Author: Freddie Whittaker

Six Conservative MPs, including three former education ministers, have been nominated to stand for election to chair the House of Commons education committee. The deadline for nominations officially passed at 3pm today, and Nick Boles, Rehman Chishti, Robert Halfon, Tim Loughton, Stephen Metcalfe and Dr Dan Poulter have officially made the ballot. The MPs had to […]

School leaders and teachers are more likely to rely on think tanks for research to help them improve schools, rather than the Department for Education (DfE), a government-commissioned report has found. The paper, which evaluates the progress in evidence-informed teaching in England, found that school staff seeking research and evidence were more likely to look […]

Schools in England will take part in a pilot of tablet-based tests for five-year-olds, the Department for Education has announced. Officials say England will join the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s (OECD) international early learning and child well-being study (IELS). A field trial, run by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER), will take place between […]

Universal infant free school meals are here to stay, the schools minister Nick Gibb has announced today, confirming a U-turn on controversial plans from the Conservative Party’s manifesto. Gibb told MPs in parliament today that, having listened to feedback from schools, the government has decided that it is “right to retain” the existing universal infant free […]

Former education ministers Robert Halfon and Tim Loughton are to stand for election to chair the House of Commons education committee. Schools Week’s sister paper FE Week has learned that Halfon, the former skills minister who was unceremoniously sacked by Theresa May in her recent reshuffle and Loughton, who served as children and families minister […]

Sixty one per cent of pupils achieved the government’s “expected standard” in reading, writing and maths in this year’s key stage 2 SATs.

The schools minister Nick Gibb has been given an expanded role at the Department for Education, with the additional responsibility for steering sex and relationships education (SRE) reform. The government announced today that as well as his schools remit, which includes teacher recruitment, school admissions, and the national funding formula, Gibb will also be the […]

Academies minister Lord Nash met with key officials from the studio schools programme to discuss a review of the model’s “concept”, new documents have revealed. The Department for Education (DfE) meeting records show that Nash met the Studio Schools Trust (SST) in March, with the purpose of the meeting listed as being “to review the […]