Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Bookies predict education MPs heading back to parliament

Most of the politicians who had the top education jobs in the last parliament look set to return as MPs, at least according to the latest odds offered by bookies. Justine Greening, the education secretary, and Angela Rayner, her Labour shadow, are odds-on to win big in their seats of Putney, south London, and Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater […]

One in five schools face disruption as voters go to the polls

One in five of England’s schools are expected to experience disruption or closure today as the country goes to the polls for the snap general election. Research by Schools Week has found that 22.6 per cent of schools are due to be used as polling stations, with hundreds having to close completely to help the voting […]

Death of 4-year-old boy prompts calls for review of schools’ absence approach

A coroner has told ministers to take action on the systems schools use to deal with unexpected absences, following the death of a four-year-old boy who was left alone in his family flat for two weeks after his mother died. Coroner Mary Hassell insisted that action “should be taken” to avoid deaths in the future, after an inquest […]

2017 scaled scores for key stage 1 tests published

The Department for Education has released the marks pupils needed in last month’s key stage 1 tests to achieve the government’s “expected” score. Scaled scores replaced ‘levels’ for the first time last year. To meet government expectations, pupils must achieve 100 in their scaled scores. But what marks this equates to differs for each paper […]

Breakfast confusion continues as Greening suggests only 1 in 5 pupils will benefit

Confusion continues over the Conservatives’ plan to offer free breakfasts to primary school pupils after Justine Greening said the party have completed calculations based on a take-up of just 20 per cent. Yesterday on the World at One the education secretary said that delivering the free breakfast policy could cost £174 million – almost three […]

Education now third most important election issue

Parents consider education to be the third most important issue in the general election campaign and say it will influence their vote. A new poll of more than 1,000 parents conducted by YouGov on behalf of the National Union of Teachers shows that 43 per cent consider education and school funding to be “a key […]

IFS: Parties’ spending plans leave sixth forms with 10% less than schools

Labour’s manifesto plans will boost spending on 16 to 18 education by 8 per cent in real terms, but all three parties’ proposals will leave spending on sixth forms around 10 per cent lower than secondary schools, according to the Institute for Fiscal Studies. The think tank says that although the Conservatives, Labour and Liberal […]

South west RSC Rebecca Clark resigns to join Ark academy chain

The regional schools commissioner for the south west of England Rebecca Clark is to leave her role at the Department for Education to take a new job with the academy chain Ark. Department officials have today confirmed that Clark, who was appointed as the RSC for the south west region last April following Sir David Carter’s […]

Four in five reject Tory plan to lift faith admissions cap

Plans to lift the cap on faith-based admissions at over-subscribed free schools are opposed by four fifths of the population and more than two thirds of Catholics, a poll has revealed. Just 20 per cent of respondents to a poll of more than 2,000 people carried out by Populus on behalf of the Accord Coalition […]