Schools Week Reporter | Schools Week

Government drops expectation of daily checks on isolating pupils

The government has ditched official advice stating teachers should “ideally” check in with isolating pupils every day. Instead, schools are expected to check on whether children are engaging with work “at least weekly”, new guidance on remote learning states. As previously reported by Schools Week, the new guidance states primary schools are expected to set, […]

Ofqual chief issues sobering warning over ‘intractable’ problem of regional learning loss

The gap in learning loss across different regions is “one of the most intractable issues” and any potential solutions are “fraught with difficulty”, Ofqual has warned. The sobering assessment on the potential for government to come up with a plan to make exams fair for pupils in the hardest hit Covid areas follows the government […]

Institute for Effective Education to close after struggle to secure funding

A research charity will close at the end of this week after finding it “impossible” to secure further funding during the pandemic In a post on its website, the Institute for Effective Education states its staff are being made redundant and current activities are either being taken on by other organisations, or discontinued. The charity, […]

Ampleforth College ordered to stop admitting new pupils over safeguarding failures

A prestigious private school known as the “Catholic Eton” has been ordered by the government to stop admitting new pupils over safeguarding failures. Education secretary Gavin Williamson has today ordered Ampleforth College, in North Yorkshire, to “cease to admit any new students”. The enforcement action follows an emergency inspection by Ofsted in September that Williamson […]

Revealed: The winners of the 2020 Pearson Teaching Awards

Ten UK teachers and schools have been honoured in the 2020 Pearson Teaching Awards for their dedicated work in education. The “inspirational” teachers and school staff have been revealed throughout this week on the BBC’s The One Show. Now in its 22nd year, the awards celebrate the best teaching across the UK and thousands of […]

Exams 2021: What’s on the table as deadline looms

Despite waiting for months, Schools Week understands the government will fall short of its pledge to communicate the plans for next year’s exams to the sector in November. But an announcement is getting closer. We spoke to insiders to see what was on the table. The exams announcement will contain policies that address a few […]

Sir Jon Coles appointed to Ofqual’s recovery committee

The head of one of the country’s largest academy trusts has been appointed to a committee set up to oversee Ofqual’s recovery from the exams fiasco. Sir Jon Coles, chief executive of United Learning, has been announced today as one of the seven people on the regulator’s new “recovery committee” which will also lead on […]

Heads back university admissions shake-up as UCAS sets out ‘radical options’

Heads have backed plans to shake up the university admissions process so that pupils apply for places after receiving their results, as UCAS set out two “radical new options” for reform. The admissions service has said it will soon publish plans for a “post-qualification application” model, which would push the process back to after A-level […]

7 proposals to solve the 2021 exams conundrum

New benchmarking assessments should be used to provide “contingency grades” if summer exams cannot take place for most pupils, a think tank has suggested today. The Education Policy Institute say that while the government’s action of pushing exams back three weeks will make up for some lost learning, on its own it is not enough. […]