Author: Freddie Whittaker

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has written to the trustees of academy trusts with just one school that have staff earning more than £150,000 a year to ask for justification of the salaries. The letter, from new ESFA chief executive Eileen Milner, specifically targets so-called “single-academy trusts” and requests further information on their “rationale for […]

The government has published details of its long-awaited careers strategy. Here are the main proposals for schools. 1. Dedicated “careers leaders” £4 million in new funding will provide “training and support” for at least 500 schools and colleges to train a dedicated careers leader. This funding works out as about £8,000 per school, and by […]

Schools will get funding to train new designated “careers leaders”, the government has announced in its long-awaited careers strategy. The government has announced that it is allocating £4 million to provide “training and support” for at least 500 schools and colleges, but says it wants to aim for a leader in “every school and college”. […]

Police are looking into the activities of the Bright Tribe academy trust. Cumbria Constabulary has confirmed that it is conducting “preliminary enquiries” into the trust, which currently runs 10 schools across the north of England and East Anglia. The force has not launched a formal investigation, but will do so if initial enquiries find that […]

Bright Tribe academy trust is to give up Whitehaven Academy in Cumbria, following intense pressure from school staff and parents. The secondary school has been at the centre of a row over the way the trust runs its schools in the north of England for over a year, but matters came to a head last […]

Government departments and parliamentary bodies have this morning published a series of announcements, statistical datasets and reports. Here is a round-up of what’s been released. 1. Proportion of exam papers modified for accessibility up 26% According to data published today by the exams regulator Ofqual, there has been a dramatic 26-per-cent rise in the proportion […]

Schools will receive grants to help them pay for new teaching apprenticeships, but only to cover teachers in certain “priority” subjects, the Department for Education has said. The money will also only be on offer to those schools in School Direct partnerships. In a guide published today, the DfE has outlined the subject areas that […]

The lowest-attaining pupils did slightly worse than their peers in reception this year, reversing a trend of improvement seen since 2013. New data on the early years foundation stage profile out today shows the attainment gap between the lowest-attaining 20 per cent of pupils and all pupils widened to 31.7 per cent this year, up […]