Author: Pippa Allen-Kinross

A free school whose trustees flew to Ibiza for a board meeting has been criticised by the government for failing to be “open and transparent” in declaring the costs as a related party transaction. An investigation by the Education and Skills Funding Agency also found that Langdale Free School, in Blackpool, intentionally mis-reported the size […]

One of the country’s largest academy trusts is reviewing whether to ditch three-year GCSEs across all its schools, the first sign that leaders are switching their practice to meet Ofsted’s new focus on curriculum. Others are also lengthening their key stage 3 curriculum following criticism from the watchdog. An analysis of monitoring visits shows that […]

More than half of schools currently classed as ‘underperforming’ would no longer fall into this category if pupil background was taken into account in progress measures, new research has claimed. The Fair Secondary School Index, published today by the University of Bristol and Northern Powerhouse Partnership, also shows that a fifth of schools would see […]

A union representing support staff at Ormiston Academies Trust has warned plans to cut caretaking and maintenance jobs could leave pupils and staff “at risk”. Unison has accused the trust, which runs 38 schools across the country, of failing to give enough thought to the health, safety and welfare impact of its restructuring plans, which […]

Proposed changes to the early years learning goals have been found to help reduce teacher workload, but may not have made children better prepared for key stage one. An independent evaluation of the proposed changes has been published as the Department for Education launched a consultation into its plans for the early years foundation stage […]

A parliamentary group tasked with tackling knife crime has called on the government to urgently investigate capacity and the education in the alternative provision sector. The all-party parliamentary group (APPG) on knife crime warned of a “disturbing correlation” between excluded pupils and those involved in violent crime or gang exploitation, and said schools should be […]

A private school that told the government it had closed down may still be in operation, Ofsted has warned, after it was denied access to the school’s site. The Islamic Preparatory School Wolverhampton has been rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted twice since May 2017. The proprietor and headteacher of the school told the Department for Education […]

An academy trust selected to take over three failing Steiner schools is preparing to move them away from the Steiner Waldorf ethos that underpins them. It was announced in June that the Avanti Schools Trust had been selected to run three state Steiner academies in the south west – Bristol (pictured), Exeter and Frome – […]

Eleven UK school teachers have been honoured as winners of the 2019 Pearson Teaching Awards, for their inspirational work in education. The winners received their awards, which recognise “inspirational teachers”, at a glamorous ceremony this evening hosted by BBC presenters Tina Daheley and Sean Fletcher. The ceremony, at the Roundhouse in Camden, will be broadcast […]