Author: Freddie Whittaker

A free school in Bolton paid more than £900 for its chair to stay at a swanky Chicago hotel favoured by Hollywood stars while attending an Apple event, a government investigation has revealed. The Olive Tree Primary School Bolton Limited, a single-academy trust, also allowed Abdul Chohan – who worked as a consultant for the […]

An alternative provision trust has disclosed fears about “ongoing financial sustainability” – blaming late payments from cash-strapped local authorities. New accounts for TBAP Trust show it needed a long-term cash loan from the government this year, which increased its borrowing to £1.9million, up from £950,000 the year before. Government trouble-shooter Angela Barry has joined the […]

Ofsted should be more vocal in challenging schools that narrow the curriculum with three-year GCSEs, the head of England’s largest academy trust has said. Writing in Schools Week, Sir Jon Coles, chief executive of United Learning, said Ofsted was “doing the right thing” and should do so “more full-throatedly”. Ofsted is now finally doing the […]

Schools and nurseries should explore mathematics through games, storybooks, puzzles and songs, according to new guidance from the Education Endowment Foundation. The document, Improving mathematics in the early years and key stage 1, sets out ways school leaders can help children develop a sound understanding of maths at a young age. It recommends that leaders […]

Bonuses paid to men working at the Department for Education were on average 3.8 per cent larger than those paid to women last year. Although the overall gender pay gap at the department continues to decrease, new figures show that in 2019, men received larger bonuses than women for the first time since records began. […]

More evidence is needed to measure the impact of efforts by universities to widen participation, a new review has found. The Education Policy Institute concluded that there was “still a lack of available evidence on the impact of outreach interventions on actual enrolment rates”. Although disadvantaged pupils are now 61 per cent more likely to […]

Schools are falling foul of a legal duty to improve provision for disabled pupils, new research has warned. Disabled learners and their parents are “largely uninformed” about the existence of accessibility plans, despite a legal requirement for schools to create, regularly review and implement them, the study claimed. The Alliance for Inclusive Education (ALLFIE) and […]

More than half of teachers and school leaders don’t trust claims made by education technology companies, a new poll has revealed. A poll by Teacher Tapp commissioned by tech firm Sparx also shows that 79 per cent of teachers and leaders want to see clear proof that ed tech works in the classroom. The figures […]

New beefed-up evaluations of multi-academy trusts could see inspectors examine whether the curriculum is being narrowed across groups of schools, Ofsted has said. The watchdog’s annual report, released today, revealed its leaders are looking at a “methodology refresh” of “limited” trust summary evaluations to give a “a far richer picture” of how organisations run their […]