Author: Jess Staufenberg

Schools minister Nick Gibb has said he is “persuadable” to an initial teacher training route (ITT) focused only on special educational needs, he told MPs this morning. Gibb told the powerful education select committee, which held its last evidence session on SEND provision this morning following a long-running inquiry, that it “might consider recommending” a […]

A since-closed free school was given the funding green light just nine working days before it was due to open, with civil servants issuing “dire warnings of impending closure” from day one, it has been claimed. In a damning report revealing the chaotic behind-the-scenes process of opening a free school, former trustees and staff at […]

Academy trusts should avoid a “one-size-fits-all” policy for improving retention across their schools, new research suggests, after finding staff satisfaction varied more widely between individual schools than trusts. Forty per cent of 10,530 staff who took the Edurio Staff Wellbeing and Working Conditions Survey, published today, are at risk of resigning – with the quality […]

Spend on private alternative provision (AP) has rocketed by almost £7 million in the past three years, with councils sending more vulnerable pupils to settings that are not inspected by Ofsted or registered with the government. A Schools Week investigation has found 26 cash-strapped councils are now spending at least £23.8 million sending pupils to […]

Grammar schools have won a bigger chunk of government cash this year, despite having their own £50 million expansion pot. Half of the successful bids in highly selective areas for the 2019-20 Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) went to grammars, despite them making up only one third of schools. This marks a rise on the previous […]

More than 9,600 schools have signed up to the pilot of the government’s new baseline assessment, according to the Department for Education. Schools minister Nick Gibb has claimed the number of schools which have registered to take part is “significant” because they will help ensure the baseline assessment works. But Dr Mary Bousted, joint general […]

More than half of schools with sixth forms posted in-year deficits, as funding has plunged by more than a quarter, a new analysis shows. Research by the Education Policy Institute found 54 per cent of maintained schools with sixth forms had in-year deficits last year, compared with just 37 per cent nine years ago. Meanwhile, […]

Pay rises for support staff are crippling academy trusts that have specialist provision schools – with one trust facing almost £670,000 in additional costs. Heads say the government is treating alternative provision (AP) and special educational needs schools as the “forgotten sector” by failing to fund salary increases for the support staff they rely on. […]