Education


Thousands of new school spaces for SEND children 20/07/2020 New special free schools will provide over 3,000 extra places for pupils with the most complex needs.
Local areas to get extra support to strengthen SEND services 10/07/2020 Ofsted and Care Quality Commission (CQC) will visit local areas to help them improve their SEND services following the disruption caused by COVID-19.
County increases scrutiny of its special educational needs services 02/07/2020 Norfolk County Council has agreed to regular scrutiny of its services for children with special educational needs after the ombudsman found it 'failed' the same boy twice.
Nurseries in most deprived areas most risk from closure, report reveals 02/07/2020 A third of nurseries in the most disadvantaged areas may be forced to close down permanently due to the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, a new report has warned.
Teachers call for summer holiday offer to support children 19/06/2020 Teachers have urged the Government to fund councils to help them provide summer activities for children in preparation for a return to school in September.
Paediatricians urge PM to make school reopenings ‘a priority’ 18/06/2020 Over 1,500 paediatricians have signed an open letter to the Prime Minister urging him to make the reopening of schools a priority.
‘Generation of children’ losing out due to lack of lockdown education 16/06/2020 Children who are locked down at home spend an average of 2.5 hours a day doing school work, a new study has revealed.
Schools using 'professional judgement' on reopening, union finds 04/06/2020 Just over a third of schools (35%) opened on the terms expected by the prime minister on 1 June, a union has found.
More councils join call to delay schools reopening 20/05/2020 The Government is under increasing pressure to rethink its plans to open schools on 1 June after more councils highlighted safety concerns.
Councils decide against re-opening schools 19/05/2020 Hundreds of schools will not re-open next week as councils express concern over the safety of pupils and teachers.
Think tank warns of growing educational gap during lockdown 18/05/2020 Children from better-off families are spending more time on educational activities than those from the poorest households, a think tank has found.
MPs tell department to 'get a grip' on SEND 05/05/2020 The Department for Education (DfE) does not have a grip on mounting pressure in the special educational needs and disability (SEND) system, a watchdog has found.
Councils call for more clarity on special needs duties during pandemic 28/04/2020 Councils have warned they are struggling to deliver statutory support for children with special educational needs and disabilities due to dealing with the demands of coronavirus.
Vulnerable children falling behind at school, report warns 27/04/2020 Children who need a social worker are 'significantly' behind other children at school, new research has revealed.
Councils warn adult education services need grant funding 24/04/2020 Councils have warned that emergency grant funding is needed to protect adult education services.
Laptops to be made available for disadvantaged children 20/04/2020 Disadvantaged children across England are to receive laptops and tablets to ensure they can continue their education from home during lockdown.
Counties warn about service closures during coronavirus 30/03/2020 Councils are being forced to close or reduce more services in order to divert resources to fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
Government issues guidance on isolation for residential educational settings 23/03/2020 Social workers who need to investigate child protection concerns should be admitted to the home while taking infection control measures, according to guidance.
Schools shut down to stop spread of Covid-19 19/03/2020 All schools, colleges and early years settings will be closed as of next week as part of the effort to contain the Coronavirus pandemic.
Schools exclude pupils to ‘game’ league table, report reveals 16/03/2020 A new study has uncovered an ‘alarming’ trend of schools excluding pupils to boost their league table standings and warned of a flawed system of incentives in the education sector.
Disadvantaged children less likely to benefit from free childcare, auditors warn 13/03/2020 Disadvantaged families are less likely to take up free early education and childcare places, auditors have warned today.
Budget 2020: £1.5bn boost to improve FE college estate 11/03/2020 The chancellor has unveiled plans to invest £1.5bn over five years to improve the condition of the further education college estate.
Councils and teachers call for over £5bn of extra school funding 05/03/2020 Local authorities, parents and teachers have joined forces to call on the Government to increase school funding by £5.5bn.
Care leaders must promote ‘awareness’ of good practice in sexual safety 27/02/2020 Care leaders should promote a culture that keeps people in social care safe from sexual abuse and supports them in expressing their sexuality, regulator says.
Council advises pupils to ‘self-isolate’ following Coronavirus fears 26/02/2020 Cheshire East Council has told pupils who have been to Italy where Coronavirus cases have been identified to ‘self-isolate’ as a precautionary measure.
Funding per pupil to ‘increase’, PM says 30/01/2020 Councils will be required by law to make sure every school receives the full amount of the minimum levels of funding pledged for each pupil, PM announces.
Medway caves after Ombudsman rap 16/01/2020 Medway Council has finally accepted the recommendations in a Local Government Ombudsman public interest report after a two-year stand-off.
Council chiefs call for devolution of skills funding 16/01/2020 Six million people in England risk being without a job or in work they are over-qualified for by 2030, council chiefs have warned.
Plans for ‘universal’ school inspections launched 10/01/2020 Ofsted will visit all schools judged to be outstanding within the next five academic years, the Government has announced.
‘Stuck’ schools need more tailored support, inspectors say 08/01/2020 Hundreds of schools in England are ‘stuck’ in a cycle of low performance and need more tailored support to improve, a new Ofsted report has found.
New hubs to support struggling schools 07/01/2020 Struggling schools are set to receive extra support from some of the country’s top schools.
Whitehall promises £85m ‘culture boost’ after decade of school cuts 03/01/2020 The Government has committed to investing millions of pounds into film, dance, theatre and design lessons and facilities for secondary school children.
Council invests in 50 robots to aid distance learning 23/12/2019 Children in Somerset who miss school due to illness will soon be able to continue their lessons thanks to the use of robots.
Council leases library to Holocaust education project 23/12/2019 Cumbria County Council has agreed to provide a Holocaust education project with a long lease to a library building in memory of the Windermere Children.
Government announces £14bn funding boost for schools 20/12/2019 The Government has announced that every school is set to receive £5,000 per pupil in funding for secondary schools next year after a decade of austerity.
Nearly one third of maintained schools ‘in the red’ 19/12/2019 A think tank has warned that the Government’s plans to ‘level up’ school funding will not close the gap between struggling schools and those in the black.
Providing sanctuary for refugees 10/12/2019 Neil Merrick finds out what councils across the country are doing to welcome and resettle Syrian refugees.
Councils welcome education improvements in Wales 04/12/2019 Council leaders in Wales have welcomed improvements to all areas of the country’s education system.
Bristol accused of 'abject failure' over SEND care plans 26/11/2019 An overhaul of services for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) is under way at Bristol City Council, after it failed to meet deadlines for families applying for support.
Council wins battle to ban anti LGBT protests 26/11/2019 Birmingham City Council has won a court battle to permanently ban anti-LGBT protests outside a local primary school.
Exclusion process suffers ‘serious weaknesses’ 11/11/2019 The current system for excluding pupils from school suffers from ‘serious weaknesses’ and needs overhauling, a new report has found.
Whitehall announces £18m for a dozen ‘left behind' areas 04/11/2019 The education secretary Gavin Williamson has today announced that the Opportunity Area programme will receive more funding to help improve educational outcomes and careers advice.
Councils receive free childcare funding boost 31/10/2019 Councils offering 15 hours free childcare for disadvantaged two-year-olds will receive an increase in their hourly funding, the Government has confirmed today.
Council chiefs call for an end to ‘patchwork’ of careers advice 29/10/2019 Local government leaders have called on Whitehall to hand funding and control of national skills schemes to local areas as they warn thousands of young people risk missing out on careers advice.
Whitehall launches £400m improvement fund for academies 28/10/2019 Academies and sixth form colleges can now bid for a share of a multi-million pound fund to help improve facilities, the Government has announced.
Councils spending more than £4m on SEN tribunals 28/10/2019 Local authorities spent £4.3m on handling and contesting special educational needs tribunals last year - an increase of nearly a quarter compared to the year before.
Special educational needs reforms ‘poorly implemented’, MPs say 23/10/2019 A generation of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities is being failed by the Government’s SEND reforms, MPs warn.
Whitehall commits £19m for young people leaving care 23/10/2019 Young people leaving care have been promised better housing, healthcare and employment opportunities in a new government scheme.
Charity calls for ‘whole Government approach’ to health of young people 16/10/2019 Whitehall should transform its policies across housing, transport and education in order to secure the future health of today’s young people, charity says.
Children with special educational needs home schooled ‘as last resort’ 15/10/2019 Parents of SEN children often home school their kids as a last resort rather than a preferred choice, a new Ofsted report has revealed.
Nine in 10 complaints about SEND provision upheld by Ombudsman 03/10/2019 The Ombudsman is receiving more complaints about education, health and care plans (EHCP) than ever before – and the vast majority are being upheld.
Six councils conned into spending thousands of pounds on illegal school 03/10/2019 Six local authorities were duped into paying thousands of pounds to educate vulnerable children in an unsafe illegal school.
Holyrood launches review of additional support provision in schools 23/09/2019 The Scottish government is calling on parents of children with additional support needs to give their views about the educational help available to their kids.
Quarter of teachers work more than 60 hours a week, study reveals 18/09/2019 One in four teachers work more than 60 hours a week and many work in the evenings, a new study has revealed.
Council criticised after SEN child left without education for over a year 12/09/2019 Worcestershire CC complaints policy has been criticised after a boy with special educational needs was left without appropriate education for 14 months.
Cash-strapped councils struggling to support SEND children, auditors warn 11/09/2019 Auditors have warned that councils are coming under growing financial pressure as the demand for supporting school pupils with the greatest needs rises.
PM announces new wave of free school applications 10/09/2019 The Government has announced the latest round of applications for the controversial free schools programme in an effort to ‘drive up education standards’.
Whitehall to review support for children with special educational needs 06/09/2019 The Government has announced a major review into the support offered to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Councils call for incentives to help schools support children with special needs 29/08/2019 Mainstream schools should be incentivised to accept more children with special needs, council leaders have said today.
Council chiefs warn of ‘looming’ school places crisis 27/08/2019 Council leaders have called on the Government to give them more powers to open maintained schools to help avoid an impending secondary school place shortage.
Give councils powers to help young people into work, council chiefs say 23/08/2019 Council chiefs have called for more powers to help young people into work as figures reveal a dramatic increase in the number of young people not in education, employment or training.
Braverman calls on Government to ‘double down’ on free schools 13/08/2019 Tory MP Suella Braverman has urged the Government to speed up the expansion of free schools which she argues act as ‘drivers of competition and innovation’.
Council apologises after anxious girl misses months of school 08/08/2019 Leeds City Council left a young girl without proper education for nine months after she started refusing to go to her primary school because of anxiety, the ombudsman has found.
Council warned to reduce or replace property portfolio by auditors 06/08/2019 Audit Scotland has told a council that it has 'limited time' to curb spending before its reserves run out.
Adult education budget devolved to six combined authorities 01/08/2019 Six mayoral combined authorities and the GLA will be responsible for the adult education budget in their areas from today, the Government has announced.
Education disadvantage gap has ‘stopped closing’, think tank reveals 30/07/2019 Poorer pupils in the North are struggling to keep up with their peers, an education think tank reveals, as research shows the education disadvantage gap has stopped closing.
Ombudsman reveals ‘gaps’ in the SEN redress system 25/07/2019 An investigation has revealed gaps in the Special Educational Needs redress system which prevent it from being transparent and accountable to parents.
MPs call for £1bn funding boost to fix 'broken' education system 19/07/2019 The Government has been urged to invest £1bn for schools and colleges to fix the 'broken' education funding system by the Education Committee.
Council chiefs warn SEN reforms will ‘break’ their budgets 19/07/2019 County council leaders have warned that reforms to expand special educational needs (SEN) services will ‘break’ their budgets.
Ombudsman tells councils to ‘be clear’ about home-schooling visits 18/07/2019 Councils must be clear with parents of home-schooled children whether home visits are routine or triggered by specific concerns, the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman has said.
Kent CC warns of ‘dire’ £14m SEND deficit 11/07/2019 Kent County Council has warned it is facing a 'dire' £14m financial deficit for the cost of special needs education provision.
Fifth of local government leaders ‘privately educated’ 25/06/2019 Around 20% of local government leaders and 29% of MPs are privately educated compared to 7% of the population, a report into social mobility has revealed.
Whitehall approves 22 new free schools 14/06/2019 Bids to create 22 new free schools have been approved, education secretary Damien Hinds has announced.
Birmingham LGBT dispute: A challenge for policymakers 13/06/2019 Mark Whitehead examines the role of Birmingham City Council in helping to resolve the LGBT school row.
Poorest children most affected by early years funding crisis, research finds 12/06/2019 The poorest children are bearing the brunt of cuts in funding for early years education, according to campaigners.
Some schools 'discouraging' admission of special needs children 11/06/2019 Children with special needs are being discouraged from attending some primary schools, education experts have warned.
Councils warn of national 'special needs emergency' 06/06/2019 Councils are supporting more than 130 extra children and young people with special education needs every day, new figures have revealed.
Campaigners deliver petition to tackle crisis in special needs education 31/05/2019 Teachers and campaigners have launched a call for more funds to pay for special needs education.
Apprenticeship system ‘failing’ to make progress, MPs warn 22/05/2019 Local government leaders have backed sharp criticism by MPs of the current apprenticeship system.
Sixth form funding declines ‘substantially’, think tank warns 13/05/2019 Education funding for 16 to 19 year olds has ‘declined substantially’ over the last decade, new research has revealed.
Schools ‘fear-monger’ to remove pupils, survey finds 10/05/2019 Teachers have told Ofsted that they want to see more support for parents to help them push back against the practice of ‘off-rolling’.
Councils should help pupils at risk of expulsion, report says 07/05/2019 Local authorities should establish forums where schools and other local services could convene to plan support for vulnerable pupils at risk of expulsion, according to a landmark review.
Teachers ‘burnt out’ by assessments, union says 23/04/2019 Teachers and pupils are being ‘burnt out’ by the demands of assessments, the national teachers union warns.
Over 55,000 pupils disappear from school records 18/04/2019 More than 55,000 pupils have left school for unexplained reasons over the last decade, new research has revealed.
Primary schools to be provided with free sanitary products 16/04/2019 Free sanitary products will be offered to girls in all primary schools in England from early next year, the Government has announced.
Special needs provision in schools cut by over £1bn 16/04/2019 Children and young people who have special educational needs and disabilities have lost out on £1.2bn of Government funding over the last four years.
Teachers are ‘deeply concerned’ about the effects of poverty 15/04/2019 Teachers are ‘deeply concerned’ about the effects of poverty and low income on their pupils, a new survey of education professionals has revealed.
Thousands of children being taught in illegal schools 12/04/2019 Up to 6,000 children are being educated in illegal schools across England putting their safety and education at risk, a watchdog has warned.
Funding for SEND education ‘nowhere near enough’, think tank says 04/04/2019 Cuts to local government have resulted in funding for children with special educational needs dropping by 17% per pupil, a new study has revealed.
Whitehall publishes consultation on home school register 02/04/2019 Local authority leaders have welcomed proposals from the Government to launch a new register of all children not attending mainstream schools.
School children in referral units doubles within a decade 01/04/2019 The number of primary school children in Pupil Referral Units has more than doubled since 2011. according to the Labour Party.
Councils play ‘unique role’ in school place creation, LGA says 29/03/2019 Local authorities should be recognised for their role in creating school places and should be given more powers to continue this task, council chiefs say.
Council consults on £20m school investment 27/03/2019 Wiltshire County Council has launched a consultation on how to invest at least £20m in special school education.
Holyrood publishes guidance to help support young people with additional needs 27/03/2019 Councils in Scotland are being given extra help to improve its 'world-leading' education for young people with additional support needs.
Welsh council to withdraw from school improvement body 22/03/2019 Neath Port Talbot Council has announced that it intends to pull out of the ERW due to ‘major concerns’ over the school body’s governance and financing.
Progress on qualification and skill levels must be made ahead of Brexit 18/03/2019 The Government and employers must do more to increase qualification and skill levels in the British workforce in the face of Britain’s possible exit from the European Union, think tank says.
Poll reveals ‘rising tide’ of pupil poverty 15/03/2019 A shocking new survey of headteachers has revealed that schools have become an ‘unofficial fourth emergency service’ for poor and vulnerable children.
Around 3,500 school places to be created for pupils with complex needs 11/03/2019 Thousands of new school places are being created for children with special needs or those facing additional challenges in mainstream education, Whitehall says
Primary schools to teach about mental wellbeing 26/02/2019 The Department for Education has announced that primary school children are to be taught how to look after their mental wellbeing and how to recognise when classmates may be struggling.
Teaching union rejects pay offer from councils 22/02/2019 The 9% pay increase offered to teachers in Scotland has been rejected by members of trade union EIS.

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