SEND

Educational psychologists to ballot for strikes over ‘real-terms pay cut’

'Poor pay and conditions have resulted in an unprecedented recruitment and retention crisis, as workloads spiral'

Amy Walker
Amy Walker
SEND

‘People like me were absent when things were going wrong’

Tony McArdle is the man who holds the purse strings to stop councils going bankrupt – but only if...

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Schools

Jump in reserves leaves maintained schools sitting on £2.2 billion

Covid savings and project delays shored up reserves before the current cost-of-living squeeze

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
Schools

Devon council appoints academy chiefs to run education services

Experts say academisation is increasingly hollowing out council expertise in education

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
Schools

Government withholds SEND bailouts as councils told to fill £269m hole

Some DfE bailout payments were delayed as councils failed to hit agreed targets, while all councils are being told...

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
Schools

Six in 10 councils face DfE intervention to cut SEND deficits

All councils also face new guidance on making spending on pupils with special educational needs and disabilities 'sustainable'

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
Academies

Council MAT trial next year – but caps on number and size

The DfE will 'test the concept' of local authority multi-academy trusts, inviting councils to join a small trial

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
Academies

White paper: What academy shakeup means for trusts, councils and schools

Trusts should have 10+ schools, councils will run academies and good schools may exit trusts in shakeup of 'messy'...

Tom Belger
Tom Belger
Schools white paper

The schools resisting ministers’ all-academy land ambitions

Schools Week looks at the areas that have thwarted ministers’ decade-long academisation drive

Tom Belger
Tom Belger