John Dickens | Schools Week

25% of Cameron’s ‘landmark’ free schools delayed

More than a quarter of free schools approved by David Cameron under a “landmark” wave of applications had to delay opening this year, Schools Week can reveal. Figures released under Freedom of Information laws show at least 14 of the 49 wave 8 free schools announced last year pushed back opening their doors, originally scheduled […]

Kent private schools ignore 11-plus tutoring ban

Independent schools in Kent are openly advertising their success at coaching pupils to pass an 11-plus test, against their council’s ruling banning such tutoring. An investigation by the anti-grammar campaign group Kent Education Network (KEN) found that some independent primaries in the county admitted they prepared pupils to pass the grammar school test. That comes […]

DfE ‘drags its feet’ on academies report

Ministers have been accused of dragging their feet over the publication of a key academies document that will reveal how schools commissioners are judged. Education secretary Justine Greening is bound by law to produce an annual report on the performance of academies, which must also be laid before parliament. The government has published the document, […]

Floreat’s financial woes flag small trust concerns

Financial difficulties that have forced an academy chain founded by one of the government’s education advisers to consider a merger have prompted warnings about the viability of primary schools trusts. The Floreat Education Academies Trust, founded by former David Cameron aide Lord O’Shaughnessy, is proposing to join another trust after financial problems in its second […]

Adrian Packer, chief executive, CORE education trust

Adrian Packer is the man you call in a crisis. It’s a reputation he earned after setting up the first free school sponsored by a Premier League football club (Everton free school) in just three months. He’s also taken over two Birmingham schools enveloped in the so-called Trojan Horse scandal and, following a financial scandal […]

Academy trust health checks will be rolled out from January, schools commissioner reveals

The schools commissioner has started piloting multi-academy trust “health checks” and revealed his full masterplan to ensure chains don’t overexpand will be rolled out across the country from January. Sir David Carter, the national schools commissioner, said he plans to run the health checks at more than 30 trusts before the end of the year. […]

DfE faces legal battle over RSC’s decision

The government has been warned that it is vulnerable to further legal action over a lack of “structure and consistency” in decisions by schools commissioners. The Department for Education (DfE) is facing a landmark judicial review after claims that one of its regional schools commissioners (RSCs) granted approval for a new sixth form that flouted […]

Reforms blamed for ‘record backlog’ in special educational needs tribunals

The government is facing a huge “backlog” in special education tribunals after a sharp rise in appeals, which campaigners blame on the government’s “landmark” reforms. Figures published on Friday by the Department for Education (DfE) reveal that the number of special educational needs and disability (SEND) appeals registered from April to June this year were […]

Grammar get-out clause confirmed: selection ‘permissible’ within trusts

The government has confirmed it has a grammar school get-out clause that allows academy trusts to filter their brightest pupils to another site, effectively creating selective schools and dodging the need for new laws to be passed. The education green paper introduced by Justine Greening a fortnight ago outlined proposals for multi-academy trusts to move […]