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20 April 2026

Author: John Dickens

DfE ordered to publish landmark grammar school expansion application

The Department for Education has been ordered to release the application form lodged by a Kent grammar school before it was granted approval to expand in a landmark decision last year. Weald of Kent grammar school was granted permission to open an annexe for around 450 pupils at a site around seven miles away, in […]

Panel to hear appeal of ‘superhead’ Jo Shuter’s teaching ban next week

A government disciplinary panel will meet next week to decide whether to strike off a teaching ban for a “superhead” once dubbed a favourite of former prime minister Tony Blair. Jo Shuter was banned from teaching for life in 2014 after a misconduct hearing into expenses she claimed while headteacher at Quintin Kynaston School, in […]

Teach languages for three hours per week, report demands

Schools should devote three hours of curriculum time per week to drag modern foreign languages out of “crisis”, a new report has claimed. The Teaching Schools Council (TSC) has published its modern foreign languages pedagogy review today, which outlines 15 recommendations for secondary school language teachers. They include a commitment from schools to devote two-to-three […]

Famed ‘turnaround’ Perry Beeches academy rated inadequate, Ofsted leak reveals

The flagship academy of a scandal-hit trust previously lauded by Prime Minister David Cameron has been rated as inadequate, according to a leaked version of a final Ofsted inspection report seen by Schools Week. Ofsted inspectors found Perry Beeches the Academy, in Birmingham, was in “serious decline” and its governing body “dysfunctional”, with “leadership and […]

Government cancels rule forcing academics to show research two days before publication

The government has rowed back on a controversial new rule demanding academics give civil servants two days to look over research they plan to publish from the national pupil database – or be banned from accessing the data. An email sent to academics yesterday, seen by Schools Week, acknowledged there had been “some concern” about […]

New Aldridge Education trust ditches struggling academy

A cash-strapped school has been ditched by the new academy trust founded by its sponsor, leaving the government to search for a trust with better local resources. The Isle of Portland Aldridge community academy (IPACA), in Dorset, was set to join the multi-academy trust (MAT) founded by its lead sponsor, the Aldridge Foundation, in January. […]

Ministers told to ‘come clean’ over national teaching service

Ministers must “come clean” over recruitment figures for a landmark scheme to parachute elite teachers into struggling schools, say union leaders, as questions swirl around the scheme two months before its launch. The government is yet to reveal how many applications it has received for the National Teaching Service (NTS) scheme aimed at tackling recruitment […]

DfE to open up academy finances in transparency drive

The government is set to lift a veil of secrecy over academy spending in a transparency drive that will reveal reported frauds, and uncover who the highest-paid chief executives are, how much they are paid and how much trusts spend on consultants. The education select committee this week published a “dry run” of a new-look […]