National News
'Substantial' risk to life from fire in school, report finds
Friday 7th November 2025The BBC has seen the report which points out issues with fire doors, fire exits and the storage of combustibles at Lenzie Academy...
‘Huge step in the right direction’: arts leaders hail move to boost creative subjects in England’s schools
Friday 7th November 2025Cultural figures hope proposed shake-up of curriculum can reverse years of ‘madness’ in which arts were devaluedFor years, Britain’s leading cultural figures have warned that substandard arts provision in schools is devaluing the sector and creating an increasingly elite industry...
My verdict on the 'woke' review of England's school curriculum? It isn't radical enough | Simon Jenkins
Friday 7th November 2025When I heard it was dumbing down education, my heart sank...
‘If there’s a free alternative, I’ll eat healthily’: how Sweden devised brilliant school meals
Friday 7th November 2025A pilot scheme where students eat nutritious breakfasts using donated surplus food builds on the ‘folkhem’ welfare model to boost health and sustainabilityStudents at Mariebergsskolan, a secondary school in Karlstad, Sweden, make their way to the canteen to grab a juice shot...
Schools disrupted as support staff strike over pay
Thursday 6th November 2025A dozen schools in the Cathedral Schools Trust are shut or partially closed because of the two-day action...
University to suspend music and language courses
Thursday 6th November 2025In a statement the institution also says it is "proposing to reduce its nursing offer"...
Thursday briefing: Inside Labour’s ambitious rethink of the national curriculum
Thursday 6th November 2025In today’s newsletter: After decades of political tinkering, a new review of England’s national curriculum promises change without chaos – but can it really add without overwhelming?Good morning...
China-critical UK academics describe ‘extremely heavy’ pressure from Beijing
Thursday 6th November 2025Reliance on overseas students’ tuition fees under scrutiny as scholars describe chilling effect of being targetedUK academics whose research is critical of China say they have been targeted and their universities subjected to “extremely heavy” pressure from Beijing, prompting calls for a fresh look at the sector’s dependence on tuition fee income from Chinese students...
Ed Sheeran takes partial credit for move to overhaul music teaching in England
Wednesday 5th November 2025Singer says changes reflect points raised in open letter to PM organised by his foundation with over 600 signaturesEd Sheeran has taken partial credit for the government’s move to overhaul the teaching of music in England’s state schools, shortly after being mentioned by the education secretary in parliament...
The Guardian view on the Francis curriculum review: raising the right questions in a world with few certain answers | Editorial
Wednesday 5th November 2025In an age of increasingly capable machines, it makes sense for schools to value creativity and life skills as part of a well-rounded educationSocieties evolve and schools are under pressure to adapt, but some features of education policy are perennial...
Sheeran praises curriculum changes which mean more kids will study music
Wednesday 5th November 2025Ministers are making changes to the curriculum in England after a review of what is taught in schools...
Mortgages and AI to be added to the curriculum in English schools
Wednesday 5th November 2025Ministers are making the changes for children in England after a review of what is taught in schools...
Surge in antisemitism investigations at US universities after October 7 attacks, data shows
Wednesday 5th November 2025A report shared exclusively with the Guardian documents how a civil rights law has become a tool to impose ideological priorities on US schoolsUS government investigations into universities over antisemitism allegations surged following the 7 October 2023 attacks and Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza, with more investigations open in the last two months of that year than in the two decades prior, according to a report published on Monday that was shared exclusively with the Guardian...
Son who sued parents must stay at Ghana boarding school, judge rules
Tuesday 4th November 2025The boy, 14 and from London, took his parents to court after they sent him to school in Africa...
New university being considered for seaside town
Tuesday 4th November 2025Dorset Council is considering a number of proposals for Weymouth, including a new university...
Mortgages and AI to be added to the curriculum in English schools
Tuesday 4th November 2025Ministers are making the changes for children in England after a review of what is taught in schools...
England curriculum should focus less on exams and more on life skills, finds review
Tuesday 4th November 2025Experts say pupils should spend less time in exam halls and more time on activities like life skills, sport and work experienceNational curriculum review: 10 key recommendationsA review of England’s curriculum has recommended reducing the amount of content and emphasis on exams and instead focusing more on life skills and “enrichment”...
National curriculum review in England: 10 key recommendations
Tuesday 4th November 2025Proposals include shortening length of GCSE exams, a new diagnostic test in maths and English, and expanding RECurriculum ‘should focus less on exams and more on life skills’The year-long curriculum and assessment review headed by Prof Becky Francis was asked by the government to look at primary, secondary and aged 16-19 phases of state education in England...
Shoe protest highlights 'forgotten' Send children
Monday 3rd November 2025Shoes are left at council offices to highlight issues of children with special educational needs...
Headteachers’ union considers strikes after judge rejects case against Ofsted
Monday 3rd November 2025Union had sought permission to apply for judicial review over watchdog’s new inspection frameworkA headteachers’ union is to consult members about possible industrial action after a high court judge dismissed its attempt to challenge Ofsted’s new inspection regime for schools in England...
Pupils welcome limits on smartphones in schools
Monday 3rd November 2025Students in Northamptonshire share their views about having mobile phones on them in school...
Bridget Phillipson ‘ready to take on unions’ over year 8 reading tests
Saturday 1st November 2025Education secretary says mandatory test needed to tackle ‘shocking outcomes’ for many working-class childrenBridget Phillipson has said she is ready to take on the unions in a battle over compulsory reading tests for 13-year-olds and more extracurricular activities for all children to prevent them becoming “stuck in a doom loop of detachment” from school...
How young people can use their online gaming skills to fight cybercrime – and what parents can do to help them
Friday 31st October 2025For many young people, the online gaming world is a refuge, as well as a place to build up their digital skills through gaming and coding...
Move over, gender studies: the conservative tide coming for US universities
Friday 31st October 2025Deeming universities too leftwing, outside donors and state governments are sponsoring curricula that center the classics, Christianity and the ‘great books’ of western civilizationA small conservative revolution has swept the humanities at some US colleges and universities...
Soaring costs trigger calls to address transport for Send pupils in England
Friday 31st October 2025National Audit Office finds £415m overspend as more children travel farther to schools that meet their needsHome-to-school transport costs in England have risen to £2...
UK rule change allows some Palestinian scholars to bring families from Gaza
Thursday 30th October 2025Previous visa policy had forced the students ‘to choose between their education and their family’Some Palestinian students taking up scholarships at UK universities will be allowed to bring their families with them from Gaza after the government announced it would consider case-by-case exemptions to its evacuation policy...
A former Tory councillor tried to ban my novel Pigeon English. Why should pupils suffer because of him?
Thursday 30th October 2025My book, which draws on my upbringing on a diverse and deprived Luton council estate, has been used as a GCSE text...
UK rule change allows Palestinian scholars to bring families from Gaza
Thursday 30th October 2025The university students had been barred from bringing children or dependents by previous visa policiesPalestinian students taking up scholarships at UK universities will be allowed to bring their families from Gaza with them after the government said it would consider case-by-case exemptions...
‘Every hacker I’ve met is a gamer’: why the next generation of tech talent could be found in unlikely places
Thursday 30th October 2025A new partnership between Co-op and The Hacking Games aims to engage young people who are at risk of being attracted to cybercrime by offering them a novel pathway into the tech sectorFor many young people at school or college, having a firm grasp of digital skills sits at the heart of future learning and earning opportunities...
I was led down the wrong path into cybercrime as a teenager. Here’s what I would tell my younger self
Thursday 30th October 2025Almost a decade after his involvement in a major cyber-attack, Daniel Kelley is now a leading cybersecurity researcher, helping organisations create accurate and accessible cybersecurity contentIn 2016, a then 19-year-old Daniel Kelley was charged with computer hacking, blackmail and fraud in connection with a major data breach at a British telecoms company...
Pledge to remove Raac from schools by 2029
Wednesday 29th October 2025The Labour government makes a new promise for schools containing the unsafe concrete...
Is a two-week half-term a good deal? Some parents in England aren’t so sure
Wednesday 29th October 2025Growing number of schools are giving pupils and staff a fortnight off, but some parents complain of childcare costsFor many schools across England it is now October half-term – but while it used to be standard for state schools to have just one week, increasingly pupils and staff are being given a fortnight off...
How a radical experiment to bring a forest into a preschool transformed children’s health
Wednesday 29th October 2025In Finland, kindergartens are exposing children to more mud, wild plants and moss - and finding changes to their health that show how crucial biodiversity is to wellbeingAurora Nikula, 5, is having a normal day at her nursery...
Councils paying school transport costs for 470,000 pupils in England
Tuesday 28th October 2025Local authorities say the cost of providing school transport is becoming "financially unsustainable"...
Trump demanded trans issues be excluded from sex education. 11 states complied
Tuesday 28th October 202516 other states have sued the White House over the federal program, saying it’s trampling on authority of CongressUS politics live – latest updatesAt least 11 states and two territories are capitulating to a recent demand from the Trump administration to strip references to gender identity and the existence of transgender and non-binary people from a federal sex education program, officials confirmed to the Guardian...
Government rejects fine-free school absences bid
Tuesday 28th October 2025Natalie Elliot wants changes to the rules but a minister says the UK is facing an "absence epidemic"...
Want to go to a UK university? Don’t ask me to help you write your personal statement | Zoe Williams
Tuesday 28th October 2025How do you impress admissions tutors? Apparently not by waffling on about babysitting experience, or a love of crochetIt’s university entrance season, and so begin the trials of the personal statement, which now takes the form of three questions: “Why do you want to study this course or subject?; How have your qualifications and studies helped you to prepare for this course or subject?; What else have you done to prepare outside education, and why are these experiences useful?” – 4,000 characters for the Ucas form, in which every 17- and 18-year-old has to express their uniqueness, while at the same time answering the same generic questions...
All schools in England with removal grants to be Raac-free by 2029, says Phillipson
Tuesday 28th October 2025Education secretary promises ‘clear timelines’ are in place to permanently remove crumbling concreteAll schools in England that received grant funding to pay for the removal of reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (Raac) should be free of it by the end of this parliament, the education secretary has pledged...
‘You can be an ethical hacker, not a criminal one’: the initiative guiding young gamers into cybersecurity
Monday 27th October 2025Online criminal gangs are targeting young gamers for their coding skills...
School absence fines to be debated in Parliament
Monday 27th October 2025Natalie Elliott's online petition over school absence fines will be debated by MPs...
Writing Hawa review – Afghan woman fights for freedom as the Taliban close in
Monday 27th October 2025Najiba Noori’s thought-provoking documentary follows her mother, finally getting her chance at autonomy just as the Taliban retake the countryShot in Afghanistan shortly before the 2021 Taliban takeover, Najiba Noori’s thought-provoking debut juxtaposes the private transformation of a woman with the public unravelling of the nation...
‘We want people to get lost!’ Princeton’s new museum survives scandal to deliver a mazey art ambush
Monday 27th October 2025It is architect David Adjaye’s first major project since the allegations that rocked his firm – a bold museum for Princeton University with exhibits that sneak up on its students...
Teacher who had sex with former pupil banned
Sunday 26th October 2025A panel found Benjamin Hiscox posed a risk to children and had damaged confidence in the profession...
A Hawaiian princess bequeathed her inheritance to her people. The schools they set up are being sued
Sunday 26th October 2025Lawsuit against Kamehameha schools by Students for Fair Admissions, a neoconservative non-profit, alleges discrimination against non-HawaiiansAdvocates for a private school system established to educate Native Hawaiians say a new lawsuit targeting the admissions process is an ugly attempt to ignore the wishes of a Hawaiian princess who bequeathed her inheritance to secure a brighter future for her people nearly 140 years ago...
‘You just have to laugh’: five teachers on dealing with ‘six-seven’ in the classroom
Saturday 25th October 2025Children across the UK have been shouting out ‘six-seven’ during lessons...
A storied Los Angeles high school band had fallen on hard times. Then along came Mr J
Friday 24th October 2025Inglewood’s program had been chain-sawed by financial challenges and the pandemic, but Joseph Jauregui built it back up – and his students are winning scholarshipsJoan Rosas says educators as early as kindergarten flat-out told him he wasn’t capable...
Tell us: have you lived in temporary accommodation in the UK with children?
Friday 24th October 2025We want to hear from UK parents with experience in temporary accommodation about the impact on their lives, family and schoolingMore than 172,000 children were living in temporary accommodation in England at the end of June, according to new quarterly official figures released last week...
Why we’re holding a teach-in about American history at the Smithsonian | Kellie Carter Jackson and Nicole Hemmer
Friday 24th October 2025Podcasters, professors, journalists and ordinary citizens will gather in Washington as the Trump regime wages war on historyOn 26 October, podcasters, professors, journalists and ordinary citizens will gather on the steps of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History for a teach-in in defense of history and museums...
PM 'implores' school trust to install field ramp
Thursday 23rd October 2025Sir Keir Starmer urges the school trust to "match the positivity and the courage" of Millie, 12...
‘What does it mean? No one knows’: six-seven meme invades UK classrooms
Thursday 23rd October 2025Four out of five secondary school teachers surveyed say they have heard perplexing viral phrase called outTeachers call it “the most brain dead meme” but six-seven slang has invaded classrooms across the UK, with students even painting the numbers on their faces and leaving staff perplexed...
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