bills from their local councils every year and it is their responsibility to pay them. They also receive money to pay the rates either by claiming it back from the […]