Features

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Schools

Christine Stansfield, chief executive, Mowbray Education Trust

Christine Stansfield tells me she was on the verge of pulling out of this interview because she feared she…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Ofsted

Ofsted left head feeling ‘powerless, weak and humiliated’

After the recent outpouring of anger over the death of Ruth Perry, a headteacher who described his Ofsted experience…

Amy Walker
Amy Walker
pupil referral unit

Inside a north London PRU

Thirteen-year-old Maria* used to turn up at her pupil referral unit in the mornings already drunk on vodka. She…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Schools

Inside today’s bananas world of sex ed, with Matilda Lawrence-Jubb

In the new world of Andrew Tate, hardcore pornography and rape culture, sex education is very different to the…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Schools

CEO’s mission to make AI a force for good in classrooms

Priya Lakhani is at pains to express how many of the achievements in her colourful career were driven by…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Strikes

‘We support the strikes … but the children come first’

Headteachers say they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to this week’s strikes, with…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill


Academies

ASCL President on why she’s quitting headship

Sleepless nights caused by not enough staff to cover classes has been the final straw for Evelyn Forde. After…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
SEND

School leaders rebel over raid on reserves amid ‘shameful’ bail-out ultimatum

A council set for a multi-million pound government bailout to bring its soaring SEND deficit under control will claw back…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Ofsted

The “maverick” headteacher determined to question Ofsted’s ruling

Dr Kulvarn Atwal’s reputation for teacher development recently attracted the entire staff of a Norwegian school to Essex, just…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Private schools

Chris King, the chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools

As a young pupil of Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital school in Bristol, Chris King used to take his cap off…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
SEND

‘People like me were absent when things were going wrong’

Tony McArdle is the man who holds the purse strings to stop councils going bankrupt – but only if…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
small schools

How the MAT era is squeezing out small schools

Small schools are the ‘beating heart’ of their community, but their numbers have been falling. Jessica Hill investigates how…

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill

Must Read

Covid

DfE threatened with legal action over ‘unlawful’ Covid attendance rules

The government is being threatened with legal action if it fails to update attendance guidance for vulnerable children and…

James Carr
James Carr
Covid

Academy trusts’ cash stash rises to £3bn despite pandemic pressures

Academy trusts boosted their reserves and surpluses last year despite the upheaval of Covid, official figures show. New Department…

Tom Belger
Tom Belger