Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

The current system for dealing with school place appeals and waiting lists leads to increased social segregation and must be reformed, according to a think tank. The Education Policy Institute has warned that the way the system works now risks “damaging social mobility” after analysis found pupils in the most affluent areas are more than […]

The government has confirmed it will “fully fund” the estimated £830 million cost of rising pensions contributions for schools next year. In a response to its own consultation on changes to the teacher pension scheme that will see schools’ contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme rocket by more than 40 per cent, the Department for […]

The education secretary has reassured headteachers that consulting with parents about new relationships and sex education “does not provide a parental veto on curriculum content”. In a letter to the NAHT union, Damian Hinds has said it is “important” for schools to consult with parents and carers about the way they plan to teach the […]

The former national schools commissioner says the Department for Education has a “leadership vacuum” with no clear vision for the schools sector. Sir David Carter, now executive director of system leadership at Ambition School Leadership, told a Headteachers’ Roundtable conference in Birmingham last week that the “void” in government thinking allowed school leaders and trusts […]

A school tied into a £20 million PFI contract and with “significant” deficits forecast this year has been ordered by the government to improve its finances and join a multi-academy trust. Bradfield School in Sheffield, which is expecting to have racked up a deficit of £800,000 by August, has been told to begin the process […]

The charity commission is looking into whether a school improvement charity has broken rules over “consultancy” fees of more than £50,000 paid to its chair, Baroness Estelle Morris, a former education secretary. Between 2015-16 and 2017-18, Birmingham Education Partnership (BEP) paid Morris £54,421. The partnership receives funding to turn around struggling schools in the city. […]

England’s biggest academy chain has been warned it could lose one of its schools after it was placed in special measures by Ofsted. The news comes in the same week that seven unions joined forces to threaten action against the Academies Enterprise Trust amid accusations of job cuts, low wages and outsourcing. Offa’s Mead Academy […]

A group of leading headteachers wants Ofsted to take the “uneven funding” of schools into account as part of inspections. The Headteachers’ Roundtable and campaigning group Worth Less? have written a joint open letter to Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s head, as the inspectorate’s consultation on its new framework draws to a close. The letter said the […]