Warwick Mansell

It means teachers from these countries are now treated in the same way as those from others including the EU, US and Canada have been. NEU highlighting the change as a result of campaigning.

The change means that, whereas previously teacher recruits from countries including Jamaica, Ghana, India and Nigeria had only been put on fast-track route to QTS if they taught some secondary shortage subjects, now all are in that category.

Move came 12 months after Observer story highlighting plight of some Jamaican teachers left years on unqualified teacher scale at Harris Federation.

New: Government makes significant concession to overseas-trained teachers, as recruits from six countries are given fast-track access to Qualified Teacher Status, after 12 months' teaching here.
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/governm...

Some explanation of why that might be in this piece - reserves increased in both sectors during pandemic; big trusts spend less at classroom level - plus reaction.

This equated to 10.9 per cent of annual income held in reserve in academy trusts, compared to 7.1 per cent in LA maintained schools.

The academies sector as a whole had £2.7 billion in reserve in 2023-24, DfE data shows, compared to £1.8 billion in local authority maintained schools.

New: Cutting academy reserves to level seen in LA schools would release £1.5 billion for spending in classrooms
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/cutting...
New piece comparing levels of reserves in the academy and non-academy school sectors.

I’m going to do a separate thread about an accompanying story I’ve done on this, setting out the impact of reducing academy reserves to that seen in the non-academy (maintained school) sector.

DfE told me: “Our guidance clearly states that trusts must be transparent in how they manage their reserves and we will engage with any that are not adhering to the expected standard.”

NEU argument that the private management of academy trusts can leave decision-making on such vital matters to take place behind the scenes, without boards seemingly having to justify decisions in detail, seems powerful.

Defining all of these reserves as useable – and Cockburn's accounts suggest that most of them are generated through normal DfE running cost grants – and following DfE recommendations for reserve levels would suggest this trust should spend an extra £20m rather than holding it back.

And another small chain, Cockburn Multi-Academy Trust, had £26.6m in reserves, or 80 per cent of its annual income, though it only seemed to count £3m of this as “free” reserves in its accounts.

Star Academies had reserves of £40 million, or 22 per cent of its annual income, which was very high as a proportion of income for such a large trust.

Brampton Manor Academy faced controversy in 2021 after losing an employment tribunal case, after which it emerged that it was only paying teachers statutory sick pay of less than £100 a week, as it adopted a “zero tolerance of staff absence” policy.

Individual stories within this list are remarkable. One academy trust with only two schools, albeit very large ones – the Brampton Manor Trust, in East London, had reserves of £38 million as of 2023-24, or 91 per cent of its annual income.

The figures come with the DfE having told the School Teachers’ Review Body that: “There is significant potential in under-utilised assets across the school sector, including sizeable financial reserves.”

Daniel Kebede, general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Parents and staff will be shocked to learn that such large sums are being held by the organisations that manage their schools.”

The 10 trusts holding the highest amounts collectively held more than a third of a billion pounds in reserve between them.

Collectively, the amount these trusts held in reserve added up to more than half of the reserves of all of England’s non-academy schools put together, despite the trusts’ collective income being only just over a quarter of that seen in the non-academy sector.

The list in this piece shows that 63 trusts had £1.006 billion between them held in bank accounts or investments in 2023-24, which equated to 15 per cent of their annual income.

New: The academy chains sitting on £1 billion of reserves
educationuncovered.co.uk/news/the-aca...
Exclusive Education Uncovered analysis of DfE school finance data comes with the government having said schools could be doing more with money currently held back.

Nevertheless, it seems to me not completely clear what happens to Nether Stowe’s sixth form now, with the minister’s decision implying it will be open to year 12 in September, but with the trust’s statement to parents not offering a definitive statement on this.

Lots of people praising the MP Dave Robertson on his Facebook page for this latest development, with those local options seemingly kept open for local teenagers.

The trust is quite well-known, its £80m income in 2023-24 making it just outside England’s 50 largest chains, and with its chief executive, Richard Gill, the chair of the Teaching School Hubs Council.

The trust’s finances have been plunged into difficulty in recent years, a decision to buy 11,000 iPads for pupils and staff seemingly having played a significant part.

The trust had argued that the sixth form had had “very low numbers for a number of years,” though I reported last month that latest official data put its roll, as of January, at slightly higher than that stipulated in its funding agreement with the DfE.

Her letter to the MP Dave Robertson said it was committed to protecting post-16 capacity in the area, particularly for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

But the final closure decision always rested with the DfE. And, after intervention from the local Labour MP, a former student who spoke out against the move at Labour conference, minister Georgia Gould blocked it.

The 24-school academy chain had taken the decision to close the sixth form at Nether Stowe School in Lichfield, Staffs, going so far as to shut it to year 12 entrants this September.