Author: Freddie Whittaker

The academies minister Lord Agnew has said he will bet any headteacher “a bottle of champagne and a letter of commendation” that he can identify more potential savings in their schools. The politician told the Schools and Academies Show in Birmingham today that he was “like a pig out hunting for truffles when it comes […]

The decision by the government to ignore the recommendations of the School Teachers Review Body this year was “difficult”, a Department for Education funding boss has admitted. Under the terms of the teachers’ pay award for 2018-19, only those teachers on the “main pay range” are entitled to the full 3.5 per cent uplift recommended […]

New analysis of the test results of more than 1.5 million primary school pupils across England lays bare the disadvantage faced by summer-born pupils and those from deprived households. The research, conducted by School Dash, used data from the Understanding Mathematics Assessment (PUMA) and Progress in Reading Assessment (PiRA) tests created by RS Assessment from Hodder […]

Dozens of small private schools continue to fail to safeguard their pupils, while almost a quarter did not meet government standards in the past year, new Ofsted statistics reveal. The watchdog has released data about the 1,076 independent schools it inspects, and warned that “ineffective safeguarding judgements remain high”, despite a fall in the proportion […]

A government troubleshooter sent in to wind up the troubled Bright Tribe trust has spoken of her “professional” embarrassment over the scandal, and apologised on behalf of the chain’s former leaders. Angela Barry, interim chief executive at Bright Tribe and its sister chain Adventure Learning Academies Trust, told MPs today that she was “confident” action […]

Most of the money made by leisure facilities on a school site in south London is being paid to the school’s former head, it has emerged. Sir Greg Martin, who quit as head of Durand Academy in 2015, is entitled to a £850,000 “special payment” under an agreement with the Charity Commission. The deal was […]

Headteachers believe writing off student loans and reducing working hours outside the classroom are the best options to tackle the teacher recruitment and retention crisis. A new survey by Teach First shows getting rid of student debt for new teachers is heads’ preferred method for boosting recruitment numbers, while cutting work completed out of class […]

The costs of austerity in the UK have fallen “disproportionately” on children, leaving them hungry at school and forcing teachers to collect food and send it home with their pupils, according to a United Nations poverty expert. Professor Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, recently spent two weeks in […]

A company that trained school support workers is to cease its apprenticeship programme after Ofsted labelled it “weak” – warning of poor support from headteachers. Inspectors rated apprenticeships provided by Expanse Group Ltd as “inadequate” following an inspection in September. They said the firm’s leaders and managers did not ensure the schools supported their apprentices […]