Skip to content
13 April 2026

Tag: school financing

Private schools spend three times more on each pupil

Private schools are bumping up their fees while state school funding remains flat, widening the attainment gap between the state and independent sectors, academics have claimed. Research published this week by the UCL Institute of Education, titled The labour market benefits of private schooling, has found that fees within the private sector have increased well […]

Watch for hidden costs when rebrokering, trust leaders warn

Trusts will face surprise costs unless they wise up to the need for extra due diligence when taking over a rebrokered academy, trust leaders warn. Dean Ashton, chief executive of Reach South, says that trusts need added legal oversight to ensure that the transfer of a school from one trust to another (known as rebrokering) […]

Four-day week threat as budgets hit ‘breaking point’

School budgets at “breaking point” are forcing headteachers to take “drastic measures”, a union leader has warned. Heads of primary and secondary schools across West Sussex sent a letter to parents last week revealing funding cuts may result in a four-day week. The county is one of the lowest funded in England with, according to […]

Cadet club growth slow in schools one year after £50m grant

Just five state schools have opened cadet clubs since former chancellor George Osborne announced a £50 million grant last year to boost the number of units five-fold. Figures obtained under a freedom of information (FOI) request reveal 129 state schools in England run the after-school cadet clubs, up five from the 124 recorded in 2015. […]

£70m government-funded careers company insists it has ‘achieved a lot’

The Careers and Enterprise Company will do more to support and train teachers, its chief executive has said after criticism of the organisation’s use of public money. Claudia Harris has denied that the CEC, which now has 25 full-time staff and 13 contractors, is turning into a quango, and insists it has “achieved a lot” […]

Private sector support for state schools – will it work?

Private schools and universities will be pushed into sponsoring schools to haul up standards in the state sector, despite an analysis of their current involvement revealing a chequered history. A key proposal in the green paper, Schools That Work for Everyone, is the provision of incentives for private schools and universities to either set up […]

There’s more to worry about than grammars

Spending the summer worrying about the return of grammar schools is like worrying the NHS is about to reintroduce frontal lobotomies. Lobotomies, like grammars, were a miracle cure of the 1940s. At their peak more than 1,000 people a year had metal spikes pushed into their skulls, swished around, and withdrawn, in the belief that […]