Author: Jess Staufenberg

A single-academy trust in Gloucestershire will close after its improvement plan failed to convince the government – leaving trustees just 15 days to try to reverse the decision. St Anthony’s School was handed a termination warning notice last week, after its regional schools commissioner blasted trustees for lacking the necessary skills to hold their headteacher […]

A higher proportion of looked-after pupils were absent from school last year, and more got suspensions, new data reveals. The government has released stats on the attainment, absence and exclusion rates of children living in a care home or a children’s home. However, fewer were permanently excluded, and the proportion passing English and maths has […]

The sponsors for 14 new special free schools have been announced, at a time when many special schools are struggling to meet high demand for places. The new schools will create 1,100 additional school places for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities, according to the Department for Education. Schools Week has previously revealed how […]

The government has published more warning notices that it has issued to underperforming private schools, two years after a Schools Week campaign first pressed to make them public. The Department for Education has finally released notices sent to seven private schools last year, after Ofsted revealed “serious regulatory” failings around safety in all of them. The […]

A primary academy in Lincolnshire faces closure for a recent run of terrible results – including the fact that less than 10 per cent of pupils reached the expected standards two years ago. The government told St Giles Academy in Lincolnshire that its funding is to be terminated after it was rated ‘inadequate’ in October last […]

The government has announced a £2 million funding pot to research ways poorer pupils can benefit from “enriching activities” and healthy food in the school holidays. Organisations can apply to the ‘Holiday activities and food research fund’ to find out how disadvantaged pupils might benefit from healthy meals and extracurricular opportunities. The funding, launched today […]

School leaders will be supported into joint headship roles by a new organisation, partly in response to how “enormous” the job has now become. The Shared Headship Network has been set up to help people looking for partners as co-headteachers, and to mentor them in their new role. Lucy Helan, the assistant vice-principal at Greig […]

Mark Lehain has been appointed interim director at the New Schools Network following Toby Young’s departure. Lehain, who also leads the Parents and Teachers for Excellence group which advocates multiple government reforms, replaces Young, who stepped down over “distracting” media attention. Like Young, Lehain founded a free school – Bedford Free School in 2011. He […]

The 87 academy trusts whose chief executive pay has been challenged by the government can be named for the first time. Schools Week can exclusively reveal the trusts which received a letter from the Education and Skills Funding Agency demanding they justify CEOs salaries of more than £150,000. The letter from Eileen Milner, the head […]