All posts tagged: academy

Sponsored academy pupils make ‘less ambitious’ post-16 choices

Sponsored academy pupils make ‘less ambitious’ post-16 choices

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Pupils at sponsored academies are likely to make “less ambitious” post-16 choices, while the opposite is true for selective schools and free schools, a new report has shown. Female students are also more likely to enrol in post-16 courses that are less challenging than their results would indicate. The Nuffield College-funded report found “clear and systemic patterns”, with school type, gender and background being major factors in whether students enrolled in post-16 destinations that ‘matched’ their ability, based on their previous performance. It was conducted by Education Policy Institute (EPI) and the UCL Centre for Education Policy and Equalising Opportunities, using national administrative data tracking students from secondary school through to higher education. While the report recognises that some “mismatch” between outcomes and prior attainment is normal and desirable, systemic differences in mismatch based on students’ backgrounds suggests that some groups face structural barriers. Sam Tuckett, associate director for post-16 and skills at EPI, said the differences in outcomes “are not explained by prior attainment”, but “reflect the environments students learn in, the peers and …

First academy trust rapped for confidentiality clause

First academy trust rapped for confidentiality clause

Published by Miika Tikkanen

New rules state such clauses ‘must not be used unless the trust has received prior DfE approval’ New rules state such clauses ‘must not be used unless the trust has received prior DfE approval’ An academy trust broke rules after using a confidentiality clause while cutting ties with an employee. This is the first known case of a trust falling foul of the new rules surrounding settlement agreements with outgoing employees since they were quietly changed last year. And legal expert Jean Boyle, of Stone King, urged the government to give “greater clarity” over the use of the clauses as leaders remain confused over when they can be used. “Trusts remain unclear as to whether consent is required when an employee requests confidentiality provisions,” she said. “In addition, it is unclear as to whether confidentiality provisions which are already in the contracts of employment of departing employees will be allowed to be reasserted.” The academy trust handbook states that all settlements of £50,000 or more must get approval. Changes ‘took many trusts by surprise’ Latest …

Ai Weiwei Says London’s Royal Academy Sought to Eject Him After Post–October 7 Tweet about Jews

Ai Weiwei Says London’s Royal Academy Sought to Eject Him After Post–October 7 Tweet about Jews

Published by José Betancourt

In a new interview with The Guardian in advance of his forthcoming book On Censorship, artist Ai Weiwei talked about experiencing censorship not just in his native China but also in the West—including an incident involving his membership in London’s Royal Academy. After chronicling some of his storied challenges and acts of defiance against China’s communist regime, Ai told writer Lanre Bakare he feels “the same kind of surveillance, same kind of censorship in the west.” As Bakare recounts, “Pressed for an example, he tells me a story about the Royal Academy in London, an institution that gave him a landmark exhibition in 2015 and made him an honorary member in 2011 following his detainment in China. In November 2023, an exhibition of new works to be shown at the Lisson Gallery was pulled after he posted a tweet that began: ‘The sense of guilt around the persecution of the Jewish people has been, at times, transferred to offset the Arab world.’ The tweet was deleted, with the artist telling journalists his show had ‘effectively …

Oscars Nominees 2026: The Academy Tries to Be Relevant Again

Oscars Nominees 2026: The Academy Tries to Be Relevant Again

Published by José Betancourt

This morning’s Oscar nominations capped a year marked by a stunning run of critical and commercial success for one of Hollywood’s biggest—and most discussed—studios. Warner Bros. dominated proceedings with big hauls for One Battle After Another and Sinners. The latter, a vampire story set in 1930s Mississippi, made Academy history by becoming the most nominated film of all time: It earned 16 nods, two higher than the previous record holders, Titanic, La La Land, and All About Eve. The Academy Awards are commonly defined these days by a struggle for relevance, making the fact that such high-quality, nonfranchise movies from a major studio connected with audiences a considerable boon—especially after last year’s show, which celebrated a swath of more inscrutable indie pictures. That success still came with familiar existential baggage for the film industry. Warner Bros., while making creative bets that paid off, has been embroiled in high-stakes merger drama for several months. Netflix and Paramount have both vied to purchase the studio, which in either case would create a corporate behemoth likely less inclined …

Arthur Terry academy trust did no internal audit

Arthur Terry academy trust did no internal audit

Published by Miika Tikkanen

Trouble-hit Arthur Terry Learning Partnership could receive a further £1 million in emergency funding Trouble-hit Arthur Terry Learning Partnership could receive a further £1 million in emergency funding A trouble-hit academy trust has admitted it did not conduct internal financial checks as its deficit swelled to more than £8 million and it received another government loan to keep it afloat.  Accounts for the Arthur Terry Learning Partnership show the 24-school MAT could also receive a further £1 million in emergency funding.  Schools Week previously revealed how Arthur Terry had racked up seven-figure losses after purchasing iPads as part of an initiative to provide 11,000 devices for all pupils and staff.  The news comes after another major trust pulled itself out of six-figure deficit and into a surplus of more than £1 million.  Deficit grows In 2024, Arthur Terry was issued with a notice to improve by the DfE on financial grounds after being offered a £1.5 million government loan and posting an almost £4 million deficit.  But 2024-25 accounts, published this week, show it received more …