Author: Nick Linford

Education secretary Nicky Morgan has offered hopes and prayers for the “safe return” of three girls believed to have fled to Syria to join Islamic State (IS). In a letter to Bethnal Green Academy, which the three girls attended before they left Britain, Ms Morgan thanked the Principal, Mark Keary, for reassurances made over the […]

“Exceptional” department, subject and year group heads from outstanding schools will be parachuted into challenging schools under plans to raise standards, schools minister David Laws will announce today. Mr Laws (pictured) will today set out plans for the new programme which will call on 100 managers to apply to spend a year in underperforming schools. He […]

Replacing Ofsted with a system of local inspection teams has been backed by the Association of Teachers (ATL) and Lecturers in its report on the future of inspection. Launched today, ATL’s report outlines five key principles for improved inspections, and suggests a move to non-graded inspections undertaken by local teams. Instead, inspection reports would highlight […]

Council bosses have moved to ease fears about changes in education provision amid plans to outsource all of a local authority’s services to “specialist social enterprises”. Northamptonshire County Council announced the “Next Generation Council” plans last week in a bid to make £148m budget cuts over the next five years. It will include moving most […]

Schools will miss out on ‘outstanding’ Ofsted ratings if they fail to offer creative subjects and cultural opportunities under a Labour government, Ed Miliband has pledged. In a speech at Battersea Arts Centre last night, Mr Miliband also said schools would be asked to appoint a “culture champion” to connect with arts organisations and that […]

Headteachers will benefit from business leader partnerships and a new ‘gold standard’ qualification – under new Labour plans to be announced today by the shadow education secretary. Speaking at The City Academy in Hackney, Tristram Hunt will promise that a Labour Government would ask employers to offer business and leadership partnerships to schools, and would […]

The Department for Education today released ‘pre-warning termination notices’ given to two schools – and lifted a prior financial notice on another.   Pre-Warning Notices Firbeck Academy, in Nottingham, has been told standards are “unacceptably low”. A pre-termination warning notice was sent to the school, run by Nottingham University Samworth Academies Trust, on January 14. […]

Education services at a county council are set to be taken over by a ‘specialist social enterprise’ as part of a radical overhaul in which the local authority will outsource all of its services. Northamptonshire County Council announced the “Next Generation Council” plans yesterday in a bid to make £148m budget cuts over the next […]

A crisis-hit academy that lost £1.2m after being targeted by a “sophisticated fraud” has found a new sponsor. Leadership of St Aldhelm’s Academy in Poole, Dorset, will be handed over to the Ambitions Academies Trust from Monday. The Bournemouth-based trust will formally take over when due diligence has been finalised, the Department for Education said. […]