Author: John Dickens

The number of new teachers entering the profession in England has dropped to its lowest rate in five years – while vacancy rates continue to rise. School Workforce Census figures published by the Department for Education today show the number of full-time equivalent entrants to teaching has decreased from 45,120 (10.4 per cent) in 2015, […]

The government has pledged to deliver fairer funding for schools in the Queen’s speech today. The speech, written by the government and delivered by the Queen, included a pledge to work to ensure that all schools are fairly funded. But prime minister Theresa May omitted other key education manifesto pledges from the speech – including […]

School leaders have welcomed the omission of major new education policies from the Queen’s speech, which they say mean schools can now focus on “getting the basics right”. Prime minister Theresa May omitted key education manifesto pledges from the Queen’s speech today – meaning schools can expect no new major policy changes in the next […]

Prime minister Theresa May has axed controversial plans to scrap free lunches for primary pupils and instead offer free breakfasts, according to reports today. Several newspapers claim the plans – which would need legislation – will not be included in the Queen’s Speech tomorrow. It follows a major fall-out over plans to axe free lunches […]

Schools are beginning to lose their access to dedicated police officers as cuts bite, with new figures obtained by Schools Week revealing a stark postcode lottery of access to officers. Requests to police forces across England for information on their numbers reveals a mixed picture – with some forces boosting the number of schools officers, […]

A free school championed by schools minister Nick Gibb, and whose founder has previously said she would ban Ofsted, has been rated outstanding by the education watchdog. Michaela Community School, in Wembley, has published an Ofsted report on its website showing the school was rated outstanding across the board, after an inspection in May. Inspectors said the […]

Ofqual has today published figures revealing the number of entries into summer GCSE and A-level exams this year. The figures showed the overall entries to GCSEs had risen by three per cent from 2016 – suggesting that either more young people are taking exams, or they are taking more exams each this summer. Schools Week […]