Pippa Allen-Kinross | Schools Week

New free school applications process reveals workload push

The government has been accused of “unsubtly crow-barring” its need to reduce teacher workload into the new wave of free school applications. In their initial bid applicants must now demonstrate “clear and specific plans” for managing workload, an extra requirement on top of proving the area has low educational standards and needs more school places, […]

DfE took no action against schools that ignored new careers duty

The Baker clause has been labelled a “law without teeth” after it emerged the government did not take any action against schools for non-compliance in the first year of its existence. The Department for Education also admitted it only wrote to half of the trusts it originally claimed to have contacted in relation to non-compliance. […]

Academy rapped over consultancy payments to chair of trustees

A special school that paid hundreds of thousands of pounds to consultants, including one who served as its chair of trustees and chief finance officer, has been criticised by education funding chiefs. The Education and Skills Funding Agency has published a report on its financial management and governance review of Woodfield School, a special school in […]

New qualifications ‘will keep teachers in schools’

Five new specialist qualifications aimed at opening up career opportunities outside the traditional school leadership route will keep experienced teachers in the classroom, say leading commentators. One of the main criticisms of the government’s new recruitment and retention strategy, unveiled on Monday, is that it focuses on new teachers – with nothing to solve mid-career […]

Ministers look to heads to ‘transform’ flexible working opportunities

The government wants headteachers to “transform” their approaches to flexible working, prompting concerns that thousands of extra teachers could be needed. The Department for Education’s recruitment and retention strategy states it is “more important than ever that teaching is compatible with having children and a family life”. Twenty-eight per cent of women teachers work part-time […]

Could new retention plan tackle ‘bursary tourism’?

The government plans to stagger trainee teacher bursary payments in a bid to keep staff in the classroom. Those working in disadvantaged schools will also get more. It is hoped the shake-up will end “bursary tourism”. Schools Week revealed last year at least £14 million had been spent on bursaries for graduates in shortage subjects […]

Ark Schools moves into the curriculum market

Ark Schools is developing a school curriculum programme covering “all the major subjects” that it plans to sell to other schools. The trust’s accounts say Ark Curriculum Plus will build on the success of Ark’s Mathematics Mastery and English Mastery curricula, which are used by hundreds of schools around the country. The move into the […]

Inquiry opened into charity behind Birmingham Muslim School

The proprietor of a private Muslim school warned repeatedly about its operations by Ofsted is now under investigation by the Charity Commission. The watchdog will probe governance, management and administration at the Albayan Education Foundation, an educational and humanitarian charity which runs the independent Birmingham Muslim School. It is claimed the organisation, which has received several […]

DfE threatens to reclaim £110k loan unless school joins a multi-academy trust

The government has threatened to forcibly claim back a £110,000 loan issued to a single-academy trust unless it joins a MAT. The threat comes as a school leaders’ union issues a warning over the “serious implications” of conditions attached to such emergency loans. A financial notice to improve issued to Hinckley Academy and John Cleveland […]