www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

How parents and pupils took on 'cruel', 'authoritarian' schools - and won

Discipline at an academy trust went too far - parents, pupils and former teachers tell BBC Panorama.

bbc.co.uk

New: Catholic dioceses face accusations of refusing to appoint governors who fail to back their academisation plans educationuncovered.co.uk/news/catholi... “Forced academy” controversies building in the dioceses of Westminster and Lancaster.

New: Anglican academy trust broke own asbestos management plan and exposed pupils and staff to the substance, parents allege in official complaint educationuncovered.co.uk/news/anglica... Long-read investigation piece on asbestos management at Lancashire’s biggest school.

"We can't just leave these kids out and hope for the best. It will cost us all in the end. We need a more inclusive approach." Steve Chalke, of the Oasis MAT, in R4 Today debate on school behaviour policies, and minority left struggling. ( www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... from 1.43)

Today - 20/07/2026 - BBC Sounds

News and current affairs, including Sports Desk, Weather and Thought for the Day.

bbc.co.uk

Press release from NEU sees Daniel Kebede, its gen sec, criticising the government's decision to grant Oak National Academy "increased annual funding" of £22.8m for 2026-27. DK adds: "Schools simply don't rate what Oak provides. It is a narrow and uninspiring model and should be thing of past."

BBC South West news had piece yesterday on the demise of the super-strict Athena Learning Trust. Features Cornwall councillor reported to have taken his daughter with SEN out of one of its schs "over the school's behaviour policies, inc the use of reflection". www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/epis... (12:30).

Spotlight - Evening News: 14/07/2026

The latest news, sport, weather and features from the South West of England.

bbc.co.uk

Breaking news indeed: Academy trust which has been under huge pressure over its super-strict behaviour management policies, seems to be confirming today that it is to be broken up: www.thepost.uk.com/news/controv...

Controversial Athena Learning Trust set to dissolve amid community concerns

It comes after months in the spotlight following significant concern surrounding the trust’s approach to teaching and discipline

thepost.uk.com

Comments in this Schools Week piece on the government's new salary cap for academy trust executives, with some sector leaders critical, are pretty extraordinary: schoolsweek.co.uk/over-180-aca...

Over 180 academy bosses earn above Labour's £174,000 cap

Union boss says schools are struggling while salary 'gravy train' allows CEOs to get bumper rises

schoolsweek.co.uk

Revealed: Tom Bennett was categorised by the Northern Ireland government as “uniquely qualified” to advise it on school behaviour, and thus the position was not advertised educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/dia... Interesting FOI about appointment process for recently-announced post.

Suspension rates for children with EHCPs are running at almost four times those for non-SEND pupils, latest DfE figs show. For PX rates, the increase in likelihood from non-SEND to EHCP is more than 4 to 1. Anyone defending/explaining this?

Wow: school leaders' union @ascl-uk.bsky.social states in press release: "We believe the time has come for business and executive leaders to fall within the remit of the STRB and be included in the STPCD." Time finally for a national structure for MAT executives' pay?

New: England’s newly “local” multi-academy trust regime will see London-based chain setting up a branch in Yorkshire for the first time educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/dia...

Hi @arkschools.bsky.social , your exec pay disclosures don't appear to be in line with the Academy Trust Handbook. You've disclosed them without pensions payments: arkonline.org/wp-content/u... but ATH says pensions payments must be included: www.gov.uk/government/p... (point 2.29). Need to correct?

There seems a clear problem in terms of "GAG pooling" in the academies sector, in that this puts all funds in a MAT into one big MAT pot, so you can't see school-level funding. Seems a big problem re transparency, therefore. Anyone here want to defend it?

New: “We can’t release the public cost of our inquiry, because whistleblowers would be blamed,” Catholic academy trust argues in response to FOI. educationuncovered.co.uk/news/we-cant...

MAT system we have now owes much to both Blair and Gove, I think. Under Blair (borrowing from Conservative City Tech Colleges policy), individuals could be handed control of schools, in small no of specific circs, bypassing LAs. Gove seized on model to use for entire state-funded system.

New: A property developer or an educationist? Influential academy trust chief executive and chair answers questions over related companies educationuncovered.co.uk/news/a-prope...

New: chart shows recent pay rises for England’s five most well-remunerated academy chief executives: educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/dat... With the government reported now to be moving to cap pay at £174k, I thought I’d look at rises at top end, which provide some context.

Looks like a significant story, here, from Schools Week on academy CEO pay: Government plans NHS-style rules for academy CEO pay schoolsweek.co.uk/government-p...

Government plans NHS-style rules for academy CEO pay

'These are public funds, and executive pay must represent proper value for money'

schoolsweek.co.uk

Harrowing BBC piece, based on File on 4 investigation, on use of isolation in schools. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article... Scrutiny stepping up on "no excuses" behaviour policies, it seems, following Mossbourne safeguarding review and Athena developments.

Pupil put in isolation booth for more than half a school year, BBC learns

The pupil's experience in a Yorkshire school highlights concerns about zero-tolerance behaviour policies.

bbc.co.uk

How can you not have Seamus Heaney???

Warwick Mansell@warwickmansell.bsky.social · last mo.

There has been criticism on social media that Seamus Heaney is among the writers not to feature. This seems a powerful point, given the overwhelming presence of English and US authors among those mentioned for possible teaching in this document.

New: Northern Irish writers almost entirely absent from draft new Northern Ireland English curriculum educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/dia... Statistical analysis of exemplar authors mentioned in the draft shows only two of 78 writers are of Northern Irish nationality.

New (open access) piece: Headteacher survey raises yet more questions for Ofsted educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/hea... Think piece about today's "What heads really think about Ofsted" report, including highlighting a few themes in the responses.

PR comes my way from TES, my employer of a long time ago and now apparently a "global tech company," re its annual awards. Have had people approach already with concerns about a couple of nominations.These things do sometimes feel like hostages to fortune. www.tes.com/magazine/new...

Tes Schools Awards 2026 winners announced

This year’s awards, celebrating excellence and innovation across the sector, attracted a record number of nominations

tes.com

New: Roman Catholic priest, working for diocese running three MATs, pens scorching critique of trust system educationuncovered.co.uk/news/roman-c...

New: Academy trust with 10 per cent-plus topslice bids to close town’s only sixth form educationuncovered.co.uk/news/academy... Proposal by Unity Schools Partnership,once run by the DfE’s Tim Coulson,to close Felixstowe’s only state post-16 provision,seems to have implications for national debate.

The Commons Ed Committee has announced a new inquiry on the non-SEND aspects of the government's schools white paper, inc on DfE's expectation for all state-funded schools eventually to join or form a "school trust" - ambiguous terminology persisting. V interesting.

"People expected something different from the Labour government,+what we’ve got is a continuation of Tory policy on academisation,” states NASUWT's Matt Wrack, re union members' surprise at Lab white paper all-academy move. Hopes Burnham would reverse this, if PM. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Top teaching union backs Burnham as Labour’s best chance of beating Reform

Exclusive: NASUWT leader Matt Wrack also calls for more robust change from the government on education policy

theguardian.com

New: Can Ofsted deliver what it promises? A test case… educationuncovered.co.uk/analysis/com...