John Dickens | Schools Week

Eagerness to work ‘unusual hours’ is potential sign of fraud, says DfE guidance

An eagerness to work “unusual hours” has been listed by the government as indicators for schools that staff may be committing fraud. New guidance published today also documents other warning signs of employee fraud, including aggressive responses to questions and “too much forgetfulness”. The checklist for education providers is split into several areas: personal motives […]

E-ACT insists it has ‘zero-tolerance’ approach to off-rolling after Ofsted findings

The sponsor of one of only two schools identified by Ofsted as potentially having off-rolled pupils has insisted it’s “important a light is shone on these matters”. Amanda Spielman, the chief inspector of schools, told MPs today that two inspection reports have flagged off-rolling issues, with a further report “in the pipeline”. It was revealed […]

Children’s commissioner to publish home education figures for every school

The children’s commissioner will publish figures for every school in England showing how many of their pupils withdraw to be home educated amid huge rises in some parts of the country. New data from 11 local areas shows a 48 per cent rise in the number of children disappearing from schools to be educated at […]

No pay rise for highest-paid academy chief for the first time in six years

Sir Dan Moynihan, the country’s highest-paid academy trust boss, has not been handed a pay rise for the first time in six years, amid an ongoing government crackdown on CEO salaries. It means the Harris Federation chief executive’s pay has remained in the £440,000 to £450,000 bracket, new annual accounts are due to confirm. Trusts […]

Teacher recruitment and retention strategy: the 11 new policies

The government has today published the long-awaited teacher recruitment and retention strategy. Here’s a handy Schools Week round-up of the 11 new policies. 1. Plans to make Ofsted the only trigger for support by dropping ‘floor’ and ‘coasting’ The government has said school accountability needs to be “simpler and more supportive”. To do this, […]

DfE hands £4m in bailouts to schools that closed

Academies handed “exceptional” bailouts totalling £4 million over the last two years have still closed soon after, with the government’s funding chief now warning that she doesn’t want to create a “culture of dependency”. A total of ten payments worth £3.5 million were made in the 2017-18 financial year, half of which went to academies that […]

Ex-minister’s academy trust ignores governance guidelines

A former academies minister’s trust is failing to meet government guidelines over good governance – and has seemingly been allowed to expand without having to update its arrangements. Newly published accounts for Future Academies, founded by Lord Nash, show a majority of the trust’s members are also trustees. One governance expert said this level of […]

Poor pupils at grammar schools twice as likely to attend Oxbridge, study claims

The country’s most disadvantaged pupils are twice as likely to attend Oxbridge if they live in a region with grammar schools compared to a non-selective area, a new study has claimed. The report, published today by the Higher Education Policy Institute (HEPI), also found 39 cent of pupils in selective school areas progress to highly-selective […]

Four-fifths of LAs could wipe out school deficits by clawing back ‘excess’ surplus, EPI study finds

The Education Policy Institute has published a deeper dive into recently released spending data for local authority schools. The report follows articles from Schools Week detailing the worsening outlook for some council schools, while others were sitting on enough reserves to wipe out the national deficit three times over. Schools Week has rounded up the […]