Author: James Carr

The millionaire businessman behind Aldridge Education academy trust has been named as its patron after relinquishing his role as trustee earlier this year. Sir Rod Aldridge said he is “delighted” to have taken on the honorary role following his resignation in September. While the role of patron is common in the charity sector – to […]

For children living in poverty, school provides much more than just an education – it’s a lifeline. Thousands of pupils across England are dreading the approaching Christmas holiday as the structure, safety and regular meals they have come to depend on are replaced with hunger, fear and instability. A recent report from Shelter revealed 126,000 […]

Teachers are fearful an increasing number of their pupils will go hungry this Christmas, according to a union poll. The National Education Union surveyed 549 of its members. Sixty-three per cent of respondents said they were worried more children than last year will be going hungry over the festive period. And 59 per cent said […]

Juggling a full-time teaching schedule and an election campaign can be tricky. Vix Lowthion, the Green Party’s candidate for the Isle of Wight, has a year 13 parents’ evening at The Island VI Form before she dashes off to Thursday’s count. Schools are under so much pressure and just cracking Meanwhile the Liberal Democrat candidate […]

Successive governments have spent more than £180 million on free schools that went on to fail, according to new figures released today. The National Education Union has branded the free schools programme “a shocking record of failure and waste” after its analysis of government data showed the government has now spent £186 million in revenue and […]

The government has promised to publish for the first time a full account of the bail-outs it hands to struggling academy trusts. However, the department refused to provide details of the pay-outs it dished out over the past few years – stating it “does not hold the information in the format requested”. When dealing with […]

A Catholic academy trust has banned its 19 primary schools from hosting 11-plus exams that “promote non-Catholic schools”. In a letter distributed across the Kent Catholic Schools’ Partnership (KCSP) in September, Clive Webster, its chief executive, said academies “must now cease enabling, facilitating or, especially, administering the Kent test (or any other 11-plus derivative)”. The […]

The first applications in five years have been lodged for new university technical colleges – but there’s a catch. Three new UTCs are in the pipeline but, like a traditional school, students will join aged 11, rather than at 14. Ofsted grade-one Energy Coast UTC is hoping to open two UTCs, in Salford and Carlisle, […]