Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Williamson and Gibb re-appointed in post-Brexit reshuffle

Gavin Williamson will continue in the role of education secretary following a reshuffle that saw a number of his colleagues return to the backbenches. The MP for South Staffordshire, who has been in post since last July, said he was “delighted” to have been re-appointed by Boris Johnson in a long-awaited reshuffle held to mark […]

Government’s ‘obsession’ with phonics is driven by need to help working-class white boys

The underperformance of white working-class boys in England’s education system is what has driven the government’s “obsession” with reading and phonics, the schools minister has said. Nick Gibb told a Westminster Hall debate today that a belief that children’s educational background has more of an impact than their social or cultural background was the “essential philosophy” […]

DfE property firm’s boss got £30k bonus, despite missed value-for-money target

The boss of the Department for Education’s property company received a £30,000 bonus last year, despite the organisation missing one of its key targets. Accounts for LocatED, a company set up by the government to find land for new free schools, show Lara Newman received a bonus payment of between £30,000 and £35,000 in 2018-19, […]

‘We are not convinced’ – leaders’ union ASCL won’t back #PauseOfsted campaign

The Association of School and College Leaders will not back calls for school staff to stop working as Ofsted inspectors because its leaders are “not convinced” it’s the best way forward. The #PauseOfsted campaign, launched by Headteachers’ Roundtable chair Stephen Tierney at the think tank’s annual conference last week, calls for those working part-time as […]

Special school with ‘serious, widespread’ safeguarding failures to get a new sponsor

A residential special school in Worcestershire will be moved to a new academy trust after inspectors identified “serious, widespread” safeguarding failures. The boss of the academy trust in charge at Vale of Evesham School today admitted that mistakes at the school had led to “catastrophic results”, including the recruitment of a member of grounds staff […]

Councils failing on SEND provision risk takeover from government commissioners

Councils failing to improve their SEND provision after repeated warnings from inspectors risk being taken over by government commissioners. A Schools Week investigation has found the number of town halls given a second warning by inspectors over failing SEND services has almost doubled in less than six months. It is clear that addressing the pressure […]

Just 1 in 6 breakfast clubs in £26m scheme are actually new

Just 286 new breakfast clubs have been created under a £26 million government scheme, ministers have finally admitted. The government claimed last month that its national school breakfast programme had “created or improved” around 1,800 clubs in schools across the country. Time and time again the figures they use turn out to be a misleading […]

Head claims DfE’s new funding website doesn’t add up

A leading headteacher has criticised the government’s new school funding website for displaying figures for his school that are hundreds of thousands of pounds higher than the sum he will actually receive. The Department for Education launched a new online tool last week that allows anyone to find out how much money their local school […]

NEU advises members not to work as Ofsted inspectors

England’s largest teaching union has urged its members to stop working as Ofsted inspectors, as it backed a campaign by leading headteachers to challenge the current school accountability system. The National Education Union’s leadership council, which represents school leaders that are members of the union, has backed the #PauseOfsted campaign, launched at the Headteachers’ Roundtable […]