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18 April 2026

Author: Nicky Phillips

AET turns to ‘plan B’ on outsourcing

The country’s largest academy chain is to press on with cost-saving measures after backing out of a plan to outsource its non-teaching roles. Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) chief executive Ian Comfort, speaking exclusively to Schools Week, said he was disappointed the venture was not going ahead but the trust had to “get on with life”. […]

Institute of Education merges with UCL

The country’s only university solely for education research and teacher training is to merge with University College London (UCL). The Institute of Education (IOE) will join forces with UCL from Tuesday, creating a new institution of more than 35,000 students. Last academic year, IOE had 7,975 students; 2,255 were for teacher training places. The IOE […]

A desperate hunt for the middle classes

Labour’s threat  to end “generous state subsidies” for private schools may be well meaning, but will end up harming the least well off It was only a matter of time before Labour launched an attack on the independent sector. The general election is just months away, and given that several senior Tories have recently blown […]

Survey finds cutting costs a ‘major priority’ for more than half of school leaders

Cutting costs is the major issue facing school leaders, new research released today shows. An annual survey of headteachers, principals, deputies, finance directors and school business managers, shows 55 per cent said reducing cost is a major priority over the next 12 months. The survey had 467 replies, with 462 answering the major priority question […]

Inspections reveal Ofsted’s approach to British values in wake of ‘Trojan Horse’

Snap inspections in the past two months have shed light on Ofsted’s approach to inspecting “British values”. In a wave of 35 no-notice inspections in September and October, Ofsted found that 11 schools “were not preparing pupils for life in Britain today”. Ten of those schools were downgraded. In a letter to Education Secretary Nicky […]

MPs call for action claiming too many nursery children fall behind in maths

Politicians are calling for a “positive maths drive” as they say too many pre-schools and nurseries are failing to give children a good start in maths education. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Maths and Numeracy, which has 25 members drawn from the House of Commons and House of Lords, in its first report said there needs […]

Labour to end ‘£700m’ private school subsidy unless state partnership conditions are met

The Labour party would change the law to end ‘generous state subsidies’ for private schools that do not partner with state schools, says Shadow Education Secretary Tristram Hunt. Speaking this morning at Walthamstow Academy – a member of the state and private school partnership United Learning – he will say private schools are currently benefiting from business rates relief, tax breaks and […]

Chloe Shaw, teacher, Archbishop Lanfranc Academy

When Chloe Shaw goes to friends for dinner, they like to hide the spoons. As one-sixth of the cast in last year’s BBC documentary, Tough Young Teachers, the 25-year-old geography teacher was shown marvelling over monogrammed cutlery at another cast member’s home and whispering that she’d like to steal it. In a show that put […]

State boarding schools: Finance: ‘Costs have to be split’

All state boarding schools have two sets of accounts: the standard accounts of any state day school and, separately, the accounts of all expenditure and money received for boarding. The cost of heating and lighting of the school buildings appears in one set; the parallel expenditure for heating and lighting a boarding house appears in […]