Author: Freddie Whittaker

The leader of one of England’s largest academy trusts has revealed she was forced to pool her schools’ funding just to stay afloat, adding it “wasn’t as painful as you might think”. Rowena Hackwood, chief executive of the David Ross Education Trust, told a Westminster Education Forum seminar this week that her chain “doesn’t have […]

Schools face a funding shortfall of £5.4 billion despite extra funding to cover teacher pay rises, six unions have warned. The School Cuts coalition, which includes leadership unions NAHT and ASCL, the National Education Union and support staff bodies the GMB, Unison and Unite, has published its latest analysis based on government figures for school […]

The Department for Education is no fan of its own pass thresholds for GCSEs, according to the chair of a landmark inquiry into the “forgotten third”. Roy Blatchford, the chair of a commission set up by the Association of School and College Leaders to look into the plight of those who do not reach grade […]

The government is “considering options” for supporting primary school children with access to free sanitary products, a minister has said, following criticism that its current plans to tackle period poverty do not go far enough. The chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his spring statement earlier this month that the government will fund free sanitary products […]

The Department for Education spent almost £15,000 defending its divisive pupil nationality and country of birth data collection in court just months before it was scrapped, and it didn’t receive a penny of help from the Home Office. Two attempts by campaigners to challenge the collection at judicial review landed the DfE with legal bills […]

Church schools will not need to seek prior approval to buy services from their diocese, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has revealed. From April 1, academy trusts will have to seek government leave to pay out more than £20,000 to any company or organisation with links to their management. The rule change, announced last […]

An academy trust in Yorkshire is facing a backlash over “unprecedented” plans to shake up teachers’ pay and conditions that unions say could see teachers go unpaid during summer holidays. The Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust claims “modest changes” to staff contracts are needed to prevent the risk of redundancies, and blames government funding cuts for […]

The chief executive of one of England’s most high-profile academy chains is to step down after six years at the helm. David Moran will leave E-ACT at the end of August following what trustees described as the “radical transformation” of the organisation. Jane Millward, the trust’s deputy CEO, will take over. He certainly leaves us […]

The rate of absence from English schools continued to rise in 2017-18, new government data shows. According to the Department for Education, the rate of unauthorised absences from schools rose from 1.3 per cent in 2016-17 to 1.4 per cent last year, the highest level since records began. The rate of authorised absences rose from […]