FOLLOWING the statement by Education Secretary Michael Gove, in the House of Commons last Thursday, East Hampshire MP Damian Hinds said he believed the proposed GCSE reforms "strike the right balance".

The news was also welcomed by the interim headteacher of Bordon's Mill Chase Stephen Crabtree.

Mr Hinds, who sat on the Education Select Committee at the time of its inquiry into the examinations system in England and Wales, has argued the "need for a system that values the progress of every pupil" and that "is what is now being put forward".

Reforms to examinations at age 16, announced last week, will take effect in the first subjects for courses starting in September 2015 and in other subjects for courses starting in September 2016.

For full story, see this week's Bordon Herald.