News

“Like nothing I’ve seen in decades” Unions lift the lid on Harris redundancy plans

9 May 2025

Education Uncovered sets out the detail and controversy around plans by England's second-largest academy chain to cut more than 40 frontline jobs.

Cut the number and length of GCSE exam papers to boost pupil wellbeing, says head of one of England’s big three exam boards

7 May 2025

England's big three boards are now all calling for reductions in the number of exams pupils take.

Academy trust running the West London Free School “will have to make up to 10 per cent of staff redundant”, Conservative peer tells House of Lords

2 May 2025

Debate on Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill also saw national wellbeing measurement again discussed.

Headteacher joins union picket line in dispute involving multi-academy trust for whom she works

1 May 2025

Head calls for more transparency over budgets of schools within Nicholas Postgate Catholic Academy Trust, in dispute which puts spotlight on local vs centralised control of schools.

Brace yourself: Lords Agnew, Nash, Baker and Harris lined up to speak on schools bill, with Gove waiting in the wings

30 April 2025

Host of former education ministers poised to speak, with measures on academisation likely to continue to provoke debate.

Proportion of English pupils saying they dislike school doubles in eight years

29 April 2025

England sadly now has third-highest figure of any nation within the TIMSS study saying they do not like school

Academy applications slump to 10-year low for the first two months of 2025

24 April 2025

Low voluntary application numbers in both January and February this year, following spike in December.

Teach climate change throughout the curriculum, reform school accountability and cut assessment burden, argues England’s largest exam board

23 April 2025

Submission by AQA board to DfE's curriculum and assessment inquiry offers wide-ranging critique of set-up.

Unofficial consultation on Ofsted proposals draws overwhelming thumbs down from respondents

22 April 2025

"Alternative Big Consultation" shows 88 per cent of respondents rejecting inspectorate's plans for report cards.

Government still footing the bill for failed Bright Tribe chain and sister trust, four years after closure, DfE report reveals

4 April 2025

Disclosures in DfE documents also reveal extra payments of £3m over four years in relation to three free schools in England's South West.

National pupil wellbeing survey needed to help schools understand causes of persistent absence and exclusion, conference hears

3 April 2025

Calls for pupil wellbeing statistics to be collected as we do for many other aspects of schooling.

Revealed: PR agency’s £180-an-hour charge for pro-academy spin

2 April 2025

The academisation of two primary schools in Brighton and Hove shines a light on costs of public relations, and a trust's influence over the process, as revealed through a Freedom of Information response.

Amanda Spielman’s nomination for peerage by Conservatives underlines politicisation of role of chief inspector of schools

31 March 2025

Backing by Michael Gove and the Spectator also underscores closeness with Conservative ministers, with report last year also criticising limited impact of Ofsted's board.

Academy trust spends £235,000 on one-day “celebration” event for staff and governors

27 March 2025

Cost revealed through FOI, as union tells Education Uncovered of plans to ballot members on strike action over lengthening of school day.

School which was forced into arms of England’s largest academy trust now facing crisis

26 March 2025

Holland Park School in West London has announced departure of its fifth headteacher in four years, while NEU staff members put together an explosive letter warning of "unsustainable" situation under United Learning Trust.

Furious headteachers and governors reject diocese’s move to propel them into church multi-academy trusts

25 March 2025

"Consultation" response from schools says diocese's move was "dictatorial rather than nurturing".

Commons hears call for nationwide measurement of children’s wellbeing in schools

19 March 2025

Lengthy report also suggested that impact of school behaviour policies on children's wellbeing should be tested.

Ofsted rates another Astrea secondary as good – in teeth of worst parental ratings of any major trust last year

17 March 2025

Controversial trust racks up a hat-trick of "good" inspection results, despite parent responses in Ofsted surveys.

Employment in the family: is this the highest number of related party transactions in an academy trust?

13 March 2025

Gorse Academies Trust has multiple declarations of employment of family members set out in its accounts.

Departing academy CEO received nearly £200,000 in pensions payments – or did he? UPDATE: no he didn't!

12 March 2025

Very high pensions contributions listed in 2022-23 accounts - only to be changed in following year's financial statements. It has now been confirmed that the figure published in the 2022-23 accounts was wrong.

No mention of the 168 people paid six figures at the Harris Federation – and other strange aspects of new Taxpayers’ Alliance report on academy pay

11 March 2025

TPA’s first report on academy leader remuneration, more than two decades after launch of the policy, is full of holes, despite garnering coverage in national media.

Half of England’s academy trusts lack elected or appointed parents in their governance

7 March 2025

Education Uncovered analysis also shows fewer than one in 25 MAT boards feature elected or appointed parents

Academy trust, where pay of its leader surged at least 14% last year, suspends union rep for speaking out about budget pressures

6 March 2025

Hundreds of people sign petition calling for re-instatement of teacher at Excel Learning Trust, formerly South Bank Multi-Academy Trust.

Harris Federation ends practice of paying Jamaican teachers as “unqualified,” regardless of their experience

4 March 2025

Move announced as strike action affecting 18 academies had been looming.

Revealed: How the list of £250k-plus academy leaders remains dominated by men

28 February 2025

First look at top academy pay rankings for 2023-24 shows 10 people received quarter-million salaries.

School subjected deaf member of support staff to disability discrimination and victimisation after requiring her to work on-site during pandemic, tribunal finds

26 February 2025

Charlotte Bentley wins employment tribunal verdict after protracted dispute with Oaks Park High School in Redbridge, north-east London

“Clear” that multi-academy trust should have been paying tax on its phonics product income, accounting expert states

14 February 2025

Wandle Learning Trust faces fresh questions over its Little Wandle product.

Strike action on the ballot at Harris Federation primary, controversially academised last term

14 February 2025

Former Byron Court primary in north London holding vote.

Did teachers at one controversial Astrea academy have to miss lessons to be on site at an Ofsted inspection at another?

12 February 2025

Astrea's use of external staff during inspections feeds into the multi-faceted current debate about Ofsted.

Revealed: the academy trust leader whose pay has trebled in 10 years

3 February 2025

The chief executive of England’s 11th-largest multi-academy trust saw his pay rise by at least £40,000 last year, or 13 per cent –meaning that his remuneration has trebled in the past decade.

Pay of leader of England’s largest multi-academy trust rose by up to 15 per cent last academic year

31 January 2025

The pay of the chief executive of England’s largest multi-academy trust rose by up to 15 per cent last academic year, newly-released accounts information has shown.

Academy trust which has generated income of more than £12m from phonics product starts “investigation into its tax status”

28 January 2025

A small multi-academy trust which has generated income of more than £12 million in three years from a phonics product faces a government fine after initiating an “investigation into its tax status,” Education Uncovered can reveal.

Church schools lead stampede to academy status ahead of deadline

27 January 2025

Church schools led a stampede of institutions towards academy status last month, as governing bodies rushed to take advantage of a �25,000 conversion grant before it was scrapped on New Year’s Day.

Biggest-ever strike against the practices of a multi-academy trust looms

22 January 2025

The largest-ever strike against the working practices of a multi-academy trust is in prospect, as teachers are consulted on industrial action at England’s second-largest chain.

Almost one in 10 teachers at some of England’s largest academy chains are unqualified, new analysis reveals

21 January 2025

Almost one in ten teachers working in some of England’s largest multi-academy trusts are unqualified, new analysis by this website of government data reveals today.

“I feel like a performing monkey:” staff survey at Astrea academy lifts lid on concerns about professional autonomy and alleged “culture of fear”

14 January 2025

Teachers at a controversy-beset academy in Cambridgeshire have spoken of living in a “culture of fear,” with two thirds of those responding to a union survey saying they did not feel valued in their jobs by management.

Privatisation of two primary schools called off in face of community campaign

10 January 2025

Plans to academise two local authority schools in Brighton and Hove have been shelved –to the delight of those in its community who voiced concerns in overwhelming numbers in the official consultation.

Outgoing multi-academy trust chief executive received six-figure sum for single term’s work

9 January 2025

The departing chief executive of a small multi-academy trust with a chequered history was paid more than �100,000 for a single term’s work, newly-published annual accounts reveal.

Outline of new “report card” structure for schools set out by England’s chief inspector

7 January 2025

England’s chief inspector of schools today set out the outline of a new “report card” structure for inspection reports, which will go out to consultation later this month and is expected to go live by September.

Ofsted inspector, chairing academy trust, led inspections of schools less than five miles away

20 December 2024

Ofsted is facing questions over whether it is policing possible conflicts of interest closely enough, after details emerged of an educationist having led inspections of academies less than five miles away from the headquarters of the academy trust which she chairs.

Conservatives try to block new law on school support staff pay and conditions from applying to academies

18 December 2024

Conservative MPs have been seeking to stop a new law, which aims to set national minimum pay and conditions expectations for school support staff, from applying to academies.

New children’s wellbeing and schools bill aims to bring to an end decades of high-profile academy freedoms

17 December 2024

Three freedoms which have been handed to academy trusts over the past two decades are to be scrapped if a new children’s wellbeing and schools bill, which was being introduced into Parliament today, become law.

Beleaguered chain of free schools appoints new interim CEO and announces “partnership” with local academy trust

12 December 2024

A chain of free schools which has been in turmoil in recent months has announced the appointment of an interim chief executive and plans for a “partnership” with another local academy trust, while a high-profile former Department for Education official has joined its board.

No links to the Cayman Islands, says academy trust’s leader. But its “sponsor” is registered there, published accounts state

10 December 2024

An academy trust chief executive has denied that the chain he oversees is “owned” by a US-controlled company –though in reality its governance structure is such that control sits with the latter.

Former academy executive headteacher found guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct”

9 December 2024

A prominent former academy headteacher has been found guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct” after having influence over the careers of a friend and her children but then failing to declare these relationships, and then stating that the friend had met all her professional objectives despite knowing that she had not.

English teenagers’ sense of “belonging” at secondary school among lowest in the world –and declining –new international survey reveals

5 December 2024

Hard-working, but not "belonging"? New TIMSS data poses more questions on English pupils' sense of wellbeing. Image (posed by model); iStock/Getty Images

“Phonics first, reading for pleasure after,” say most of the Department for Education’s “English Hubs”

5 December 2024

Some schools participating in the former government’s flagship programme to improve the teaching of phonics expressed concerns that it did not provide enough support to encourage reading for pleasure, a new Department for Education study has stated.

Consultant who works “in the academies sector” involved in consultation response for controversial academisation plans

4 December 2024

A consultant who has close ties to the academies sector has been appointed to collate community responses to controversial plans for two local authority schools to join a privately-controlled academy trust, Education Uncovered has learnt.