SEND

‘We won’t shy away from difficult reforms’, Phillipson vows amid SEND unrest

Education secretary tells leaders she won’t veer from doing ‘what’s difficult and long term in favour of quick and…

Schools Week Reporter
Schools Week Reporter
Academies

20 leaders appointed to DfE trust CEO advisory group

Bosses of United Learning, Lift Schools, Ark and Star academy trusts appointed to advise minister amid schools bill reforms

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
Recruitment and retention

Government lacks ‘coherent plan’ to boost teacher recruitment

MPs also tell ministers to assess how effective pay rises are at retaining staff amid concerns over 6,500 teacher…

Jack Dyson
Jack Dyson
News

DfE releases 150-page writing framework, but will change it soon

‘First-of-its-kind’ writing framework encourages handwriting, speaking aloud and reception focus – but new version needed when curriculum review lands

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
News

Exams and overburdening ‘dilemmas’: Francis reveals curriculum review progress

MPs grilled the review chair on GCSEs, languages, PE and timescales for reform

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
News

Key stage 2 SATs 2025: 62% meet expected standard as results inch up

But attainment still hasn’t climbed back to pre-pandemic levels after 2022 drop

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker


SATs

Scaled scores for 2025 key stage 2 SATs announced

Department for Education publishes marks pupils need to meet the ‘expected’ standard

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
The early years

‘Best start in life’ strategy: Primaries to get ‘intensive’ RISE reception support

New plan to boost school-readiness also includes more early years training for heads and reception teachers

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
Admissions

Enforcement ‘first’, legal threats and place ‘caps’: Councils reveal admission woes

Watchdog report shows widespread clashes between councils and academy trusts as Labour plans school admission reforms

Jack Dyson
Jack Dyson
School buildings

DfE officials ‘concerned’ over school building impact of Grenfell bans

Warning government action against firms could hit ‘every’ school project, amid ‘concerning’ DfE emails

Jack Dyson
Jack Dyson
News

Phillipson launches summer reading drive to boost school-readiness

Call for parents to read with their children more comes ahead of ‘best start in life’ strategy launch

Ruth Lucas
Ruth Lucas
Exams

Ofqual scrutinising Edexcel’s A-level maths replacement paper

Pupils complain that replacement paper missed swathes of content they had expected it to cover

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker