As many parents around the country breathe a collective sigh of relief at the prospect of their offspring returning to the classroom, it's very much business as usual for the education sector, with the summer break offering little in the way of respite to organisations in the midst of huge upheaval.

From radical proposals on qualifications and performance measures, falling pupil numbers across fee-paying establishments, the fallout from the removal of the cap on university tuition fees and government moves to encourage as many state schools as possible to convert to academy status – a report card for the last year could be summed up as 'struggling through – could do better'.