Skip to content
30 May 2026

Author: Schools Week Reporter

TV star and celeb GP hired for ‘back-to-school’ promo

Ministers have come under fire for paying a television presenter up to an estimated £15,000 for social media posts promoting the government’s back-to-school campaign. Kirsty Gallacher used her Twitter and Instagram accounts to “reassure parents on the changes and safety measures in place at schools”. There’s a point where you wonder whether the government is […]

Exams 2020: Education unions call for ‘urgent’ inquiry into grades fiasco

Unions representing hundreds of thousands of school staff have demanded an independent inquiry into the exam grades fiasco. Teaching unions the National Education Union and NASUWT, along with leadership unions NAHT and ASCL, have written to education secretary Gavin Williamson calling for an “urgent and independent” inquiry into the process of awarding A-levels, GCSEs and […]

Schools cry foul over missing BTEC results

Schools and colleges across England are still awaiting the results of some vocational qualifications, despite a promise from government that all grades would be issued by today. Some pupils have been told they may have to wait until next week to receive grades for BTECs and other vocational qualifications. The Department for Education and Pearson, […]

Schools that deflated own grades can’t appeal, says Ofqual

Schools that followed advice to mark down their own teacher grades will not be allowed to appeal because they did not make an error, Ofqual has said. The regulator has confirmed today that schools “cannot raise concerns about its CAGs on the basis that another institution took a different approach, that different teachers could have come […]

Coronavirus: Schools to receive just 10 home testing kits each

Schools and colleges will receive just 10 coronavirus home testing kits each, and should only use them in “exceptional circumstances”, the government has said. Gavin Williamson, the education secretary, announced in July that schools would receive a “small number” of kits to send home with children or staff who develop coronavirus symptoms, but would otherwise […]

Top civil servant drafted in to DfE to take charge of exams fiasco

A senior civil servant has been parachuted in to the Department for Education to take charge of the exams fiasco Susan Acland-Hood has been appointed as second permanent secretary at the DfE for six weeks, temporarily leaving her role as chief executive of the HM Courts & Tribunals Service. The government said she will work […]

GCSE results 2020: Top grades soar, as nearly four in five pupils pass

The proportion of 7 or above grades handed to GCSE pupils in England has soared after the government U-turn to award teacher grades. Pupils are receiving either their centre assessed grades (CAGs) or standardised grades, whichever is highest, this morning following the U-turn on Monday.  In 2019, 21.9 per cent of grades given out to […]