schools | Schools Week

Exam boards ask schools for staff contacts available ‘throughout the summer’

Exam boards have asked schools to identify staff who will be available “throughout the summer”, fuelling fears leaders won’t get a proper break during the holiday. If the exams officer…will not be available throughout the summer, we’d be grateful if you could provide details for additional contacts In a recent email to schools, OCR, which […]

REAch2 Academy Trust boss Sir Steve Lancashire to stand down in 2022

Sir Steve Lancashire, the founder and chief executive of the REAch2 Academy Trust, is to step down next year. The trust’s board announced today that Lancashire, who has run the 60-school chain since its foundation in 2012, will step down as CEO from September next year. REAch2 is the largest primary academy trust in the […]

Downsizing trust ‘failed to balance books quickly enough’

The Department for Education has slapped strict spending controls on an academy trust accused of failing to balance its books rapidly enough after it was stripped of a school. The Castle Trust, which is now preparing to close, has been issued a financial notice to improve after it “failed to act quickly enough to make […]

Kyle: Labour won’t ‘meddle’ with successful schools

A Labour government will not “meddle” in successful schools or launch a “revolution” in school improvement mechanisms, says the new shadow schools minister. But the schools community faces a long wait to see a “fully formed” set of education policies from the party. We want a virtuous circle, and where that exists, we will not […]

Bubbles and masks go at step 4, but isolation rules in place to end of term

Schools will no longer be told to keep pupils in consistent “bubbles” from step four of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown, but isolation rules for close contacts will remain in place until the end of term. Updated guidance issued by the Department for Education states that at step four, “we will no longer recommend […]

More than 600,000 pupils off school due to Covid

More than 600,000 pupils were absent last week because of Covid, with around one in ten secondary pupils missing school. New Department for Education attendance survey data estimates 640,100 pupils, or 8.5 per cent of the total pupil population, were off school for Covid-related reasons last Thursday. This a 66 per cent rise from around […]

Government to remove school bubbles on July 19, says Javid

The government plans to remove bubbles and end routine contact tracing in schools on July 19, the health secretary has said today. On July 19 it is our plan to remove bubbles and to end the requirement for early years settings, schools and colleges to routinely carry out contact tracing Education secretary Gavin Williamson is […]

ITT review: DfE proposes re-accreditation for all providers

All initial teacher training providers would have to be re-accredited under proposals from a major government review that anticipates a “significant market reconfiguration”. The Department for Education is consulting on sweeping changes to ITT, including a new accreditation scheme, following the release of its ITT market review report. The government said it anticipated “significant market […]

Long read: Heads call for clarity as Williamson gets ready to pop school Covid bubbles

Education leaders are demanding “clarity about the road ahead” after the government all but confirmed it will scrap Covid restrictions in schools. It comes as new attendance statistics obtained by Schools Week suggest Covid-related absences almost doubled in secondary schools this week. Meanwhile school leaders have written to prime minister Boris Johnson over the “cynical” […]