All posts tagged: gcses

Harper Beckham debuts new braces amid ‘working really hard’ on her GCSEs

Harper Beckham debuts new braces amid ‘working really hard’ on her GCSEs

Harper Beckham shared a rare toothy smile to the world amid her family trip to Ibiza, Spain, alongside her parents, David and Victoria Beckham. The 14-year-old, who is typically shy about smiling on the red carpet and on social media, appeared relaxed and happy as she walked around the local town with her family. Harper’s braces, which she debuted back in 2024, were visible in the holiday photo, and her pearly whites looked straighter than ever. She wore a flowing brown sundress with white floral designs, as seen on her mother just 24 hours prior.  The teenager’s stunning appearance comes after news broke that she planned to launch a beauty brand in the near future, catering towards Gen Z and Gen Alpha customers and inspired by South Korean beauty products.  © Gtres / BACKGRIDHarper looked stunning with her braces on Victoria shared on The Sunday Times Style podcast that while her daughter wants to break into the beauty industry, she is also focusing on studying for her GCSEs. “She’s very passionate and has a point of view, but …

Up Learn: Online Teaching Tool Can Help Kids Catch Up On GCSE Science

Up Learn: Online Teaching Tool Can Help Kids Catch Up On GCSE Science

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication. If you’re currently losing sleep over your teenager’s upcoming exams, you’re certainly not alone. One in four parents say they lie awake at night worrying about their children’s exams, while over half (51%) report the home being hit negatively by exam stress. The good news is: if you’re based in England and think your child might be falling behind in GCSE Combined Science, there’s still time to make something of a difference before exam season starts on 4 May. Up Learn, a digital teaching platform trusted by over 100,000 students and 600 UK schools, has launched its GCSE Science course, designed to help students learn faster and remember more. The online learning platform utilises …

Number of exam grades challenged declines by 18 per cent

Number of exam grades challenged declines by 18 per cent

But the number of overall appeals increases, as does their success rate But the number of overall appeals increases, as does their success rate More from this theme Recent articles The number of exam grades that were challenged at appeal has dropped by more than 18 per cent in a year, despite the number of appeals going up. New figures released by Ofqual show 2,170 GCSE, AS and A Level grades were challenged at appeal in 2024-25, up 18.3 per cent from 2,655 the previous year. Over the same period, there was a 0.1 per cent decrease in the total number of results issues, meaning the drop in grades challenged is not explained by changes to entry patterns. The number of appeals submitted also increased marginally by 7.5 per cent, from 1,795 to 1,930. An individual appeal can cover more than one grade, for example if a school or college submits an appeal against its results for a qualification that more than one of its students has taken. At the same time, one grade might …

Pupils tell me they use it for school work says Bauckham

Pupils tell me they use it for school work says Bauckham

More from this theme Recent articles Pupils have admitted to Ofqual’s boss that they use AI in their work but don’t tell their teachers, he has revealed as he asks exam boards to clamp down on cheating. Ian Bauckham warned this week that, while detection rates are relatively low, there was “significant concern” among teachers and leaders about the “real extent” of artificial intelligence misuse in coursework. Speaking at the FE Week Apprenticeships and Training Conference, he said students had admitted that they used AI. He said: “When I talk to students and ask them to tell me the truth, not necessarily what they would tell their teacher, but quietly tell me whether they go on to AI when they’ve got a piece of work to do, they say ‘well actually yeah please don’t tell my teacher but yes I do’. “It’s getting harder and harder to detect it.” While most GCSE and A-levels are purely exam based now, some coursework remains. For examples, 20 per cent of history and English A-level marks are based …

Why science GCSEs matter more than we think in a post-truth age

Why science GCSEs matter more than we think in a post-truth age

Concerns about living in a “post-truth” society – where evidence struggles to compete with misinformation, ideology and emotion – are now familiar. From vaccine hesitancy to climate change denial, public debates increasingly hinge not on a lack of information, but on how people judge evidence, expertise and uncertainty. These concerns are often framed as a problem of facts. But a deeper issue may be at play – whether people have the skills to weigh competing claims, understand uncertainty and decide what counts as good evidence. Our new research suggests that science education could play a far bigger role in shaping those skills than is usually recognised. Many philosophers and educationalists have argued that education plays a central role in preparing citizens to navigate an uncertain world. Today, organisations such as Unesco, the UN body for education, science and culture, are grappling with how schools and universities can respond to rising misinformation and declining trust in expertise. Higher education institutions and academics are attempting to find practical solutions to this challenge. Public concern often focuses on …

Ofqual must be bolder on digital assessment

Ofqual must be bolder on digital assessment

Digital assessment is already part of school life. Any teacher will tell you they are already using platforms such as AQA’s AlphaPlus and Stride and a host of other on-screen offerings. Ofqual’s consultation on digital exams, which closes later this week, takes an important first step on the path to bring the exam system into the 21st century by setting out how we might introduce some digitally-delivered exams. But, in order truly to reap the potential benefits of on-screen assessment, we need to be bolder. Digital exams will not only better prepare young people for a workforce which increasingly demands digital literacy and communication, they are also a much greener solution and, overall, will bring value and efficiency to the process. That doesn’t mean we should be gung ho. Of course we should proceed with rational and proportionate caution. But being overly tentative is equally risky, creating unnecessary concerns among teachers, and more widely. If we take baby steps into a territory like this, it suggests to the public that they are right to feel …

Photographers removed from GCSE paper over website images

Photographers removed from GCSE paper over website images

AQA deletes photographers’ names from exam after images ‘not appropriate for learners’ found on their websites AQA deletes photographers’ names from exam after images ‘not appropriate for learners’ found on their websites More from this theme Recent articles England’s biggest exam board has scrubbed the names of two photographers from one of its GCSE assessments over concerns their websites contain images that “may not be appropriate” for students. In an email to schools last week, AQA announced that references to Sam Taylor-Johnson and Tim Walker in questions for an art and design paper had been removed to “protect” pupils. One of the pages contains a video of a fully-naked man, while the other has photographs of models appearing to simulate sex. Teacher flagged the issue An AQA spokesperson said: “We recognise that the photographers are distinguished artists in their field, but some of their content may not be appropriate for GCSE students.” Both photographers were referenced in questions in this year’s externally set assessment for GCSE art and design. The papers are usually shared with …