According to a survey by the Association of School and College Leaders, 53 per cent of schools plan to put the greatest emphasis on exam-style papers when calculating GCSE and A-level grades this year. By Zoe Tidman, The Independent.

Simon Lebus, the interim chief regulator of Ofqual, has said exam boards will have to "scramble" this summer to check the grades submitted by schools. By Will Hazell, iNews. Mr Lebus, has suggested that GCSE and A-level exams may not return in their normal form in 2022. By Will Hazell, iNews.

Schools Week reports on the quality assurance evidence requirements published by Ofqual yesterday. By Samantha Booth.

David Gallagher, chief executive of the NCFE awarding organisation, has said he welcomes alternative approaches to assessment, adding "the notion that exams are fair is inherently wrong". By Kate Parker, Tes.

According to Schools Week, the Department for Education knew the scale of downgraded results a week before results were published last year. By Samantha Booth.

New findings suggest more than a quarter of secondary school pupils who test positive for COVID-19 with rapid lateral flow tests do not have the virus, while 71 per cent have their infection confirmed by PCR tests. By Chris Smyth and Ryan Watts, The Times.

Sir Kevan Collins, the education recovery commissioner, has said teachers should not be "forced" to work extra hours as part of COVID-19 catch-up plans, adding: "I will never advocate increasing the amount of time teachers teach without increasing the amount of pay teachers receive." By Amy Gibbons, Tes.

Fionnuala Kennedy, head of Wimbledon High School, writes in Tes arguing the pandemic has revealed that school "is not the building its staff and students occupy but the culture and values they embody".

Figures from the Association of Directors of Children's Services suggest over 20,000 children were taken off the school register by the time schools reopened last autumn. By Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.

Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has said he accepts the "fair criticism" he has received for calling for an end to independent schools' charitable status, despite sending his own children to a fee-paying school. By Daniel Sanderson, The Telegraph. The article quotes John Edward, director of the Scottish Council for Independent Schools.

David James, deputy head of an independent school in London, writes in Tes warning that the Government could look into restructuring or abolishing the Teachers' Pension Scheme as a way of "paying for the pandemic".

Labour ministers have accused the Government of "failing to listen" to families struggling to access childcare, as new findings reveal the impact of spending cuts on the early years sector. By Zoe Tidman, The Independent.

Education union leaders have called on the DfE to 'explain the rationale' behind its behaviour hub programme. By Amy Gibbons and John Roberts, Tes. A breakdown of how the £10 million funding package will be spent is featured in a separate article. By Dave Speck.

Education researchers from the universities of Cambridge and Edinburgh have suggested that introducing a curriculum model where the arts and sciences are taught together could help pupils to understand and tackle important real world issues like climate change. By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

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