National News
Pupils trade smartphone use for no homework
Monday 13th January 2025Pupils at Solihull School are offered a break from homework if they use their smartphones less...
University to offer shorter, cheaper courses
Monday 13th January 2025The University of Chichester is to offer five and 10-week courses in a range of subjects...
University spends £2m on wind tunnels for students
Sunday 12th January 2025There are about 450 students on aerospace engineering courses at the university...
State school pupils in England may have to drop GSCE Latin after funding pulled
Sunday 12th January 2025DfE urged to delay ending funding of popular programme so that hundreds of students can complete their courses• Axing the Latin excellence scheme: a classic mistakeState school pupils taking GCSE Latin may be forced to drop the subject or even have to teach themselves after the government ends funding for a popular programme that has increased the numbers learning Latin across England...
State school pupils in England may have to drop GCSE Latin after funding pulled
Sunday 12th January 2025DfE urged to delay ending funding of popular programme so that hundreds of students can complete their courses• Axing the Latin excellence scheme: a classic mistakeState school pupils taking GCSE Latin may be forced to drop the subject or even have to teach themselves after the government ends funding for a popular programme that has increased the numbers learning Latin across England...
‘It’s been life-changing’: meet the adults making big changes later in life
Sunday 12th January 2025Some people never learn to read or swim or even cook as children - but with the right spirit there’s still time to make things rightI was 44 when I learned to cycle...
‘It is everything art gets a bad name for and everything I love’: Damien Hirst and Cornelia Parker on choosing artworks for schools
Saturday 11th January 2025Antony Gormley and Bridget Riley also pick works to be shown on high-res displays, thanks to a drive to put art at the core of the secondary school cultural syllabusA scheme to bring powerful works of art into the classroom is to be rolled out across British secondary schools in the coming year, with the aim of reaching a million students daily in 1,000 schools by 2027...
‘I was terrified about parental backlash’: taking contested history into schools
Saturday 11th January 2025Parallel Histories, one of three charities the Guardian is supporting this year, helps students navigate contemporary conflicts Donate to our charity appeal hereHalf a million students studied GCSE or A-level history in the UK last year, but just 2,000 of them tackled the origins of the conflict raging in the Middle East...
‘National catastrophe’: drama school funding crisis in England sparks concern
Saturday 11th January 2025Actors Samuel West and Paapa Essiedu join calls for urgent action to protect and expand access to artsWorld-leading drama schools in England are facing a financial crisis that threatens to turn back the clock, shutting down opportunities for talented young people from diverse and less privileged backgrounds, according to leading figures in the arts...
School hall reopens after 16-month Raac closure
Friday 10th January 2025Thomas Bullock Primary in Shipdham is the only school in Norfolk that had to undergo refurbishment...
NI school to provide secure pouches for pupils' phones
Friday 10th January 2025As soon as pupils enter Victoria College in Belfast they will have to put their phone in their pouch...
School closure decisions 'awful' - head teacher
Friday 10th January 2025Rachel Tomlinson says it has been stressful keeping her primary school shut during the big freeze...
‘We would turn up to find books on fire’: the teachers risking kidnap and death to keep Burkina Faso’s schools open
Friday 10th January 2025Conflict has forced a fifth of the country’s schools to close...
Biden’s Title IX expansion protecting LGBTQ+ students struck down
Thursday 9th January 2025Judge in Kentucky finds rules overstepped president’s authority and scraps entire 1,500-page regulationThe Biden administration’s Title IX rules expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students have been struck down nationwide after a federal judge in Kentucky found they overstepped the president’s authority...
I didn’t think it was possible, but this week has been a new low for the Tories | Polly Toynbee
Thursday 9th January 2025The language and style of British Conservatism is now taken directly from the fact-free world of online conspiracyThings can only get worse, as Musk-Trumpery continues to invade British politics...
London council aims to become first in England to offer universal school uniform payment
Thursday 9th January 2025Tower Hamlets will offer help up to £150 a child for households earning less than £50,350A London council is likely to become the first in England to offer a “universal” payment towards school uniform costs to households on an income of less than £50,350...
Teaching union to ballot members over pay offer
Thursday 9th January 2025The National Education Union in England will ballot over strike action on pay and school funding...
Parents in Welsh county told to come to school to change nappies if their child is not toilet trained
Wednesday 8th January 2025Policy change by Blaenau Gwent council means teachers will no longer change nappies or pull-ups unless there is a ‘medically recognised need’Parents in Blaenau Gwent, Wales, have been told they have to come to school to change nappies if their children are not toilet trained...
Tory and Reform MPs accused of ‘weaponising trauma’ of grooming victims, as Farage calls for inquiry to focus on Pakistani men – as it happened
Wednesday 8th January 2025Prime minister told Commons any new inquiry into child abuse would delay progress however spokesperson says he has not ruled one outReform UK has also tabled a reasoned amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill motion tonight...
Tory and Reform MPs accused of ‘weaponising trauma’ of grooming victims, as Farage calls for inquiry into Pakistani men – UK politics live
Wednesday 8th January 2025Prime minister told Commons any new inquiry into child abuse would delay progress however spokesperson says he has not ruled one outReform UK has also tabled a reasoned amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill motion tonight...
Are private schools losing their grip on the British elite? – podcast
Wednesday 8th January 2025Professor of sociology Sam Friedman charts the enduring influence of private schools in the making of the British elite and asks whether the Labour government is looking finally to curtail itThe current Labour cabinet has been described as the most state-educated in British history: it’s not just Keir Starmer who went to a grammar school, all four holders of the great offices of state were state-educated...
Private school cites VAT switch in closure plan
Wednesday 8th January 2025Loughborough Amherst School bosses say they plan to close at the end of the academic year...
Keir Starmer ‘open-minded’ about new inquiry on child grooming gangs, No 10 says, but wants to prioritise action – UK politics live
Wednesday 8th January 2025Prime minister told Commons any new inquiry into child abuse would delay progress however spokesperson says he has not ruled one outReform UK has also tabled a reasoned amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill motion tonight...
Will Labour take on the power of private schools in the UK? – podcast
Wednesday 8th January 2025Professor of sociology Sam Friedman charts the enduring influence of private schools in the making of the British elite and asks whether the Labour government is looking finally to curtail itThe current Labour cabinet has been described as the most state-educated in British history: it’s not just Keir Starmer who went to a grammar school, all four holders of the great offices of state were state-educated...
Labour says cap on school uniform items could save families £50 a child
Wednesday 8th January 2025Government plans to limit branded student kit to three articles, plus a tie, from September 2026 in England Plans to cap the number of branded uniform items schools in England can require to three, plus a tie, could save families more than £50 a child, with additional annual savings of £450 from free breakfast clubs in all primaries, the government has said...
Rising costs force 'difficult choices' on schools
Wednesday 8th January 2025A new report says schools in England may have to make cuts to meet pupils' needs and cover pay rises...
Schools in England face ‘death by a thousand cuts’, headteachers say
Wednesday 8th January 2025Rising costs likely to outstrip funding in coming year, despite recent injections of additional moneySchools in England are facing “death by a thousand cuts”, headteachers have said, after a leading economics thinktank said rising costs are likely to outstrip funding in the coming year, despite recent injections of additional money...
Send is the 'biggest issue' for schools - Ofsted
Tuesday 7th January 2025Ofsted's chief inspector says a new inspection system should reward more inclusive mainstream schools...
Bristol Old Vic theatre school to stop its undergraduate courses
Tuesday 7th January 2025Renowned drama school says ‘unprecedented funding challenges’ make degrees unviable from September 2025One of the UK’s most celebrated drama schools, which counts the Oscar-winners Olivia Colman, Daniel Day-Lewis and Jeremy Irons among its alumni, is to scrap its undergraduate degrees due to a range of financial challenges...
Children 'dropped down the agenda' during pandemic
Tuesday 7th January 2025The impact on children should be at the centre of policy decisions, says a Cambridge professor...
School closures in Northern Ireland
Tuesday 7th January 2025A number of schools are closed in Northern Ireland due to adverse weather...
Parents urged to enrol primary school starters
Tuesday 7th January 2025Parents of children turning five in the next academic year are asked to enrol them by 31 January...
From Igbo to Angika: how to save the world’s 3,000 endangered languages
Tuesday 7th January 2025With half of all languages predicted to die out in decades, activists are turning to online tools to preserve themEvery year, the world loses some of its 7,000 languages...
Ignore Musk, ignore the critics – you’ll feel the benefit of Labour’s policies in your pocket before long | Polly Toynbee
Tuesday 7th January 2025Despite the doom-mongers, the outlook for the economy, the NHS and vital services is good...
More than 20% of pupils 'missing too much school'
Monday 6th January 2025Ofsted figures say Cornwall, Plymouth and Torbay all have persistent absence rates of about 23%...
Snow forces several schools to shut
Monday 6th January 2025Several schools in County Durham and one in Northumberland are closed after heavy snow...
Would you drop Of Mice and Men from the exam syllabus? The answer isn’t black and white | Nels Abbey
Monday 6th January 2025The book will no longer be studied at GCSE in Wales because many find the racial slurs upsetting...
A new start after 60: I was diagnosed with ADHD – and stopped hating myself
Monday 6th January 2025After decades of self-doubt and depression, I’ve finally found my place in the worldJean Ward always wondered if there was something wrong with her, and hated herself for it...
Banging the drum for music education: the UK school run with an orchestra
Sunday 5th January 2025Shireland CBSO academy in West Bromwich has put music at centre of its teaching in effort to revive interestIt is first thing in the morning at Shireland CBSO academy in West Bromwich, and the school corridors are filled with music...
Closure notices issued for five island schools
Friday 3rd January 2025A statutory four-week consultation for people to have their say on the proposals runs until 3 FebruaryRead full story...
‘They see it is living’: Durham professor’s mission to get more pupils into classics
Thursday 2nd January 2025Arlene Holmes-Henderson wants all children in UK to have equal access to classical education“My business school colleagues tell me that it’s not called levelling up any more, it’s rebalancing,” says Arlene Holmes-Henderson, a Durham University professor...
'Phone ban sees pupils talk to each other more'
Thursday 2nd January 2025A school's mobile phone ban has seen students become more focused and sociable, a leading teacher says...
Why is VAT being added to private school fees?
Wednesday 1st January 2025The government says the rule change will raise £460m extra to spend in state schools in 2024/25...
‘I love the four-day week’: south London school part of a quiet revolution
Wednesday 1st January 2025Independent school Liberty Woodland is one of a small number in England experimenting with the timetableAt a small independent school on the fringes of a National Trust park in Morden, south London, a quiet revolution is under way...
Unsafe school building to be demolished in spring
Wednesday 1st January 2025Timescales for the demolition and rebuilding of a primary school are revealed in council papers...
Labour’s private school tax plan strongly backed by public, poll shows
Tuesday 31st December 2024Government accuses Tories and rightwing media of being ‘out of touch’, as VAT policy due to come into forceThe government has accused critics of its plan to put VAT on private school fees of being detached from the real world after polling showed the policy, which will come into force on 1 January, is strongly backed by the public...
Baby sling danger warning after child's death
Monday 30th December 2024Six-week-old James Alderman died after he was breastfed within a baby sling worn by his mother...
YouTube urged to promote 'high-quality' children's TV
Monday 30th December 2024Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says children are missing out on educational TV because of how online platforms operate...
Texas book ban law causes a school district to remove Bible from libraries
Monday 30th December 2024Canyon independent school district briefly removed text – and then reinstated it – to comply with state’s Reader ActA school district in the Texas panhandle temporarily removed the Bible – and reinstated it soon after – in an effort to comply with a controversial new state law that bans sexually explicit materials in schools...
Safety checks ordered amid concern over thousands of postwar school buildings in England
Sunday 29th December 2024Exclusive: Full structural surveys to be carried out on representative sample of about 100 system-built blocksMinisters have ordered intrusive structural surveys of a group of ageing, postwar school buildings in England amid mounting concern about hidden defects that could lead to structural failures...
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