this is bbc news. the headlines: an apology from scotland's first minister. nicola sturgeon accepts her government "did not get it right" over scottish exam results. i'm sorry for that, but instead of doing what politicians sometimes do and dig our heels in, we are determined to acknowledge that and to put it right. borisjohnson says education is a priority for the country — and all pupils in england must get back to school for the new term. i think it's very important that everybody works together to ensure that our schools are safe and they are, they're covid secure, i've been very impressed by the work that the teachers have done working with the unions to make sure that all schools are safe to go back to in september.

the home secretary visits border patrols deployed to monitor migrants crossing the channel as britain says it wants to work with france to tackle the issue. hidden for three thousand years, the bronze age hoard found by an amateur detectorist. and the american golfer wins the pga championship in san francisco. nicola sturgeon has apologised after accepting her government "did not get it right" over scottish exam results. with no exams sat this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the scottish qualifications authority ran a system based on teacher assessments. officials applied a moderation technique which led to about 125,000 grades being revised down. there was particular criticism after higher pass rates for pupils

in the most deprived data zones were reduced by 15.2%, in comparison with 6.9% for pupils from the most affluent backgrounds. scotland's first minister said the pupils affected will not all be expected to appeal, and measures to correct the issue will be announced this week. she made the comments at today's briefing from the scottish government. let me be clear about this, in a very difficult and unprecedented situation, we took decisions that we thought on balance were the right ones, and we took them with the very best of intentions. these were broadly the same decisions that have been reached for england and wales, as well. but our concern, which was to make sure that the grades young people got were as valid as those they would have got in any other year, perhaps led us to think too much about the overall system and not enough about the individual pupil, and that has meant that too many students feel that they have lost out of grades that they should

have had, and also that that has happened as a result not of anything they've done but because of a statistical model or an algorithm, and in addition, that burden has not fallen equally across our society. so, despite our best intentions, i do acknowledge that we did not get this right and i'm sorry for that, but instead of doing what politicians sometimes do and dig our heels in, we are determined to acknowledge that and to put it right. there are, of course, deeper questions that we will need to resolve for the longer term about the impact of exams on the attainment gap and on the difference between exams and teacherjudgment, but the most immediate challenge is to resolve the grades awarded to pupils this year. as i said, we will set out our approach tomorrow to the scottish parliament, but let me be clear that we will not expect every student who has been downgraded to appeal. this situation is not the fault of students and so it should not be on students to fix it, that's on us, and we will set out tomorrow

exactly how we intend to do that. bruce adamson is scotland's children and young people's commissioner. he says that pupils deserve to be treated better after not being able to sit the exams because of the pandemic. children have the right to an education which develops them to their fullest potential, and part of that is recognising their achievements. and over four months ago when the lockdown started and exams were cancelled, they were promised a fair assessment and teachers were asked to do an evaluation, an assessment, that took into account preliminary exams, took into account coursework, and their knowledge of how well that young person would achieve, and to have those marks downgraded in so many cases, over 125,000, a quarter of children had their marks downgraded based on, mostly, on the performance of their school in exams in previous years, is unfair to those young people. 0ur correspondent james shaw joins us from glasgow.

an apology from nicola sturgeon, presumably hoping to take the sting out of this, but there is a statement to the scottish parliament tomorrow? that's correct. john swinney, the education secretary, is going to explain what the scottish government is going to do about that. nicola sturgeon was asked today if she could give any more details about what would be in that statement. she didn't really want to do that but she did say that pupils would get the grades, the results, they felt they deserved. and what that implies, that this is to some extent speculation, is that what they will do is return to the estimates that were delivered by teachers originally to the scottish qualifications authority, which were then modified by the sqa, which is where the unhappiness has come into the situation, because many people felt the results were downgraded and it seems that has affected pupils in more deprived areas than it has

elsewhere. thank you very much. the prime minister has renewed his commitment to get all schools to open in england this september. he says education is a priority for the country. it follows the education secretary saying research shows there is little evidence of coronavirus being transmitted in schools. but unions and some school leaders say there is an absence of clear guidance from the government and they criticise the failure to have a back—up plan if there's a second wave of the virus. sean dilley reports. the prime minister on the offensive at this east london school. he is hoping his message will hit the mark. look at that! borisjohnson is seeking to convince parents and teachers that schools in england can safely reopen in september, despite warnings by government advisers that the country may have reached the limit of what can safely reopen. it's not right that kids should spend more time out of school. it's much betterfor their health, their mental well—being,

obviously their educational prospects, if everybody comes back to school full—time in september. it is our moral duty as a country to make sure that happens. previous plans to reopen primary school classrooms before the summer holidays fell flat amidst concerns about a virus the country then knew very little about. now the government is pointing to as yet unpublished research which it contends shows little evidence of coronavirus spreading in educational settings. the prospect of reopening schools has not met with universal support, however. some union officials have questioned whether schools can return safely. others are calling for robust measures to protect society. that movement of young people through the community is likely to lead to increased virus infection. so, what's the plan b? it seems to me good leadership is notjust about rhetoric about moral duty and so on, it is also scenario planning which reassures parents and people

working in schools that we have done the thinking through. questions also exist around how the government plans to manage school attendance in areas subject to local lockdown, like here in greater manchester. the mayor and former health secretary backs schools reopening but says it must be done safely. ijust think we've got to kind of make every arrangement possible so that people can have that peace of mind, but it does point then at the test and trace system. it isn't yet good enough, and i say to the government, look, we need to work together to get this system right over august. it is an argument that is boosted by health researchers in australia. they say the evidence shows children can attend school safely, but only when strict measures are implemented. we learnt that if you can do those basics, the testing, tracing, isolating, implement these different measures into schools around social distancing, hygiene, environmental cleaning, all of these things act together,

and when the context is right, we can have children attending schools but low transmission. schools in scotland reopen their gates tomorrow. northern ireland is due to follow suit later this month. and wales, like england, is due to welcome pupils back in early september. the government has insisted reopening schools is safe and should be a national priority. they say they will follow scientific advice and will never compromise the safety of children. let's speak to our political correspondent chris mason. when you give the prime minister a bow and arrow and film that, take pictures, you then think i was going to be written underneath? taking aim at the unions, the teaching unions could be one way of describing that shot. it's one of those photo opportunities you would not have got when it theresa may was prime minister, she did not go for those

theatrical moments with the same relish as borisjohnson. but as you say, there's always an awareness within downing street and political parties about the captions that can be attached to these kind of images, we will see that image a lot, i suspect, on social media, online and in the newspapers in the next 2a hours. and there is something of a puzzle coming, is in there? we've seen it bubbling over the last couple of months between the trade unions and teaching profession and downing street, then you throw pa rents downing street, then you throw parents into the mix as well, then the prospect of local lockdown is of the prospect of local lockdown is of the kind we are seeing in certain pockets of the north of england, and then this huge test, one of the biggest consequences of coronavirus, if you like, how the government manages the reopening of schools in three weeks' time, roughly, in england. having marched plenty of people up the hill a couple of months ago as far as primary schools we re months ago as far as primary schools were concerned, then needed to be marched back down the hill, the government's rhetoric is uncompromising, it seems, on this, yet it is about to encounter

reality. to what extent can they deliver that promise that all pupils in all yeargroups deliver that promise that all pupils in all year groups should return all of the time to schools in three weeks? i've just come off the phone from the weekly briefing at the downing street office to westminster reporters, they are sticking to their line that they want all schools to reopen in all circumstances, including, they say, areas that are subject to local lockdown is. they say that is still possible and if cases do emerge within a school bubble, the net school bubble could be put into self isolation, people staying at home for a couple of weeks, but the remainder of the school staying open. so the absolute emphasis is that education comes first, everything else should be considered for closure before schools are closed in the coming months. as you said, reality has a habit of coming and biting you on the backside, and in scotland, there are already finding this over exam issues, the same problem they said ministers in england? it does, and it was another question that came up on this lobby

briefing call, as it's known here at westminster, masking the official spokesman about what exactly might happen in an english context given what we have heard from nicola sturgeon this lunchtime in scotland, this model for trying to work out what grades you give to a student given that they didn't take their exams. and one of them, one of the elements that's looked into is the recent performance of the school, why does that happen? it happens to try to avoid a situation where school is collectively kind of upper marks of their students and there is a massive amount of grade inflation ina yearwere a massive amount of grade inflation in a year were no exams have been set, so the performance of the school in recent years as one metric on top of mocks and the individual people's performance on school work thatis people's performance on school work that is looked into. at we've heard concern from some pupils and parents that for instance if you are a high performing people in a school that is relatively poor performing, could

you find yourself marked down u nfa i rly you find yourself marked down unfairly perhaps with an average performing pupil at a very good performance school? the government is saying this lunchtime that its system is robust, the department for education has been working alongside of call, the exams regulator, —— alongside 0fqual, the exams regulator. there will be an appeals process , regulator. there will be an appeals process, there is also the option in some instances for pupils to sit an exa m some instances for pupils to sit an exam in the autumn. they are anticipating here, as far as england is concerned, the rr we are already seeing playing out in scotland, there is a level results due this week. aspect of the first night we are already seeing in scotland. —— the row we are already seeing. wales continues to ease it's lockdown measures — swimming pools and gyms are open again. there's good news for the youngsters, too, with indoor soft play areas reopening —

a first in the uk. meanwhile, local authorities in wales have been given extra powers to take action against premises where rules to stop the spread of the virus aren't being followed. tomos morgan reports. a return to action for some... and a first visit for others. soft play centres have reopened in wales today. the first of the uk nations to do so. we come here nearly every day, we are members, so we spend a lot of time here, don't we? to come back, it's a bit of normality for the children. and they really enjoy it. just so happy, the minute she found out she was coming here, she was so excited. the welsh government's guidance says children under 11 no longer need to self—isolate but even so, today's easing came as a surprise to some in the industry. it took us by surprise a little bit. other businesses have had 2—3 weeks' notice, we were given a week and the guidance is quite sparse, so it was a bit of a shock the system, butjust roll with it and make it work. although soft play areas have reopened in wales today,

ball pits and sensory toys, things that are difficult to clean will not be available for safety reasons, but no doubt, it will be a welcome relief for parents and for those toddlers wanting to expel some energy. until today, gym goers have had to get a sweat on outdoors in wales. we've implemented this box system so it allows members to be three metres apart. but now, the weights room has reopened for indoor use here, a few weeks after england and northern ireland. people's physical and mental health, you know, this period has only highlighted the importance the fitness industry plays in that. being reserved in the easing of lockdown is probably the sensible thing to do during this time. the welsh government have been more cautious in their easing of certain areas compared to some of the other uk nations. but even though they have been quicker to allow children to interact again, the administration in cardiff bay

realised that parents may still have some reservations. we are not saying every child in every school must be back on the first day. we recognise it's important to do this gradually. but within the first two weeks and certainly by the end of september, we, our ambition is that every child will be back, five days a week, in the classroom. with those wanting to get in shape now able to flex those muscles inside again and children also having another avenues to expel energy, normality begins to return in wales, as it does across the uk, butjust come at a different pace. tomos morgan, bbc news. the head of the world health 0rganisation says he expects the number of coronavirus cases worldwide to pass 20 million this week, and the number of deaths to exceed 750,000. dr tedros adhanom ghebreyesus urged countries to suppress, suppress, suppress in order to break chains of transmission and bring the pandemic under control. he urged governments

to proceed with caution: countries like france, germany, the republic of korea, spain, italy and the united kingdom had major outbreaks of the virus but when they took action, they were able to suppress it. many countries globally are now using all the tools at their disposal to tackle any new spikes. 0ver disposal to tackle any new spikes. over the last few days, the uk prime minister borisjohnson over the last few days, the uk prime minister boris johnson put over the last few days, the uk prime minister borisjohnson put areas of northern england under state how much notifications as clusters of cases were identified. —— under stay at home notifications. we all want schools safely reopened but we also need to ensure that students, staff and faculty are safe. the foundation for this is adequate control of transmission in the community. my message is crystal clear. suppress,

suppress, suppress the virus. the headlines on bbc news... an apology from scotland's first minister. nicola sturgeon accepts her government "did not get it right" over scottish exam results. borisjohnson says education is a priority for the country — and all pupils in england must get back to school for the new term. the home secretary visits border patrols deployed to monitor migrants crossing the channel as britain says it wants to work with france to tackle the issue. borisjohnson says he'll work with the french government to tackle the flow of migrants across the english channel. uk ministers will hold talks in paris tomorrow — where they'll demand stronger measures from the french authorities. an raf surveillance plane is being deployed to monitor the crossing. more than 4000 people have successfully crossed the channel in small boats so far this year. from dover, simonjones reports. early morning, and another group of migrants is spotted in the channel. the destination — dover.

it is choppy at sea. they're forced to try to bail out the boat. where are you from? syria. syria? how many people? more than 600 migrants have reached the uk by boat in the past five days, and more than 4,000 so far this year. the military has now been flown in to support the beleaguered border force. this atlas aircraft will help with surveillance in the channel. the home secretary, facing growing pressure not least from some of her own mps to get a grip of the issue, took to the sea. the british government will ask france at a meeting this week to start turning boats back on the water to act as a deterrent. working with the french to stop them getting across the channel, but we need to look at the legal framework that we have, the panoply of laws that an illegal immigrant has at his or her disposal that allow them to stay here. we need to look at what we can

do to change that. the french authorities are set to us for more british money ——to ask for more british money to tackle the issue, but the calais mp says there is only so much they can do. we can't monitor all the coast because it is too huge to monitor all this 300km. basically, we are doing a lot, but there are limits to what humans and technology can do to stop people realising their dream. we have been shadowing the boat carrying possibly 20 migrants. that is in the distance, the orange life jackets you can see. for a while, there was no sign of the border force or lifeboat, but now you can see the border force vesseljust going in there to pick up the migrants on board that boat. this happening just a few miles off the coast of dover. groups supporting migrants say we shouldn't demonise them. we have a proud tradition in this country are helping people in need.

france already takes four times as many asylum applications than the uk does. britain needs to step up and do its part, and it is shameful to me that we are talking in this way about fellow human beings. both britain and france say these crossings must stop, but it is unclear how they will achieve that. simonjones, bbc news, dover. pierre henri dumont is a member of the french assembly for calais ? hejoins me now. thank you for your time. is this a british problem or french problem? it's a global problem, it's a world problem, it's a european problem. migrants come from the middle east, africa, and they leave home because they want a better place to live for their children. so basically it's not only a question of the border between france and the uk, it's also a more global issue. my point here

is, we must have priorities and our top priority should be to save lives and make sure the channel will not be the new mediterranean sea, and for that we need to do more and we need to do something else than just saying that we need more money to protect the coast or send in the royal navy to stop the boats, because when you're leaving your country and use of your family killed by dictators or there was a civil war, you're not going to stop 30 kilometres away from your dream, nothing can stop these migrants achieve that goal, to achieve their dream, especially when they have

travelled 2000, 3000, 4000 kilometres from home. but this is entirely an issue about the border between france and uk, and because there is no international waters, it's a very narrow strip of water, the suspicion is that the french are happy to see them leave france can get into british waters, because thenit get into british waters, because then it becomes a british problem. is that unfair, that feeling? that's totally unfair. i was born and raised in calais, and since i was a young quyr raised in calais, and since i was a young guy, young boy, i've always seen young guy, young boy, i've always seen migrants in calais. the fact is the question should be why all these migrants want to go to the uk and not stay in france. 95% of all these migrants are eligible and can obtain asylu m migrants are eligible and can obtain asylum in both france and the uk. they want to go to the uk because

they speak english, because they come from sudan, syria, iraq, former british colonies, then they think it's easierfor them to british colonies, then they think it's easier for them to work in the uk, because it's easy for them to find a house and to live in a community style that we don't have in france. for all those reasons, for some years, for some decades now, migrants want to go to the uk and live in the uk because it gives them more opportunities because of internal laws of market, ofjob, of housing, into the united kingdom comparatively to other countries in france, in europe, or in germany, for example. wouldn't it be much easier to stop these boats leaving the coast of france and thereby making that risk impossible? nobody denies that as soon as you get in a dinghy and try to cross the english channel, you're putting your life at severe risk, why aren't there enough

people watching the coast in france to stop this? we are already stopping boats, we are disbanding smuggler organisations, we are doing already everything like that. but, you know, we have got 300 kilometres of coast to monitor every day, every night, every minute. it only takes 5-10 night, every minute. it only takes 5—10 minutes for smugglers to take about from the hill, from the trees around the sea and put the boat at sea around the sea and put the boat at sea with migrants in it. we cannot monitor 300 kilometres. and even if we are going to put more police officers, even if we are getting more money from the uk to buy some new technologies, even if we are putting more... i don't know if you've been to calais in the last few months, but we have got wolves and wires everywhere, it's awful for

tourism. —— we have got walls and wires everywhere. but even if you're building all of that, nothing can stop migrants moving from their dream to go to the uk. they if they are not coming from calais, they will come from normandy, or go to norway to take a ferry boat to scotland, if this route is closed, they will take some boat to... that's how it works, because you won't take away these migrants' dreams because they lost everything so dreams because they lost everything so they have nothing to lose, and basically, you can build everything you want, you can put as many police officers as you want. what do you

think the british should be doing to stop this happening? we heard a few minutes ago in the... those people on boats came from syria. in a 99% of the cases, people coming from syria are refugees and should ask and will receive the protection of both france or the uk or other european countries. these people shouldn't have to take risks to get protected by our countries, by countries who are so—called modern, enlightened countries of human rights. so i really believe that how these people who want to go to the uk should have the possibility to ask for asylum while they are travelling across europe and not

waiting to have both feet in great britain to ask for asylum. so then, if they ask for asylum while they're in greece, if they ask for asylum in the uk at the uk embassy or consulate, so then the uk can say, yes, you can come, so consulate, so then the uk can say, yes, you can come, so it's a safe trip without any smugglers. and if the uk says no, you're not a refugee, you're not recognised as refugee, you're not recognised as refugee, then the migrants can ask for asylum in another european country. so it's way easier, you know, in calais, in the camps in calais, ngos and french authorities are going to these migrants and saying, you need to apply for asylum in france but all these people in calais would rather be illegal in the uk than get protection from france or other european countries because, for some different reasons, asi because, for some different reasons, as i say, they would rather be, they'd rather speak english, they think it's easierfor they'd rather speak english, they think it's easier for them to work in the uk, so the only solution is

to make a clear separation between asylu m to make a clear separation between asylum seekers and the ones who are really refugees of war, and the others who are economical migrants. it's great to talk to you, thank you so it's great to talk to you, thank you so much for your time this afternoon. let's speak now to tobias ellwood, chair of the defence select committee. and as you heard there, not much respect for the fact that the royal navy has been called in on this. well, we have to recognise that this isa well, we have to recognise that this is a very difficult problem, the royal navy, the armed forces stand as our royal navy, the armed forces stand as oui’ insurance royal navy, the armed forces stand as our insurance policy, there are resilience, when the home office cannot manage it is absolutely right that temporarily the armed forces are able to provide additional resources . are able to provide additional resources. you spoke about the challenge of this being in the

channel, it's much wider than that on the calais mp i think touched on this. clearly there is a responsibility for france to take on its own asylum seekers, france is a ma nifestly safe cou ntry its own asylum seekers, france is a manifestly safe country with its own asylu m manifestly safe country with its own asylum process, therefore these individuals should not be allowed to leave the country of france. clearly, france cannot manage itself with the number of dinghies that are coming across, they are actually preventing many but many are getting through, we cannot manage on our side of the tunnel, combining both effo rts side of the tunnel, combining both efforts we can resolve this problem far better, perhaps including use of the armed forces as well. we have that mission to be able to intercept these dinghies in international waters and ta ken these dinghies in international waters and taken back to the poor thing originated from, as according to the dublin protocols which france is part of. —— back to the port they originated from. but you can't have british warships going into french territorial waters to do that.|j

didn't territorial waters to do that.” didn't say french territorial waters andi didn't say french territorial waters and i am not talking about warships, i'm talking about firstly getting a better intelligence picture, understanding where these dinghies actually depart. there is no way we have five cutters operating from the home office that can manage the entire c, you need a better intelligence picture and that's coming together, we are working closely with the french as well, but operationally we need to have a greater collaboration and i hope that when a priti patel, the home secretary, meets her opposite number in the next few days, we can actually have that agreement. but the calais mp touched on this, this is being fuelled by a two thing is, first, the problems in the countries themselves. when there is disorder, dysfunctional states, yes, people will fall over backwards to try and leave that country but they will also pay handsomely to criminal gangs, human traffickers, who are willing to actually take advantage

of their miserable situations, and until we work with france and other countries to break these gangs down, there will always be a continuing flow of individuals wanting to get europe. and secondly but most importantly we need to actually invest much greater into these countries. it interesting seeing macro, the french president, —— emmanuel macron, the french president going to lebanon and promising it will be different now, remember someone promising it will be different now, remember someone doing that in libya not long ago, libya is now the main thoroughfare bringing people from sa ha ra thoroughfare bringing people from sahara and the middle east into europe itself. there are bigger questions as to why europe has become so risk averse, why we step back, leaving a vacuum is to be filled by these criminal gangs and terrorist activity. when we read in the papers, it makes for good headlines, calling on the ministry of defence, getting the british royal navy involved, isn't thatjust gesturing? because in reality, what can they actually do?

let's put some information on that. firstly they can provide a better intelligence picture, they can know whether dinghies are leaving from richie porte. that then allows you to use your limited assets to go and intercept these dinghies, pick these individuals up and take them back to the port. what you can't do is sit of the dover shorts and wait for these vessels to arrive. by that time is too late. we need a greater cooperation with the french. can i lea p cooperation with the french. can i leap in there, because what you have said that, isn't there a problem if you have british ships monitoring this, picking up those in the middle of the channel and then taking them back to france, that cannot happen at the moment, can it? it can't because there is no agreement. france recognises they will not tackle this alone, we need to recognise we can't tackle this alone. unless we collaborate

together, putting both assets together, putting both assets together can we put a dent into this challenge, but this will only be temporary because the gangs themselves, the criminal gangs that fuelled this trade will continue on until we start to tackling that, that means working with interpol, other international organisations. the home office hasjust appointed other international organisations. the home office has just appointed a former british royal marine to help better coordinate agency activity to tackle this, but ultimately i step back and say that we have an integrated view come along. we need to recognise that when we walk away from afghanistan, syria, iraq, ulay states which are failed, without governance, without security. it's no wonder these people are willing to pay their life savings in order to pay their life savings in order to try and make a path to europe. we need to be far greater in investing in those countries that we gave huge promises to and then abandoned. let's look at the consequences

briefly and finally. if you have a situation that we seem to have now, what will, how do you get the british and the french together at a time when there is a suspicion, and i know you will have heard this, that whilst there is a complicated negotiation on britain leaving the eu, there are plenty in europe saying, this is a bargaining chip, something that we can use, and until thatis something that we can use, and until that is decided, we won't get a deal with france in the meantime. as long as we don't get a deal with france, this situation will continue to get worse. and more lives will be at risk and the situation will be compounded because of an absence of agreement. it is important the home 0ffice agreement. it is important the home office and interior ministry in france works together to recognise that unless there is greater collaboration on those three fronts, firstly in the channel operation, secondly knocking down the gangs and

thirdly in filling the vacuum self—governance in these failed states, this problem will simply get bigger and it will get worse this year. not least with covid—i9, global recession and climate change will see more migrate patterns are changing cross the world. let's catch up with the sport. it was a dramatic finish to golf‘s uspga championship — and it was won by 23—year—old collin morikawa. he was playing in only his second major — but he battled his way to the top of a packed leaderboard in san francisco. at one point there was a seven—way tie at the top, but he produced a flawless final round of 64, to finish two shots clear of a group including england's paul casey, so the wait for a major goes on for him. but afterwards morikawa said he was on cloud nine.

when i woke up today i was like, you know, this is meant to be, this is where i feel comfortable, where i want to be. i'm not scared from it. if i was scared from it, the last few holes would have been different. you want to be in this position. next to cricket and james anderson says he has no intention of retiring from the game. england's all time leading wicket—taker is 38 now and wasn't at his best in the first test against pakistan, which has only increased the speculation, but he says he's ignoring the rumours. ifi if i keep bowling the way i did this week, the opportunity to retire will be taken out of my hangs, it will be a selection issue. but for me, i am still hungry to play the game and i just want, i think the frustration for me this week has been after one bad game, whispers that go around. i

don't think that's really fair. the southampton midfielder pierre—emile hojbjerg is having a medical at tottenham, to finalise his transfer. the danish international‘s chosen spurs ahead of everton, after both clubs opened talks with southampton. it's believed the fee is an inital £15 million but tottenham moving in the other direction, making his loan move permanent.