Jess Staufenberg | Schools Week

Children’s commissioner: ‘Millions of pupils miss out on support’

Millions of vulnerable pupils have been denied much-needed support because scarce children’s services have to be targeted only at the most vulnerable. Half of the money spent on children’s services – support provided over and above a child’s education – goes to just 73,000 children in care, while the rest of the cash has to stretch […]

Inaugural FestABLE becomes a celebration of SEND

Founders of the first ever festival celebrating special educational want to “bring teachers and families into the same space” and hope more mainstream teachers will attend their next event. Barney Angliss, a SEND consultant, has spent two years planning FestABLE, which took place in Cheltenham last weekend. He had the help of Elaine Gisby, director […]

Beware informal ‘learning plans’, SEND experts warn

Pupils with special educational needs are being issued with informal learning plans in place of official plans that come with guaranteed funding. Some local authorities are giving out documents called ‘my plans’ or ‘learning plans’ if they believe pupil’s needs do not warrant a proper education health and care plan (ECHP), SEND experts have warned. […]

Alternative provision academy trusts keen to open secure schools

Academy chains that cater for excluded pupils are keen to open new secure schools for young offenders, but the response from mainstream trusts has been muted. The government is encouraging trusts to bid for facilities for imprisoned pupils aged 12 to 17, two years after the idea of secure schools was first proposed by the […]

National teaching job website shrouded with secrecy

The Department for Education has finally launched its free teacher vacancy website – but it somehow didn’t manage to include a link to it in its publicity materials. The site was first promised more than two years ago and will let schools freely advertise job vacancies in their schools. Diligent Schools Week research found the […]

Free school that left pupil behind on school trip to close

A specialist science and technology free school in Newcastle will close this summer, three months after one of its pupils was left behind on a school trip. The £9 million Discovery School is the third free school scheduled to close this year. It will shut over “capability and capacity issues” that have concerned ministers, according to […]

Teacher vacancy website up-and-running in north east and Cambridgeshire

The government has finally launched a free teacher vacancy website in two regions of the country, promising it will be rolled out nationally if all goes to plan by the end of the year. The website, which ministers claim will save schools about £75 million in advertising, will list all full-time, part-time and job share […]

Academy trusts invited to set up ‘secure schools’ for pupils in custody

Academy trusts are being invited to set up “secure schools” for pupils languishing in youth custody, under new plans released by the government. The Department for Education and Ministry of Justice have jointly issued guidance laying out how trusts, as well as other children’s organisations, can set up a “secure school” and what legislation they […]

Most free schools open in areas of need, and 4 other things we learned

The majority of free schools opened in areas of need, research has found, but they are usually neither innovative nor opened by parents, and they do not take in enough poor pupils. The National Foundation for Educational Research, together with the Sutton Trust, have conducted an in-depth analysis of the 311 free schools open as […]