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12 April 2026

Tag: Nick Gibb

What did we learn from Nick Gibb about mass-testing in schools?

The schools minister Nick Gibb has set out further details about the government’s mass-testing programme for schools, which is due to begin in January. Ministers announced on Tuesday that secondary school staff will get routine weekly tests from January and that staff and pupils who were close contacts of positive cases will also get a […]

Nick Gibb grilled by education committee over exams: 7 things we learned

The schools minister Nick Gibb faced questions about exams in 2020 and 2021 when he appeared in front of the Parliamentary education committee this week. The hearing followed the announcement last week of a package of measures that are meant to make exams in 2021 fairer. Here’s what we learned.   1. Lack of transparency […]

Gibb ‘misspoke’ when he said all schools were in ‘tier 1’

The schools minister “misspoke” when he told MPs yesterday that all schools are at tier one of the government’s contain framework, the Department for Education has clarified. When asked during an education select committee hearing yesterday how the tiers in the contain framework interact with the separate system of tiers of national lockdown, Nick Gibb […]

Nick Gibb at education committee: 7 things we learned

Schools minister Nick Gibb has suggested some grade inflation will be allowed again next year to cater for lockdown learning losses, but revealed he’s more worried about making exams fair for pupils in worst-hit areas who are more likely to have missed school since September. Education select committee MPs grilled Gibb for over two hours […]

Covering black history is good teaching, says Gibb

Good history teaching should “always include the contribution of black and minority ethnic people to Britain’s history”, the schools minister has said. Nick Gibb also told a parliamentary debate on the teaching of black history that he expected “more and more schools” to offer history students the chance to study migration and empire. Ministers are […]

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 […]

Pupils in local lockdown areas ‘will be returning to school in September’, insists Gibb

Pupils in areas currently under local lockdowns will return to school in September, the schools minister has insisted. Nick Gibb told the Today programme this morning that all children will be returning to school in September “including in those areas that are currently subject to a local lockdown”. But he admitted the government can’t “decree” […]

Ministers reject nine in 10 council bids to prop up high needs budget

Councils have warned of soaring deficits and diminishing support for vulnerable pupils after ministers rejected nine in 10 bids to shore up high needs budgets with general school funds. The local councils of both education secretary Gavin Williamson and schools minister Nick Gibb are among 22 local authorities denied permission by Williamson to move cash […]