DfE | Schools Week

Dunelm? Dunno: Furniture firm’s mysterious meeting with the DfE

Mystery surrounds a meeting between an education minister and a furniture company over potential academy sponsorship, especially as the retailer has refused to confirm whether it even took place. According to the Department for Education’s latest register of ministerial gifts, hospitality, travel and meetings, representatives from Dunelm met with Lord John Nash (pictured), the former […]

Pregnant? Offender? What the government wants to know about AP pupils

Explanations for why pupils are moved into alternative provision are to be centrally collected for the first time under changes coming into effect next year. The move will help government understand if alternative provision is used appropriately by mainstream schools. From January 2018, councils will have to collect additional data about pupils in PRUs and […]

DfE tightens grip on curriculum with new policy jobs

The government appears to be tightening its grip on what is taught in schools, and is advertising three senior jobs handling curriculum policy. According to the job advert, the curriculum policy division is “responsible for policy about the knowledge and skills taught in state-funded schools in England, and for policy on improving the teaching of […]

DfE placed on UK Statistics Authority watch list

The Department for Education has been cautioned by the UK Statistics Authority for delaying data releases and providing unclear information to the public. It has been censured in particular for the way it published data on academy transfers, reported extensively by Schools Week. The “extended timeframe between promising the release of data and its publication was […]

New DfE ‘delivery managers’ to visit schools and identify problems

New “delivery managers” are to visit schools and identify problems with the way the Department for Education works, it has emerged. Job adverts published last week are seeking managers to join a DfE programme called ‘Building our department together’. Three people will be paid up to £71,000 a year to talk to schools and “ask […]

Private schools repeatedly fail school standards but stay open

Almost 200 small independent schools are still open despite repeatedly failing to reach Ofsted standards, according to new Schools Week analysis, suggesting the government needs to do more to intervene. In the past three years, 190 non-associated private schools failed the independent school standards but stayed open, and 48 per cent are still open despite […]

The four key trends in the 2017 KS2 primary test results

Provisional results of the primary school key stage 2 SATs tests broken down at local authority and regional level have been released by the Department for Education this morning. Here are the key points from today’s new data. 1. London scoops the top results again London dominates local authority areas in terms of pupils who […]

DfE launches £100k tender to independently review complaints against Ofsted

The Department for Education has this week started the hunt for an organisation to review complaints made against Ofsted. The three year contract is valued at £100,000 and will run from January 1, 2018 to December 31, 2020, something an Ofsted spokesperson told Schools Week is “a routine retendering by the DfE for providing Ofsted’s existing […]

Small school sixth form judicial review costs taxpayer £76,000

A legal challenge brought against the Department for Education over the opening of a small-school sixth form has cost tax payers over £75,000. The case, which was settled out of court at the very last minute, ended with the DfE paying out £60,000 to cover the Association of Colleges’ costs – on top of the […]