DfE | Schools Week

Civil servants spend too much time in a room with other civil servants

After four years in the job, Jonathan Slater was unceremoniously sacked as permanent secretary of the Department for Education. Now he’s calling for much more accountability within the civil service Jonathan Slater is on the phone to one of his daughters. The former Department for Education permanent secretary and his family have just moved to […]

Leading academy CEOs demand £5.8bn catch-up cash for poorer pupils

A group of leading academy trust bosses have set out proposals for a £5.8 billion Covid recovery plan, as Gavin Williamson confirmed he was lobbying within government for extra school funding. In an unusual intervention, the chief executives of five large multi-academy trusts have co-signed a letter to the education secretary warning failure to adopt […]

Two-thirds of heads warn schools face cuts despite ‘record’ funding

Two-thirds of primary school leaders say sharp cutbacks could be needed to balance their books in two years’ time, according to a union survey. The NAHT union warned almost a third of those polled had already made cuts in the past year, with some heads revealing they had cut teaching assistant and site manager roles […]

Still no date for national music plan, but another expert panel

The government has assembled a panel of music grandees to help produce its national plan for music education (NPME), but steered clear of confirming when the delayed plan will finally be published. The NPME was supposed to be published last autumn, but it was delayed during the pandemic and is now only promised “early next […]

Small academy trusts told to use reserves to fund urgent safety repairs

The government has warned small academy trusts and sixth form colleges they will be denied funding for urgent health and safety repairs if they could use their own reserves instead. The Department for Education published revised guidance on “urgent capital support” (UCS) funding today, tweaking eligibility rules. The UCS pot is earmarked for “urgent condition […]

£4m Latin excellence programme: What you need to know

Education secretary Gavin Williamson has vowed to tackle Latin’s “reputation as an elitist subject” with a new scheme to boost take-up of the subject among disadvantaged pupils. He unveiled the £4 million “Latin excellence programme” over the weekend, in a move welcomed by classics professor Mary Beard but panned by others. Here is what you […]

Study finds pupil premium cuts £43m worse than DfE admits

Schools will miss out on £43 million more in pupil premium funding for the poorest children than admitted by the government, new analysis suggests. The Education Datalab research indicates almost 104,000 children receiving free school meals will not attract extra funding after the government’s “stealth cut”. The Department for Education’s own analysis published last month […]

Former RSC John Edwards named interim ESFA chief executive

A former regional schools commissioner has been appointed interim chief executive of the Education and Skills Funding Agency. John Edwards, currently ESFA’s director of funding, will replace Eileen Milner who has left to become chief executive of the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Combined Authority. Susan Acland-Hood, the DfE’s permanent secretary, said Edwards was a “thoughtful and […]

Covid knocks permanent exclusions to lowest level since 2013 after pre-lockdown rise

Permanent exclusions dropped by more than a third to their lowest level since 2013 last year, official figures show, amid unprecedented disruption to schooling from Covid. However government data does reveal exclusions had originally risen in the autumn term of 2019-20, before schools were closed for lockdown. No one should rest assured that exclusions […]