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The Department for Education is no fan of its own pass thresholds for GCSEs, according to the chair of a landmark inquiry into the “forgotten third”. Roy Blatchford, the chair of a commission set up by the Association of School and College Leaders to look into the plight of those who do not reach grade […]

The government is “considering options” for supporting primary school children with access to free sanitary products, a minister has said, following criticism that its current plans to tackle period poverty do not go far enough. The chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his spring statement earlier this month that the government will fund free sanitary products […]

The Department for Education spent almost £15,000 defending its divisive pupil nationality and country of birth data collection in court just months before it was scrapped, and it didn’t receive a penny of help from the Home Office. Two attempts by campaigners to challenge the collection at judicial review landed the DfE with legal bills […]

Church schools will not need to seek prior approval to buy services from their diocese, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has revealed. From April 1, academy trusts will have to seek government leave to pay out more than £20,000 to any company or organisation with links to their management. The rule change, announced last […]

An academy trust in Yorkshire is facing a backlash over “unprecedented” plans to shake up teachers’ pay and conditions that unions say could see teachers go unpaid during summer holidays. The Bradford Diocesan Academies Trust claims “modest changes” to staff contracts are needed to prevent the risk of redundancies, and blames government funding cuts for […]

The chief executive of one of England’s most high-profile academy chains is to step down after six years at the helm. David Moran will leave E-ACT at the end of August following what trustees described as the “radical transformation” of the organisation. Jane Millward, the trust’s deputy CEO, will take over. He certainly leaves us […]

The rate of absence from English schools continued to rise in 2017-18, new government data shows. According to the Department for Education, the rate of unauthorised absences from schools rose from 1.3 per cent in 2016-17 to 1.4 per cent last year, the highest level since records began. The rate of authorised absences rose from […]

A company which provided school improvement, governor support and other services to hundreds of schools in Buckinghamshire is to go into liquidation, citing changes to national education policy. Trustees of Buckinghamshire Learning Trust have confirmed that the company, formed in 2013 to run certain services outsourced by Buckinghamshire County Council, has ceased trading. Despite exploring […]

The country’s smallest ‘good’-rated primary schools may avoid having new two-day inspections under Ofsted’s proposed inspection framework, one of the watchdog’s directors has said. Matthew Purves, Ofsted’s deputy director for schools, admitted today that the proposal to extend so-called “short inspections” of ‘good’ schools to two days was a “big issue” for small primary schools, […]