The National Education Union, Unison, GMB and Unite have released a joint statement calling for the reintroduction of face masks in classrooms amid a rise in infections. By Max Stephens, The Telegraph.

Analysis by the Education Policy Institute has found that catch-up funding for schools over the next academic year is "only slightly more" than the amount spent on one month of the Eat Out to Help Out scheme. By Zoe Tidman, The Independent.

New poll findings suggest the mental health of pupils is the "single biggest concern" of those working in education. By Zoe Tidman, The Independent.

Victoria Addis, an English teacher in the East Midlands, writes in Tes warning that pregnant teachers "will continue to be placed at unnecessary risk" without updated COVID safety guidance from the Government.

First minister Nicola Sturgeon has said planning has started on a vaccine rollout programme for children in Scotland aged 12 and over. By Simon Johnson, The Telegraph.

Researchers from University College London and the London School of Economics have warned that teachers face an 'almost impossible task' in fairly awarding A-level and GCSE grades this year, as findings suggest students from graduate households were more likely to receive generously assessed results. By Richard Adams, The Guardian.

According to new guidance from the Joint Council for Qualifications, schools should ensure that they share information with students about how teacher-assessed GCSE and A-level grades were reached, in order to reduce the likelihood of them being appealed. By John Roberts, Tes.

Shirley-Anne Somerville, Scotland's new education secretary, has made a "cast-iron guarantee" that pupils will get the grades they deserve this year. BBC News.

Speaking in a House of Lords debate yesterday, Baroness Bull asked Baroness Berridge if her department will "take the lead in brokering a strategic programme of digitally based partnerships between the independent and state sectors" to target support for communities hardest hit by the pandemic. In response, Baroness Berridge welcomed the suggestion, adding: "This is a time where there is such good will from the independent sector, but we have not managed to plug that into the right place, for various reasons".

Jaideep Barot, headmaster of Bristol Grammar School, writes to The Times in response to the debate over the England and Wales Cricket Board's treatment of Ollie Robinson. He argues that dismissing the cricketer's "offensive and discriminatory" tweets sends a message to children that "they can act without thought and without consequence". The letter can be found halfway down the page.

Baroness Greenfield, a neuroscientist at Oxford University, has said children should study Latin and Greek until they are 16, claiming the subjects exercise the imagination while giving a "rewarding insight into the world now". By Nicola Woolcock, The Times.

The Times reports Oxford and Cambridge have secured the second and third spots in the QS World University Rankings for the first time in a decade. By Nicola Woolcock.

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