Author: Kathryn Snowdon

A school in north London had to close following a false widow spider infestation. The Michaela Community School, in Brent, was closed for three days, reopening last Wednesday morning. A school spokesperson confirmed to Schools Week that the school was shut after false widow spiders were spotted. A spokesperson said: “We closed the school and […]

Government spending plans will still leave four in five schools worse off next year than they were in 2015, campaigners have claimed today. Despite the extra funding announced by the government last month, unions say that about 16,000 schools will have less money per pupil in 2020 in real terms than in 2015. The School […]

Sprinklers were installed in just 3 per cent of English schools where fires broke out in the past five years, Schools Week can reveal. Ministers are now under increasing pressure to make sprinklers compulsory in all new and refurbished schools – as is the case in Scotland. The news comes as the government drags its […]

Schools are failing to meet their legal obligations to teach religious education (RE), a new poll from the National Association of Teachers of Religious Education (NATRE) has found. Schools in England are legally required to teach RE, but NATRE found there were a number of challenges which meant pupils were not getting access to the […]

Tony Blair has honoured one of the “pioneers” of the academies system, Ros McMullen, after she was presented with a special recognition award at the National Trust Leaders Conference in Nottingham today. The former Labour prime minister, whose government introduced the academies programme, recorded a video tribute to McMullen, praising her services to the sector. […]

The majority of academy trust leaders are worried that growth could have a negative effect on schools in their trust – but financial pressures mean many are trying to expand anyway, new research reveals. Findings released by The Key, in partnership with the Forum Strategy, show that only 12 per cent of leaders are “not […]

Private schools are more than twice as likely as their state counterparts to call on alumni to help open up career opportunities for their pupils, new figures have revealed. Research carried out by education charity Future First found 67 per cent of independent secondary school teachers used alumni to offer students access to careers and […]