Schools | LocalGov


Urgent need for teacher training amidst schools crisis 29/04/2025 The Government should provide £260m to fund a new 'national entitlement' to teacher training to help raise school standards, think tank says.
London schools to benefit from energy efficiency measures 15/04/2025 Thirty-eight schools in London are set to benefit from £2.9m of City Hall funding to help them become more energy efficient, according to the Mayor of London.
Pupil violence costs South East councils £65k 02/04/2025 Councils in the South East paid £64,555 in compensation to staff injured during school violence from 2019/20 to 2023/24, an investigation has revealed.
School absences up two-thirds since before pandemic 18/03/2025 Absences and suspensions from school are two-thirds higher than before the pandemic, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR).
Gloucestershire schools set to see solar panels installed 24/02/2025 Gloucestershire County Council has named six primary schools that will see solar panels installed.
Barnet schools aim to become smartphone free 17/02/2025 Schools in the London borough of Barnet have launched an initiative to stop pupils bringing in smartphones.
Report reveals SEND ‘blind spots’ 11/02/2025 Research into the provision of special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) support in England has highlighted ‘inequalities’ and ‘blind spots.’
Council chiefs welcome Ofsted’s focus on inclusion 03/02/2025 Local authority leaders have welcomed Ofsted’s greater focus on inclusion as part of the proposed overhaul of how schools are inspected.
‘More work to do’, councillor responds to SEND petition 29/01/2025 Nottinghamshire County Council’s cabinet member for education and SEND, Cllr Ben Bradle, has acknowledged there is ‘more to do’ on SEND provision.
Schools Bill criticised by commissioner 27/01/2025 The children's commissioner has criticised Labour's schools Bill, arguing it does not include details on how councils would cope with the extra responsibilities.
Council bureaucracy meant child missed months of school 22/01/2025 A child went months without education because of Trafford Council’s unnecessary delays, an investigation has found.
Number of school children receiving SEN support surges 40% 21/01/2025 The number of British school children receiving support for special educational needs (SEN) has surged by 40% since 2016-2017, a new study has revealed.
Lancashire set to spend £14m on repairs at 61 schools 16/01/2025 Lancashire County Council has set out plans to spend a government grant on ‘urgent’ repairs at 61 schools.
Tower Hamlets to introduce school uniform grants 10/01/2025 The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is set to introduce school uniform grants for families on low incomes.
Special educational needs statutory override is 'abomination' 10/01/2025 Accountancy alone will not be enough to end the ‘abomination' of statutory overrides for special educational needs (SEN) budgets, a minister has said.
Council takes steps to tackle toilet training crisis 08/01/2025 Teachers in the Welsh county of Blaenau Gwent will no longer change pupils who have wet or soiled themselves, according to the local authority.
Bumper profits for SEN private providers 03/01/2025 Revenue at privately-run special schools has reportedly soared as councils continue to battle to manage rising costs in the area.
Landmark Bill to introduce ‘children not in school’ registers 17/12/2024 Council chiefs welcome Bill that could bring in new registers to identify children who are not in school but say it should go further to ensure child safety.
Councils' SEND deficits ‘could reach absurd levels’ 09/12/2024 Local authority deficits for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) provision ‘could easily reach absurd levels’ without widespread reform, a think-tank has warned.
Devon proposes £21,000 charge for school exclusions 09/12/2024 Devon County Council has put forward plans to charge schools £21,000 for every child they exclude.
No more safety valve agreements, DfE says 04/12/2024 The Government will not enter any more safety valve agreements with councils that are in deficit on their high needs education budgets.
Children eligible for free school meals twice as likely to be absent 03/12/2024 A think-tank has warned that the costs of going to school are a barrier to regular attendance for some children from low-income families.
UNISON: School support staff face daily abuse 29/11/2024 School support staff are subjected to verbal abuse and violence on a daily basis, a new survey has revealed.
Cambs in bid to rescue £49m funding deal 26/11/2024 Cambridgeshire County Council has drawn up a new special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) strategy after failing to meet the terms of a funding agreement with the Government.
Home-to-school transport costs hit £2.3bn 21/11/2024 County council chiefs have called for a ‘system-wide approach’ to tackling escalating home-to-school transport costs.
ShuttleID launches 90-day free trial for local authorities 18/11/2024 ShuttleID, the digital school bus pass platform, has launched a new package designed specifically for use with local authorities.
Rethinking school communications ahead of the PSTN switch-off 06/11/2024 Cardiff Council takes PSTN switch-off as opportunity to rethink school communications, writes Dan York, Local Government Sector Lead, Avaya UK&I.
Biggest barrier to inclusive education is lack of funding, report finds 05/11/2024 Schools in the capital must become ‘genuinely inclusive’ to improve outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a new report has argued.
More than £1bn to be invested in ‘crumbling’ schools 28/10/2024 The Government has confirmed that £1.4bn will be allocated in the Budget to rebuild ‘crumbling’ schools.
Education Secretary announces review of 44 free schools 23/10/2024 Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has announced a review of the funding awarded by the previous Government to open 44 new free schools.
£15m fund launched to support childcare expansion 17/10/2024 The Government has announced a £15m funding initiative to support the creation of up to 300 new or expanded school-based nurseries across England.
School attendance scheme gets £15m boost 10/10/2024 The Government is set to spend £15m expanding an attendance mentoring scheme to 10,000 more children in England.
Council apologises for flawed approach to travel support 04/10/2024 Sandwell Council has apologised after the local government Ombudsman found flaws in the way it considered a family’s application for travel support.
Council drops all-Gaelic school plan 26/09/2024 Argyll and Bute councillors have decided to drop plans for a Gaelic language and culture school following a close-run public consultation.
Welsh council cuts free transport to English-language schools 20/09/2024 A Welsh council has made broad cuts to its school transport provision – with some only affecting children taught in English.
Norfolk schools inspected due to ceiling collapse fears 19/09/2024 Norfolk County Council has commissioned inspections of 37 more school buildings over concerns the ceilings could be at risk of collapse.
‘Shocking lack of urgency’ to trace children missing from education 10/09/2024 More than 11,500 children in England went missing from education within a year, the children’s commissioner has found.
Council ‘needs financial plan’ after £60m school blunder 21/08/2024 Renfrewshire Council has been urged to develop a financial plan after its miscalculation over school places was estimated to cost £60m to fix.
Children face holiday hunger without support fund 21/08/2024 Children in more than a quarter of council areas could go hungry during the upcoming school holidays if the Household Support Fund (HSF) is not extended.
Call for Government RAAC remediation cash 20/08/2024 Pressure is growing on the Scottish Government to help shoulder the multi-million pound burden of replacing council buildings containing dangerous concrete.
Glasgow faces legal action over education cuts 15/08/2024 Parents have begun legal action over ‘drastic cuts’ to education services in Glasgow City Council’s budget.
Family to sue council over paedophile former headteacher 08/08/2024 A family whose child was subjected to emotional and physical abuse by former headteacher and paedophile Neil Foden is taking legal action against Gwynedd Council.
Landmark report finds SEND system ‘broken’ 25/07/2024 Major reforms introduced a decade ago have failed to improve educational outcomes for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), a report has found.
Council helps investigate after two children from same school die 11/07/2024 Liverpool City Council is working with the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) after two children from the same school died.
Improving air quality in and around schools 08/07/2024 Megan Bennett, product marketing manager at Nuaire, looks at how poor air quality impacts children at school and what steps can be taken to improve it.
Council pays family £1,500 after school transport failure 04/07/2024 A family in Surrey has been paid £1,500 in compensation after the county council failed to provide school transport for a child with medical needs.
Leeds council proposes SEND transport overhaul 02/07/2024 Leeds City Council has proposed reducing transport support for post-16 learners with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
Middlesbrough to trial auto-enrolment for free school meals 28/06/2024 Eligible children in Middlesbrough will be automatically signed up to receive free school meals from September.
School staff strike over new pay structure 27/06/2024 Teaching assistants at a school in East Yorkshire have walked out amid a dispute with the council over pay and conditions.
Call for urgent action on childhood obesity 18/06/2024 ‘Urgent and decisive’ action is needed to combat rising levels of childhood obesity, a public health director has argued.
Councils looking after record 576k children with SEND 13/06/2024 Local authorities are looking after record numbers of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), council chiefs warn.
Hull rolls out tool to tackle school absence 24/05/2024 Hull City Council is providing schools with an early intervention tool aimed to boosting pupil attendance.
Safeguarding panel calls for register of home-educated children 15/05/2024 An expert child safeguarding panel has joined calls for a statutory register of children who are electively home educated.
Government criticised over free school meals threshold freeze 14/05/2024 The Liberal Democrats have criticised the Government for failing to increase the income threshold for free school meals in line with inflation.
Government announces 16 new special free schools 09/05/2024 New schools for 2,000 children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) are to open in 16 areas across England.
£101m boost for new music hubs 08/05/2024 A ‘new generation’ of music hubs will receive £101m to provide music education to young people across England.
Schools in disrepair due to funding ‘failure’, union warns 29/04/2024 More than four-fifths of headteachers (83%) have said they do not have enough money to maintain their school buildings.
Two-fifths of children face barriers to education 26/04/2024 Millions of pupils are struggling to learn because of unstable family environments, mental health challenges and poor attendance, a major children’s charity has warned.
Council rejects MP’s ‘inaccurate’ funding claim 26/04/2024 Chesterfield MP Toby Perkins has accused Derbyshire County Council of leaving unspent millions of pounds for school spaces for children with special needs.
One-word Ofsted judgements to be retained 25/04/2024 The controversial one-word Ofsted judgements for schools are here to stay despite criticism after the suicide of headteacher Ruth Perry.
Brum council workers vote for strike over equal pay 23/04/2024 Council workers at 35 schools across Birmingham have voted in support of strike action over the ongoing equal pay claims issue.
Teacher vacancies rise in almost nine in 10 local authorities 19/04/2024 Teacher vacancies have increased in 86% of English local authority areas since 2010, according to analysis by the Trades Union Congress (TUC).
Increasing number of Coventry children not in school 17/04/2024 A growing number of children in Coventry are not going to primary school due to their parents' reluctance to accept places that have been offered.
Academy trusts have higher staff turnover than council schools 16/04/2024 Multi-academy trusts (MATs) have ‘higher’ annual turnover of classroom teachers at secondary level than council-maintained schools, according to a new study.
Toolkit to support gender-questioning children 'unlawful' 15/04/2024 A ‘toolkit’ used by many schools to support gender-questioning children is unlawful, according to a leading equality and human rights barrister.
Schools face losing over £1bn, think tank warns 11/04/2024 A decline in the number of school-age children could lead to schools losing over £1bn in funding by 2030, education experts warn.
Essex council agrees to rethink alternative education changes 04/04/2024 Essex CC agrees to investigate why changes to its alternative education provision for children who are unable to attend school have not improved the service.
Union criticises Government’s ‘shameful’ SEND support 04/04/2024 Teachers and support staff are ‘losing faith’ in the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system due to inadequate resources, a union has warned.
Spending on SEND school transport doubles to £1.4bn 27/03/2024 The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) school transport system is threatening 'the financial viability of councils’, council leaders warn.
Council criticised after teacher harassed for Muhammad cartoon 25/03/2024 Kirklees Council demonstrated a ‘lack of consideration’ towards a teacher who faced harassment for showing a cartoon of the prophet Muhammad, advisor says.
Bristol SEND services get £54m bailout 25/03/2024 Special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services in Bristol are to receive a nearly £54m bailout, the Government has confirmed.
Brum workers vote for ‘major escalation’ of equal pay dispute 05/03/2024 Workers at Birmingham City Council have voted to strike in what the union GMB describes as a ‘major escalation’ in the campaign to end the equal pay crisis.
Absence fines without tackling causes 'will not work' 29/02/2024 Plans to boost school attendance do not address the wider factors that contribute to persistent absence, a think-tank and council bosses have warned.
Over 10,000 children missing from education system 22/02/2024 Local authorities in England have no idea what has happened to over 10,000 children who have left state education.
Sharp increase in home schooling, survey shows 16/02/2024 A survey of councils in the south of England shows a sharp rise in the number of children being educated at home.
Sheffield to invest £1m CAZ funds to improve air quality 15/02/2024 An estimated £1m raised through Sheffield’s Clean Air Zone (CAZ) will be used to improve air quality near schools, the city council says.
Nearly 120 RAAC-affected school buildings to be rebuilt 09/02/2024 Nearly 120 school buildings containing dangerous concrete will be rebuilt or refurbished, the Government has confirmed.
School leaders call for Ofsted exemption due to RAAC 07/02/2024 School leaders have called for all schools impacted by the dangerous concrete scandal to be exempt from Ofsted inspections until they are ‘fully operational’.
Divided education system ‘unsustainable’, think tank warns 30/01/2024 An education system divided between academies and council-maintained schools has become ‘undesirable and unsustainable’, according to an education think tank.
Schools face ‘impossible choices’ as demand drops 29/01/2024 Falling demand for school places across London will have major implications for the future of education provision in the capital, a new report says.
North Northants fined £1,500 after girl misses school 26/01/2024 The leader of North Northamptonshire Council has apologised to the family of a girl who missed part of her education because of her health.
Pupils leaving RAAC schools, heads warn 25/01/2024 Students are increasingly being taken out of schools that are affected by a crumbly form of concrete, headteachers have warned.
Council concerned about Dyson’s £6m school donation 23/01/2024 Wiltshire Council has raised concerns about the impact of a £6m donation to a local school by billionaire inventor Sir James Dyson.
Schools blunder to cost council £60m 18/01/2024 A report has found that Renfrewshire Council, whose ‘gross incompetence’ left a community short of hundreds of school places, has again failed to be transparent with residents on school provision.
BCP warns of S114 risk over schools funding 15/01/2024 A growing deficit on its dedicated schools grant (DSG) could force Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council to issue a section 114 notice this year.
New £1.5m package to support school leaders launched 15/01/2024 The Government has announced a new £1.5m package to help support the mental health and wellbeing of school and college leaders.
Labour outlines plans to boost attendance 09/01/2024 Local authorities would be required to keep a register of all children not in school under a Labour government, the shadow education secretary announced today.
Half of teachers work with homeless children 22/12/2023 The ‘nightmare of child homelessness’ is damaging children’s education as they suffer exhaustion, hunger and poor mental health, Shelter has warned.
Unions call for school inspections to be suspended 21/12/2023 School inspections must be suspended until Ofsted implements recommendations to reform the system following the death of head teacher Ruth Perry, unions say.
Plan for schools needs local government ‘at its heart’ 29/11/2023 England’s children’s services chiefs have set out a future vision to fix an ‘incoherent and fragmented’ education system.
School support staff paying for pupils’ essentials 24/11/2023 The cost-of-living crisis is forcing school support staff to use their own money to help pay for pupils’ food and clothing, union reveals.
MPs slam ‘beyond unacceptable’ condition of schools 20/11/2023 Thousands of children are learning in potentially unsafe buildings, with MPs ‘extremely concerned’ about the Department for Education’s understanding of the risks, a new report says.
Councils call for emergency school transport funding 20/11/2023 ‘Spiralling’ transport costs for children with special educational needs are threatening the financial stability of England’s largest councils, according to a report.
School staff strike amid pay dispute 01/11/2023 Schools in parts of Scotland were closed on Wednesday as non-teaching staff went on strike in an ongoing dispute over local government pay.
One in 20 children sleeping on the floor, survey finds 29/09/2023 More than a million British children may be sleeping on the floor or having to share beds, a children’s charity has found.
MPs call for SEND support to tackle school absences 27/09/2023 MPs have called for more support for pupils with special educational needs (SEND) to tackle school absences and a consistent approach to the issuing of fines.
Unions call for £4bn investment in school estate 26/09/2023 In response to the RAAC crisis, trade unions have written to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak urging him to invest £4.4bn per year to improve the school estate.
Nottingham to boost SEND provision 25/09/2023 Nottingham is set to bolster school capacity for children with additional needs as the city sees an increasing number of pupils requiring support.
Concern over Bristol schools’ app use to monitor children 22/09/2023 Campaign groups have accused Bristol schools who use an app to monitor pupils and their families of ‘intrusive monitoring’.
Government urged to share RAAC school list 19/09/2023 Council leaders have urged the Government to share the list of schools who have yet to respond to surveys about reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC).