Gavin Williamson | Schools Week

Exam changes can’t compensate for Covid hit to disadvantaged pupils, says government

Changes to next year’s exams cannot compensate for pupils’ divided experiences during the pandemic, the government has said, even as research from its own exams regulator laid bare the disruption to disadvantaged children’s education. On Monday, Ofqual and the Department for Education published a consultation on measures to “help mitigate the impact of disruption” for […]

Pupils three times more likely to be self-isolating in north-east than London

Secondary pupils in parts of northern England are more than three times as likely to miss classes while they self-isolate as their peers in London, according to new figures. The average pupil between year 7 and year 10 in a sample of north-east schools missed more than a third of their time in school last […]

Where is £3.1bn catch-up cash coming from, MPs ask DfE

MPs have demanded ministers provide answers regarding the £3.1 billion in catch-up funding after the government’s own sums appeared not to add up. It is unclear whether all of the money provided has been additional monies, or if some has been derived from DfE savings elsewhere The education select committee has written to Gavin Williamson […]

Long-serving DfE adviser Chris Paterson leaves to join EEF

A long-serving policy adviser at the Department for Education is to join the Education Endowment Foundation. The charity has announced that Chris Paterson is to become its director of impact, overseeing its “knowledge mobilisation and regional delivery partnerships, communications, policy and evidence synthesis functions”. Paterson is currently a senior policy adviser to education secretary Gavin […]

Unions tell Williamson schools cannot run on-site Covid tests themselves

Heads’ and teachers’ unions have warned Gavin Williamson schools cannot be responsible for running daily on-site Covid testing themselves from September. The general secretaries of school leaders’ unions NAHT and ASCL and teachers’ union NEU have written a joint letter to the education secretary, voicing their “anger and dismay” over the government’s treatment of school […]

Gavin Williamson ignores pleas to correct his tutoring scale claims

Labour will accuse Gavin Williamson of breaching the ministerial code if he does not correct his “error” over the scale of the tutoring programme. Williamson has refused to correct his claim last week that the government’s flagship tutoring programme would reach “six million pupils”. The department confirmed to Schools Week the pledge was for “six […]

Long read: Heads call for clarity as Williamson gets ready to pop school Covid bubbles

Education leaders are demanding “clarity about the road ahead” after the government all but confirmed it will scrap Covid restrictions in schools. It comes as new attendance statistics obtained by Schools Week suggest Covid-related absences almost doubled in secondary schools this week. Meanwhile school leaders have written to prime minister Boris Johnson over the “cynical” […]

Academy trusts’ cash stash rises to £3bn despite pandemic pressures

Academy trusts boosted their reserves and surpluses last year despite the upheaval of Covid, official figures show. New Department for Education data confirms a 20 per cent jump in the average trust’s reserves, up from £0.96 million a year earlier to £1.15 million. The figures cover the year to the end of last August however, […]

Williamson working to ‘relax Covid measures in schools’

The education secretary has said he is working with colleagues to “relax Covid measures in schools”, after new figures showed another steep rise in absences related to the virus. Gavin Williamson said he would be “looking closely” at the issues “around the need for ongoing isolation of bubbles”, and the outcomes of a trial of […]