Author: Nick Linford

The government has announced plans to spend £14 million on a mentoring programme for struggling teenagers just weeks after handing out £70 million for similar schemes. The £14m fund will be managed by the Careers and Enterprise Company and spent on recruiting “high-flying professionals” to work with teens who are considered at risk of “under-achieving […]

The performance, accountability and governance of multi-academy trusts (MATs) will be examined by MPs, education select committee chair Neil Carmichael has announced. The committee inquiry into MATs is the latest in a series looking at the “increasingly important middle tier” between government and schools, and comes in the wake of a separate inquiry into the […]

A struggling University Technical College (UTC) which has already been rescued by a neighbouring further education college is to close this summer, bosses have revealed. Leaders at Central Bedfordshire UTC have admitted they had not been able to attract “sufficient pupils” to the 14 to 19 vocational institution to provide a “financially viable experience” after […]

A “bewildering” level of choice in England’s education system is marginalising “weaker” parents, the boss of a prominent academy trust has warned. Toby Salt, the chief executive of Ormiston Academies, told the Sutton Trust’s summit in London today that structural change had happened “very quickly” and resulted in a complicated system which risked putting some parents […]

Independent schools should lose their tax benefits if they refuse to become academy sponsors, Sir Michael Wilshaw said today. The chief inspector told the Sutton Trust’s best in class summit in London that independent schools should not have charitable status unless they “get involved” in running local schools. But there are practical concerns about the […]

Independent schools should lose their tax benefits if they don’t sponsor academies, Sir Michael Wilshaw has said. The Ofsted chief inspector told a summit hosted by the Sutton Trust that it was a “moral outrage” that the independent sector was establishing schools abroad and “sucking in” teachers from England while “not doing enough to help […]

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has launched the first of two consultations that will shape an “historic” national funding formula. Ms Morgan said the plans will end historical inequalities in the funding system leading to schools in some part of the country receiving £2,000-per pupil more than others. The consultation sets out the foundations for the […]

University Technical Colleges (UTCs) should function as part of multi-academy trusts to make them “stronger”, education minister Nick Boles has said. The minister for skills and enterprise told the House of Commons this afternoon he wanted to replicate success stories where the 14 to 19 technical institutions functioned well as part of academy chains. Mr […]