National News
Childcare shortage worsens as costs rise – report
Tuesday 19th March 2024Fewer than a third of councils in all areas have enough spaces for children under two, a charity finds...
How do I choose an apprenticeship, and is the pay good?
Monday 18th March 2024Going to school, college or university five days a week is not the only way to get a qualification...
Who gets 15 hours of free childcare and when do I apply?
Monday 18th March 2024Parents in England who want 15 hours of free childcare for two-year-olds face an important deadline...
Scottish childminder numbers halve in a decade
Sunday 17th March 2024Scottish Labour accuses the Scottish government of failing families after the figures were revealed...
Boarding schools’ impact devastating for society, says Charles Spencer
Sunday 17th March 2024Earl says public schools have at times had brutalising effect on those who have ended up in powerCharles Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, has said the brutalising effect of boarding schools on people who have come to power has been devastating for society...
Boarding schools have a devastating impact on society, says Charles Spencer
Sunday 17th March 2024Brother of Diana reveals he was sexually abused as a child at Maidwell Hall and that a nanny would beat him and his sisterCharles Spencer, the younger brother of Diana, Princess of Wales, has said the brutalising effect of boarding schools on people who have come to power has been devastating for society...
‘I don’t think I developed emotionally’: Earl Spencer on the pain of boarding-school abuse
Sunday 17th March 2024The brother of Diana, princess of Wales, talks about his difficult decision to write about being physically and sexually abused and the resistance he faced from members of his own classIt was one thing writing about the abuses of his childhood, Charles Spencer tells me, with half an ironic laugh; it’s quite another talking about them with strangers...
Cambridge college unmasks alumnae who were Bletchley Park codebreakers
Sunday 17th March 2024Names of 77 ex-students of women-only Newnham College who worked at Bletchley Park are revealed for first timeThey worked day and night during the second world war, deciphering Nazi messages, breaking Enigma codes and analysing top-secret military documents...
‘Desperate neglect’: teachers washing clothes and finding beds as poverty grips England’s schools
Saturday 16th March 2024Schools risk being overwhelmed by hungry, exhausted children from freezing homes, headteachers and campaigners warn• ‘If a child is hungry, it doesn’t matter if you’re a bloody good teacher’Schools are finding beds, providing showers for pupils and washing uniforms as child poverty spirals out of control, headteachers from across England have told the Observer...
‘It’s about giving them dignity’: how Tees Valley schools are taking on poverty
Saturday 16th March 2024Pupils’ lack of food and sleep is leading one education trust in northern England to focus more on families• ‘Desperate neglect’: teachers washing clothes and finding beds as poverty grips schools in EnglandStaff at Tees Valley Education (TVE), which runs four primaries and a special school in some of the region’s most deprived areas, are used to looking for signs that families are under serious strain...
Children 'let down' by dropped transport changes
Friday 15th March 2024Plans to reduce the distance children travel before they can get free transport have been scrapped...
‘I can’t make them eat it’: Teachers and parents share school meal concerns in England
Friday 15th March 2024Shrinking portions, ‘very beige’ servings and rising costs leave schools and families bewilderedParents and teachers have shared their own frustrations with substandard school meals after a headteacher in Southampton complained about his school’s contract caterers, asking: “How difficult is it to bake a potato?”Several parents and school staff who got in touch with the Guardian blamed the outsourcing of school catering for what they saw as declining provision...
I’ve never heard a Labour leader speak about the arts like Keir Starmer – now I hope words become action | Charlotte Higgins
Friday 15th March 2024He has signalled a return to old Labour values: that everyone, no matter their background, should have access to temples of high cultureWhen Keir Starmer spoke at Guildhall School of Music and Drama this week, promising to place the arts at the centre of a Labour government, the fact that he had made the speech at all was more remarkable than the detail of what he said...
‘I can’t make them eat it’: Teachers and parents share concerns over school lunches in England
Friday 15th March 2024Shrinking portions, ‘very beige’ servings and rising costs leave schools and families bewilderedParents and teachers have shared their own frustration with substandard school meals after a headteacher in Southampton complained about his school’s contract caterers, asking: “How difficult is it to bake a potato?”Several parents and school staff who got in touch with the Guardian blamed the outsourcing of school catering for what they saw as declining provision...
Head disgusted by food requests in-house caterers
Friday 15th March 2024Jason Ashley says he has a "lack of trust in Chartwells to transform the catering" in his school...
Essex is the worst in England for SEND assessments
Friday 15th March 2024Essex is the worst place in England for assessing children with special needs with just 1% complete in 20 weeks...
No council apology for pupil's 26-mile school trek
Friday 15th March 2024A pupil will travel the a marathon distance each day to attend school due to a shortage of places...
How a head teacher saved his pupils from a knifeman
Thursday 14th March 2024Children hid under desks as Ciran Stapleton kept an armed intruder talking in the school corridor...
The Guardian view on multi-academy trusts: disputes over school budgets point to deeper issues | Editorial
Thursday 14th March 2024A governance shake-up lay at the heart of the academies programme, but the model is flawedThe resignation of a Cambridgeshire headteacher following a dispute about the amount of money spent on overheads by the trust that runs his secondary school has placed in the public domain a source of tension more frequently discussed behind closed doors...
Students suspended even for short spells fare worse at GCSEs, study finds
Thursday 14th March 2024Charity says findings from schools in England show need for early intervention and fewer exclusionsChildren who are suspended from school in England even for short periods see their GCSE results suffer, according to research that highlights the need for early interventions to reduce suspensions...
How a headteacher saved his pupils from a knifeman
Thursday 14th March 2024Children hid under desks as Ciran Stapleton kept an armed intruder talking in the school corridor...
Fasting pupils told to spend lunch break at home
Wednesday 13th March 2024The Beeches school says it is working on a way to support working parents whose children are fasting...
What are children learning in sex education?
Wednesday 13th March 2024Schools often consult parents about RSHE teaching, but some disagreements have led to protests...
‘How difficult is it to bake a potato?’: fed-up head hits out at school’s caterers
Wednesday 13th March 2024Letter apologises to parents over ‘completely unacceptable’ standard of food in Southampton secondary’s canteenA headteacher in Southampton has vented his anger to parents over the poor quality of food served by his secondary school’s contract caterers, saying: “I keep asking myself, how difficult is it to bake a potato?”Jason Ashley, the head of Redbridge community school, sent parents photographs of school lunches served by Chartwells, the private catering firm, and said “numerous” meetings with the company had failed to bring about any improvements...
Rise in pupils in Wales self-harming since Covid
Wednesday 13th March 2024Asking if pupils are self-harming is a common question since the pandemic, one school says...
Head disgusted by state of food at his own school
Wednesday 13th March 2024Jason Ashley, who sent pictures of the meals in an apology letter to parents, blames caterers...
‘Children are being failed’: why more English parents are home educating
Wednesday 13th March 2024Fines, health needs and a poor learning environment are among the reasons for the rise in children taken out of schoolJulie, a 47-year-old counsellor and mother of two from Northamptonshire, made the drastic decision to take her daughter out of school last June, before the end of year 3...
Guidance on treatment of transgender pupils poses legal risks, say unions
Wednesday 13th March 2024Teachers and school leaders in England call government proposals vague, leaving them vulnerable to losing court casesTeaching unions and school leaders in England are calling for an overhaul of ministers’ proposed guidance on the treatment of transgender pupils, saying the current version is incomplete and vulnerable to legal challenges...
'Weak concrete' causing school closures
Tuesday 12th March 2024"Urgent structural checks" on the safety of concrete are being carried out in schools across North Tyneside...
Call to revive play at UK schools to tackle ‘escalating crisis’ in child health
Tuesday 12th March 2024Campaigners launch proposal for schools to have ‘plan for play’ that would be subject to Ofsted inspectionCampaigners studying play and childhood are calling for a major focus on reviving play in schools to tackle an “escalating crisis” in child mental and physical health...
Foreign students may be undermining UK higher education, says Cleverly
Tuesday 12th March 2024Home secretary calls for visa review over concern that courses are being used as shortcut to gain work permitsUK politics – latest updatesThe home secretary, James Cleverly, has said international students may be “undermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system” by using university courses as a cheap way of getting work visas...
Cambridge University to scrap state school targets
Tuesday 12th March 2024The university's current target is to have at least 69% of undergraduates coming from state schools...
Overseas students ‘undermining’ UK higher education, warns Cleverly
Tuesday 12th March 2024Home secretary calls for visa review over concern that courses are being used as shortcut to gain work permitsUK politics – latest updatesThe home secretary, James Cleverly, has said international students may be “undermining the integrity and quality of the UK higher education system” by using university courses as a cheap way of getting work visas...
Curriculum shake-up pledge made during Labour visit
Monday 11th March 2024The senior Labour figures joined a primary school music class during their visit...
Is University Really Worth It? review – not when students are left starving
Monday 11th March 2024This bleak, eye-opening film finds mass strikes, gobsmacking whistleblower lecturers and med students forced to survive on food rations of £10 a week...
'Hard-to-reach' schools to get fast broadband
Sunday 10th March 2024Primary schools in rural areas or isolated places will see speeds up to 500 times faster...
How China's boarding schools are silencing Tibet’s language
Sunday 10th March 2024Mandarin is being taught to Tibetans as their main language, threatening the future of their culture...
Oxbridge must help pupils from state schools succeed, college head says
Sunday 10th March 2024Helen Mountfield, principal of Mansfield College, Oxford, hopes to raise £100m to help improve outcomesOxbridge colleges need to actively help their state school-educated pupils succeed, rather than hope a “magical sorting hat” will uncover their talent, according to the head of an Oxford college who is looking to raise £100m to do just that...
Nearly half of UK award nominees in last decade were privately educated
Sunday 10th March 2024Labour analysis finds 40% of Britons nominated for main prizes at major cultural awards went to private schoolNearly half of all British cultural stars nominated for major awards in the last decade were educated at private school, according to an analysis by Labour designed to highlight the failings of the state sector to provide creative education...
Michelle Donelan deserves to lose her job over false allegations against two academics | Observer editorial
Sunday 10th March 2024The science and innovation secretary falsely accused two academics with whom she disagreed of holding extremist viewsConservative ministers have in recent years bullied civil servants, been criminally sanctioned for breaking the law and sent restricted material to those unauthorised to receive it...
‘It’s an absolute mess’: building work seriously delayed on 33 new special schools in England
Saturday 9th March 2024Promised provision, particularly for autistic children, was announced a year ago but few schools will open on timePlans to deliver thousands of new special school places by 2026 are falling seriously behind, with experts branding the building programme “a mess”, the Observer can reveal...
Shadow education secretary calls Gillian Keegan’s Ofsted comments ‘pathetic’
Saturday 9th March 2024Bridget Phillipson said the education secretary’s talk of ‘punching inspectors’ demeans officeBridget Phillipson has accused Gillian Keegan of “demeaning” the office of education secretary by saying she would probably have punched Ofsted inspectors, describing Keegan’s remarks as “pathetic”...
‘You’re gay, sir, innit?’: As a teacher, I kept my sexuality a secret – until I couldn’t
Saturday 9th March 2024Would coming out to my pupils start a useful conversation – or spark chaos?It was my first week as a fully fledged teacher...
Keegan: 'I'd probably have punched Ofsted staff'
Friday 8th March 2024In response, Ofsted's boss said inspectors and school staff should all act with respect...
Gillian Keegan says she would have ‘punched’ rude Ofsted inspectors
Friday 8th March 2024Education secretary rebuked by Ofsted chief and Unison after comment during speech at ASCL union conferenceThe education secretary, Gillian Keegan, told headteachers she would be tempted to punch any Ofsted inspectors who were rude during school visits – earning a rebuke from school unions and Ofsted’s chief inspector...
Jacqueline Wilson reads to zoo animals on World Book Day
Thursday 7th March 2024The best-selling children's novelist visited animals at Drusillas Zoo park near Alfriston...
How are the child benefit rules changing?
Thursday 7th March 2024Changes announced in the Budget men people earning up to £80,000 will be able to claim the benefit...
How a BBC experiment pioneered programmes for schools
Thursday 7th March 2024It is 100 years since pupils in Glasgow became the first to experience special programming for schools...
School accused of ‘snooping’ on family homes to crack down on pupil absences
Thursday 7th March 2024Union criticises Doncaster academy for sending staff to homes to track movements of bins and carsA secondary school in South Yorkshire has been accused of snooping by monitoring families’ bins, cars and post in an attempt to crack down on pupil absences...
Tory levelling up has been a scam. Here are three things Labour can do to make it actually mean something | John Harris
Thursday 7th March 2024Keir Starmer’s party should make councils sustainable, bring local transport into public control – and build new universitiesOur writers and experts name the pledges Labour must include in its manifestoOf all the promises made by Conservative politicians over the past 14 years, the pledge to convincingly reduce the UK’s regional inequalities has turned out to be the most empty...
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