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Daily News Summary
15 August 2019

A-level results day 2019: Overall trends
Grade boundaries leaked ahead of A-level results day
'Don't let your results define you'
Letters: 'Private schools shouldn't be criticised for having Oxbridge governors'
'Education policy should focus on addressing the inequality between state schools'
'Unconditional offers undermine the faith in our education system'
Figures suggest 60% of eligible students 'miss out' on disability allowance

A-level results day 2019: Overall trends

 

This year's A-level results show 25.5% of students achieved an A grade or higher, the lowest figure since 2007 when it was 25.3%. By Katherine Sellgren and Hannah Richardson, BBC News.

Tes reports on subject entries, highlighting how girls accounted for 50.3 per cent of entries in biology, chemistry and physics this year, overtaking boys for the first time. By Will Hazell.

Schools Week reports Spanish has overtaken French as the most popular modern foreign language for the first time. By Pippa Allen-Kinross.

Daily Mail features pictures of students receiving their A-level results. A number of pupils from ISC schools are photographed.

The Independent features live updates with pupils' results across the country.

 

Grade boundaries leaked ahead of A-level results day

 

The details of A-level grade boundaries set by the Edexcel and OCR exam boards were leaked on social media yesterday, a day before the results were published. The Telegraph highlights how students need just 54 per cent to achieve a grade A in OCR A-level maths. By Camilla Turner. Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the Independent Schools Council, is quoted.

 
The Telegraph

'Don't let your results define you'

 

Yvonne Williams, head of English and drama at a school in the south of England, writes an open letter to students receiving their results today, encouraging them to focus on the skills and knowledge they have gained throughout their A-levels. Tes.

 
Tes

Letters: 'Private schools shouldn't be criticised for having Oxbridge governors'

 

In a letter to The Telegraph, Shaun Fenton, head of Reigate Grammar School and chairman of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, responds to reports about Oxbridge governors in independent schools. He highlights the governance partnerships taking place between state and independent schools, adding, 'we need to stop obsessing about Oxbridge'. The letter can be found half-way down the page.

 
The Telegraph

'Education policy should focus on addressing the inequality between state schools'

 

Dave Griffiths and Jennifer M Ferguson, academics from the University of Stirling, argue integrating independent schools into the state system could worsen existing inequalities, and call on policymakers to address the disparities between state schools. The Conversation.

 
The Conversation

'Unconditional offers undermine the faith in our education system'

 

Writing in The Telegraph, Jo Johnson, the universities minister, warns against universities offering unconditional places "simply to get more students through the door".

 
The Telegraph

Figures suggest 60% of eligible students 'miss out' on disability allowance

 

According to a report from the Department for Education, 60% of eligible students were not aware of Disabled Student Allowances, a form of financial support that can make university more accessible to those with additional needs. By Beth Rose, BBC News.

 
BBC

 

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