free school meals | Schools Week

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 […]

A-level results 2021: Attainment gap widens for black and poorer pupils

Longstanding attainment gaps for both black and poorer students have widened, but Ofqual is unable to untangle whether this is down to Covid lost learning or the use of teacher grades this year. Ofqual has today published student-level equalities analysis of A-level results, which includes data on how likely different groups of pupils are to receive […]

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 […]

National Food Strategy: The recommendations for schools

A government-commissioned report has recommended a raft of measures for schools to improve pupil nutrition and food education. The national food strategy, commissioned in 2019 and led by school food plan co-author Henry Dimbleby, has published its second report today. In it, the strategy recommends schools be “required” to work with accreditation schemes on the […]

Exam changes can’t compensate for Covid hit to disadvantaged pupils, says government

Changes to next year’s exams cannot compensate for pupils’ divided experiences during the pandemic, the government has said, even as research from its own exams regulator laid bare the disruption to disadvantaged children’s education. On Monday, Ofqual and the Department for Education published a consultation on measures to “help mitigate the impact of disruption” for […]

Breakfast clubs: Schools to pay 25% of costs from next year

Schools will have to contribute 25 per cent of the costs of running breakfast clubs under the national scheme from next year, after the government announced a cut in subsidies. And only one of the two providers that has delivered the programme to-date will be taking it forward, the government has confirmed. The Department for […]

DfE told to reveal its working out on £90m pupil premium funding ‘stealth cut’

The government must publish a full breakdown of its pupil premium “stealth cut” analysis as the current explanation only reveals part of the story, a think tank has warned. Last week the Department for Education finally admitted schools would miss out on about £90 million in pupil premium funding. The admission comes after ministers discreetly changed […]

Covid: Poorer pupils missed 30% more school days last autumn

Poorer pupils missed almost 30 per cent more school days due to Covid in the autumn than their better-off counterparts, new data shows. The Department for Education has updated absences data for the autumn term with statistics broken down by pupil characteristics. It shows pupils eligible for free school meals missed 8.5 per cent of […]

Schools warned Brexit driver shortages threaten meal supplies

School meals could face disruption and caterers have begun stockpiling as a driver shortage fuelled by Brexit and Covid puts deliveries at risk, a local council has warned. Sheffield City Council said cooks would be given two days’ “emergency stand-by menu items” from this week in case the national driver shortage threatens frozen and dry […]