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Universities back post-qualification admissions but shoot down move to January start

A major review into university admissions is calling for places to be offered after students have been awarded grades – but it shot down proposals to shift start dates back to January. Universities UK (UUK), the university umbrella body, suggests switching to a post-qualifications admission model from 2023, subject to full consultation, as part of […]

Rapid Covid tests a ‘game-changer’ for schools

Headteachers piloting rapid Covid-19 antigen tests under the government’s Operation Moonshot have described them as a “game-changer” to keep pupils in the classroom and help squash outbreaks. Sedgehill Academy in south east London, Poole Grammar School and South Wiltshire Grammar School in Salisbury have now done two rounds of testing using lateral flow tests, which […]

DfE warning over early GCSE entries as research shows some pupils do worse

Early entry to GCSEs “does not always benefit pupils”, the Department for Education has warned, as new research showed pupils in some subjects do worse if they take them in year 10. A new “ad hoc” research paper published by the DfE today shows that pupils who take English literature and religious studies a year […]

Restricting exams to core subjects ‘under consideration’, suggests Spielman

Ofqual is considering whether to only have exams in core subjects next year, with centre-assessment grades used for the remainder, Amanda Spielman has suggested. The Ofsted chief inspector, who is chairing Ofqual’s new “recovery committee” formed to oversee the fallout from this year’s exams fiasco, said holding exams only in core subjects was “the kind […]

Settling Durand dispute could hit ‘services for vulnerable children’

A London council has told of the “keenly felt human cost” of having to meet a seven-figure compensation demand over a school site row, saying services for “vulnerable children and adults” will take the hit. Lambeth could be forced to pay out millions for leisure and accommodation facilities on the site of the former Durand […]

SEND pupils told schools ‘can’t accommodate them’, claims Spielman

Schools have been telling parents they can’t accommodate pupils with special educational needs and disabilities during the coronavirus pandemic, Amanda Spielman has claimed. The chief inspector of schools told the National Children and Adult Services Conference this morning that children had been “left without access to therapy and education for months”. They’ve been told that […]

GCSEs 2021: Teachers CAN use one-off tests for MFL speaking

Teachers will not be prevented from using “one-off assessment opportunities” to test pupils spoken language in GCSE modern foreign language subjects next year, Ofqual has said. The exams regulator has published its decisions following a consultations on changes to the way MFL GCSEs are to be assessed next year. It is part of a suite […]