Damian Hinds should stop pointing the finger at schools – troubled pupils need specialist help that’s no longer funded.

Have you heard the stories about headteachers callously excluding children to make their school’s results improve? In a few instances, it’s true. But for the most part, the exclusion figures are not because evil school leaders suddenly care more about exams. The real problem is squeezed budgets. Heads care about every child: what they can’t do is teach all of them.

Thoughts on this article much appreciated! I’m a Northerner who moved to London in 1998. If in 1988, when we first met, you had told either my husband or I that we would have a 10 year old girl, in a single sex, independent school, we would both have called you crazy. Yet here we are. Unless you attend church and have a child who is christened at birth, State school places are almost impossible to gain in Marylebone. I went to church from the age of 3 to 18, however I chose to use all the good of my religious upbringing, without having to go to church. In an attempt to gain a faith school reception place, we tried going to the local church every weekend. Two months in, I was the one who announced I couldn’t take it anymore, I wanted to punch the vicar for his beliefs (that’s a post for another day!).

Major study of 1.8 million pupils also challenges ministers’ claims children do better in academies and grammars.

A leading exam board will upload all of its marked A-level exam scripts today to help cut the numbers of schools challenging their pupils’ grades and seeking a re-mark, after a successful pilot last year.