Stories + Views: Free Schools

Page 4 of 39« First...23456...102030...Last »
Avatar Image

Fiona Millar: Following the public pound, or not, as the case may be.

Earlier this year I wrote this post about the Prime Minister's claim to Margaret Hodge, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, that academy funding was as transparent as funding for maintained schools. Mrs Hodge, also a member of the House of Commons Liaison Committee which interrogates the PM from time to time, had asked how it was possible to "follow the ... read more and comment →

12 comments

Latest comment by Janet Downs: "Rebecca - Cuckoo Hall is one of the three primary schools (two of them are free schools) which make up the Cuckoo Hall Academy Trust (CHAT), a small academy chain which has been given the go-ahead ot open a secondary ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Francis Gilbert: LGA head says free schools are not solving the demand for extra school places. Why won’t the DfE tell us where the “hot spots” are?

Last night's Newsnight programme had an item on free schools in which the chair of the Local Government Association Children's Board (LGA) intimated that free schools are not opening in the areas that have real pressure on school places. Speaking to BBC Newsnight, Mr Simmonds said: "What we'd like to see is government approving free schools primarily where that will meet ... read more and comment →

21 comments

Latest comment by Anastasia Ignatieff: "The OECD recommendation on increased school choice seems based on simple logic. 'One way to ensure that schools spend deprivation funds on the disadvantaged student is to improve user choice for these students. User choice remains relatively limited for students from ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Fiona Millar: Some good and bad features of the new school admissions system, according to the adjudicator.

The annual report of the Office of the Schools Adjudicator was slipped out last month, without much publicity. This is a shame as it makes some important points. The OSA has specific, but limited powers. It must ensure compliance with the Admissions Code and can receive objections to the admissions arrangements of individual schools by parents or other members of the ... read more and comment →

3 comments

Latest comment by Fiona Millar: "Have put in the Comprehensive Future again and it seems to be working ( on my computer at least!). It contains some other useful information...."

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Alan Bowles: Mr Gove is biasing the case again!

The national press has reported there will be more money for schools in the Autumn statement. Not true! There will be more money for building Academies and free schools . One version of this data added and 'well run' schools . Which version is correct. Assuming the former, this is cooking the books against local authority maintained schools. Is this ... read more and comment →

One comment

Latest comment by Janet Downs: "The £1billion isn't exactly new money, whatever the spin. It's the £1 billion overspent on the academies programme. Any of this "extra" £1 billion which is spent on building new schools will be for academies or free schools. ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Francis Gilbert: Gove’s “Blob” is really growing! Are we witnessing the birth of a new educational establishment?

[caption id="attachment_8900" align="aligncenter" width="355"] Gove's educational blob[/caption] A full sized version of the picture can be found by clicking on the picture below: Michael Gove is reputed to have compared the educational establishment to a Blob that he has to fight against; a monstrous jelly-like monster which has its blobby fingers on every pupil in UK's schools. It's not difficult to guess what ... read more and comment →

28 comments

Latest comment by Rebecca Hanson: "Thanks Janet. Essentially, deep down, a coherent 'Tory' agenda focuses on the custodianship and management of education - ensuring there is custodianship and that managers are free to manage. Through proper consultation the Labour academies program was kept in check ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Janet Downs: Telegraph says New Schools Network supports Gove – should the Charity Commission investigate?

Gove’s success as a wily politician is, according to the Daily Telegraph, because he seeks “to subvert the Whitehall system” and has external support: “Baroness Thatcher relied on the Centre for Policy Studies (she didn’t even trust Tory HQ). Iain Duncan Smith uses the Centre for Social Justice, which designed his “universal credit” welfare revolution. Gove uses the New Schools ... read more and comment →

No comments

Be the first to comment!

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Janet Downs: Free schools tend to offer “classical model of education” and don’t set up in disadvantaged areas, research has found

Do free schools mainly service middle-class parents worried about the “social mix” of local primaries? Or do they appeal to parents attracted by the “trimmings” of an independent school? Or, as education secretary, Michael Gove claims, are they driving social mobility in disadvantaged areas? Dr Rob Higham, whose research is summarised in Leadership Focus, attempted to answer these questions. He scrutinised ... read more and comment →

35 comments

Latest comment by FJM: "Not sometimes, but always. Most LSN contributors are obsessed with attacking Michael Gove and Toby Young and opposing any reform of anything to do with state education. They are certainly rattled by what is going on...."

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Melissa Benn: Mixed messages from Sweden

An interesting insight into developments in Swedish education when I participated yesterday in a seminar on Swedish free schools and their continuing impact on Britain's education, hosted by the Swedish embassy. As LSN readers will recall, Michael Gove made much of the success of Sweden’s free schools prior to the 2010 election; as Rachel Wolf, CEO of the New Schools ... read more and comment →

49 comments

Latest comment by Campbell Live Reflections « The Daily Blog: "[...] Also something to consider is “other evidence on free schools indicates growing social and ethnic segregation, and intensifying issues regarding admissions”  Source  [...]..."

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Henry Stewart: Stephen Twigg sees a role for Local Authorities … but is it enough?

Tonight Stephen Twigg, Labour Education spokesperson, gave the annual Caroline Benn memorial lecture at the House of Commons (full speech here). He restated his commitment to comprehensive schools and to a "one nation education system". I came keen to know his plans for the new secondary school terrain. With any future Labour government inheriting a mixture of maintained schools,  independent academies, ... read more and comment →

25 comments

Latest comment by Tony Chuan: "Thank you. There seem to be two unrelated points in the reference. 1. Evidence linking user choice with educational outcomes is mixed 2. The World Bank and the OECD both recognise that education systems which are more equitable perform ......"

Comment + Debate
Avatar Image

Janet Downs: 20% of first-wave Free Schools in breach of Admissions Code

Five of the 24 first-wave free schools have been found to be in breach of the Schools Admission Code. In July, the Schools Adjudicator ruled that the Maharishi Free School and the Langley Hall Primary Academy were not compliant. In August the Adjudicator found fault with the admission arrangements of the Barnfield Moorland Free School, part of the Barnfield Federation, ... read more and comment →

No comments

Be the first to comment!

Comment + Debate
Page 4 of 39« First...23456...102030...Last »