Freddie Whittaker | Schools Week

Pre-U, A-level equivalent favoured by private schools, to be scrapped

A post-16 qualification that was popular with England’s private schools is to be scrapped, the exam board that administers it has said. Cambridge Assessment International Education has announced it will administer its Pre-U qualification, an alternative to A-levels, for the last time in 2023, with a last re-sit available in June 2024. The organisation said […]

McDonnell: We’ll replace and upgrade schools with share of £150bn fund

Schools will receive money from a new £150 billion “social transformation fund” under a Labour government, John McDonnell will announce today. However, Labour is yet to say how much of the fund will be specifically for schools. The money will also pay for improvements to hospitals, care homes and council houses. A hundred and fifty […]

DfE reminds schools to ‘avoid partisan activity’ as election looms

School staff are being reminded to “avoid activity that could be construed as partisan or favouring a particular political party” ahead of December’s election. The Department for Education has published pre-election guidance for schools and multi-academy trusts, which reminds them of their duty to ensure balance in their teaching. The law on what schools can […]

DfE leaves security planning up to schools despite concern over new guidance

School leaders are “best-placed” to make decisions about their own security policies, the government has said, dismissing concerns its new safety guidance is not prescriptive enough. The Department for Education has today published its final security guidance – almost a year after it launched a consultation on draft advice, warning that “no school can afford to […]

OCR becomes second exam board to breach re-mark rules

OCR will pay schools nearly £15,000 in compensation after becoming the second exam board to breach rules over exam re-marks – but the organisation has avoided a fine. Ofqual, the exams regulator, has revealed that OCR failed to ensure reviews of marking were not conducted by the original marker, or by someone without a personal […]

Revealed: The DfE’s six new character education benchmarks

A new set of “benchmarks” for schools to rate their character education against has been published by the Department for Education. New guidance urges schools to consider “what kind of school are we?” and assess things like their curriculum and the value they place on volunteering. Plans for the benchmarks, similar to those on careers […]

iGCSE top grades easier to achieve, government study finds

Pupils who study international GCSEs are more likely to get top grades, but often underperform in their A-levels, a government study has found. The Department for Education compared the performance at key stage 4 and 5 of pupils studying normal GCSEs and those studying iGCSEs. It found pupils achieved “higher grades than expected” in English […]

Revealed: The subjects that qualify for extra post-16 funding

School sixth forms and colleges will get a share of an additional £55 million in funding next year, but only for pupils taking certain A-levels. The Department for Education has confirmed it is ring-fencing part of the extra £400 million allocated to sixth forms and colleges for 2020-21 to pay for the teaching of “expensive […]

London mayor Sadiq Khan announces £4.7m to ‘cut school exclusions’

A taskforce set up by the mayor of London Sadiq Khan will spend £4.7 million to cut school exclusions in the capital, it has been announced. London’s violence reduction unit will spend the money on a series of programmes to “tackle school exclusions” and support vulnerable young people through education. I have been clear that […]