Lucy Smith
Education, Government, School

£2.4 billion funding boost for England’s schools

Thousands of schools across England are to benefit from a £2.4 billion cash injection, Education Secretary Justine Greening has announced. The news comes as councils say they need to create over 230,000 primary and secondary school places nationally between 2017 and 2020. The funding is aimed at providing a further boost to the government’s drive to help create over 600,000 extra places by 2021, which will generate additional capacity to meet local demand. According to the Department for Education, schools,…

Lucy Smith
Education, Government, Statistics

The Spring Budget 2017 – Implications for education

Chancellor Philip Hammond has confirmed that the government will allocate £320m to free schools which will “enable the creation of new academically selective free schools” – grammar schools in all but name. This money will be used to help fund up to 140 new schools, creating more than 70,000 new places. The Budget will also include a further £216 million to rebuild and refurbish existing schools in England, to ensure that they are fit for purpose. The investment is intended…

Lucy Smith
Education, Statistics, University

Number of students awarded first class degrees soars

The proportion of firsts handed out by UK universities has soared, with a third of institutions now grading at least one in four degrees with the top honour. In some cases, the proportion has more than doubled in five years, according to Press Association analysis of official data. New figures detailing student enrolment and qualifications show a quarter of students at UK universities now graduate with a first-class degree – a dramatic increase from just 17 percent in 2012. Last…