Author: Jess Staufenberg

The woeful state of private alternative providers can be revealed for the first time, as a new analysis reveals almost one in three are not rated ‘good’ or better by Ofsted. Only 71 per cent of private alternative providers, which are independently-funded settings that take in vulnerable pupils, currently hold one of Ofsted’s top two […]

Grammar schools are getting proportionally more money from the government than comprehensives to spend on buildings, including brand new sports halls and laboratories. Forty per cent of the secondary schools which received money from the Condition Improvement Fund over the past three years were grammars, a Freedom of Information request has revealed. One school got […]

The government has confirmed how it will track the progress of special educational needs pupils working “below test standard” in primary schools next year – but warned that teachers should not use the standards to grade pupils. The pre-key stage 1 and 2 standards, which are mainly for pupils with special educational needs not working […]

The number of pupils with statements of special educational needs or education, health and care plans has risen by nine per cent in the past year. As of this January, there were just over 290,000 pupils aged five to 19 years old with a statement or EHCP, compared with around 270,000 at the same time […]

Dame Martina Milburn, the head of the Prince’s Trust, has been nominated to chair the Social Mobility Commission. But the Department for Education has ruled out expanding the organisation’s powers, despite calls to that effect from senior MPs. The commission, which sits within the DfE and monitors progress towards improved social mobility, has been without […]

Academies that want to buy services in from companies run by their leaders will soon need to get permission from the government under new rules proposed by the Department for Education. The DfE agrees with a recommendation made by the parliamentary public accounts committee earlier this year that academy trusts should be forced to clear […]

An academy trust founded and once chaired by the academies minister received a softened report from Ofsted after inspectors returned just four months after a damning inspection. Irate union leaders have now suggested the school got “a rehearsal before the real deal”. The Inspiration Trust, which runs schools across Norfolk and was chaired by Lord […]

Summer-born pupils who start reception after turning five do not significantly outperform those pupils who start aged four. According to new research from the Department for Education, summer-born pupils granted permission to start school a year later only score on average 0.87 points more on their first formal test than summer-borns who start school aged […]