Category Archives: Schools

‘Campaigning to keep the lights on’: the desperate plight of England’s schools and universities

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Despite their costs going ‘through the roof’, education leaders fear they will be a low priority for the next occupant of No 10

Education leaders in England fear one thing: that schools, colleges and universities will be hammered by the cost of living crisis but will not be enough of a priority to get the help they need from government. And they see little hope from a change in leadership at No 10.

“Our costs are going through the roof, our staff badly need pay rises and are going to strike, our students are suffering, but our income is stuck,” said one vice-chancellor, echoing their peers in schools and colleges around the country.

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Leading Tories call on new PM to tackle crisis facing schools over soaring costs

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Exclusive: warnings of damage to children’s education for years to come without major intervention

• ‘It’s heartbreaking’: England’s school leaders on budget shortfalls

Leading Conservatives including two former Tory education secretaries have urged the incoming prime minister to address rising cost pressures on schools as a matter of urgency, as head teachers struggle to pay soaring energy and wage bills.

With the start of the new academic year just days away, many schools in England are already overwhelmed by energy price rises in excess of 200% – with worse to come – plus the additional cost of unfunded pay rises and mounting inflation.

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Sunak says it was a mistake to ‘empower scientists’ during Covid pandemic

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Ex-chancellor admits being furious about school closures, adding trade-offs of lockdowns were not properly considered by experts

Rishi Sunak has claimed that it was a mistake to “empower scientists” during the coronavirus pandemic and that his opposition to closing schools was met with silence during one meeting.

The Conservative leadership candidate believes one of the major errors was allowing the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) to have so much influence on decision making such as closing nurseries, schools and colleges in March 2020.

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GCSE results expected to confirm widening of north-south attainment gap

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Tory leadership candidates called on to commit to fixing growing regional disparities in education

This year’s GCSE results for England and Wales are expected to confirm a widening north-south education gap, prompting a prediction that the government will miss one of its key levelling-up targets if it continues to hold back pupils in the north of England.

A coalition of school leaders, charities and the Northern Powerhouse Partnership has written to the Conservative leadership candidates urging them to commit to fixing growing regional disparities in education.

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GCSE results will reflect varying impact of pandemic, says headteachers union

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Association of School and College Leaders predicts grades will be uneven across England and Wales due to Covid disruption

GCSE results will be uneven across the country due to the varying impact of the pandemic, according to the headteachers union, which described the government’s Covid recovery programme as “lacklustre and chaotic”.

The number of top grades at A-level fell sharply this year and a similar decline is anticipated for GCSE grades as the government seeks to reverse the grade inflation caused by teacher-assessment during the pandemic.

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Fail grades predicted to rise as GCSEs return to pre-pandemic levels

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Expert says exam results will likely mirror A-levels and remain above what they were in 2019

More pupils will fail their GCSEs this year and top grades are expected to fall as results return to pre-pandemic levels, an education expert has predicted.

There could be 230,000 fewer top grades in the UK compared with 2021, but 230,000 more than 2019, according to Prof Alan Smithers, director of the centre for education and employment research at the University of Buckingham.

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‘Why does the school hate me?’: how former MI6 spy’s Scottish dream turned sour

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At security debriefings, Aimen Dean and his family fell in love with the Highlands. Three years later, they feel rejected

Aimen Dean remembers the moment he and his wife, Saadia, decided to make their home in Scotland. They had toured the Highlands and were standing on the battlements of Edinburgh Castle, looking out over the city’s skyline.

Dean already knew Scotland: as one of the UK’s key spies, operating in the highest levels of al-Qaida, he had visited the country in secret six times before, to be debriefed by MI6 officers at safe houses deep in the Highlands or, on one occasion, a hotel on the island of Iona.

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Father who spied on al-Qaida accuses Edinburgh school of discrimination

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Inquiry opens into St George’s after Aimen Dean claims it singled out his daughter over fears he was a security risk

One of the UK’s leading private schools is under investigation after being accused of discrimination against the daughter of one of the west’s most important spies, a former al-Qaida bomb-maker credited with saving thousands of lives.

Aimen Dean, who spied for British intelligence inside the terrorist network for eight years, has made a formal complaint against St George’s School in Edinburgh, claiming it singled out his five-year-old daughter because other parents feared he was a security risk.

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Mexico’s ex-attorney general arrested over disappearance of 43 students in 2014

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Jesús Murillo held on charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in notorious Guerrero case

Mexico’s former attorney general has been arrested in relation to the disappearance of 43 students in 2014, the most prominent individual held so far in the notorious case that has haunted the country ever since.

Jesús Murillo was arrested at his home in Mexico City home on Friday on charges of forced disappearance, torture and obstruction of justice in the abduction and disappearance of the student-teachers in the south-western state of Guerrero, now seen as a “state-sponsored crime”.

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53,000 UK students enter university clearing, the most in over 10 years

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Strong competition for places means many of those who dropped grades in their A-levels are missing out on preferred institutions

More than 53,510 UK-based students were scrambling for places on university courses on Friday, the day after receiving lower grades in their A-level results, with many missing out on their offers in the most competitive year for university places in a decade.

This year’s number of applicants marked as “free to be placed in clearing” on the Ucas website is the highest in more than a decade, and compares with 39,230 at the same point last year. Some of these students missed their grades while others declined their offers, and some may decide not to go to university.

By Friday, 6,640 UK school-leavers had found places through clearing, a 33% increase on last year. A third more students – 23,640 – accepted their insurance choices after missing the grades for their top choice.

University admissions directors reported unprecedented levels of demand in clearing, with phone lines busier than ever, including from students with top grades.

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French right under fire for claims poor parents blowing school equipment cash

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MPs from Les Républicains party had submitted bill to ‘combat fraud’ on back-to-school grants to low-income households

Rightwing opposition MPs in France have been accused of stigmatising poorer people by suggesting low-income families are fraudulently using an allowance for school supplies.

The government spokesperson Olivier Véran said claims some families spent the money on televisions and alcohol were “discrimination” and “an old chestnut”. He rejected suggestions parents should be given basic supplies or vouchers for specific shops to reduce the possibility of fraud.

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No improvement in school attainment gap in England for 20 years, report says

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‘Overwhelming evidence’ education system leaves too many poorer students behind, despite decades of policy focus

The attainment gap between poorer pupils and their better-off class mates is just as large now as it was 20 years ago, according to a damning new report which says the coronavirus pandemic is likely to have increased the inequalities in education

The landmark study, based on research carried out for the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) and funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that disadvantaged pupils start school behind their better-off peers, and those inequalities persist through their school years and beyond – eventually having an impact on earnings.

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School pupils’ pass rates fall in Scotland for Highers and National 5s

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Decline coincides with end of teacher-led grading after cancellation of exams in 2020 and 2021

Pass rates for Scottish pupils have fallen significantly after schools returned to using exams to grade performance for the first time since 2019.

This year’s results showed the overall pass rate for Highers, heavily used for students aiming for university, fell from 89.3% in 2020 to 78.9%. The pass rate for National 5s, awarded largely to 16-year-olds, fell from a peak of 89% in 2020 to 80.8%.

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Universities will adjust to lower exam results in England, says minister

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Government seeks to reassure pupils taking GCSEs and A-levels after sharp rises in grades during pandemic

The government has sought to allay pupils’ fears over GCSE and A-level results, which are expected to be lower in England this summer after two years of record increases, reassuring them that universities will “adjust accordingly”.

The schools minister Will Quince said it was important to “move back to a position where qualifications maintain their value” and reassured students that grades will still be higher than in 2019, before the pandemic.

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Schools in England face funding crisis as costs soar, study warns

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Institute for Fiscal Studies says spend per pupil set to be lower in 2025 than in 2010, with budgets already under strain from rises in food, energy and wage bills

Schools in England are facing a looming funding crisis, with spending per pupil in 2024-25 expected to be 3% lower than in 2010, according to research.

After a decade of austerity cuts, ministers pledged to restore per pupil funding to 2010 levels by the end of the current parliament, but the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says the government is no longer on track to meet its objective because of the cost pressures on schools.

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Teacher sick days soar as poor conditions take toll on mental health

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Increased workloads, class sizes, low pay and Covid legacy are leading to more absences and an exodus of staff

Teachers have spent at least 1.5 million days off work owing to stress and mental health issues, new figures have revealed, amid continued concerns over the increasing pressures they are facing in the classroom.

With long-running concerns about workloads and growing class sizes, new data seen by the Observer suggests that the number of days lost to mental health issues in some council-controlled schools in England and Wales has increased by 7% from the previous year. It is also up by almost a fifth compared to three years ago.

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School uniforms: UK parents urged to buy early amid supply problems

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Supplier warns of Covid-related disruption, amid calls for VAT on over-14s’ school clothes to be axed

The holidays have only just begun for many children but families are being warned not to leave uniform shopping to the last minute because of potential shortages of official school blazers and jumpers.

The specialist retailer School Uniform Direct, which supplies scores of UK schools, has written to thousands of customers urging them to place orders for branded clothing as soon as possible.

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BBC presenter Nicky Campbell says he was victim of abuse at school in 1970s

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61-year-old says what he saw and experienced at Edinburgh Academy has ‘stayed with me all my life’

BBC presenter Nicky Campbell has claimed he was the victim of abuse at a Scottish private school during the 1970s.

Campbell, 61, said witnessing incidents of both sexual and physical abuse at the Edinburgh Academy had had a “profound effect on my life”.

In the UK, the NSPCC offers support to children on 0800 1111, and adults concerned about a child on 0808 800 5000. The National Association for People Abused in Childhood (Napac) offers support for adult survivors on 0808 801 0331.

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Pope Francis ‘begs forgiveness’ over abuse at church schools in Canada

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Pontiff apologises on visit to country over ‘catastrophic’ historical mistreatment of Indigenous children

Pope Francis has apologised for the “disastrous error” and “evil” of Canada’s church-run residential schools, asking survivors of the system that abused tens of thousands of children for forgiveness as he toured the country on a “pilgrimage of penance”.

The pontiff’s widely anticipated apology came during a Monday morning visit to the community of Maskwacis, Alberta – the first formal event of his one-week tour after landing in the western province on Sunday.

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Letter urges Victorian parents to send children to school in masks as Covid surges

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While masks remain optional in schools nationwide, authorities in several Australian states have strengthened requests for action

The Victorian education department and independent schools have written a letter to parents urging students over the age of eight to wear masks at school.

While masks are not currently mandated for general student populations anywhere in Australia, a letter signed by the heads of the Victorian government, Catholic and independent schools sectors asks students aged eight and over to wear masks during class and if travelling on public transport. The state opposition has seized on the recommendation, labelling it a “mandate by stealth”.

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