Author: Freddie Whittaker

The education secretary will use a speech to the Confederation of Schools Trust to attack Labour Party policy on academies, branding it “dangerous control freakery”. Damian Hinds will defend academies and free schools during a speech to the CST’s inaugural conference and demand “honest answers” from shadow education secretary Angela Rayner about what her party […]

The prime minister has insisted that school funding is at a “record high”, just days after members of her own government were slapped down by the statistics watchdog for their claims over spending. Theresa May defended the government’s spending on schools during prime minister’s questions today during a grilling by opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn. It […]

The number of schools offering GCSE and A-level music courses to pupils is in decline, prompting concerns that the subject is “disappearing”. Research by the University of Sussex found that 18 per cent of schools offer no GCSE music option to pupils, and researchers warned uptake data showed that this will increase in the coming […]

A lack of school spending data on mental health means it is not possible to plan support for pupils in need across the country, the government’s spending watchdog has warned. The National Audit Office found that schools’ engagement with local health services “could be positive but was variable”, and that cross-government working on the issue […]

The head of the statistics watchdog has written to the education secretary to warn of “significant concerns” over the Department for Education’s use of stats. Two other letters from the watchdog have also been issued to the DfE’s top boss, Jonathan Slater, and chief statistician, Neil McIvor, this morning in what represents a huge slapdown […]

The education secretary has defended his department’s use of statistics on school funding and improvement following today’s “humilitating” rebuke by the UK Statistics Authority. However, Damian Hinds admitted the government “could have been clearer” in its claims about child literacy, which the UKSA warned today were “not correct”. Hinds has written to Sir David Norgrove, […]

The Department for Education will divert £24 million of funding for school improvement and teacher training to the north east, the education secretary has announced. Damian Hinds warned that too many young people in the region are “missing out”. He has particular concerns about the quality of the north east’s secondary schools. Ministers have come […]

Pupils referred to mental health services by their schools are being turned away if they don’t exhibit the same problems at home, a think tank has warned. In a new report by the Education Policy Institute, researchers found that as many as 1 in 4 children referred to CAMHS in England are rejected, and that school […]

Regional schools commissioners should be allowed to rebroker academies back to councils if they can’t find another trust to sponsor them, according to the man in charge of education at Damian Hinds’s local council. Stephen Reid, a Conservative councillor who serves as executive member for education and skills on Hampshire County Council, said the option […]