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DfE spends £££s spinning Covid response
The government has spent tens of thousands of pounds in an attempt to present its response to the impact of coronavirus on education in a positive light. The Department for Education diverted an external PR agency promoting teaching vacancies to highlight its efforts to boost remote learning. It reallocated about 10 per cent of a…
13.00 Jul. 10th, 2020 | News
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DfE appoints Nick Timothy as non-executive director
Nick Timothy, a former New Schools Network director who served as chief of staff to prime minister Theresa May, has been appointed as a non-executive director of the Department for Education. Announcing the appointment, a DfE spokesperson said Timothy would bring “a range of experience that will support our work as we continue to develop…
11.56 Apr. 16th, 2020 | News
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Barred: Teachers in challenging schools shut out of DfE schemes over EBacc rates
Teachers in the most challenging schools are being barred from shaping policy or sharing their expertise as government limits access to its schemes based on EBacc entry rates. Analysis by Schools Week has found at least five Department for Education initiatives where a quota of pupils entered into the English Baccalaureate (EBacc) was part of…
5.00 Mar. 6th, 2020 | News
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Who's who? Your guide to the new ministerial line-up at the DfE
The remits of the new ministerial team at the Department for Education have been confirmed following Boris Johnson’s post-Brexit reshuffle. For schools, the new line-up mostly represents business as usual. Gavin Williamson remains as education secretary, and Nick Gibb, the schools minister, is still in the role having survived his latest of many reshuffles. Here…
18.28 Feb. 26th, 2020 | News
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DfE property firm's boss got £30k bonus, despite missed value-for-money target
The boss of the Department for Education’s property company received a £30,000 bonus last year, despite the organisation missing one of its key targets. Accounts for LocatED, a company set up by the government to find land for new free schools, show Lara Newman received a bonus payment of between £30,000 and £35,000 in 2018-19,…
9.49 Feb. 11th, 2020 | News
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Just 1 in 6 breakfast clubs in £26m scheme are actually new
Just 286 new breakfast clubs have been created under a £26 million government scheme, ministers have finally admitted. The government claimed last month that its national school breakfast programme had “created or improved” around 1,800 clubs in schools across the country. Time and time again the figures they use turn out to be a misleading…
17.00 Feb. 7th, 2020 | News
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Head claims DfE's new funding website doesn't add up
A leading headteacher has criticised the government’s new school funding website for displaying figures for his school that are hundreds of thousands of pounds higher than the sum he will actually receive. The Department for Education launched a new online tool last week that allows anyone to find out how much money their local school…
15.04 Feb. 7th, 2020 | News
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Remove incentives to 'depress or inflate' early years outcomes, Ofqual urges DfE
Ministers must review the way they present data on the performance of reception children to remove the incentives for schools to “depress or inflate outcomes”, the exams regulator has said. Ofqual has published its response to a government consultation on reforms to the early years foundation stage. The Department for Education has proposed a number…
14.50 Feb. 5th, 2020 | News
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Fair Access Protocols: Council pleas for DfE to intervene up nearly 50%
Pleas from councils for the education secretary to intervene over admission rows soared by nearly 50 per cent last year – indicating that more schools are refusing to take in vulnerable pupils. New figures reveal the number of appeals for the government to intervene after an academy has failed to accept a child who has…
5.00 Aug. 26th, 2019 | News
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Don't 'hide' periods in schools, urges charity at head of government taskforce
Schools must change the way they teach and talk about periods if they are to tackle the stigma that contributes to two in three girls missing lessons, a charity leading a government taskforce has said. Plan International UK will work with Penny Mordaunt, the women and equalities minister, and Procter and Gamble over the next…
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Just a third of DfE staff believe changes are made ‘for the better’, and 4 other survey findings
The dissatisfaction of Department for Education staff has been revealed in a survey which reveals just how little faith civil servants have in decisions made by management. The DfE’s people survey results for 2018 and 2017 were published today. Staff were asked to give their feedback on their work, manager, team, organisational objectives and purpose,…
