Author: Freddie Whittaker

Hundreds of schools are rescheduling nativity plays and Christmas concerts while parents scramble to make childcare arrangements, following the announcement of next month’s general election. The election on Thursday, December 12, called to break the parliamentary stalemate over Brexit, will take place in the penultimate week of term for most schools. School leaders and MPs […]

Two former education secretaries will leave Parliament at the upcoming election. Justine Greening, who served from 2016 to early 2018, announced in September that she would not run again for her Putney seat at the next election. And last night Nicky Morgan, Greening’s predecessor at the Department for Education, announced she too will stand down, […]

Schools face having to reschedule nativity plays and even take down Christmas decorations to facilitate a December 12 election, MPs have warned. During a debate on plans for an early election in the House of Commons last night, MPs lamented the impact the poll will have on schools. We should be saying sorry for the […]

Parliament has approved plans by the government to hold an election on December 12. So what does this mean for schools?   1. Schools face election closures for THIRD time in a year Schools that are used as polling stations have already had to close twice this year – for council and European Parliament elections […]

A senior member of the NASUWT teaching union is seeking to challenge the establishment candidate to become its new general secretary, pledging to hand control of the organisation “back to its members”. Paul Nesbitt, the union’s national executive member for the West Midlands and a serving teacher, is seeking nominations from branches to run against […]

Struggling University Technical Colleges now account for almost 10 per cent of revenue deficits reported by all academy trusts after deficits more than doubled in just four years. A report from the National Audit Office, the government’s spending watchdog, today lays bare the extent of financial failure among UTCs. £792m has been spent but UTCs […]

Ministers are aiming to introduce a British sign language GCSE “as soon as possible” – and have pledged to consult on draft content next year. Nick Gibb, the schools minister, has confirmed Department for Education officials are now “working with subject experts to develop draft subject content” for the GCSE. The government relaxed its position […]

Academies that can’t demonstrate good governance and show “restraint” in their chief executive pay face being denied access to maintenance funding. Ministers have attached the new rule to criteria for next year’s condition improvement fund, an annual grant pot of more than £400 million which funds improvements and upgrades to school buildings. Schools Week revealed earlier […]

The Department for Education has updated headline results for last year’s phonics screening check and key stage 1 SATs after mistakes in its original data release were identified. The department confirmed today that a number of changes had been made to a data release entitled phonics screening check and key stage 1 assessments in England, […]