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11 May 2026

Author: Freddie Whittaker

Free school meal take-up lowest on record, and 4 more census findings

School census data from January 2017 has been released by the government today. Here are the main points… 1. Free school meal take-up rate falls to lowest on record In January, 14 per cent of all pupils were eligible for and claiming free school meals, down from 14.3 per cent last year and the lowest […]

Durand Academy Trust to have funding terminated in 12 months

South London’s controversial Durand Academy will have its funding agreement terminated and be handed to a new sponsor in 12 months, the head of the Education Funding Agency has said. Peter Lauener, the EFA’s chief executive, has written to Sir Greg Martin, chair of the Durand Academy Trust, to confirm that its funding will be […]

Schools get right to appeal GCSE and A-level ‘marking errors’

Schools will be given the right to appeal against GCSE and A-level results if they suspect a marking error, Ofqual has announced today. The exams regulator changed the rules in recent years so that schools could only appeal a exam result if they felt exam boards had not properly followed procedures. Schools could not appeal […]

Mental health funding blunder corrected by government

A £200,000 investment in mental health training for school staff will train just 1,000 teachers and only cover the first year of the programme, the government has admitted after making a mistake with its figures. The Department of Health and Downing Street had originally said that the £200,000 allocated by the prime minister for mental health […]

Schools won’t have budgets cut under funding formula, Greening confirms

The government remains committed to ensuring that no school loses money under the new national funding formula, the education secretary Justine Greening has said. Speaking in parliament today, Greening indicated that her department would continue with its plans for a per-pupil funding floor in the formula – something that was promised in the Conservative Party’s […]

May gives £67 per teacher for mental health training

A commitment to train secondary teachers to identify and deal with mental health problems in pupils will be funded by the government at a rate of just £67 per head. Funding totalling £200,000 has been allocated by the prime minister Theresa May for the first round of mental health “first aid” training, which the government […]

Meet the teachers elected as MPs

A new generation of teachers-turned-MPs have vowed to fight school funding cuts after an election which saw education issues rise up the agenda. At least half a dozen former teachers and teaching assistants, many of whom campaigned specifically on education issues including school funding cuts, were elected to parliament for the first time in Thursday’s […]

Purdah is over, but it has paralysed DfE for 6 months in 2 years

The government has been affected by pre-election rules preventing civil servants from talking to the press for more than 25 weeks in just over two years, Schools Week analysis shows. The so-called purdah period which covered this year’s general election campaign is now over, lifting restrictions on government press releases and the signing of school […]