Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Heads slam government over last-minute local lockdown guidance

The government has issued an eleventh-hour edict to schools on how to plan for local lockdowns, angering headteachers and prompting questions about resources. The guidance sets out four “tiers” of action that may be needed, depending on the level of government intervention in different areas of the country. It demonstrates a complete lack of regard […]

Ofqual to face grilling by MPs over exams fiasco

Leaders from exams regulator Ofqual will appear in front of MPs next week to answer questions about this year’s A-levels and GCSEs fiasco – but outgoing boss Sally Collier will not be with them. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, will also “likely” face questions about the government’s handling of the crisis when he appears in […]

Minister hints at potential further delay to vocational results

Exam boards are set to work “through the weekend and into next week” to process vocational qualification results, a minister has said, suggesting not all will be issued by tomorrow’s deadline. In a message to providers sent out tonight, skills minister Gillian Keegan acknowledged there was a chance some students would not receive their results […]

Williamson ‘should go’ says Institute for Government think tank

Gavin Williamson should follow the lead of his most senior civil servant and step down, the influential Institute for Government think tank has said. In an unusual move, the independent organisation which campaigns for more effective government, directly called for Williamson to step down, saying misjudgments made in education “have been some of the worst […]

ESFA extends deadline for academy accounts amid Covid ‘challenges’

Academy trusts will be given an extra month to submit their audited financial statements and accounts returns because of “challenges” presented by Covid-19. In a letter to academy accounting officers, Education and Skills Funding Agency chief executive Eileen Milner said the deadline for submission of financial statements for the year ending August 31 2020 would […]

DfE top boss Jonathan Slater to leave

The Department for Education’s permanent secretary Jonathan Slater is to be replaced, the government has announced. The Financial Times reported earlier today that Slater, the top civil servant at the department will leave the post amid the fallout over exams and rules over masks in schools. Now the DfE and Cabinet Office have confirmed he […]

ASCL writes to Ofqual over ‘deflated grades’ fears

The Association of School and College Leaders has written to Ofqual and the government “as a matter of urgency”, amid concerns that pupils at schools that followed advice to mark down their own teacher grades have been “punished by that process”. Geoff Barton, ASCL’s general secretary, said that some of his members who deflated grades […]

Boris Johnson claims exams fiasco has been ‘sorted out’

The fiasco over GCSE and A-level results this year has “finally been sorted out”, the prime minister has claimed. During a speech at a school in Leicestershire, Johnson told pupils their grades were “almost derailed by a mutant algorithm”, and acknowledged how “stressful” the situation must have been. The schools community is still reeling from […]

EPI: Attainment gap has stopped closing for the first time in a decade

The attainment gap between poorer pupils and their better-off peers has stopped closing for the first time in 10 years, new research from the Education Policy Institute has found. The research, based on Department for Education data, found that disadvantaged pupils are now 18.1 months behind their more advantaged peers in terms of learning time […]