Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

TBAP trust to give up two schools

The embattled TBAP Multi-Academy Trust will give up two of its schools as it seeks to “consolidate” its resources. TBAP, which runs alternative provision academies for those outside the mainstream education system, will relinquish control of Aspire AP Academy in Harlow, Essex and the New Horizons AP Academy in Warrington. The two schools will be […]

DfE forced to update progress 8 scores AGAIN after GCSE statistics error

Another error in the progress 8 scores provided to schools by the government has been identified, this time related to GCSE statistics. Schools Week understands some pupils have had their GCSE statistics results double-weighted in their progress 8 score instead of maths, leading to an incorrect overall score for their school. In other cases, statistics […]

Gavin Williamson’s conference speech: The full text

It is a great honour to serve as Education Secretary… Serving the young people who will become the leaders of tomorrow… Working with the public servants … like those heroes from whom we just heard … who teach in our schools… … who run our nurseries… … lead our colleges… […]

Williamson pledges a maths school in every region

Gavin Williamson has pledged to open a maths free school “in every region” of England. The education secretary made the pledge in his speech to the Conservative Party conference. Currently, only two maths schools are in operation – King’s Maths School in London and Exeter Maths School. Projects are also currently in the pipeline in […]

Free schools have a ‘branding problem’ says NSN director

Free schools have a “branding problem” and the “political will” behind them has diminished in recent years, the director of the New Schools Network has warned. Unity Howard, who runs the charity set up to support and promote free schools, told a fringe event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester today that free schools […]

Two in five don’t trust government to run schools well – poll

More people distrust government when it comes to running schools well than trust them, new data shows. A ComRes poll commissioned by the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, which represents private school leaders, shows 41 per cent of people distrust government when it comes to running schools “effectively”, while just 35 per cent trust them. Parents […]

Interview: Damian Hinds reflects on his time as education secretary

Politics is a brutal game, and nothing quite epitomises that than seeing an ex-minister for the first time after a reshuffle. Damian Hinds, a man who until two months ago ran a department of thousands of people, greets me personally in the reception area of parliament’s Portcullis House. Gone are the advisers who once flanked […]

Williamson backs ‘Rolls Royce-level’ degree apprenticeships for teachers

Gavin Williamson has backed the idea of a teaching apprenticeship for non-graduates, saying that the government should not limit talent. The new education secretary told Schools Week he believes that there are opportunities within the teaching profession to replicate the success of degree apprenticeship schemes run by firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers and Rolls Royce. I […]

Pearson apologises after BTEC gaffe hits schools’ progress 8 scores

Ministers have vowed to amend schools’ progress 8 scores after it was discovered some were as much as 0.2 points lower than expected because Pearson sent incomplete BTEC results to the government. The exam board has apologised after some schools checked Department for Education data on Thursday and were shocked to see that their progress […]