Author: James Carr

The government’s £780 million cash injection for pupils with high need special educational needs and disabilities isn’t even enough to plug the budget black hole in councils’ existing deficits. Analysis from the SEND Action campaign group reveals a number of councils are simply using the extra money to cover hefty funding shortfalls brought around by […]

An academy trust that paid its former executive principal almost £200,000 a year while it had a £1.3 million deficit has been criticised by Ofsted over the state of its finances. The watchdog said challenges at the Heath Family (North West) academy trust had been “compounded by poor financial management”. This was “epitomised by the […]

One of the country’s biggest academy trusts has been warned over standards at another of its schools following concerns about pupils safety and teaching quality. The Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) received a minded to terminate letter regarding Four Dwellings Primary Academy in Birmingham – raising questions about the trust’s turnaround. Chairman David Hall received the […]

Ofsted will need to hire more inspectors and increase training to properly investigate schools’ financial decision-making, experts have warned. Daniel Muijs, Ofsted’s deputy director for research and evaluation, announced on Monday the watchdog will be looking at schools’ financial decision-making to investigate if it provides “more insight into the quality of leadership and management”. Schools […]

Turning up for work in last night’s suit, bleary eyed from just 40 minutes sleep is not the usual conduct you would expect from a school’s senior leader. But on the morning of December 13, that’s exactly how Jonathan Gullis appeared at the gates of Birmingham’s Fairfax Academy. Of course, the year 9 head could […]

Ofsted is set to begin diving into schools’ financial decision-making to test if it provides “more insight” into the quality of leadership and management. Daniel Muijs, Oftsed’s deputy director for research and evaluation, made the announcement this morning via his ‘Why we do research at Ofsted’ blog post explaining the rationale and importance of the […]

The government’s annual spend on teacher recruitment adverts has continued to rise and is now costing an average of £400 per new recruit. A Freedom of Information request shows the Department for Education spent more than £37 million on advertising for teacher recruitment between the 2016-17 academic year and 2018-19 (see graph). The findings come […]

Ofsted is now issuing caveats to schools retaining their grades in short inspections, a practice experts warn is establishing an unofficial “sub-grade system” that confuses parents and demoralises teachers. An analysis of new inspection reports found more than 60 schools which maintained ‘good’ or ‘outstanding’ grades in Section 8 inspections were warned “inspectors have some […]

Outcome measures are not an effective indicator of the quality of initial teacher education, because the recruitment landscape means trainees are likely to get a job regardless of the quality of their training, Ofsted research has found. The education watchdog today released the second phase of its ITE curriculum research, part of an effort to […]