James Carr | Schools Week

£10m Mandarin scheme set for expansion despite teacher recruitment struggles

A £10 million programme to improve children’s fluency in Mandarin is set to be extended. The government-funded Mandarin Excellence Programme (MEP) was launched in 2016 to get “at least 5,000 young people on track towards fluency in Mandarin Chinese by 2020” and train “at least 100 new qualified Chinese teachers by the end of the […]

We fear next summer’s exams, say lockdown heads

School leaders in lockdown areas say their pupils should not be penalised in exams, with year 10s at one Liverpool school already spending four weeks of this term self-isolating at home. Department for Education statistics show about 89 per cent of pupils in state-funded schools across England attended last week. However, levels differ greatly for […]

Williamson met with Ofqual day before results day – despite claims of ignorance

Gavin Williamson met with Ofqual to ‘talk about results’ twice in the two days prior to the controversial A-level announcement this summer – despite suggesting he was unaware of problems with the results until after they were published. A Freedom Of Information request from Schools Week revealed the education secretary met with Ofqual on August […]

DfE’s revamped attendance stats reveal nearly half of secondary schools have pupils self-isolating

Around half of all state-funded secondary schools have pupils self-isolating, with 409,000 pupils not attending school for covid related reasons last week. The Department for Education’s weekly attendance data has revealed the true scale of covid disruption for the first time after Schools Week revealed loopholes in its reporting system. Since Monday, October 12, all […]

No blanket closure for schools in ‘very high’ alert areas, PM confirms

Schools in areas with a “very high” Covid-19 alert will not be subject to blanket closures, the prime minister has confirmed. Boris Johnson told the House of Commons today that despite stricter curbs on socialising and other activities in so-called “tier three” areas, schools would remain open. The rolling out of a new triple tier […]

Pseudonyms and fake social media profiles: scale of Ofsted’s surveillance powers revealed

Ofsted can use fake social media profiles to conduct covert surveillance and help gather evidence of criminal activity. The schools watchdog today published details on the controversial powers it has to conduct surveillance for the first time. The document explains under the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 (RIPA) that “directed surveillance may be appropriate […]

Spielman: Better DfE advice needed to thwart Covid ‘fake news’ fuelling home education rise

Ofsted’s chief inspector wants a “simplification of government advice” on covid to help schools deal with “fake news” that is driving a home education rise. The schools watchdog today released an initial report based on the findings of 121 pilot “visits” to schools across England last month. (See our speed read of the key findings […]

Unions: Allow grade inflation next year – but not as much as 2020

Education unions have said it would be “unconscionable” for this year’s exam results to be pegged to grades achieved in 2019, saying some grade inflation should again be allowed. In normal exam years, regulator Ofqual uses a system called comparable outcomes to restrict grade inflation by ensuring a similar percentage of pupils achieve the same […]

Three new studies will assess post-Covid disadvantage gap

Three new studies focusing on the strategies schools used to support pupils during Covid-19 closures have been announced today. The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) revealed it is launching three new projects to understand how schools’ tactics impacted the disadvantage gap among pupils. In June, the EEF published a rapid evidence assessment which found “schools closures […]