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A recent publication from the Department for Education highlighted that social mobility remains the top priority after the new year cabinet reshuffle. The DfE’s single departmental plan (SDP) sets out four key objectives, supporting one overarching ambition: that no community is left behind.[1] In addition to these objectives, the strategic plan focuses on the 12 Opportunity Areas which were announced …

  In September 2017 the former Secretary of State for Education, Justine Greening, announced that the Department for Education would implement the National Funding Formula (NFF). The NFF aims to ensure that the resources the Government invests in schools will be distributed according to a formula based on the individual needs and characteristics of every school in the country. The …

Yesterday’s cabinet reshuffle saw the appointment of former DWP Minister Damian Hinds as Secretary of State for Education. He replaces Justine Greening who unexpectedly resigned from Government. Mr Hinds attended St Ambrose Grammar School in Cheshire, which became an academy in 2012. He then went on to study PPE at Trinity College, Oxford. After graduating, Damian Hinds spent 18 years …

The Government and sector leaders have given increasing focus to the question of vocational qualifications in the education system. Government plans to reform the FE sector and post-16 system via the introduction of ‘T-Levels’, and the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, will in theory put vocational qualifications on more of an equal footing with traditional academic A-Levels. The perception that …

Tes has been made aware that the DfE is expected to target the opening of new free schools in the bottom third of the country in terms of educational standards. Tes understands the government’s forthcoming Social Mobility Action Plan will state that the majority of central government free schools will be in poorer performing areas. There is an expectation that …

Around 6,000 children are educated in 334 residential special schools and colleges, in the state, non-maintained and independent sectors. These placements cost an estimated £500m per annum and typically cater for those with the highest needs, This prompted the Lenehan Review for the DfE that has been published in the context of the implementation of the Children and Families Act …

  Yesterday, A-Level students received the fruition of their two years of work. This year is particularly significant given that it is the first set of results since the 2015 reforms introduced in a number of subjects in 2015. The main feature of these reforms is the complete separation of the AS and A Levels. Before 2015 AS Level exams …