Author: Sophie Scott

Independent schools are more likely to challenge exam results than their state counterparts, Ofqual research shows. Analysis of enquiries about results (EARs) by the exams regulator reveal a stark difference in the two sectors’ attitude to challenging exam results. But, despite putting in more appeals, independent schools were no more likely to be succesful in […]

This morning, schools minister Nick Gibb told Parliament that a change in government policy had led to fewer school days missed due to authorised family holidays. Below, Schools Week will check that fact, using statistics released this morning by the Department for Education.   Has the proportion of absences due to authorised holiday decreased?   […]

Plans to allow universities to increase tuition fees will affect the “poorest” pupils, it has been claimed as the government releases its higher education white paper today. As part of its plans to improve teaching in universities, the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) wants to link tuition fees with each institution’s performance. It […]

A new whistleblowing website opens today to allow pupils to report issues at faith schools. The Faith Schoolers Anonymous site, created by the British Humanist Association (BHA), is aimed at young people who attend faith schools, including those at illegal or unregistered schools. The BHA said it wanted to “provoke a much greater” public awareness […]

Children and young people have received thousands of counselling sessions to cope with exam stress, figures from ChildLine reveal. The charity, created by Esther Rantzen in 1986, said today that it had conducted 3,077 counselling session in 2015/16 – a rise of 9 per cent on the previous year. ChildLine, run by the NSPCC, said […]

The Department for Education (DfE) has axed its mental health tsar as the government brings in a “champion” to work across health and education. Natasha Devon, who was appointed last August, was widely critical of government policies, and blamed the “testing regime” for a rise in mental health problems in young people. Speaking to Schools […]

The schools’ inspectorate has accused religious independent schools of “actively undermining” fundamental British values, as a Luton school is found to be segregating its staff. In a letter to education secretary Nicky Morgan, published today, chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw said inspectors “continue to find that staff are being segregated because of their gender in […]

Material to be used in the new primary school assessments has been accidentally released online by the government agency responsible for testing. The test for key stage 1 spelling, punctuation and grammar was uploaded to the Standard and Testing Agency’s website earlier this month. Users wanting the accessible version of the exemplification materials were able […]