Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

RSC boards won’t guarantee SEND and post-16 inclusion, says DfE

Schools commissioners will not create additional spaces on their advisory boards for members from post-16 or special needs settings, but will be expected to consult experts when making decisions about them. Schools Week understands the eight regional schools commissioners (RSCs) are in talks over improved access to specialists who will “offer specific advice when they […]

National Teaching Service cancelled after just 24 accept places

The government has scrapped its flagship National Teaching Service after admitting it did not get enough recruits for its plan to parachute elite teachers into struggling schools in the north west. Figures exclusively released to Schools Week under the freedom of information act today show that just 24 teachers had accepted jobs in the scheme […]

Perry Beeches: second investigation reveals trust breached rules over Labour donation

An academy trust already under-fire over related party transactions broke the rules when it made a political donation and paid a company owned by a relative of a director for consultancy services, an Education Funding Agency investigation has revealed. A second inquiry into the Perry Beeches academy trust, which runs five schools in Birmingham, has […]

Wilshaw: I would have refused pupil immigration checks as head

The collection of pupil nationality and country of birth data by schools is a “daft idea”, Sir Michael Wilshaw has said, indicating that he would have refused to carry out immigration checks on pupils when he was a headteacher. The outgoing chief inspector of Ofsted gave his view on recent disclosures that Theresa May wanted teachers to […]

Academy ‘tipping point’ is 5 years away, says minister …. and 4 other things we learned at today’s education select committee

The academies minister Lord Nash and Education Funding Agency chief executive Peter Lauener took questions on academy trusts from MPs this morning. Here is what we learned… 1. The tipping point for full academisation will still come in 5 to 6 years The government may have abandoned its plans to force all schools to become […]

11 academy trusts now have more than 30 schools and are labelled ‘system leaders’

There are now 11 ‘system leader’ academy chains in England, but almost a third of academies are still operating within single-academy trusts, new research has revealed. A report released today by the National Foundation for Education Research (NFER) shows that 11 trusts are now over the 30-school threshold to become one of the government’s ‘system […]

Government continues judging RSCs on academy conversion rate – despite conflict of interest concerns

The government continued judging regional schools commissioners (RSCs) on how many schools they converted into academies last year despite fears about a conflict of interest, a key report has revealed. The Department for Education’s academies annual report, published today, shows that RSCs were judged on the percentage of schools in their areas which were academies between […]

RSC Guide: Dominic Herrington, south-east and south London

Dominic Herrington started his tenure with a distinct advantage over his colleagues. As a Department for Education insider – he had been the director of its academies group – he was well-placed to work closely with Whitehall officials. But has the inside knowledge helped? Although the number of academies in his area has grown 35 […]