Schools

• Academy teachers ‘sceptical’ about effectiveness of academisation, poll reveals

  The majority of academy teachers and leaders are sceptical about the effectiveness of academy status, survey reveals.

  

• Majority of children offered first choice of primary school

  An estimated 90% of pupils were offered a place at their first choice of primary school this year following the creation of hundreds of thousands of new places by councils.

  

• Council demands answers over school repairs

  The body responsible for building and maintaining 17 schools in Edinburgh has been criticised by the council for failing to carry out repair work.

  

• Investigation launched into serious failures at specialist school

  An investigation has been launched into a charity for the blind following ‘serious concerns’ over the safeguarding of vulnerable children and young people.

  

• Auditors tell councils to ‘learn lessons’ from school wall collapse

  Auditors have called on councils in Scotland to ‘learn lessons’ from the collapse of a school wall in Edinburgh.

  

• Funding boost of £500m for school expansion programme

  The Government has announced over £500m will be spent to improve and expand school buildings to create more good school places.

  

• Schools evacuated after hoax bomb threat

  Pupils across England were evacuated yesterday after an aggrieved gamer sent a hoax email threatening to bomb one of hundreds of schools.

  

• Local authority schools suffer funding ‘squeeze’

  Council chiefs have warned about the ‘squeeze’ on school funding as report reveals proportion of secondary schools in deficit has trebled in recent years.

  

• ‘Deep cuts’ lead to two thirds increase in class sizes

  Nearly two thirds of the secondary schools in England have had to increase their class sizes because of a lack of funding, research reveals.

  

• Councils struggle to offer ‘integrated’ education due to academies

  Councils are struggling to take an ‘integrated, whole-system’ approach to education because of uneven mix of academies and maintained schools in many areas.