Callum Mason

Journalist working at i. Formerly of MoneySavingExpert.com and Tes.

Tes Magazine •

Costs hike, Brexit and Covid force boarding school shake-up

State boarding schools are facing “new and distinct challenges” caused by a “collision” of issues, including rising costs, Brexit and changes to working practices after the pandemic, headteachers have warned.

School leaders have told Tes that they are facing high running costs as well as the drop or disappearance of student supply from Hong Kong and from Europe post-Brexit.

Some are adapting their traditional boarding offer to include things like wraparound care and flexible bed and breakfast
Tes Magazine •

MATs shift cash to save primary schools

Multi-academy trusts that run both primary and secondary schools are increasingly being forced to divert funds towards younger pupils to prevent falling standards or closures in the face of funding pressures and declining rolls, leaders have told Tes.

And leaders of MATs - which have the freedom to distribute money between their schools as they choose, with some limits - expect the trend to become even more pronounced in the coming years as the decrease in pupil numbers accelerates.

Basic per-
Tes Magazine •

Strikes: DfE guidance to schools ‘practically unworkable’

School leaders across the country are preparing for a “lockdown 2.0” style of school opening operations as teacher strikes dates approach.

Leaders are putting plans in place for the safeguarding of vulnerable pupils and those preparing for major assessments as they warn strike action will “inevitably” lead to the merging of classes, remote learning and some school closures.

On Monday, the NEU, England’s largest teaching union, declared seven days of strike action in February and March, though
Tes Magazine •

‘Vulnerable’ schools denied repairs cash

Academy trusts are 85 per cent more likely to win government cash to keep school buildings safe if they can stump up large sums themselves, Tes can reveal.

Experts say the findings illustrate how “vulnerable” schools are “disadvantaged” by the bidding process for the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF), which pays for work such as boiler replacements and roof repairs.

This, headteachers warn, risks creating a “vicious cycle of deprivation and decline” because schools with the least resources are
Tes Magazine •

School sixth forms left out of funding boost at risk of closure

Schools could be forced to question the long-term “viability” of their sixth forms if funding levels are not increased, leaders have told Tes.

In the chancellor’s Autumn Statement last month schools were awarded a two-year funding boost of £2.3 billion per year from 2023, but post-16 settings were not given any extra cash.

The Department for Education said this means schools with sixth forms attached will be allocated money based on their 11-16 students, leading some trust and school leaders t
Tes Magazine •

Ofsted won’t judge schools on catch-up league table

Plans for Ofsted to use a “league table” of schools’ tutoring efforts as part of its inspection work have “died”, Tes has been told.

Earlier this year, former education secretary Nadhim Zahawi wrote to headteachers about a plan for parents in England to be given access to data revealing how their school is using the National Tutoring Programme (NTP), and said the data would also be shared with the schools’ inspection watchdog.

At the time, the Department for Education said it would work with O
Tes Magazine •

Why some schools won’t screen the World Cup

Some school leaders are choosing not to show England’s opening match at next week’s World Cup because of “ethical” concerns surrounding the tournament.

England men will take on Iran on Monday 21 November at 1pm GMT. This is the team’s only game scheduled to take place within school hours but, although many heads have previously chosen to show major matches that have taken place within the school day, many are opting not to do so this time.

FIFA’s choice to host the tournament in Qatar has been
Tes Magazine •

NTP: 850 schools set to have cash clawed back over missing form

Around 850 schools are set to have catch-up cash clawed back by the government because they did not return a form setting out how they spent the money.

Sector leaders are urging the Department for Education to be “accommodating” to those affected and say that taking back the money - worth tens of thousands of pounds in some cases - would be “tone deaf” given the financial pressures that schools are under.

Others say that smaller schools may have lacked the capacity to complete the form or to s
Tes Magazine •

Catch-up funding ‘will go unspent’

Catch-up cash allocated to schools will go “unspent” and have to be returned to the Treasury unless the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) rules are changed so schools no longer have to subsidise sessions from their own budgets, a union leader has told schools minister Nick Gibb today.

In a letter sent this morning and seen by Tes, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), said that many schools “simply cannot afford” to cover 40 per cent of the cos
Tes Magazine •

Academy target at risk as trusts fight for ‘survival’

The government’s drive for all schools to be in a multi-academy trust by 2030 is at increasing risk as trusts are “focusing on survival” over growth in the face of significant cost and recruitment challenges, experts have warned.

School leaders have told Tes they have paused expansion plans because of the financial pressures they are facing, and sector leaders have warned that trusts will have to “deprioritise” growth until there is clarity from ministers on funding.

In the Department for Educ
Tes Magazine •

Schools lose thousands shielding pupils from rising meal prices

Schools are having to find tens of thousands of pounds from their squeezed budgets to “cushion” the effects of meal price inflation for their pupils.

Headteachers have warned how catering costs have risen in recent months as a result of factors including the impact of the Ukraine war and increased energy prices.

But some school leaders feel that they cannot pass on the price increases to parents because the children of “just managing” families - those who fall just outside the eligibility for
Tes Magazine •

NTP ‘risks widening the attainment gap’

“Urgent” action - including bigger subsidies for schools - is needed to ensure that the “original focus” of the government’s flagship catch-up programme is not lost, tutoring organisations told the education secretary today.

In a letter sent to Kit Malthouse and seen by Tes, 14 organisations involved in the National Tutoring Programme (NTP) warn they have “serious concerns” that the NTP risks widening the attainment gap.

They write: “As a collective, we have serious concerns that if the NTP do
Tes Magazine •

Spend ‘hard-earned’ reserves on cost ‘challenges’, schools told

School leaders and sector experts have condemned as “worrying” and “fantasy economics” a government suggestion that schools could use reserves “earmarked for other purposes” to respond to financial challenges this autumn.

In response to a Tes query about school requests for financial assistance, the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) said that many trusts were “well placed” to respond to current financial “challenges”, and that this may mean “using reserves, which we know trusts have wo
Tes Magazine •

Special schools fighting ‘tooth and nail’ to keep hydrotherapy pools

Special schools are fighting “tooth and nail” to keep hydrotherapy pools open despite soaring costs leaving them in “impossible” situations, leaders have told Tes.

The pools are used by many pupils for therapeutic reasons, including physiotherapy, but rising energy bills and the increasing price of chemicals needed to treat the water are putting huge financial strain on budgets.

Special school headteachers have said that the cost of running the pools makes up a “huge proportion” of their soari
Tes Magazine •

Colder classes, staff cuts: why schools face a ‘catastrophic’ winter

School leaders are warning of the “catastrophic” measures they will be forced to take this winter - including restricting heating and cutting staff - as they face five-fold energy price hikes and unfunded pay rises.

Heads have told Tes they are “crying out” for intervention from the government, and say their budgets were “never designed” to cope with price increases on this scale.

One head at a local authority-maintained primary school told Tes they had already had to cut the equivalent of fou
Tes Magazine •

Rural schools reject advances from ‘inexperienced’ MATs

Rural schools are receiving “many” unsuitable advances from multi-academy trusts (MATs) hoping to recruit them but that lack relevant experience, according to a leading regional schools network organisation.

Schools North East, which represents 1,150 schools in the North East of England, says it is getting regular reports from member schools that local authority and single trust schools in parts of the region are being approached by - and rejecting - MATs, often from outside of the North East r
Tes Magazine •

Staff pay: special schools ‘on fast track to unviability’

The latest staff pay awards will “disproportionately” hit special schools and risk putting them on a “fast-track route to becoming unviable” financially, leaders are warning.

Last week it was announced that experienced teachers would get a 5 per cent pay rise from September 2022, which is higher than the 3 per cent figure the Department for Education had originally proposed in March.

And yesterday local authorities offered school support staff a flat pay rise of £1,925, with unions saying they
Tes Magazine •

School energy costs data delayed by 'political events', says DfE

The publication of key survey data showing how schools have been affected by rising gas and electricity bills has been delayed by ”recent political events” and ministerial changes, the Department for Education has said.

Back in May, schools were asked to fill in a survey setting out how much they are paying for gas and electricity, and whether their contracts were coming to an end, so the DfE could consider what “additional support” it could provide.

The survey closed a month and a half ago, o
Tes Magazine •

Teacher pay rises: schools ‘could be forced to cut jobs’

School leaders have warned that an “unfunded” increase in the teacher pay award announced this week has left them facing budget deficits of tens of thousands of pounds next year.

On Tuesday it was announced that experienced teachers would get a 5 per cent pay rise from September 2022, which is higher than the 3 per cent figure the department had originally proposed in its evidence to the School Teachers’ Review Body (STRB) in March.

But headteachers have warned that the announcement came after
Tes Magazine •

Food tech becoming 'too expensive to teach' as inflation soars

Food technology teachers have expressed fear about the future of the subject in schools, as high inflation means it could become “too expensive to teach”.

Subjects leads have told Tes that some ingredients have doubled in price, stretching already tight school budgets.

The way that schools manage the cost of ingredients for food-based subjects varies, with some providing the goods for the students and others asking learners to bring them in.

Some schools fall somewhere in between these two op
Tes Magazine •

Academies leader: ‘We won’t engage in new policy amid uncertainty’

The leading body representing the academy trust sector has warned the Department for Education (DfE) that it will not engage on new policy until there is “stability in government”.

In a statement shared with academy trust leader members this morning, the chief executive of the Confederation of School Trusts (CST), Leora Cruddas, said that the organisation will continue to engage with the DfE only on policy that is “already in train”, such as the regulatory review and the Schools Bill.

She adde
Tes Magazine •

Supply teachers limit travel to schools as fuel costs soar

Supply teachers are cutting the distance that they are willing to travel for work because of rising fuel costs and other financial pressures.

Fuel prices have risen steadily to record levels this year, with the price of petrol passing 190p per litre this week.

And many supply staff are starting to believe that long-distance commutes are no longer financially worthwhile.

Some have suggested to Tes that they are rejecting jobs when the travelling distance is 20 or 30 miles, and setting their li
Tes Magazine •

Revealed: schools’ ‘soul-destroying’ bids to fix broken buildings

Hundreds of schools are repeatedly facing “soul-destroying” rejections in applying for funding to fix crumbling school buildings, Tes can reveal.

School leaders say they are wasting time and resources bidding for funding - only to be knocked back multiple times and left with collapsing roofs and leaking windows.

They describe the process of applying for funding through the Condition Improvement Fund (CIF) - aimed at addressing “significant” need - as a “form of madness” that is delaying crucia
Tes Magazine •

No schools managed to switch energy using government service in 2022

Not a single school was able to successfully use a government-run service designed to help them secure cheaper energy deals in the final three months before it closed, data seen by Tes shows.

Crown Commercial Service’s (CCS) School Switch platform claimed to be able to help schools “save money” and access “bespoke tariffs” - but figures obtained by Tes under a freedom of information request show that no schools completed a successful energy switch using it in 2022.

In fact, the number of switc
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