Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

The number of fires in London schools has increased by a third in just one year, the London Fire Brigade has revealed, as it renewed calls for mandatory sprinkler systems in all new-build schools. According to figures from the LFB, there were 90 fires in the capital’s preschools, nurseries, primary schools and secondary schools in […]

The government is under pressure to give high-performing schools a greater say over their future when their sponsors fail, following a row over the closure of the Education Fellowship Trust. A group of headteachers is demanding a rethink of the process by which some schools are moved to new trusts, after it emerged that a […]

Poorer pupils on the Isle of Wight are 27.2 months behind their better-off peers by the end of key stage four, according to a damning new report which lays bare the state of the disadvantage gap in some parts of England. According to the Education Policy Institute’s annual report, the Isle of Wight is at […]

Progress in closing the disadvantage gap is “stalling”, and it will take over a century for poorer pupils to catch up with their peers at its current rate, the Education Policy Institute has warned. In its annual report, published today, the leading think tank said the most persistently disadvantaged key stage four pupils have failed […]

Simple ways of checking that pupils understand a topic during a lesson, such as showing their answers on chalk slates, can boost their progress by two months, a study has found. Year 11 pupils who demonstrated their answers in “real-time” in classrooms, during a trial by the Education Endowment Foundation, pulled ahead in their learning. […]

Some schools are failing to inform all governors or trustees about an imminent Ofsted inspection, the inspectorate has warned, meaning inspectors could be left with an incomplete picture. Sean Harford, national director of education at Ofsted, has told inspectors in his monthly update that they must tell headteachers that they expect all governors and trustees […]

Closure warning notices for four ‘inadequate’ schools have been published, with ineffective safeguarding, “dysfunctional” leadership and poor teaching among the concerns for officials. Beechen Cliff School in Bath received a termination warning notice after being rated ‘inadequate’ in an inspection by Ofsted last month. Inspectors raised fears about safeguarding, the achievement of pupils in alternative […]

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has published its first annual report and accounts, revealing millions given away in free school sites, investigations into academy trusts and complaints against the agency itself. The agency was formed out of a merger of the Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency in April last year. Here […]

The number of academies moving to a different trust has increased by almost a third in one year to reach a record high. According to official statistics released by the Department for Education today, 255 academies moved to another trust in the financial year 2017-18, an increase of 30 per cent from 196 the year […]