John Dickens | Schools Week

Watch for hidden costs when rebrokering, trust leaders warn

Trusts will face surprise costs unless they wise up to the need for extra due diligence when taking over a rebrokered academy, trust leaders warn. Dean Ashton, chief executive of Reach South, says that trusts need added legal oversight to ensure that the transfer of a school from one trust to another (known as rebrokering) […]

Academics petition education secretary over 48-hour research publication rule

Academics and journalists are mobilising to fight a government diktat which means they must now send any research based on the national pupil database to civil servants two days before publication. Several have joined forces with unions and teachers to campaign against the change – including writing to education secretary Justine Greening, Schools Week can […]

Nearly 300 schools fall below new Progress 8 floor standard

Nearly 300 secondary schools could face government intervention after falling under the new Progress 8 floor standard in provisional results released today. An analysis of today’s provisional key stage 4 data published by Education Datalab found that 296 schools posted a Progress 8 score below -0.5 – which has been set as the government’s new […]

EBacc results 2016: Languages and art entries fall, while science soars

The government has released provisional key stage 4 data this morning that reveals how schools have fared in new headline accountability measures. The data includes figures on the new Progress and Attainment 8 measures (our analysis here) and also provides an update on EBacc figures. Here we round up the key findings from the EBacc […]

Durand: We will fight any slur on Sir Greg Martin’s good name

An academy trust set to have its funding axed by the government has hit back – blasting department officials for “waging a campaign” against the school, and has vowed to fight any “slur” on the trust or its staff. The Education Funding Agency issued Durand Academy Trust with a notice of intention to terminate its […]

Wilshaw reveals recipe for success after inspecting 7 top academy trusts

Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw has singled out seven academy trusts for praise, while taking another swipe at struggling trusts for “empire building”. Wilshaw, in his monthly commentary published today, said Ofsted inspectors visited seven trusts to find out “what marks them out from their weaker counterparts”. The trusts (full list below) were chosen […]

REAch 2 director joins struggling chain

A regional director of the country’s largest primary-only trust has joined the board of a struggling chain. Simon Wood, regional director for East Anglia at REAch2, has joined the Seckford Foundation Free School Trust as a non-executive director. REAch 2, which runs 55 schools and which was last month given approval to open another 21, […]

Grammar plan is winning formula’ for votes, says Conservative MP

One of the Conservative’s fiercest grammar advocates has said the policy is not only the morally “right thing” to do but is also a “winning formula” for gaining voters. Speaking at a fringe event on Monday at the Conservative party annual conference, MP Dominic Raab said that meritocratic principles would help restore the public’s belief […]

Academics must show research to government two days before publishing, say new DfE rules

Academics and journalists have been ordered to give civil servants two days to look over any research they plan to publish from the national pupil database in a move that some fear will shut down rapid scrutiny of government policy. Researchers were informed yesterday that any analysis produced using statistics from the national pupil database […]