Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

Alan Meyrick, a former chief executive of the General Teaching Council, has been appointed as the new boss of the Teaching Regulation Agency. The Department for Education has announced Meyrick will be the inaugural chief executive of the TRA, a new executive agency set up to take on the regulatory functions of the National College of […]

Ofsted should inspect how effectively schools respond to the mental health needs of their pupils, the Care Quality Commission has said. The CQC’s review of children and young people’s mental health services has also found many schools rely on volunteers to treat mental ill-health, and wants basic support training for everyone who works with children. There are also […]

The Liberal Democrats’ promise to get rid of Ofsted is “disappointing”, but the party’s criticism has been taken on board, according to the watchdog’s head of corporate strategy. At a Westminster Education Forum event this morning, Luke Tryl accused the party of basing its new policy on “outdated information about the way we operate and what […]

Armed forces veterans will receive bursaries of £40,000 to attend university in the hope they will go on to train as teachers, under a new scheme designed to replace the doomed Troops to Teachers programme. But officials admit they have no way of getting the money back if veterans complete their studies and choose to […]

A further education college that has been forced to bankroll improvements to schools in its new academy trust has been dealt another blow after one was rated ‘inadequate’ just five months after the chain was launched. Even though it had never run schools before, the Dudley Academies Trust (DAT), sponsored by the Dudley College of […]

Fourteen schools are under threat of closure in Northumberland despite warnings that it would devastate local communities, after the council released a consultation into the future of the county’s schools. The situation arose after the troubled Bright Tribe academy trust pulled out of sponsoring the ‘inadequate’-rated Haydon Bridge High School, but the council says many […]

A struggling UTC must join a “strong” multi-academy trust and improve its finances, after reports from a whistleblower prompted an investigation by government funding bosses. The Education and Skills Funding Agency said ministers would pick out a list of potential new trusts for the ‘inadequate’-rated Bolton UTC to join this September, after issuing the 14-to-19 institution […]

A south-east London free school at the centre of a planning dispute has found a temporary site. Bullers Wood School for Boys will now be able to open to 180 pupils this September. Its future had been in question after Bromley council rescinded planning permission for its permanent site two months ago. The council first […]

The government is “looking at the options” over its support of the New Schools Network, a free schools advocacy charity, after a new report called into question the way the Department for Education makes appointments to public bodies. The commissioner for public appointments has this week found “serious shortcomings” in the process that saw Toby Young, […]