News

More than 1 in 5 pupils on free school meals after Covid surge

More than one in five pupils are now eligible for free school meals (FSM) following a steep rise during...

James Carr
James Carr
News

DfE extends pupil premium to children with ‘no recourse to public funds’ after legal threat

Schools will be able to claim additional pupil premium funding for children with “no recourse to public funds” who...

Freddie Whittaker
Freddie Whittaker
News

Free school meals voucher extension risked legal challenges

The government’s last-minute U-turn on providing free school meals vouchers over the summer holidays risked exposing it to legal...

James Carr
James Carr
News

DfE’s ‘Falcon’ turnaround trust tells staff there’s no such thing as a free lunch

The government’s turnaround “Falcon” trust has made cutbacks at a struggling academy that even the Department for Education’s cost-cutting...

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
News

DfE raids existing budgets for a third of £4.3bn Covid spending

Almost a third of the Department for Education’s extra Covid spending will be taken from existing budgets or underspends...

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
News

Caterer Compass repays furlough cash after free school meal parcel row

A multinational catering firm at the centre of the free school meal parcel fiasco has announced plans to repay...

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
News

Study to track Covid’s long-term impact on pupils’ life chances

A new study will track Covid’s long-term impact on the life chances of thousands of year 11 pupils. The...

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
News

Schools face new checks to ensure pupil premium spending ‘backed by evidence’

Schools will have to show their pupil premium spending is “backed by evidence” under new requirements announced by the...

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
News

Free school meals: 300k more pupils became eligible in first 7 months of Covid

The number of children eligible for free school meals surged in the first seven months of the Covid-19 pandemic,...

Tom Belger
Tom Belger