Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Not enough Covid testing capacity, admits Johnson

The government does not have enough testing capacity to keep up with current demand, the prime minister admitted. Boris Johnson told the Parliamentary liaison committee that demand for tests had “massively accelerated” in recent weeks. Schools Week revealed last week how schools had been forced to break into their limited supplies of emergency home testing […]

SEND review won’t be out until 2021, says Williamson

A landmark review into provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities won’t be published until next year, Gavin Williamson has said. The education secretary admitted in April that work on the review has stalled because of the coronavirus outbreak, and confirmed today that the report will now not be published until “the early […]

Williamson’s education committee exams hearing: 5 things we learned

The education secretary faced questions about this year’s exams fiasco and the reopening of schools when he appeared in front of the Parliamentary education committee this morning. Gavin Williamson’s appearance in front of MPs follows a hearing last week with leaders from exams regulator Ofqual. Here’s what we learned from him. 1. DfE looking […]

Attendance: 8% of schools not ‘fully open’ last week, says DfE

Around 92 per cent of state-funded schools were “fully open” as of last Thursday, the Department for Education has said. Analysis of attendance figures by the DfE shows that although almost all state schools (99.1 per cent) were open on September 10, around 8 per cent were not “fully open” – meaning they did not […]

School rebuilding programme ‘will disappoint more than it pleases’, warns DfE director

A top civil servant has warned that the government “will be disappointing more people than we please” during the early years of its new school rebuilding programme. Rory Kennedy, the DfE’s director of capital, told a Westminster Education Forum webinar this morning that his experience working on Labour’s flagship “building schools for the future” project […]

High-profile trusts win share of £1.5m ‘exemplary leadership’ fund

Four of England’s most high-profile academy trusts have won the first tranche of a £1.5 million government contract to deliver “exemplary leadership” training. Schools Week revealed earlier this year that the Department for Education was developing the leadership programme”, which will see ‘outstanding’ schools designing training programmes to replicate their success. However, the government was […]

Williamson: Covid is an ‘opportunity’ to drive education reforms

Innovations in education seen during the coronavirus pandemic such as blended learning should have a “lasting impact” beyond the next two years, the education secretary has said. Gavin Williamson told a webinar organised by the Foundation for Education Development this morning that the pandemic had presented an “opportunity to make the changes that need to […]

Ex-PRU leader’s mentoring project wins prestigious innovation award

A former pupil referral unit leader who founded a mentoring service for children at risk of exclusion is among the winners of this year’s Fair Education Alliance (FEA) innovation awards. Hussein Hussein’s organisation, CAPE Mentors, is one of five projects to receive six months of support. Ancestors unKnown, GriffinOT, the Bridging Project and Life Lessons […]

Chairs of governors at odds with boards over workload

The organisation that represents school governors has warned of a “disconnect” on workload between chairs and their boards. A survey by the National Governance Association found that while 81 per cent of chairs believed their school was effectively addressing the issue, just 49 per cent of staff governors and 61 per cent of other governors […]