Three-quarters of state schools in the richest parts of Birmingham are rated “outstanding” by Ofsted – compared to just 15% of schools in the poorest areas. New analysis of data published by the education watchdog has revealed an alarming ratings gap between schools in the most and least deprived…

A secondary school in Tamworth will be expanded to accommodate more than 1,200 pupils. Staffordshire County Council’s cabinet has made the decision to expand The Rawlett School, an AET Academy, and increase the capacity from 960 to 1,260 places. This means the school will expand by 60 places per year…

The city council has moved to press on with a controversial five-year contract for Veolia to handle Birmingham’s waste disposal services. The Resources scrutiny committee had ‘called in’ and blocked the decision last week but yesterday (Tuesday, January 15) the Cabinet voted once again to approve it. Veolia manages…

A Birmingham City Council watchdog is finally set for long-overdue dissolution despite remaining concerns about how the authority is being run. The Birmingham Independent Improvement Panel was set up by the government in January 2015 on the back of the damning review by Sir Bob Kerslake which highlighted major issues…

Walsall’s two selective schools will be expanded to give disadvantaged children the chance of getting places there. The Mercian Trust, to which both Queen Mary’s High and Queen Mary’s Grammar schools are part of, secured more than £3.5million from the Department for Education’s selective schools expansion fund for the…

Conservative councillors and union officials are demanding city council leaders come clean over the cause of the bin dispute blighting the city’s streets. Conservative councillors Deirdre Alden and Robert Alden and the local leader of the GMB union, Joe Morgan, have each demanded “full transparency” from the city’s Labour…

Birmingham City Council bosses make nearly one third of key decisions behind closed doors, it has been revealed. It has prompted concerns that too much information is ‘hidden’ from the public according to former leader Sir Albert Bore. The Co-ordinating scrutiny committee was told on Friday (January 11) that…

Two West Midlands MPs are leading a campaign to block a “no-deal” Brexit. Birmingham MP Jack Dromey, Labour MP for Erdington, and Caroline Spelman, Conservative MP for Meriden, are set to propose a Commons vote next week to rule out leaving the EU without a deal. Mr Dromey said…

A Walsall school for excluded pupils that was deemed not for purpose in a damning Ofsted report is turning things around. Walsall Council’s education overview and scrutiny committee was told the New Leaf Inclusion Centre was already taking strides to bring itself out of special measures. Shocked inspectors rated…

A move to block Birmingham’s controversial Clean Air Zone has failed despite the fact bosses have admitted it will not reduce pollution levels in time. The city council is under strict government orders to slash man-made air pollution, particular nitrogen oxides, by 2020 and will introduce a charge for…