Digging around in the undergrowth of schools reform in England Warwick Mansell's news and analysis site
Stricken academy trust lifts the lid on its recent “crisis”, as it closes having reported a deficit of nearly £2.5 million
Academy trust “scraps creative subjects mid-course”, at free school which was founded to emphasise creativity
Thirteen free schools on list of government-funded refurbishment projects for 2020-21
Oak National Academy mentioned in DfE job advert as example of multi-academy trusts playing “key roles in school improvement”, as department presses on with academisation agenda
Steiner free schools debacle shows failure of government drive to promote genuine “diversity” in state system
Family asks why Steiner ethos of no formal literacy teaching in early years has been ditched, in former Steiner free school
Primary to become the 15th free school to close outright
The £11m U-turn over town centre free school project
A waiting game for “homeless” free school as trust is wound up
Government agrees £4 million deal for academy trust to do building work at free school which won architectural award only four years ago
Head of government’s free schools property company awarded £30k-plus bonus, to take remuneration package to nearly £240,000
Free school saw parents “encouraged to home-educate” their children, inspectors conclude as they fail it
Demise of London free school which had sought to echo its founder’s educational experience in 1980s Vienna
Plans to move one-form-entry free school to £14 million former police station site blocked by council – six years after it opened in temporary premises
Free school closure “left child curled up on the floor in the foetal position, sobbing”, says mother
Doomed free school cost £1,500 per pupil per year in rent costs alone, analysis of FOI disclosures suggests
New sign of academy numbers plateauing
High-profile free school was wrong to dismiss former office administrator for gross misconduct, tribunal found
Latest chaotic free school saga sees institution facing possible closure, after DfE fails to get local authority to accept controversial planning application
10 free schools opened with 25 pupils or fewer last year, including one with only nine children
Revealed: string of free schools failing Ofsted inspections
Academy chains taking over the free schools project
Critics still seeking answers over protracted primary free school project
School run by large academy trust threatened with closure. Down the road, new free school, run by same trust, recently opened
New parent-led free schools “increasingly rare”, concedes New Schools Network, as former group member offers detailed critique
What’s wrong with parent-promoted free schools?
Revealed: how minister Nick Gibb visited only 10 schools in non-academy state sector in three years
Two free schools founder, including one for which the DfE spent £13.5m on start-up costs
DfE fails to meet pledge to National Audit Office to publish free schools costs by end of 2018
Former free school’s posthumous league table triumph re-ignites community’s anger
Investigating the bulge in catchment area of £14m primary free school
Could this be the most expensive free school in England?
National Audit Office refuses to release capital costs of individual free school projects
Expensive new free school, in echo of another, says teachers must be prepared to “make mountains out of molehills”
Nearly one in five free schools operating at under two-thirds of the pupils they need to fill in seven years
Three revamped University Technical Colleges on list of free schools opening next week
Controversial merger exposes “risks” of setting up free schools without “basic” need for more places, court papers warn
“Bilingual” free school is not bilingual, parent warns
Riddle of academy chain’s acquisition of free school site for £1- and the answer
The gossip: week of June 4th
Rolling news blog, week of June 4th
Trust opening new free school in town consults on job cuts at other school it runs there
DfE rated 1/10 on free school capital spending disclosures
Is it fair to compare pay of a multi-academy trust CEO to that of a headteacher in the maintained sector?
Free schools trust with fewer than 250 children paid chief executive £120-£130k a year
Revealed: leading free schools chain needs extra cash to survive
