Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

What Dominic Cummings got right about the civil service…and what he got wrong

Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson’s top adviser, has caused a stir with a blog post pledging widespread reform of the civil service. Here, former Department for Education and Cabinet Office staffer Natalie Perera gives her response. In his now infamous blog, Dominic Cummings (in his signature, forthright style) calls for applications from a range of disciplines, […]

Angela Rayner to run for Labour deputy leadership

The shadow education secretary Angela Rayner will run to be Labour’s deputy leader, she will announce today. The Ashton-under-Lyne MP had been touted as a potential candidate to succeed the party’s leader Jeremy Corbyn, who announced his plans to stand down following Labour’s losses in last month’s election. But the Mirror newspaper reports today that […]

New Year’s Honours 2020: Former academy trust head made a Dame

Former academy trust boss Dr Caroline Allen has been made a dame in the new year’s honours list. Allen, who stood down as principal and CEO of the Orchard Hill College and Academy Trust in the summer, is among 53 people with links to the English schools community recognised this year. She told Schools Week […]

DfE extends breakfast clubs pilot to 2021

A government scheme offering primary schools help to set up breakfast clubs will be extended for a year, but the Department for Education still won’t say how many new clubs were established in the first wave of the project. The DfE has confirmed today it will spend an additional £11.8 million on a third year […]

Should inspections be ‘no-notice’ for inspectors as well as schools?

Following the Conservatives’ election victory, no-notice inspections of schools are likely to be trialed in England. Colin Richards believes this lack of notice should apply to inspectors as well as schools. In a recent blog, Ofsted’s national director for education admitted that under the recently-introduced framework, “schools with more pupils from deprived backgrounds are still less […]

Cuts and overbearing accountability have driven me out of headship

Andy Mellor, the past president of the NAHT, has left his role at St Nicholas Church of England primary school in Blackpool. Here, he explains why he believes he can do more for children from outside the profession than from within. The other evening as I drove down the M55 from Blackpool, I pondered the […]

Small schools could miss out on ‘top-up’ funding, DfE warned

The Department for Education has pledged to consider changes to its national funding formula after it was warned that some of the smallest schools could miss out on top-up funding next year. The government has today confirmed that its plans to force councils to implement minimum per-pupil funding rates of £5,000 for secondary schools and […]

Halfon to seek re-election as education committee chair

Robert Halfon, the former education minister who chaired the Parliamentary education committee for the past two-and-a-half years, will seek re-election to the role. The Harlow MP confirmed to Schools Week that he will run “on a platform of the education ladder of opportunity, with rungs on skills, social justice, standards and support for the profession”. […]

Queen’s Speech 2: Nothing new for schools as government focuses on funding

There were no new policies for schools in today’s Queen’s speech, with ministers focusing instead on existing pledges on school funding and efforts to tackle serious violence. To ensure every child has access to a high-quality education, my ministers will increase levels of funding per-pupil in every school The monarch’s address to the state opening […]