National News
School worker jailed for sexually abusing autistic boy aged under 16
Friday 26th July 2024Acasia Welburn pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual activity with child by person in a position of trustA school worker has been jailed for sexually abusing an autistic boy who was under 16 at the time, police said...
Most children in Wales don't tell family about online life - report
Friday 26th July 2024Concerns about sites and apps like Snapchat, YouTube and Roblox are highlighted in a survey...
One in six vapes confiscated at English schools spiked with ‘zombie drug’
Thursday 25th July 2024Warning of risk of serious harm as synthetic drug spice found in vapes in 28 of 38 schools testedOne in six vapes confiscated in English schools are spiked with the highly addictive “zombie drug” spice, according to research...
Third of Team GB athletes for Paris Olympics educated privately
Wednesday 24th July 2024Study finds 33.3% of squad went to private schools, up nine percentage points from 24% in 2016 teamThe proportion of privately educated athletes in the Team GB squad has increased to a third of all competitors, a study has found...
£5bn debt crisis of special educational needs ‘could bankrupt’ English councils
Wednesday 24th July 2024Increased demand for children’s services leading to meltdown, warn local authority leadersA £5bn debt crisis caused by out-of-control overspending on special educational needs could explode in less than two years, bankrupting scores of England’s local authorities, the UK government has been warned...
Tackling misogyny in UK schools could take up to 20 years, says Jess Phillips
Wednesday 24th July 2024Exclusive: Safeguarding minister outlines measures to protect women and girls, including plans for ‘Raneem’s law’Plans to tackle misogyny in schools could take up to 20 years to have an impact on society, the safeguarding minister, Jess Phillips, has said as she outlined measures to protect women and girls...
We don't know how many people are having babies - and that's a headache for schools
Wednesday 24th July 2024Working out how many school pupils to budget for may well prove to be a headache for the government...
Rock star Stevie Van Zandt in plea for more arts and music in English schools
Tuesday 23rd July 2024Exclusive: E Street Band and Sopranos star visits south London to see his TeachRock programme in actionLegendary guitarist and Sopranos star Stevie Van Zandt has made an impassioned plea for more arts and music in England’s schools as a way of engaging disaffected young people during a visit to south London...
Rampant slaughter! Sexy armour! Tiger maulings! We bust the gladiator myths
Tuesday 23rd July 2024As Those About to Die brings swords and sandals back to the screen, the ‘Colosseum consultant’ who advises all the epic productions about accuracy tells us why he is ‘paid to be ignored’One of the many things Alexander Mariotti wants you to know about Those About to Die, the new Amazon Prime show set in ancient Rome, is that gladiators rarely actually died in colosseum combat...
Is this the end of branded school PE kits?
Tuesday 23rd July 2024Schools will no longer require parents to buy more than three branded items, under government plansRead full story...
Are branded school PE kits on the way out?
Tuesday 23rd July 2024Schools will no longer require parents to buy more than three branded items, under government plansRead full story...
English universities should not expect government bailout, Phillipson says
Monday 22nd July 2024Education secretary acknowledged crisis in sector with many institutions facing severe financial difficultiesUniversities in England facing severe financial difficulties should not expect a government bailout, the education secretary has said, despite warnings from the sector of thousands of job losses, course closures and even bankruptcies...
Starmer says skills shake-up will help young people
Monday 22nd July 2024Labour wants to give firms more flexibility to spend cash currently earmarked for apprenticeships...
Chinese university sacks professor after social media accusation of sexual harassment
Monday 22nd July 2024Doctoral student at Renmin University of China school of liberal arts in Beijing posted recordings on WeiboA top Chinese university has fired a professor, a day after a graduate student accused him of sexual harassment on social media in a rare public allegation and posted recordings as evidence, drawing widespread support...
Can you solve it? Can you outwit the wizards of Oz?
Monday 22nd July 2024Ripsnorting riddles from Down UnderParabola, a wonderful Australian maths magazine for secondary school pupils, celebrates its 60th birthday this month...
Biologist Rosemary Grant: ‘Evolution happens much quicker than Darwin thought’
Sunday 21st July 2024The evolutionary expert discusses the triumphs and challenges of the groundbreaking research on Galápagos Islands finches she undertook with her husband, PeterStudying Darwin’s finches has been the life’s work of the renowned British evolutionary biologists Rosemary and Peter Grant...
Are you giving your kids a 90s summer? | Eva Wiseman
Sunday 21st July 2024Balls, bikes, possibly boredom. As the summer holidays begin, and nostalgia for the good old days kicks in, it’s worth wondering if it really was better back thenAs the school holidays begin, parents tend to behave in one of two ways...
Labour makes working-class children key to schools reform
Saturday 20th July 2024Minister pledges more sports and drama in curriculum review as row deepens over two-child benefit cap• Interview Labour’s Bridget Phillipson: ‘I will help working-class pupils defy the odds to succeed’Expanding opportunities for working-class children by broadening the school curriculum to include more sport, drama, art and music alongside core academic subjects will be top priorities for the Labour government, the new education secretary says today...
Labour’s Bridget Phillipson: ‘I will help working-class pupils defy the odds to succeed – just as I did’
Saturday 20th July 2024The new education secretary talks about her background, the ‘incredible state schools’ she went to, and her plans to transform the system• Labour makes working-class children key to schools reformBridget Phillipson is standing up to welcome us into her large, very smart new office...
Pay bodies to recommend 5.5% rise for teachers and NHS staff, report says
Saturday 20th July 2024Above inflation deal could lead to government having to find an extra £10bn in total across the public sectorIndependent pay review bodies representing teachers and NHS workers have reportedly recommended above-inflation pay rises that could require the government to raise up to £10bn, a leading economist has said...
English schools to phase out ‘cruel’ behaviour rules as Labour plans major education changes
Saturday 20th July 2024Policy will move to keeping vulnerable pupils in school as focus shifts to root causes of exclusionsIsolation booths, frequent suspensions and strict behaviour regimes look set to be phased out in England as the Labour government shifts focus on how to keep the most vulnerable pupils in school...
Myanmar junta ‘bombing schools’, with 170 sites hit in past three years – report
Saturday 20th July 2024Analysis of imagery from conflict zones shows evidence of burned-out and flattened buildings, with long-term impacts on educationAirstrikes, arson, shelling and ground fighting between the military and armed rebel groups have damaged at least 174 schools and universities in Myanmar since a military coup in 2021, according to a new report...
Farewell, Ucas personal statements: I won’t miss your hackneyed, cliche-ridden prose | Max Fletcher
Saturday 20th July 2024These hated essays are going to be scrapped. It’s good news for those who can’t afford private tutors – and for those who had to read themEvery autumn, as the fruit fills with ripeness to the core and the small gnats mourn among the river sallows, my inbox fills with requests for help from parents whose children have been tasked with writing an essay of 4,000 characters in which they explain to their prospective universities why they want to study a given subject...
Summer holiday childcare in UK now costs £1,000 a child, research finds
Friday 19th July 2024Parents or carers in full-time work said to be ‘dreading’ expense, and sum may be even higher in Wales and south-east EnglandParents can expect to spend more than £1,000 per child for care over the school summer holidays, , according to research...
School holidays the 'loneliest time' for carers
Friday 19th July 2024One charity warns that there are gaps in support for young carers during school breaks...
Term-time holiday fines here to stay - Phillipson
Thursday 18th July 2024In her first interview, the education secretary says parents should keep their children in school...
Families face £1,045 bill for summer holiday clubs
Thursday 18th July 2024The cost of holiday provision has risen by 6% across Great Britain, a survey by Coram Family and Childcare suggests...
David Cameron failed to foist new houses on rural areas. Why does Keir Starmer think he’ll succeed? | Simon Jenkins
Thursday 18th July 2024Labour’s bonfire of planning regulations will stir up the shires and let down those most in need – but the construction lobby will be happyOutside Glastonbury last month, festivalgoers might have caught sight of David Cameron’s policy of planning de-regulation in action, sprawling across Somerset...
Ucas plans to drop personal statements for UK university applicants
Thursday 18th July 2024Social mobility experts welcome change in which students will instead be asked to answer three questionsThe years of sixth formers and their families agonising over personal statements for their university application forms will soon be a thing of the past, after the UK’s university admissions service announced they are to be dropped...
'Paying £240 holiday school fine was a no-brainer'
Thursday 18th July 2024In the last academic year, pupils across England missed more than six million school days through unauthorised holidays...
Children's reading standards 'a lottery' in Wales
Thursday 18th July 2024One teacher says reading standards for pupils in Wales were "patchy at best"...
Record year for school suspensions and exclusions
Thursday 18th July 2024Schools in England record a sharp rise in pupils being suspended and excluded...
Sharp increase in pupils suspended or excluded from schools in England
Thursday 18th July 2024Teachers struggling with disruptive and violent behaviour as record 787,000 pupils suspended in 2022-23Teachers in England continue to struggle with disruptive and violent behaviour in classrooms and playgrounds, as figures show a sharp increase in the number of pupils suspended or excluded from school...
Fourteen measures from the King’s Speech analysed by BBC experts
Wednesday 17th July 2024School breakfast clubs and a cap on the number of branded items of school uniform are among the key policies...
How will the government change the way private school fees are taxed?
Wednesday 17th July 2024The Kings Speech confirmed that the government will change the way private school fees are taxed...
'They killed my son' - raw grief after Nigeria school collapse
Wednesday 17th July 2024Government promises to curb rogue building practices are too little, too late for grieving parents...
Disabled children in Wales denied education right - report
Tuesday 16th July 2024Everything is a battle when you are the parents of disabled children, one mother says...
The Guardian view on the widening attainment gap: poorer children need a boost | Editorial
Tuesday 16th July 2024The progress made by pupils from lower-income families has been wiped out – and it’s not all the pandemic’s faultThe widening gap between the educational attainment of the richest and poorest pupils at English schools is a blow for everyone who wants to see the latter fulfil their potential, and for our society to become less divided and more equal...
International students don't have unfair advantage - review
Tuesday 16th July 2024Universities have been accused of lowering standards to recruit overseas students, who pay higher fees...
Scotland incorporates UN children's rights charter into law
Tuesday 16th July 2024Children’s Minister Natalie Don has described it as a “landmark moment" for Scotland...
'No concerns' about foreign students' entry grades
Tuesday 16th July 2024Universities have been accused of lowering standards to recruit overseas students, who pay higher fees...
Target of million Welsh speakers may become law
Monday 15th July 2024All schoolchildren would have “fair opportunity” to become “confident” Welsh speakers under new law...
Rich-poor education gap grows for 16-year-olds in almost all of England
Monday 15th July 2024First post-pandemic study of attainment gap finds pupils from low-income families have fallen further behind richer peers except in LondonThe attainment gap between 16-year-olds from low-income families and their wealthier classmates has grown across all regions of England since before the pandemic with the exception of London, research has found...
Zambia made education free, now classrooms are crammed
Sunday 14th July 2024The government is boosting investment to try and ensure everyone can benefit from good schooling...
School allows kids to arrive late after Euros final
Sunday 14th July 2024The school says while it takes attendance "very seriously" the final is an event worth celebrating...
Cleaners at prestigious UK girls’ school vote to strike over cut in hours
Sunday 14th July 2024James Allen’s girls’ school in London faces industrial action by members of union for low-paid migrant workersCleaners at one of the most prestigious private girls’ schools in the country have voted for strike action after being told out of the blue they are to be docked five weeks of work a year...
UK universities need rescue package to stop ‘domino effect’ of going under
Saturday 13th July 2024Experts say the next head of the Office for Students must oversee a programme that will protect higher educationThe new head of the Office for Students (OfS) will have to oversee rescue plans to avoid a “domino effect” with a number of universities going under, experts have warned...
UK universities face growing struggle to recruit international students
Friday 12th July 2024Applications for sponsored visas have plummeted since new restrictions brought in, raising financial fearsUK universities face financial turmoil as figures from the Home Office show plunging numbers of international students applying for courses starting in the next academic year...
Ampleforth inquiry finds alleged serious abuse against pupils in last 10 years
Friday 12th July 2024Allegations about monks and staff at North Yorkshire private school were shared with Charity CommissionAn inquiry into the running of a prestigious private school said it uncovered a string of “serious abuse allegations” committed against pupils by monks and staff within the last decade...
Starmer against 'simply banning' children's phones
Friday 12th July 2024The prime minister has waded into a debate on what content can be accessed by children online...
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