
Jonathan Simons
Director of Policy and Advocacy, Varkey Foundation
Jonathan is the newly appointed Director at the not-for-profit organisation established to improve the standards of education for underprivileged children throughout the world. He was formerly Head of the Education Unit at Policy Exchange, where he directed research on all aspects of education including Early Years, schools, skills and HE. Previously Jonathan worked at Serco Group, where he was Director of Strategy in the company’s specialist education practice. Prior to that, he was Head of Open Public Services in the Cabinet Office, and Head of Education in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit in the administrations of both Gordon Brown and David Cameron. Outside of work Jonathan is the Chair of Governors and Co-Founder of Greenwich Free School, and a Trustee of Reach4 Multi Academy Trust. He writes a weekly column for the TES newspaper on politics and education policy.

Related Posts & Publications


The promise of tech must not make us forget what we already know works in education
by Jonathan Simons | Dec 10, 2015
This morning I attended a shindig at Google HQ, hosted by Teach First, on digital skills in education. Ah Google. What a place. So much shininess. Filled with super smart young people, fiddling with bits of kit that are so new, they haven’t been invented yet. Myself,...
What will the Spending Review mean for schools?
by Jonathan Simons | Nov 25, 2015
The Chancellor’s proverbial axe is starting to chop through Whitehall. As I write, 4 departments have already agreed to a settlement which reduces their spending by around 30% by 2020, and DfE will shortly settle their budget ahead of the final announcement of...
Why the spending review should shift money from universities to further education
by Jonathan Simons | Oct 19, 2015
Tristram Hunt, when Shadow Education Secretary, used to argue that education was an issue that belonged to the left, because of the tremendous emancipatory power that it gave to individuals. I couldn’t agree more…with the second half of that statement. For if...
Play hard, work hard
by Jonathan Simons | Oct 2, 2015
As the Tories gather in Manchester, the minds of many will be more on the party aspect than the conference. After all, just a few short months ago all the polls showed that Ed Miliband would by now be prime minister. The conference would thus mark the end of a...Support Us
Policy Projects
Policy Areas
- Crime and Justice
- Demography, Immigration and Integration
- Economics and Social Policy
- Education
- Environment and Energy
- Foreign Policy and Security
- Government and Politics
- Health and Social Care
- Housing and Urban Regeneration
- Industrial Strategy
- International Trade
- Security and Extremism
- Space
- Technology
Latest Tweets
RT @DrGerardLyons Further pick up of my @Policy_Exchange housing paper in the Daily Mail. thisismoney.co.uk/mo…
RT @SuellaBraverman Thank you @Policy_Exchange for hosting me today. And thank you to the excellent audience for thought-provoking questions. twitter.com/attorney…
You can watch back the full event: Equalities and Rights: Conflict and the Need for Clarity - Keynote Speech by @SuellaBraverman Here 👇 youtu.be/XBjiLVs5haA
📺 @SuellaBraverman “Parliament must be the crucible within which the difficult and challenging questions of striking the right balance of competing rights takes place.” pic.twitter.com/KLJJ…
📺 @SuellaBraverman “before going ahead with social transition, schools should get the best multidisciplinary team around the table, including parents. The legal presumption is that parents act in the best interests of their children.” pic.twitter.com/KoiL…