Author: Freddie Whittaker

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 […]

Just one per cent of private school pupils come from the most disadvantaged households, the chair of the Independent Schools Council revealed today. Barnaby Lenon admitted to the parliamentary education committee this morning that just 6,000 of more than half a million pupils at ISC member-schools receive a 100-per-cent bursary for their school fees – […]

The Social Mobility Commission has published its annual “state of the nation” report. Here are the key findings and recommendations about schools: Findings Geographical differences in attainment for children on free school meals have increased over the past decade, “despite government efforts to boost learning for disadvantaged children”. London has broken away from the rest […]

Regional schools commissioners should be given responsibility for “monitoring and managing” the supply of teachers in their areas, the Social Mobility Commission has said. In its annual state of the nation report, the influential commission, chaired by the former Labour minister Alan Milburn, warned of large geographical variations in teacher supply and quality. For example, […]

LocatED, the Department for Education’s property firm, has published its first annual report and accounts, giving a glimpse into the inner-workings of the secretive company set up to buy free school sites. 1. LocatED had no targets last year, but it does now The report shows that the company had no key performance indicators in […]