General
Thursday
Mothballing rural schools ‘a betrayal of communities’
Fears have been raised that councils are increasingly mothballing rural schools – with campaigners saying the move is ‘closure by stealth’
Disadvantage absence gap widens in Year 7
Wider absence gap between disadvantaged pupils and their peers after transition to secondary could be partly down to differences in ‘parental support’, say analysts
Concern as MAT growth advisory meetings halted
Leader calls for ‘full transparency about academy decisions’ as 91 reveals that regional advisory boards will not meet or publish minutes in pre-election period
Limited SEND funding pledges pose ‘serious threat’ to provision
The next government must tackle the challenges of the special educational needs and disabilities system, urges Education Policy Institute
Wednesday
Schools ‘in the dark’ over budgets after manifesto pledges
None of the main parties’ election manifestos offer ‘significant extra levels of core funding to help schools’ meet their financial challenges, IFS warns
DfE ‘robs’ schools of £1.9bn for crumbling buildings, say unions
School Cuts coalition calculates schools could have an extra £36,000 each on average if the DfE distributed unspent capital funds
Tuesday
DfE to spend nearly £5m researching risks of older school buildings
The project will use artificial intelligence to learn about ‘defects’ associated with different types of buildings
GCSEs: Deprived schools worst hit by teacher absence
Challenges facing this year’s GCSE exams cohort are significantly higher in disadvantaged schools, findings suggest
Sexual harassment and sexism ‘rife’, say support staff
Union findings come as support staff are told to reject pay offer of up to 5.77 per cent
