Skip to content
2 May 2026

Author: Jess Staufenberg

Free school to open above Lidl store after 3 years ‘in portacabins’

A primary school will re-open above a Lidl supermarket in a move experts say shows the “huge need” for free school sites as many languish in temporary accommodation. Deer Park primary school in southwest London will move to first and second floor accommodation above a Lidl in Richmond after spending three years in temporary buildings. […]

EBacc ‘increases arts subject entries’ but teacher numbers fall

The EBacc has prompted a rise in pupils taking at least one arts subject at GCSE – but the number of teachers and contact hours dedicated to those subjects have fallen, because schools have “misunderstood” the EBacc, according to a new report. Concerns from cultural organisations that the five EBacc subjects – English, maths, science, a language […]

More multi-academy trusts naming their own feeder primaries

Multi-academy leaders are more frequently naming primary schools within their trust as feeder schools for their secondaries, despite little evidence of any strong “links”. In its annual report, the Office of the Schools Adjudicator (OSA) said pupils attending a primary school in a multi-academy trust were given priority at that trust’s secondary schools, sometimes at […]

School tells staff to switch off ‘non-essential’ lights to save money

A school has told staff to “switch off non-essential” lights – even when pupils are in school – to save money. A primary school in the north of England wants the lights in corridors and halls to stay off during the school day, according to a member of staff who wished to remain anonymous. They […]

Termly safeguarding audits would help heads ‘sleep at night’

A specialist body of safeguarding officers should be set up within or separately from Ofsted because inspections are “too short” to cover the issue properly, a multi-academy (MAT) trust executive has said. Stephen Tierney, chief executive of the Blessed Edward Bamber Catholic MAT in Blackpool, said that safeguarding pupils was “too important” to be assessed as […]

Sponsored academies lose more pupils after takeovers

More pupils leave schools when they become sponsored academies than when they are under local authority control, a new report has shown. Researchers at Education Datalab analysed up to three years of data for 149 schools. Among those that became sponsored academies in 2010-11, the rate of pupils leaving – to other schools, alternative provision, […]

Government to rebroker Manchester free schools founded by charity boss

Two free schools in Greater Manchester will be re-brokered to new multi-academy trusts after one was placed into special measures on its first inspection and the second given a financial notice to improve. The Collective Spirit free school in Oldham, which opened in September 2013, received an Ofsted judgement of “inadequate” in all categories in […]

Multi-academy trusts swap data systems for Progress 8

New performance measures such as Progress 8 have led some multi-academy trusts to move away from traditional data-system providers. “Added layers of complexity” have helped to shake up the management information system (MIS) market at present dominated by Capita SIMS, which supports more than 80 per cent of schools. But a desire to access data […]

John Murphy, CEO, Oasis Community Learning

John Murphy, weight 16½ stone, chief of a multi-academy trust founded by a Baptist minister, can karate kick a plank of wood in half. You wouldn’t disbelieve it either. Despite turning the big 5-0 last week, Murphy looks one of the well-est teachers I’ve met. An enormous slab of chocolate pudding covered in glutinous yellow […]