Michael Gove: gone but not forgotten
The biggest news of the week was without a doubt the shock demotion of Michael Gove to chief whip.
After a government reshuffle that saw David Cameron make sweeping changes to his cabinet to "reflect a modern Britain", he was replaced by Nicky Morgan.
But there has been little optimism about what the change might mean for education. Mike Britland, head of ICT at a comprehensive school in Bournemouth, warned that it would be naive to expect any quick policy changes.
Sam Freedman, director of research, evaluation and impact at Teach First, wrote skeptically on education after Gove: "It will be significantly harder to demonise Nicky Morgan than it has been to attack Gove. He was something of a unifying factor for the teacher unions – the last NUT strike was effectively an anti-Gove demonstration."
Blogger Ross Morrison-McGill shared a five-point plan for incoming education minister, asking Morgan to share good news stories about the profession and focus reform around "what works". And if you'd like to know more about the newbie here are 10 facts about Morgan from @EduSecs.
What's the most popular end of term gift? ... A stiff drink
After a long term of marking, exams and lesson planning, what gift do you want from students? New research shows presents of wine, beer or other alcohol go down best. Surprised?
Parents seem to be adhering to demand – 70% of teachers say they commonly receive alcohol. The second most popular present was gift vouchers and handmade presents.
The survey was conducted by the gift card company One4all who asked 500 teachers to say what they most wanted. More than one in 10 parents said they gave presents to improve their relationship with teachers and 5% even cheekily admitted to giving gifts in the hope of improving their children's grades.
It seems their efforts may have been wasted – 23% of teachers said they gave unwanted gifts to charity and 9% even passed on presents to relatives as Christmas or birthday gifts.
You can read more about extravagant presents for teachers – including a brace of pheasants – in the Independent.
• Tell us what gifts you would most like to receive via @GuardianTeach or join us Sunday 20 July from 4pm to discuss end of term plans, summer holiday resolutions and exchange travel tips about your favourite holiday destinations.
Teacher's note to pupils getting exam results goes viral
Rachel Tomlison, headteacher at Barrowford school in Nelson near Burnley, caused a storm in the virtual world after a letter she wrote to pupils following their exam results went viral.
She said she was proud of the work of children in their key stage 2 tests and that tests do not always assess all of what it is that makes each student unique.
Her letter was met with support in the UK and around the world, although some quarters have suggested she may have plagiarised some of the comments.
Is the pupil premium helping poorer children?
Schools in England are making good use of the extra money they have to help poorer pupils achieve their potential, according to an Ofsted report.
The research, which investigated 151 schools, found that the achievement gap between free school meal children and their peers was closing in all 86 schools judged "good or outstanding".
The main obstacle to narrowing the gap was weak leadership and governance, according to the report. The Education Endowment Foundation welcomed Ofsted's findings but warned that nationally attainment gaps remained large, and schools need to make use of the rigorous research available to inform decisions about how they spend the pupil premium.
