Pippa Allen-Kinross | Schools Week

Accounts delayed as trust calls in forensic auditors

A multi-academy trust has had to delay publishing its accounts and bring in “forensic” auditors after its expansion to take on struggling schools “raised some question marks”. All academy trusts are supposed to publish their accounts online by today, January 31, but Astrea Academy Trust has said it will not meet this deadline after having […]

No-deal Brexit will end access to European teacher misconduct sanctions

Details of sanctions imposed on teachers in Europe will no longer be shared with English authorities in the event of a no-deal Brexit, the government has said. In a guidance document outlining no deal preparations for schools in England, published today, the Department for Education said the requirement for professional regulating authorities to share details […]

Hinds: 2% pay rise for teachers would be ‘affordable’

Schools can only afford to pay for a two per cent pay rise for teachers, the government has said, despite pressure from unions for an increase of five per cent. Evidence submitted to the School Teachers’ Review Body by the education secretary Damian Hinds has said that a two per cent pay increase would be […]

Nine in ten schools struggle to recruit EBacc teachers, and eight other findings from the DfE’s school snapshot survey

The results of a large-scale survey of teachers and leavers reveal problems with key government policies such as the EBacc and efforts to cut workload. The DfE’s annual school snapshot survey, which included over 750 interviews with school leaders and 1,000 with classroom teachers in the summer of 2018, has been published today. Here are […]

Single-academy trust may have to give up its only school

An academy trust has been told to re-broker its only school to another chain following a second warning about its finances. Hinckley Academy and John Cleveland Sixth Form Centre in Leicestershire has been heavily criticised in a financial notice to improve issued by the Education and Skills Funding Agency. The financial warning is the second […]

Make ministers sign off top academy CEO pay, say governors

The academies sector should consider adopting an NHS-style pay system where government approval is needed to award high salaries to bosses, according to the National Governance Association. New guidance from the NGA said the sector should “have a debate” about whether it should follow the system of NHS trusts, where those wishing to pay more […]

Revealed: The schools saving thousands slashing executive salaries

Some smaller trusts are slashing inflated leadership salaries – with one saving a six-figure sum in the process. Four trusts, each with just two schools apiece, have reduced pay after facing government scrutiny for the amount pocketed by their chief executives. The Transforming Lives Educational Trust, with one secondary and one infant school in Warwickshire, […]

Bright Tribe emails reveal ‘upsetting’ treatment of campaigning parent

A former Bright Tribe boss told the headteacher of Whitehaven Academy to “think” about the application of a campaigner’s son to continue into its sixth form. The comment was made in an email from the trust’s former chief operating officer Mary McKeeman after inquiries from parent Julie Rayson regarding to whom Rayson should report concerns […]

Investigation: Meet the head paid £260k to run one school

A single-school academy trust has upped the pay of its top executive to £260,000, making him one of the best-paid academy bosses in the country. It means that the pay of Colin Hall, listed as “head” of Holland Park School, west London, has doubled in seven years, despite a letter from the government in 2017 […]