Author: Jess Staufenberg

Pupils should not be “compelled” to accept unconditional offers for university places until after achieving their A-levels, a coalition of school leaders has urged. A group of university bosses, private school heads and academy trust bosses outlined proposals for overhauling unconditional university offers, in a public letter published today, to ensure they don’t cause students to […]

The government should issue a national Education Health and Care Plan template so local authorities can properly meet their legal obligations to pupils with special educational needs, MPs have been told. Local authorities have drawn up EHCPs, which replaced the old special educational needs statements four years ago, in different ways so that many pupils […]

The government has confirmed the names of trusts taking over the remaining schools from the troubled Bright Tribe trust and its sister trust, Adventure Learning Academy Trust (ALAT). The beleaguered Bright Tribe trust confirmed plans to walk away from all 10 of its schools in both the north and east of England in summer, while […]

New mental health guidance should make headteachers think hard about the impact “rigid” behaviour policies have on pupils, according to one of its contributors. Non-statutory guidance released by the Department for Education on Monday urged schools to focus on how mental health problems could “manifest themselves in behaviour” and how to support pupils. Mental health […]

Councils have been urged to sign up academy trusts to help to track home-educated pupils, as new figures reveal a 27 per cent surge in the numbers removed from school by parents. An alternative provision (AP) academy trust has what AP experts believe is the only contract in the country to monitor home-educated pupils and […]

Schools with sixth forms are failing to provide pupils with the same level of careers advice as schools without sixth forms, a situation fuelled by competition for pupils, experts say. Exclusive analysis for Schools Week shows schools with sixth forms are 20 percentage points less likely to offer personal careers guidance that those without sixth […]

Hundreds of schools that overestimated their pupil numbers last year will have to repay £33 million in funding to the government, as a minister warned trusts are “pumping up” pupil forecasts to balance their budgets. Schools Week can also reveal that the government is now offering the estimated pupils funding model as a “sweetener” in […]

The number of home educated pupils rose by 27 per cent this year, with many more likely to be “hidden from sight”, council children’s services chiefs have warned. A survey of local authorities shows about 57,800 pupils were home-schooled in 2018, up from 45,500 last year and 37,500 in 2016. In comparison, between 2017 and 2018, […]

The government has been urged to commission an independent review into whether the Careers and Enterprise Company is doing a good job helping poorer students get work experience. The Commons youth select committee, run by the British Youth Council charity, has also said Ofsted should inspect provision that is funded by the CEC to check […]