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11 May 2026

Author: Freddie Whittaker

Exams 2020: Schools WILL face charges for unsuccessful appeals

Fees for unsuccessful appeals against GCSE and A-level grades will not be waived this summer, exam boards have confirmed. With schools braced for a huge spike in demand for appeals from students grappling with the new system of standardised centre-assessment grades, leaders had called for appeal fees to be waived to create a “level playing […]

‘We apologise to nobody’ – Gibb defends ‘eleventh-hour’ mocks change

The government will “apologise to nobody” for its last-minute change to the exams system which will offer some pupils the option to use “valid mock grades” instead of standardised results, the schools minister has said. Nick Gibb was defiant when he appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning to defend the change, which was announced late […]

DfE sets out plans to allow disappointed exam students to use ‘valid mock grades’

Pupils will be given the choice of receiving a “valid mock grade” instead of their standardised centre-assessment grade under new plans for GCSE and A-level results announced by the Department for Education. The government has finally confirmed its plans after the proposal to use mock exam grades was briefed out to some newspapers earlier tonight, […]

Unhappy exam students can use mock exam results – reports

Pupils in England will be allowed to use “mock exam results” if they are unhappy with the grades they are issued this year, according to reports. Several newspapers reported tonight that ministers have agreed to allow pupils to keep grades given for mock exams – if they are higher than the standardised grades they receive […]

Starmer: Government risks ‘robbing a generation of their future’

The government risks “robbing a generation of young people of their future” unless it addresses concerns about unfairness in the issuing of exam grades this year, Sir Keir Starmer has warned. The leader of the opposition has warned that “thousands of hard-working young people risk having their futures decided on the basis of their postcode”. […]

Scotland withdraws all downgraded exam grades

Scotland will withdraw around a quarter of standardised exam grades issued last week, in a move that raises questions for the UK government ahead of A-level and GCSE results days. In a major climbdown, John Swinney, the Scottish education minister, today announced that more than 124,000 centre-assessment grades that were downgraded during the standardisation process will […]

Hold places for appealing A-level students, minister tells universities

Universities should hold places for pupils who choose to appeal against their A-level grades, the government has said. In a further sign the government is gearing up for an outcry over standardised grades similar to that seen in Scotland last week, universities minister Michelle Donelan has written to university vice-chancellors to urge them to be […]

What Oak Academy has done well, and how it can do better

The Oak National Academy has gone from nothing to national institution in just a few months. Here, its principal Matt Hood sets out his end of year report. As teachers, we all know the power of feedback in helping our pupils improve. So as the end of term finally arrived, we worked with ImpactEd to […]