Author: Jess Staufenberg

Fewer youngsters have been offered a place at any of their preferred schools in September, an analysis of the councils facing the biggest squeeze on primary places has revealed. More than 600,000 youngsters were told yesterday which primary school they will attend in September. National statistics will not be published until June. But a Schools […]

Up to five academy trusts are at loggerheads with unions over their plans to shake up teachers’ pay and conditions – which could see staff go unpaid during the summer holidays, Schools Week understands. It has also been revealed that another trust recently backed down on similar plans, following discussions with the Association of School […]

Around 12,500 youngsters are set to be offered places at primary schools that haven’t been rated ‘good’ in over a decade, a new analysis has warned on national offer day. More than 1.2 million pupils have passed through 290 “stuck schools” – those continuously graded ‘inadequate’, ‘requires improvement’ or ‘satisfactory’ since 2005 – the New […]

The government will “fully fund” free sanitary products in all primary schools, the Department for Education has announced. But the government has not confirmed when the cash will be handed to schools, or how much they will be given. The free products in primaries, which will be available from early 2020, follow the same being […]

Around half of schools start teaching GCSE content when pupils are still in year 9, while some teach the courses to pupils as young as 11, a major new survey of teachers suggests. The National Foundation for Educational Research surveyed 1,678 teachers from 1,439 schools for its annual Teacher voice omnibus survey. Fifty-six per cent […]

GCSE grades among looked-after pupils fell last year and absence rates rose, new data shows. New statistics published this morning by the Department for Education shows the average Attainment 8 score of pupils in care was 18.8 in 2018, down from 19.3 the year before. It also means the gap in attainment between looked-after and […]

Councils have been issued with new guidance to help them negotiate financial contributions from housing developers when their work puts pressure on schools. New advice from the Department for Education today sets out how local authorities can best seek funding both for construction of more school space and suitable land from developers. Town halls are […]

The chair of the parliamentary education committee has demanded extra powers for councils to scrutinise schools’ approach to exclusions. In a letter to the education secretary Damian Hinds, sent following a recent inquiry into exclusions and knife crime, Robert Halfon made a set of recommendations to the government. Urging schools to “intervene early” with at-risk […]

A former leading prosecutor has offered to intervene in a bitter dispute over the teaching of LGBT education in Birmingham schools, insisting that pupils “don’t become gay because they learn about the fact there are gay people”. Nazir Afzal, a former chief prosecutor for the north west of England and Crown Prosecution Lead on child […]