
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


Six key facts for A Level results day
by Jonathan Simons | Aug 13, 2015
Across the country, hundreds of thousands of students will get their A Level results today and with it a passport to their next stage of study or work. In particular, record numbers of young people are expected to start a degree this September. Despite a lot of sound...
“The greatest scientists are artists as well”: A response to the RSA
by Jonathan Simons | Aug 12, 2015
Matthew Taylor, the head of the RSA, has written in the Telegraph this morning ahead of A Level results tomorrow. The clickbait headline quote is that students should “stick two fingers up to the Russell Group and go to a university that is creative and innovative and...
Additional Policy Exchange analysis of Summer Budget 2015
by Jonathan Simons | Jul 13, 2015
Introducing the Living Wage Premium The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) estimates that the new “Living Wage Premium” will see the effective Minimum Wage rise from £6.50 today to £9.35 by 2020, benefitting around 6 million people – but at the cost of 60,000...
What is a coasting school? An answer
by Jonathan Simons | Jun 30, 2015
Nicky Morgan has presented the long awaited definition of coasting schools to the education and adoption bill committee today. Some quick initial thoughts from me on what this looks like. With a couple of caveats, I think this is a good definition and plan of roll...Support Us
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