Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “free schools”
The Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF)The Department for Education’s Trust Capacity Fund (TCaF) is designed to support the growth and development of academy trusts in England, offering financial assistance for trusts to enhance their capacity for managing more schools effectively. This funding aims at encouraging trusts to expand and improve, particularly by taking on underperforming schools in areas of high need, …
The Emergency School Improvement Fund (ESIF) Explained The Emergency School Improvement Fund (ESIF) from the Department for Education (DfE) is a crucial fund for schools to address challenges that demand immediate intervention. It is designed to offer financial support to schools that are facing unexpected or imminent failure in various areas such as leadership, governance, safeguarding, human resources, and finance.What is …
House of Lords 11-16 Education Report and Government Response Education for 11–16 Year Olds Committee Report In a 2023 report titled ‘Requires Improvement: Urgent Change for 11-16 Education’, a House of Lords Committee outlined relatively severe reforms it felt were urgently needed to improve the standards of 11-16 year olds’ education, with particular reference to the digital and green economies. A brief …
Kreston Reeves UKAcademies Benchmark Report 2024The Kreston Reeves UK Academies Benchmark Report for 2024 presents an in-depth analysis of the financial health and operational challenges facing academy trusts across the United Kingdom. The report, which draws on data from nearly 300 Trusts and over 2,300 schools, offers a comprehensive overview of the sector’s current state, highlighting the resilience and challenges …
DfE Updates ESFA Guidance The DfE recently updated it’s information and guidance on the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). Please keep reading below for a summary of the key additions and changes. If you’re interested in funding for your school or trust, PAG has a significant history of supporting our clients to secure funding and would be delighted to speak …
Capital Project Management In August, the Department for Education (DfE) released the results of applications for free schools in the Wave 15 round. As successful applicants embark on the next stages of their free school journey, they encounter the challenging and time-consuming pre-opening phase. For many schools in the pre-opening phase, the initial hurdles involve finding and securing suitable sites and …
PAG Explains: Capacity Mapping Here at PAG, we designed a Capacity Mapping service to ensure that the resource and capacity structures in growing organisations are fit for purpose. It is vital to safeguard against lack of capacity within members of your central or executive team to ensure that you can work towards each milestone, project, and strategic priority effectively and efficiently …
PAG Explains: Setting up a Multi-Academy Trust Over the last month, the Department for Education has announced plans for the next couple of years of Trust Capacity Funding (TCaF) as well as details of the new Trust Establishment and Growth Fund (TEG). Alongside this, they also released trust development statements from each of the Educational Investment Areas, outlining the educational …
What to expect from SEND Free Schools Wave 3In late 2022, Local Authorities (LAs) were invited to apply to establish special free schools in their areas. This marked the third wave of the SEND free schools application process, which aims to create a more inclusive education system across the UK since 2014.The Department for Education has still not revealed the …
PAG Explains: Pre-Opening Project Management The Pre-opening Phase is a vital part of the free school process. Whether you’ve been successful via the central free school waves or via local authority competition, this is the next stage of your journey and far fewer schools emerge from this process than enter it. In many cases, schools do not pass pre-opening for …