Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Government to hand councils £40m to help with home-to-school transport

Councils will receive £40 million in funding from the government to help get children to school in September amid warnings of huge problems with transporting pupils safely. Announcing the funding today, the Department for Education said it would be used “to ease pressure on public transport as children return in September”. Councils will be able […]

Heads call for exam appeal fees to be waived as schools brace for deluge of challenges

Fees should not be charged for appeals against exam results this year to ensure there is a “level playing field” for all pupils who want to challenge their results, a headteachers’ union has said. The Association of School and College Leaders said it would “favour fees not being charged for appeals” this year, given the […]

Four things we learned from the EPI’s analysis of 2021-22 school funding allocations

Efforts to “level-up” school funding in England will benefit better-off pupils more than their poorer peers, according to new analysis by the Education Policy Institute. The think tank has published analysis of school funding allocations for 2021-22. The government is now in its third year of allocating funding to councils based on its new national […]

Pupils required to self-isolate will not be marked ‘absent’, DfE confirms

Pupils who do not attend school because they have to self-isolate or quarantine will not be recorded as absent, the Department for Education has clarified. Schools have been told to record non-attendance by pupils who are required by law or government guideance to stay away with “code X”, which does not count as an absence […]

Exams 2020: Ofqual confirms final appeals process for GCSEs and A-levels

Schools will be able to appeal against GCSE and A-level results if they feel data used to standardise grades was not a “reliable basis” for predicting 2020 results, Ofqual has confirmed. The exams regulator has set out the full arrangements for appeals this year, confirming that schools will be able to appeal if they were […]

Sixth forms cry foul over ‘unwelcome’ rule change restricting use of 16-19 tuition fund

A rule change which restricts the use of the 16 to 19 tuition fund for sixth forms and colleges has been branded “unwelcome”. The Sixth Form Colleges Association has warned that a new stipulation that the funding can only be spent on students who failed to achieve a grade 4 in English or maths at […]

Pupils in local lockdown areas ‘will be returning to school in September’, insists Gibb

Pupils in areas currently under local lockdowns will return to school in September, the schools minister has insisted. Nick Gibb told the Today programme this morning that all children will be returning to school in September “including in those areas that are currently subject to a local lockdown”. But he admitted the government can’t “decree” […]

Schools should be ‘first to open, last to close’ in future lockdowns, says children’s commissioner

Schools should be “first to open, last to close” in any future coronavirus lockdowns, the children’s commissioner for England has said. Anne Longfield’s office has published a briefing paper called Putting children first in future lockdowns, in which she insists education should be “prioritised over other sectors” if the country locks down again. If a […]

Labour seeks assurances over GCSE and A-level results amid claims of unfairness in Scotland

Labour is seeking “urgent assurances” from the government that the GCSE and A-level results process in England will treat pupils fairly, amid claims poorer pupils in Scotland were penalised under a similar system. Kate Green, the shadow education secretary, has written to her opposite number Gavin Williamson for reassurances that he “will not allow similar […]