John Dickens | Schools Week

6 interesting findings from the Language Trends 2019 report

Take-up of French and German languages has slumped, fewer schools are teaching languages at an early age, and Brexit has been blamed for schools dropping out of international projects. The findings come from the British Council’s Language Trends 2019 report, published today. Here’s your trusty Schools Week round-up. 1. Au revoir French, Hola Spanish […]

Schools handed repairs cash ‘expected’ to follow DfE cost-cutting advice

Schools applying for government funding to repair unsafe buildings will now have to agree to a visit from a cost-cutting consultant or not get the cash. Ministers will also “expect” those schools to have started to implement the recommendations made by school resource management advisers (SRMA) within six months of their visit. It changes the […]

7 ways to reinvigorate the free schools policy

Since 2010 free schools have helped to transform our education system, bringing high standards, new innovations from which other schools can learn and, perhaps most importantly, helping to dispel the notion there are some kids who ‘just can’t succeed’. But the momentum behind education reform and free schools has stalled because of Brexit’s dominance over […]

66 schools split £22m to boost nursery places

The government has announced 66 schools will get extra funding to boost their nursery places – but ministers have failed to allocate all the promised cash. Under its school nurseries capital fund, the Department for Education pledged £30 million to create “high-quality school-based” nursery places to boost social mobility. The commitment was included in the […]

4 key questions to progress the MAT governance debate

The ongoing rhetoric of an emerging and evolving MAT system has been a popular one. In the National Governance Association’s new report – Moving MATs forward: the power of governance – we argue the understanding and practice of MAT governance has to move on. Different approaches to MAT governance have been tried and tested: some […]

Boris Johnson pledges £4.6bn per year extra for schools (but not until 2022!)

Boris Johnson has upped his funding promise for schools, vowing to provide £4.6 billion per year extra by 2022 if he becomes prime minister. The announcement for more schools cash comes after Johnson was ridiculed for his previous school funding promise – to raise the per-pupil funding floor in secondary schools to £5,000. Schools Week […]

DfE writes off failed Schools Company Trust’s £3m debt

The government has written off £3 million it was owed by the failed Schools Company Trust, with officials now investigating potentially undeclared related-party transactions. New accounts for the collapsed trust, seen by Schools Week, show its owes the Education and Skills Funding Agency £5.7 million. While some of this has been written off, as the […]

DfE facing legal action after ‘insulting’ £100 offer to would-be teachers it wrongly failed

The Department for Education is facing legal action after offering an “insulting” £100 to compensate would-be teachers it incorrectly failed on skills tests needed to progress to teacher training. New figures seen by Schools Week reveal nearly 700 candidates were wrongly told they had failed the QTS tests in numeracy and literacy. An error in […]

Schools face axing more teaching assistants, DfE-commissioned report finds

Schools face having to axe more support staff under budget squeezes, new government research has found, with leaders concerned about the impact on pupils. More than half of the 60 schools taking part in the study reported they had slashed the number of TAs they employed over the past three years, or were planning to. […]