Nick Linford | Schools Week

‘The Parent Pound’ – Should schools ask parents for donations to cover squeezed budgets?

As one school consults parents on regular cash contributions to boost its ailing coffers, editor Laura McInerney considers the implications Schools are facing a grim financial situation. Planned increases in pensions and national insurance are rocketing staff costs, which are already around 80 per cent of what school budgets are spent on. Heads only […]

Forget Careers Advice, What Year 1 Pupils Really Need Are Enterprise Skills

As Enterprise Week is underway in schools, Tom Ravenscroft explains why entrepreneurialism is an important skill even for very young children. The problem with enterprise, someone astutely pointed out to me, is that everyone thinks they know what it is – but each definition is different. Global Entrepreneurship Week each year brings that very much […]

East of England RSC warns 7 schools over standards and threatens one with takeover

Seven schools in the east of England were handed warning notices within the space of 5 days, with one told it could be removed from its sponsor. A raft of letters issued to schools in the area between October 12 and 16 by regional schools commissioner (RSC) Tim Coulson has been published today by the Department for […]

Birmingham’s Baverstock Academy receives warning over ‘financial irregularities’ and oversight ‘weaknesses’

Worries over financial irregularities, weaknesses in oversight and breaches in funding rules have led to a financial notice to improve for an academy in Birmingham. The Education Funding Agency (EFA) has issued the warning to The LEAP Academy Trust in relation to the Baverstock Academy in Kings Heath. In her letter to the trust, EFA […]

Pupils treated after fainting during remembrance assembly at Outwood Academy in Ripon, Yorkshire

Up to 40 pupils at an academy in Yorkshire have been treated for signs of sickness after a number of them collapsed in school. Paramedics have confirmed that around 40 pupils at Outwood Academy in Ripon were treated after feeling sick or faint, and after several collapsed. The school has just (5.20pm) released the following statement: – “This morning 4 […]

Michael Wilshaw: Pupils in illegal schools face ‘significant risk of harm’ but closure powers are ‘inadequate’

Arrangements for closing down unregistered schools are “inadequate” and too many children remain “at significant risk of harm”, Sir Michael Wilshaw has said. In a letter to education secretary Nicky Morgan, the Ofsted chief inspector outlined how the inspectorate had uncovered 15 unregistered schools serving 800 pupils since September last year, but no individual had […]

‘Bring back grammar schools,’ Siemens boss tells Nicky Morgan

England should open more grammar schools, the UK chief executive of Siemens has told Nicky Morgan. Juergen Maier, who joined the education secretary for a panel discussion at the Confederation of British Industry’s annual conference, called for a return to a selective system with parity of esteem for vocational study. But Ms Morgan insisted England […]

Government ‘wants to go further’ than £390m on fairer school funding – minister

The government wants to go “further” than existing £390m annual “fairer funding” grants for schools following the spending review, Sam Gyimah has confirmed. The children’s minister told a Westminster Hall debate on fairer funding that he wanted to build on the £390m extra money already spent annually on schools affected by the current funding system. But Mr […]