Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Coronavirus: Attendance rates vary hugely across England, finds EPI report

School attendance rates vary hugely across England, new research has found, prompting concerns that pupils in some parts of the country are more likely to be left behind. Analysis by the Education Policy Institute found that secondary school attendance rates in October ranged from 61 per cent in Knowsley in the north west to 94 […]

MPs removed from food poverty charity’s board following free school meals vote row

A former shadow education minister has said she is “deeply upset” after she and three other MPs were removed from the board of a food poverty charity following a row over the parliamentary vote on free school meals. Feeding Britain has announced a “restructure” of its board that has seen former shadow education minister Emma […]

No evidence for minister’s claim parents ‘prefer to pay’ for school dinners

A government minister stands accused of misleading the public after he falsely claimed that research showed parents “actually prefer to pay a modest sum” of “£1 or £2”, instead of receiving free school meals. It is pretty desperate to see ministers making misleading claims in order to justify voting against feeding hungry children in a […]

Mental health teams overlook excluded pupils

A new government initiative to support pupils’ mental health seems to be overlooking many excluded children. Research by the Anna Freud Centre and the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) shows that more than four in ten mental health “trailblazer” areas are not working with alternative provision schools, meaning some of the most vulnerable children could […]

Revealed: What Ofqual’s explosive board minutes tell us about the exams fiasco

The ill-fated exams “triple lock” policy that sparked a chain of events culminating in pupils instead being awarded their centre-assessed grades was announced before Ofqual had been able to even sign it off. The exams regulator has today published its long-awaited board minutes that give a behind-the-scenes account of this year’s exams fiasco. They also […]

Consider allowing pupils to wear additional clothing indoors, DfE tells schools

Schools should consider allowing pupils to wear “additional, suitable indoor items of clothing” during the winter as classrooms get colder because of the need for ventilation, the Department for Education has said. In updated action for schools guidance published today, the DfE said increased ventilation “may make school buildings cooler than usual over the winter […]

Gibb ‘misspoke’ when he said all schools were in ‘tier 1’

The schools minister “misspoke” when he told MPs yesterday that all schools are at tier one of the government’s contain framework, the Department for Education has clarified. When asked during an education select committee hearing yesterday how the tiers in the contain framework interact with the separate system of tiers of national lockdown, Nick Gibb […]

Nick Gibb at education committee: 7 things we learned

Schools minister Nick Gibb has suggested some grade inflation will be allowed again next year to cater for lockdown learning losses, but revealed he’s more worried about making exams fair for pupils in worst-hit areas who are more likely to have missed school since September. Education select committee MPs grilled Gibb for over two hours […]

Wes Streeting appointed shadow schools minister

A former president of the National Union of Students has been appointed as the shadow schools minister. Wes Streeting, the Labour MP for Ilford North, replaces Margaret Greenwood, who resigned from the front bench yesterday to vote against the so-called “Spycops” bill. Streeting, who was previously the shadow exchequer secretary to the Treasury, tweeted tonight […]