More from this theme Recent articles Journalists are being banned from conferences where ministers, senior government civil servants and advisers are slated to speak. Three events in recent weeks have seen Schools Week reporters denied access, either entirely or while Department for Education civil servants are presenting. The Confederation of School Trusts will not allow the press at its “community” conferences, with ticket prices starting at £350. This includes its CEO summit in July, where schools minister Georgia Gould will be speaking. Its timely SEND and inclusion conference in May features a keynote from Tom Rees, who chairs DfE’s expert advisory group for inclusion. Tim Coulson, the DfE’s director general for regions, spoke at CST’s finance and operations conference last month. Other speakers included MAT chief executives and finance bosses. There’s no suggestion speakers requested media were not present, however. Schools Week has attended some of these events in previous years. CST: Media-free spaces ‘important’ Leora Cruddas, CST chief executive, said they were “trialling running our community conferences without a media presence.” She said it …