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22 May 2026

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Opinion

The proposals will have a tangential impact on attainment in the state sector

When it comes to education policy it is generally true that the efficacy of a particular policy has an inversely proportional relationship with media attention. Unsurprisingly, headline-grabbing gimmicks rarely achieve substantive improvements. Headline-grabbing gimmickry is precisely what Tristram Hunt has engaged in. From a public policy perspective, his private school proposals are almost universally bad. […]

Why does Labour now see independent schools as the saviour of the rest

When I hear politicians championing their latest plan to improve state education I turn my mind back a year to when I worked at a challenging London state school and ask myself: “would this policy have helped me become a better classroom teacher? Would it have reduced the piles of books to mark or solved […]

What is Tristram Hunt’s private school tax plan?

Tristram Hunt declined to comment. Those words leapt out in a New Statesman article earlier this year describing how private and state schools could demolish walls between them. Andrew Adonis, Michael Gove, Anthony Seldon, even myself, all wrote articles. Tristram Hunt? He declined to comment. The shadow education secretary was rightly lampooned for his silence. […]

The private system would still be idealised as something to aspire to

At the heart of the education debate are questions about values, what we mean by a “good” education. I was educated in the private sector, but I have chosen a community education for my own children. Why? Education should be inclusive and equip everyone to participate fully in society and lead a fulfilled life. We should […]

Getting maximum pupil opportunity at 14

Sir Michael Wilshaw’s CBI speech wasn’t about academic selection but about a move to high-quality vocational education being an equal status option available to all students Sir Michael Wilshaw’s speech to the Confederation of British Industry earlier this month has been heavily criticised for appearing to support “streaming” at 14, and a return to the […]

How does being a charity affect a school?

The Education Secretary wants private schools to earn their right be considered a charity. But many state schools are also charities, which provides tax benefits in return for regulatory restrictions Each state-funded academy is formed as an exempt charitable company, which means although it is a charity, it is not registered with the Charity Commission. […]

Schools Week editorials

Edition 36 editorial Harpenden Free School is changing its name to Harpenden Academy. As a paper that started life with the moniker Academies Week, we empathise. It’s not that free schools are bad. Or good. They are just schools, like any other. But the political associations of free schools with Michael Gove, free market zealotry, […]

A desperate hunt for the middle classes

Labour’s threat  to end “generous state subsidies” for private schools may be well meaning, but will end up harming the least well off It was only a matter of time before Labour launched an attack on the independent sector. The general election is just months away, and given that several senior Tories have recently blown […]

State boarding schools: Finance: ‘Costs have to be split’

All state boarding schools have two sets of accounts: the standard accounts of any state day school and, separately, the accounts of all expenditure and money received for boarding. The cost of heating and lighting of the school buildings appears in one set; the parallel expenditure for heating and lighting a boarding house appears in […]