Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

RSC league tables 2019: How are the nation’s commissioners performing?

Dominic Herrington has once again been crowned as the best-performing regional schools commissioner, according to Schools Week’s annual league table analysis. Each year we crunch the numbers to find out how the eight RSCs are faring based on the Department for Education’s key performance indicators for their roles. The 2018-19 KPIs, published earlier this week, […]

Spending watchdog opens inquiry into national free school meal voucher fiasco

The public spending watchdog is to investigate the government’s free school meals voucher scheme following wide-ranging problems that left parents and children to go hungry. The National Audit Office said the investigation will “set out the facts” about the voucher scheme, including probing the Department for Education’s “objectives and choice of contractor to run the […]

Independent review to probe ed tech sector’s response to Covid-19

An independent review is being launched to investigate the response of the education technology sector to the coronavirus pandemic, and its potential future role in schools and colleges. A newly-created Edtech Advisory Forum, made up of school leaders and tech specialists, will lead a six month review and produce a report to send to the […]

Leicester schools can host summer clubs after relaxation of rules, DfE confirms

Schools in Leicester can reopen for summer activities from July 24, the Department for Education has confirmed. Health secretary Matt Hancock announced yesterday that the restrictions on schools and early years childcare settings would be lifted next week. A local lockdown was put in place two weeks ago which saw schools in the city and […]

Pupil numbers set to fall 5.2% over the next decade, DfE predicts

The number of pupils in state-funded schools is expected to drop by 5.2 per cent over the next decade, new statistics show. Pupil projection data published by the Department for Education today states the overall population of state schools is expected to decrease by 408,000 to about 7.3 million by 2030. The figures show that […]

Pearson considering using markers to be part of national tutoring programme

An exam board is scoping out whether to redeploy its markers as tutors so it can get involved in the government’s £1 billion catch-up plans. Pearson has contacted examiners they identified with “appropriate skills and experience” to “explore” whether the board could be part of the programme. Of the £1bn catch-up funding announced by the […]

Re-engage vulnerable teens to prevent ‘lost generation’, says children’s commissioner

Schools must work with councils and the police to prevent the creation of a “lost generation” of teenagers, the children’s commissioner has said, after a report found 1 in 25 young people are at risk of “falling through the gaps”. Anne Longfield said public bodies should focus resources on re-engaging teenagers most at risk of […]

‘Significant number’ of pupils will likely mix on school transport, warns EPI

There is currently “no credible solution” to the problem of year group bubbles mixing with other pupils while travelling to and from school, a think tank has said. The Education Policy Institute warned today that a “significant number of pupils” are likely to mix with pupils from other year groups – and even other schools […]

Leicester’s Covid-19 response thwarted by poor data

Leicester council’s education director has said they have still do not have a breakdown by age of the children who have been infected with covid-19. The admission comes despite the city becoming the first local lockdown earlier this week amid rising case numbers, and highlights again how regional responses to outbreaks are being hindered by […]