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10 June 2026

Author: Schools Week Reporter

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 […]

Universities agree to honour first choice offers for pupils who hit grades after U-turn

Universities have agreed to honour all-first choice offers for thousands of students rejected last week who have now had their results upgraded. The government’s Higher Education Taskforce, including the Russell Group of universities and representative body Universities UK, has agreed the commitment as the government lifts the cap on places for medicine, dentistry, veterinary science […]

Results 2020: What you need to know about this year’s appeals and Autumn resits

Ofqual has confirmed today its appeals and resits process. We take you through what you need to know… 1. The appeal routes open are now just for errors Schools and colleges can only appeal where there has been an administrative error with the CAG or rank order information. Ofqual said rank order information was vital […]

Grades boost for maths after NRT showed improved performance

Ofqual has revised upwards its standardised grades for maths pupils after its national reference tests showed a “steady increase” in improvement. First piloted in 2016, the tests involve a sample of year 11 pupils sitting the exams each year in order to monitor, over time, how well cohorts of pupils are performing. The results act as […]

RSC league tables 2019: How are the nation’s commissioners performing?

Dominic Herrington has once again been crowned as the best-performing regional schools commissioner, according to Schools Week’s annual league table analysis. Each year we crunch the numbers to find out how the eight RSCs are faring based on the Department for Education’s key performance indicators for their roles. The 2018-19 KPIs, published earlier this week, […]

Spending watchdog opens inquiry into national free school meal voucher fiasco

The public spending watchdog is to investigate the government’s free school meals voucher scheme following wide-ranging problems that left parents and children to go hungry. The National Audit Office said the investigation will “set out the facts” about the voucher scheme, including probing the Department for Education’s “objectives and choice of contractor to run the […]

Independent review to probe ed tech sector’s response to Covid-19

An independent review is being launched to investigate the response of the education technology sector to the coronavirus pandemic, and its potential future role in schools and colleges. A newly-created Edtech Advisory Forum, made up of school leaders and tech specialists, will lead a six month review and produce a report to send to the […]

Leicester schools can host summer clubs after relaxation of rules, DfE confirms

Schools in Leicester can reopen for summer activities from July 24, the Department for Education has confirmed. Health secretary Matt Hancock announced yesterday that the restrictions on schools and early years childcare settings would be lifted next week. A local lockdown was put in place two weeks ago which saw schools in the city and […]