Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Ofqual chair: Exam grade evidence not a ‘topic for negotiation’ between teachers and students

Evidence used to issue exam grades this year will not be a “topic for negotiation” between teachers and students, the chair of Ofqual has said. Ian Bauckham, interim chair of the exams regulator, told the annual conference of the ASCL school leadership union today it would be “wrong and fundamentally unfair” for teachers’ decisions to […]

Labour calls on DfE to ‘guarantee’ free school meals support over Easter

Labour is calling on the government to provide free school meals vouchers or cash payments over the Easter holidays, warning extensions to a Covid grant for councils and the holiday activities and food programme don’t go far enough. The government has said free school meals vouchers won’t be offered over Easter, although some councils are […]

School rebuilding: DfE to announce 50 more projects this year

The Department for Education has said it will add 50 more projects to its school rebuilding programme this year. Ministers announced earlier this year the names of 50 schools that will split £1 billion in rebuilding cash. Today, the DfE said it hoped to announce 50 more in the summer. However, the government has not […]

Attendance: 1 in 10 secondary pupils not in school in second week of reopening

More than one in ten secondary pupils were not in school yesterday, the day attendance for older pupils became mandatory, new data shows. The latest attendance survey data published by the Department for Education shows 89 per cent of pupils were on-site in state secondary schools yesterday. The data also shows that tens of thousands […]

‘The Big Ask’: New children’s commissioner starts role with plan to survey school pupils

School pupils will be surveyed by the new children’s commissioner for a “once-in-a-generation review of the future of childhood”. Former academy trust boss Dame Rachel de Souza, who took up the post on March 1, has announced plans for “the largest consultation with children ever undertaken in England” as part of her plans for a […]

£24m committed to extend breakfast clubs programme for two more years

The Department for Education will spend £24 million extending its breakfast clubs programme for a further two years. The government initially launched the programme in 2018 with £26 million in funding. A further £11.8 million was allocated in 2020 to extend the scheme to this year. Now the DfE has confirmed it is looking for […]

Gibb rejects call for 11-plus results to be linked to national pupil database

The schools minister has rejected calls to collect 11-plus data and link it to the national pupil database. His decision comes as new figures show that fewer poorer pupils passed the test in two of the country’s most selective areas. We do not intend to ask schools and local authorities to collect the data you […]

Ditch ideology and ‘knowledge-rich mantras’ to fix education, union leader tells ministers

Ministers must ditch “ideology, politicking and knowledge-rich mantras” and acknowledge a “relatively small number of changes” are needed to make education “world class”, a trade union leader will say this week. Could we now move beyond the ideology, the politicking, the knowledge-rich mantras Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, […]

School uniforms: No outright ban on ‘sole supplier’ deals, says Gibb

The government will not ban controversial sole supplier contracts for school uniforms outright, but will ask leaders to re-tender at least every five years, the schools minister has said. A draft law requiring the government to issue statutory guidance on the cost of school uniforms passed its third reading in the House of Commons today. […]