Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Delay ‘risky’ reforms to language GCSEs, MPs and peers tell DfE

The government should delay “risky and untested” reforms to modern foreign language GCSEs, a group of MPs and peers has said. The all-party parliamentary group for modern languages has urged the Department for Education to think again after being “inundated with messages of concern” from across the education sector. In March, the government began consulting […]

School masks rule may be reintroduced in response to ‘localised outbreaks’, DfE says

Schools in areas facing “localised outbreaks” of Covid may be asked to reintroduce masks for pupils, the Department for Education has said. The government announced earlier this week that the recommendation that masks be worn in secondary classrooms and by pupils in secondary corridors will be lifted from Monday, in line with step three of […]

More primary pupils off with suspected Covid, but overall attendance remains high

The number of primary school pupils absent because of a suspected Covid case increased by over 60 per cent last week, according to government attendance survey data. However, only around 1 per cent of pupils nationally were off for Covid-related reasons nationally last week. The latest statistics published by the Department for Education show that […]

Pupil face mask rules to be lifted from May 17

Pupils will no longer wear face masks in school from next week, Boris Johnson has confirmed. The recommendation that masks be worn in secondary classrooms and by students in communal areas will be lifted from May 17. However, the rule that staff and other adults wear face coverings in situations where social distancing is not […]

Streeting: Ending child poverty must be ‘central mission’ for Labour

Coming up with a plan to end child poverty must be a “central mission” for the next Labour government, Wes Streeting has said, following his promotion from the role of shadow schools minister. The MP for Ilford North and former National Union of Students president also said he would continue to work “really closely” with […]

DfE keeps edtech demonstrator conflicts ‘action plan’ close to its chest

The government has an “action plan” to address potential conflicts of interest in its edtech demonstrator contract with United Learning, but is refusing to publish it. Schools Week revealed last month that England’s largest academy trust had been awarded the contract to run the scheme for its second year. The programme in “demonstrator” schools helps […]

DfE claims Brexit has stalled grammar schools inclusion monitoring

The government has claimed that Brexit hampered its monitoring of efforts to make grammar schools more inclusive, after admitting that the proportion of poorer pupils attending them rose by less than a percentage point in five years. To blame the pandemic for disrupting the work of widening access to grammar schools is poor Department for […]

DfE extends school leaders wellbeing service to 160 more heads with £62k

A mental health and wellbeing support service for school leaders will be extended after an extra £62,000 in government funding. We are now seeing significant signs of burnout across the profession The school leaders’ wellbeing service, a pilot scheme run by Education Support to provide online peer and telephone support to about 250 school leaders, […]

Attendance: Isolation due to potential in-school Covid contact almost doubles

The number of pupils absent because of potential contact with a Covid case in school has almost doubled in a week, new attendance data suggests. Attendance survey data from the Department for Education shows 46,900 pupils were off last Thursday because of potential contact in-school, up from 25,200 on Thursday April 22. The number of […]