Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Corbyn: Labour will give schools £160m ‘arts pupil premium’

Labour will introduce an “arts pupil premium” to pump £160 million of extra funding into schools if it wins the next general election, Jeremy Corbyn has announced. The leader told his party’s conference today that if Labour won a general election, it would introduce the cash boost to help pupils learn to play instruments, learn drama and […]

Phonics results rise again but writing falls behind at KS1

The government has reported a boost to year 1 phonics check results, but pupils’ writing standards are falling behind reading and maths. Department for Education statistics on the phonics check show that 81 per cent of year 1 pupils met the ‘expected standard’ this year, up from 77 per cent in 2015. The rate at […]

Chair of Education Funding Agency doubts all-academy and grammar plans

The chair of the Education Funding Agency’s advisory board has cast doubt on plans to convert all schools into academies and questioned proposals for more grammar schools. Les Walton, who also chairs the Northern Education Trust, told a fringe event organised by teaching unions at the Labour Party Conference that the government had to be […]

Labour to launch childcare taskforce to ‘transform’ early years

Labour will launch a new childcare taskforce to “transform” early years education in England, Angela Rayner will announce this afternoon in a speech aimed at defying her critics. The shadow education secretary has appointed Liz Snape, deputy general secretary of UNISON, to undertake the review, which will be aimed at improving access to affordable high-quality […]

Labour plans grammar schools debate after issue tops poll of members

The Labour Party conference is to hold a special debate on grammar schools and consider whether to make scrapping selection altogether a party policy after the issue topped a list of concerns among members. A motion from the Socialist Educational Association (SEA), backed by Nottingham Trent Constituency Labour Party, will be debated tomorrow after more […]

Corbyn launches national campaign against grammar schools

The newly re-elected Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn will launch a national campaign against plans to open new grammar schools in England. The Islington North MP, who won 61.8 per cent of the vote against his rival Owen Smith, used his victory speech today to announce the campaign, which his team hopes will act as a call […]

£70m government-funded careers company insists it has ‘achieved a lot’

The Careers and Enterprise Company will do more to support and train teachers, its chief executive has said after criticism of the organisation’s use of public money. Claudia Harris has denied that the CEC, which now has 25 full-time staff and 13 contractors, is turning into a quango, and insists it has “achieved a lot” […]

Full academisation could cost taxpayer £320 million, warn councils

Converting all remaining council-maintained schools into academies could cost the taxpayer £320 million, the Local Government Association has warned. The organisation, which represents councils across England, has used data on the costs of previous conversions from 77 local authorities to calculate what it claims will be the true scale of the financial burden of implementing […]

Academy trust ordered to close private company sponsor after EFA investigation

An academy trust has been ordered to close a linked commercial company and “closely monitor” its finances following an investigation by the Education Funding Agency, its second in the space of three years. The Education Fellowship Trust has been warned that its current organisational model is “not acceptable” and does not confirm to model articles […]