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26 April 2026

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Opinion

PAC Round-Up: What happened in today’s scrutiny of Durand Academy and related businesses

Sir Greg Martin, head of Durand Academy, today faced questions from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) over the work of his school, its academy trusts and connected companies. The hearing followed a National Audit Office (NAO) report released last year, that raised concerns about “related-party transactions” made between the trusts and associated private companies. Here’s […]

Governors, look at the bigger picture

The new framework for governance is missing any acknowledgement of the need for governors to engage with the complexity of issues that their schools face I was really looking forward to seeing the National Governors Association/Wellcome Trust’s new framework for governance. Previous outputs from this interesting collaboration have been great, and the new framework, based […]

What should I spend my pupil premium on?

The pupil premium is a wonderfully optimistic policy. But there are a few key ingredients that will help to boost the success of disadvantaged pupils – and it’s all underpinned by excellent leadership In the past two years I have visited about 150 special, primary and secondary schools to learn about their use of the […]

Why you should care about sibling young carers

As many as two pupils in every classroom have a sibling with special educational needs or disability and are at risk of becoming young carers. They’re more likely to have problems with progress in school – so it’s vital that you know who they are I was a sibling young carer who grew up in […]

It’s not unusual… to have conflicts

Properly managing conflicts of interest and related party transactions is an essential part of the proper management of a school At the end of 2014, the National Audit Office highlighted concerns about the high level of “related party transactions” entered into by academy trusts. While the report and much of the linked media coverage focused […]

What would be the benefit of a philosophy GCSE?

The answer’s easy: it would give young people the opportunity to discover the subject as a centuries-long conversation amongst the world’s deepest minds Children are natural philosophers. If you doubt the capacity of young people to engage fruitfully with life’s deepest questions, drop a philosophical question into one of your lessons or a tutor group […]

Why linear A-levels will work best

Recoupling will snatch what space there is in the post-16 curriculum to teach skills that are no longer examined, giving pupils the space to explore subject areas that they’re interested in As a senior leader and English teacher, the removal of coursework meant an end to the relentless chasing of year 11s for those essays […]

Children in care educational outcomes: Public Accounts Committee round-up

Educational outcomes for children in care have been historically low. A Naional Audit Office report last year looked into the matter and found an alarming dearth of data and joined up services. This week, the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee interrogated the matter further. Reporter Freddie Whittaker live-tweeted the details. Click here to view […]

Awards will inspire schools to turn around children’s lives

The whole point of the awards is to highlight successful approaches we didn’t even know existed Scientific evidence shows that well-designed prizes can be powerful drivers of behaviour change. For example, the Ansari X Prize – which offered $10 million for whoever could get a manned spacecraft into space, twice, in two weeks – prompted […]