School Management Plus

The closure announcements come after the group said Malvern St James in Worcestershire would close Ruthin School Pic: Arwel Parry, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons Chinese-owned Galaxy Global Education Group has announced it is to close Durham High School in Durham and Ruthin School in North Wales, according to reports. The shock move comes just months after it announced it would close Malvern St James school in Worcestershire.

Welcome to the latest edition of the leading quarterly magazine for all those working with and supporting children with special educational needs and disabilities. Click the digital turnpage on the site, or download for free.

Andrei Korzhyts/Shutterstock In busy times, with significant headwinds for the independent sector, the IDPE annual conference earlier this summer stood out as a beacon of hope. The ranks of development professionals are growing, the sector is continuing to mature in its expertise and insight, colleagues are increasingly central to school development plans and the compelling narratives for philanthropic giving are strong. There was much to be hopeful about.

Fee income uncertainty has become one of the most significant strategic risks facing independent schools. Drawing on a decade of Australian experience, in this article Lucy Foster of Edstart outlines how modernising school fee payments can help reduce this risk and Neil Roskilly, former CEO, ISA, considers how these learnings can offer real, practical benefits to schools and families across the UK. Independent schools have always operated with a degree of financial uncertainty.

The Study Prep School in Wimbledon is set to join the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST). An announcement from the trust said that the merger would offer “the continuity of an all-girl education from 4 to 18”  with girls progressing from the prep into the trust’s senior schools. The move comes after the GDST has recently made changes to its portfolio of schools, selling Shrewsbury High School to Inspired Learning Group in November last year. In 2024, Redmaids’ High School in Bristol joined GDST.

Pic: Freedomnaruk/Shutterstock A teenager can now ask an AI tool to draft a cover letter, summarise a chapter, generate a marketing plan or troubleshoot a line of code. It will often produce a convincing answer almost instantly. The temptation is to mistake that fluency for competence – and to respond by treating schooling as a race to “keep up” with the newest software. Career-readiness in 2026 does not mean teaching students to outpace machines.

Parents reported feeling unsupported by schools and local authorities when their child refused to go to school More than one in five British mothers say that their child's difficulties attending school have had a severe negative impact on their own mental health. The new report comes as more than 1.34 million pupils in England were persistently absent from school in 2024-25.

More than one in five British mothers say that their child’s difficulties attending school have had a severe negative impact on their own mental health. The new report comes as more than 1.34 million pupils in England were persistently absent from school in 2024-25. Severe absence, which disproportionately affects children with special educational needs and disabilities, has more than tripled since 2018-19.

Impressive performances can spring from the most surprising places, writes footy fan Dr Helen Wright Support for Cape Verde at the World Cup To see the scenes at Edinburgh Airport as Scotland fans set off for the FIFA Men's World Cup a couple of weeks ago, you might reasonably think that they were going into the competition as guaranteed finalists, such was the energy and belief of the fans.

Welcome to the latest Summer 2026 edition of International School Magazine – for leaders, managers and educators working in the international education sector. Highlights include: NEWS International schools have a new dedicated website: International Schools Today. EDTECH Jack Dougall explores how teachers can thrive in the “attention economy”. Heather Rhodes delves into the benefits of hybrid international schools.