Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

£60m opportunity areas may not stop cash shortfalls

Schools in Blackpool, Derby, Norwich, Oldham, Scarborough and West Somerset will receive extra money and support from the government to reduce inequality, the education secretary has announced. But the National Union of Teachers says the same areas face cuts of almost £50 million as a result of plans to introduce a national funding formula. Children […]

What schools need to know about collecting census nationality data

Changes to the school census that require the collection of data on pupils’ country of birth and nationality are back on the agenda again after more parents took to twitter to share examples of schools’ responses to the new rules. The debate has also potentially reignited following an announcement at the Conservative Party conference that companies will […]

Theresa May pledges to lift ban on grammar schools

The government will lift the ban on opening new grammar schools, the prime minister has announced, pre-empting the outcome of a consultation on the matter. Theresa May told the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham this afternoon that the ban introduced by Tony Blair’s government in 1998 was a ‘scandal’, and pledged to lift it. Her commitment to […]

Education secretary announces £60m ‘opportunity areas’

The creation of new ‘opportunity areas’ across England will see £60 million spent on school improvement, teacher support and other schemes in six social mobility ‘coldspots’, Justine Greening has announced. The education secretary told the Conservative Party Conference that the policy would aim to give children “the best start in life, no matter what their […]

Unions consider legal challenge to grammar school ‘get-out clause’

Unions are preparing to challenge the government’s ‘grammar school get-out clause’ over claims that it is not a correct interpretation of the law which banned the expansion of selection in England in 1998. Mary Bousted, the general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, told a packed fringe event at the Conservative Party conference […]

Four things we learned from Nicky Morgan at Conservative conference

Nicky Morgan gave Conservative Party Conference delegates a rare insight into her time as education secretary when she addressed a fringe event on educational inequality this morning. Here’s what we learned… Justine Greening will announce a new ‘social mobility areas’ policy tomorrow Nicky Morgan said the key announcement was set to feature in her successor’s speech tomorrow, and although […]

Removing faith selection cap will increase segregation, say humanists

Allowing faith schools to select their entire intake will lead to increased segregation, the British Humanist Association has claimed. Analysis of government statistics by the BHA has revealed that schools which can choose their entire roll based on pupils’ faith are less diverse than those subject to a 50 per cent cap on the number […]

EXCLUSIVE: Labour admits ‘no policy’ on academies

Labour does not have a policy on the future of the academies programme, a member of the party’s frontbench team has admitted. Lord Watson, the shadow education minister in the House of Lords, told a fringe event at the Labour party conference that the party was in the “early stages” of policy development. Party leader […]

New teacher training recruitment caps explained

New initial teacher training recruitment caps will be based on three subject categories and providers will get a grace period before being forced to close courses, the government has announced. Following problems in the past year which saw some university courses in popular subjects such as history and PE close at short-notice, the National College for Teaching and […]