Pupils ‘may not return’ if exams axed next year

SCHOOLS are worried some students would not return for the rest of the academic year if next summer’s exams were cancelled, the chief inspector of Ofsted said.

Amanda Spielman’s comments came just before it was announced that end-of-year exams in Wales will be scrapped in 2021.

She warned that axing A-level and GCSE exams could do ‘real harm’ and said she has not seen evidence that repeating last summer’s approach would be ‘sensible’. In England, ministers have committed to next year’s A-levels and GCSEs going ahead, but most will be pushed back three weeks.