Sophie Scott | Schools Week

Academy chain drops plan to outsource non-teaching staff

The country’s largest academy chain has confirmed it will not continue with plans to outsource its non-teaching roles. Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) announced earlier this year it wanted to outsource non-teaching roles in a contract worth up to £400m, with PriceWaterhouse Coopers (PwC) named as the preferred bidder. AET, a charitable trust operating 76 schools […]

Results show Knowsley is worst performing area for GCSEs

One local authority has become the only area in England to see its schools’ GCSE results on average fall below the “floor” set by the Department for Education (DfE). Knowsley is the lowest performing area in the country for pupils achieving the benchmark of five A*-C grades, including English and maths, with just 34.4 per […]

Pay top teachers more to work in challenging areas, report urges

A cross-party report has suggested paying the country’s top teachers 25 per cent more to work in disadvantaged areas. The Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission (SMCP) this morning published its second annual report – “The State of the Nation” – which says the government will fail to meet its targets to reduce child poverty. […]

Teaching unions join thousands in London pay protest marches

Hundreds of teachers from across the country joined colleagues from the public sector today to protest for pay increases. Members of the NUT and NASUWT were among the huge march through the capital which urged the government to give workers a pay rise. Unions say staff have had a below-inflation one per cent pay offer […]