Jess Staufenberg | Schools Week

EPI report: National Funding Formula shifts cash away from poorest schools, and 5 other findings

The Education Policy Institute (EPI) has today published the first comprehensive review of the consequences of the government’s national funding formula. The report reveals difficult truths for ministers, including concerns that cash will not reach the poorest pupils, as pressure grows from disgruntled Conservative MPs to scrap the funding overhaul. Schools Week has the key […]

Christian school group to hold talk on ‘danger’ of ‘challenging homophobia’

An international group which supports more than 20 schools in England is giving a platform to a speaker about the “hidden dangers of challenging homophobia in primary schools”. Christian Education Europe, which supports and provides curriculum material to 24 independent schools, will hear from a researcher called Brian Hadley in a speech entitled “society indoctrinating […]

Staff and pupils ‘exposed to asbestos’ on more than 90 occasions

Asbestos has been disturbed at schools in a way that could affect the health of staff and pupils on at least 90 separate occasions in the last five years, Schools Week can exclusively reveal. Although all forms of the deadly substance have been banned as building materials for decades, it is found in about 85 […]

Dodgy asbestos surveys costing schools ‘millions’

The government is buying up sites for free schools using out-of-date asbestos surveys, potentially costing the public purse millions of pounds each for costly refurbishments when the carcinogenic substance is found later. “Pressure” on the Education Funding Agency (EFA) to find free school sites has caused it to rely on surveys of “varying quality” which […]

Education Fellowship trust gives up all 12 schools over poor performance

An academy trust has become the first in the country to give up all its schools, after financial problems and concerns from Ofsted over poor outcomes for pupils. The Education Fellowship Trust, founded by Sir Ewan Harper, an architect of academies policy under Tony Blair, asked the government to terminate funding for its 12 schools […]

£215 million to adapt building for SEND pupils won’t go to most needy

Special needs funding is now being allocated as “a blunt instrument”, with cash handed out based on population growth, rather than more sophisticated measures, according to a major charity. The Department for Education (DfE) last week announced it was setting aside new funds to improve special educational needs (SEND) provision in mainstream schools from 2018-22. […]

Pension row delays Bright Tribe free school takeover

A long-running squabble over a pension deficit has seriously delayed a major multi-academy trust from taking over a failing school. Bright Tribe, a Cheshire-based trust with 12 schools, was meant to take over Grindon Hall Christian free school in Sunderland almost one and a half years ago after the school was rated ‘inadequate’ in 2014. […]

Progress 8 still too similar to old GCSE measure – and 5 other findings from EPI report

Progress 8 is only “slightly” better at assessing the performance of schools fairly, and still has flaws that need ironing out, a new report has claimed. The Education Policy Institute (EPI), which has looked at government data on the accountability measure, found schools with lots of disadvantaged pupils do not fare much better than they […]

Private special school places cost £480 million per year

A lack of state-funded places is forcing councils to spend hundreds of millions of pounds to send pupils to independent special schools. Councils sent up to triple the number of SEND pupils to independent special schools last year compared with six years ago, Schools Week can exclusively reveal. Councils blame the shift on a lack […]