The Guardian reports that pupils from poorer backgrounds are likely to be hardest hit by “grade deflation” when GCSE and A-level results come in, according to experts who claim the decision to impose pre-pandemic grading on students this year was “premature”.

The Social Mobility Foundation found those from disadvantaged backgrounds in England were less likely to have received help to restore learning lost during the Covid pandemic, and therefore the gap is expected to widen for a second year in a row. The charity added it was premature to say the impact of Covid has ended on this generation, and therefore the decision to impose pre-pandemic grading in England was premature. 

Elsewhere on the page, a soldier clears a mine in Ukraine – the “most heavily mined country on Earth”.