Big cuts to come, headteachers warn in survey

Schools will be forced to slash their budgets despite government pledges that spending on education would be untouched, according to headteachers’ leaders. In a survey of nearly 500 school leaders, more than half (55 per cent) said that making cutbacks would be a major priority in the forthcoming academic year. This rose to more than two-thirds (71 per cent) among secondary headteachers. The report by law firm Browne Jacobson was commissioned by the Association of School and College Leaders, which claimed that the cuts would result in larger class sizes and narrower subject options. See all the results.

Hey up, Educating Yorkshire’s won an Emmy

Educating Yorkshire, the hugely successful fly-on-the-wall documentary about Thornhill Community Academy in Dewsbury, has won a prestigious International Emmy Award in the US. The 2013 show, the second in Channel 4‘s Educating. series, is a warts-and-all portrayal of school life in a small town in West Yorkshire and was named best non-scripted entertainment at the International Emmys. The programme was created by production house Twofour, which has since licensed the format to China, where the show will be called The School.

Private schools hit back over Tristram Hunt’s `offensive bigotry’

Shadow education secretary Tristram Hunt faced a backlash from private schools after he pledged to strip them of valuable tax breaks if they failed to support their state-funded counterparts. Mr Hunt warned that a Labour government would deny private schools their business rates relief, worth around pound;700 million, if they failed to pass new tests that showed they were working with the state sector. The move led to Mr Hunt being accused of “offensive bigotry” by Mark Beard, headteacher of his own former private school, University College School in London. Hans van Broekman, principal of Liverpool College, a former private school turned academy, also criticised the move on the TES website, writing that private school involvement in state education would be of little benefit. More should be done to give less affluent children access to private schools, he added.

How boarding `stability’ helps vulnerable children

New guidance on how a boarding school education can help vulnerable children is being produced for local authorities. A placement in a state boarding school could provide “much-needed stability to the lives of vulnerable children who might not otherwise receive the support they need early in life”, schools minister Lord Nash told delegates at the State Boarding Schools’ Association annual conference earlier this week. Research conducted by charities involved in placing children in boarding schools found a strong link with improved educational outcomes, the Department for Education said.

IoE-UCL merger aims to `extend global influence’

The University of London’s Institute of Education (IoE) and University College London have announced that they are to merge. The IoE will become a single-faculty school, known as the UCL Institute of Education, and no redundancies will be made as a result of the change. Professor Chris Husbands, director of the IoE, said the merger offered “huge prizes” including “the opportunity to extend global influence”.