DfE | Schools Week

Illness drives stubbornly high persistent absence

Around a quarter of pupils have missed 10 per cent or more sessions since September

Hike school breakfast funding and expand free school meals, Hunt told

150 heads call for school breakfast cash in the spring budget, while councils warn government rules stop 215,000 eligible children getting free school meals

Oak seeking teachers to create and review new resources

Successful applicants to the paid roles will be employed by yet-to-be-appointed curriculum partners, rather than Oak itself

Lilac Sky trust founder Averre-Beeson banned from running schools

Two leaders of collapsed trust barred seven years after government intervention, and with investigation report STILL not published

How schools are caught up in a £200m MIS ‘turf war’

Smaller MIS firms are pouncing amid a record exodus from SIMS, with more choice but also more controversy in the growing market

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 “surplus” reserves held by schools to plug the shortfall. Mainstream schools, already struggling under shrinking budgets as councils try to cover high needs shortfalls, face a raid on their reserves as a condition of the “safety […]

Prevent review: Schools need ‘independent’ monitoring and better training

Shawcross review of counter-extremism duty warns of ‘ambiguity’ of how schools’ compliance is monitored

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 to watch him teach. But the headteacher of two maintained primaries in Ilford admits his innovative approach means some consider him a “maverick”. And right now he’s wielding a mighty axe to grind against Ofsted. Its […]