Category Archives: Schools

English schools struggle to cope as Covid wreaks havoc

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Despite government narrative of a return to normality, schools in areas with high Covid rates lack support

Schools in England hit by high numbers of Covid-19 cases among staff and pupils have been forced to reinstate mask wearing, send whole year groups home to study online and in some cases close early for half-term as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc in education.

Despite the government narrative of a return to normality in classrooms, schools in areas with high coronavirus rates say they have struggled to function, with many staff off sick and problems securing supply teachers because of high demand.

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Concern over jab delay for pupils in England as age group cases soar

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With schools struggling to vaccinate before winter arrives, ministers are urged to allow children to receive vaccines at different venues

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Ministers are facing demands to allow younger teenagers to attend Covid vaccination centres, amid concerns that jab rates among this age group are three times lower in England than Scotland.

The vaccination rate among 12- to 15-year-olds in England currently stands at just 14.2% according to official data, compared with 44.3% in Scotland. The huge disparity has led to complaints that England has been held back by administering vaccinations solely through schools.

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‘I’ll never go back’: Uganda’s schools at risk as teachers find new work during Covid

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Many private schools may not reopen after staff laid off during lockdown say they will not return to the profession

The last message Mary Namitala received from the private school in which she taught was in March last year, the day all schools in Uganda were ordered close due to Covid-19. The message read: “No more payments until when schools open.”

“My husband and I decided to leave our rented house in town and shifted to the village, to our unfinished house. We could not afford to continue paying rent,” says Namitala, from her home in Bombo in central Uganda, about 20 miles north of the capital Kampala.

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UK children aged 12 to 15 to be offered Covid jab

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UK’s four chief medical officers decide to set aside view of vaccine watchdog that benefits of jabs were too minimal to justify them

Children aged 12 to 15 can be offered Covid vaccinations, the UK’s four chief medical officers have decided, saying the likely impact in reducing disruption to schools meant such a plan could be clinically justified.

All children in the age group will be offered a first Pfizer jab as soon as possible, with the programme led by in-school vaccination services. A second injection will be potentially given once more evidence is gathered, so not before the spring term at the earliest.

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‘Sex isn’t difficult any more’: the men who are quitting watching porn

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Addiction to pornography has been blamed for erectile dysfunction, relationship issues and depression, yet problematic use is rising. Now therapists and tech companies are offering new solutions

Thomas discovered pornography in the traditional way: at school. He remembers classmates talking about it in the playground and showing each other videos on their phones during sleepovers. He was 13 and thought it was “a laugh”. Then he began watching pornography alone on his tablet in his room. What started as occasional use, at the beginning of puberty, became a daily habit.

Thomas (not his real name), who is in his early 20s, lived with one of his parents, who he says did not care what he was doing online. “At the time, it felt normal, but looking back I can see that it got out of hand quite quickly,” Thomas says. When he got a girlfriend at 16, he started having sex and watched less pornography. But the addiction was just waiting to resurface, he says.

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‘Their future could be destroyed’: the global struggle for schooling after Covid closures

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Hundreds of millions of children fell behind around the world as schools closed during the pandemic. We look at four countries as pupils try to resume their education

Children’s mental health suffers as schools remain shut

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‘Lost generation’: education in quarter of countries at risk of collapse, study warns

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Covid, climate breakdown, poverty and war threaten return to school after pandemic kept 1.5bn children out of classes

The education of hundreds of millions of children is hanging by a thread as a result of an unprecedented intensity of threats including Covid 19 and the climate crisis, a report warned today.

As classrooms across much of the world prepare to reopen after the summer holidays, a quarter of countries – most of them in sub-Saharan Africa – have school systems that are at extreme or high risk of collapse, according to Save the Children.

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From vaccine mandates to a chatting ban: how schools in the Asia Pacific are managing Delta

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Outbreaks of the highly infectious Delta variant have led to closures in some countries, while others push to keep classrooms open

As countries across Asia battle worsening Covid outbreaks, schools face particular challenges in keeping children and teachers safe. Some countries – determined that classrooms stay open – are relying on measures like masks, smaller groups and even bans on talking in class to limit infections. In others, schools remain shut.

Here’s a look at what countries around Asia and the region are doing to prevent Covid spread in schools:

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US school students return amid threat of Delta disruption – live

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  • First day of school for students in some parts of America
  • Over 180,000 Covid cases in children between 12 and 19 August

The Guardian’s world affairs editor, Julian Borger, is monitoring the latest updates on Afghanistan.

Responding to repeated questions about civilian casualties from a drone strike on Kabul on Sunday, the Pentagon spokesman, John Kirby said: “We are not in a position to dispute it right now, and ... we’re assessing, and we’re investigating.”

The US health department is preparing to launch an office focused on the climate crisis as a public health issue, something it outlined in a January executive order.

The Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources, said resources for the new Office of Climate Change and Health Equity are being assembled now. The WSJ reports:

The new office is likely to spur initiatives touching on many aspects of healthcare, according to people briefed on the planning and White House releases. It is expected to offer protections for populations most at risk—including the elderly, minorities, rural communities and children—and could eventually lead to policies compelling hospitals and other care facilities to reduce carbon emissions, the people said.

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Concerns over plan to disinfect classrooms in Wales with ozone

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Machines to be used to clean up after Covid outbreaks part of £5.9m initiative to improve air quality

A £3.3m scheme to provide schools in Wales with machines that disinfect classrooms after a Covid outbreak has prompted calls for reassurance over their safety.

The Welsh education ministry said on Monday that all schools, universities and colleges in Wales would be supplied with ozone disinfecting machines for cleaning up Covid-hit classrooms.

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Covid cases in England are 26 times higher than a year ago

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Pressure grows to begin booster jabs for the vulnerable and extend vaccinations to younger teenagers

Coronavirus infections in England are now 26 times the levels that were experienced this time last year, according to the Office for National Statistics. Scientists described the figures as “sobering”.

They warned that the reopening of schools in England this week was likely to trigger further rises in Covid cases – with more to follow when students return to universities and colleges. A fresh wave of infections could, in turn, lead to new social restrictions being imposed as winter approaches.

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NHS planning Covid vaccines for children from age 12, reports say

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UK health officials say no decision has been made yet as new school year in England looms

NHS England has been told to prepare to administer Covid vaccinations to all children aged 12 and above, as vaccine advisers continue to consider whether to extend the programme, according to reports.

The planned extension to the vaccination programme would coincide with the start of the new school year. NHS trusts have been told to have plans prepared by 4pm on Friday, the Daily Telegraph reported.

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UK Covid deaths average 100 a day with fears of rise when schools return

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Seven-day average now highest since March as children in Scotland return to the classroom

Deaths from Covid-19 are now averaging 100 a day across the UK, according to official data, and scientists have warned that case rates will jump again when millions of pupils return to schools next week.

The seven-day average for deaths within 28 days of a positive test now stands at 100, figures released by Public Health England on Monday show, a number that was last exceeded on 18 March.

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‘A vocal group got its way’: Florida parents condemn schools’ lack of mask mandates

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Amid powerful resistance to mandates from Florida’s governor and his supporters, some parents are frustrated that others are ignoring safety protocols

In Pinellas county, Florida, Maggie, a mother of three, is sending her kids to school every day with two or three extra masks even if, in her fourth grader’s class, only a third of the children are wearing them. Just two days into the new school year, she received a call from school officials saying there were already five known cases of students with Covid-19.

“Based on my kids’ school, and the number of parents that have chosen to not mask their kids, it looks like we’re in the minority,” said Maggie, who asked to be identified by just her first name. “I think the voices who are very anti-mask are very loud.”

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Modesty pouches and masturbation montages: the making of Sex Education

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The rude, raucous and revolutionary comedy is back for another term. The stars and creators reveal how it became one of Netflix’s biggest British hits

Sex Education is back with a bang. Several, in fact. The Netflix hit’s third series starts with an epic sex montage. There’s sex in a car; in a living room; in a variety of teenage bedrooms. There are casual encounters, committed relationships, sex together, alone, virtually, playing the drums and with a sci-fi theme. It is a symphony of shags, an opera of orgasms, all set to the thumping beat of the Rubinoos’ I Think We’re Alone Now. As the old saying goes, there’s nowt so queer as folk, and Sex Education is determined to prove it.

The Netflix comedy-drama only began in 2019, but thanks to its cross-generational, multinational appeal, it already seems like part of the cultural landscape. The funny, frank, flamboyant show about teenage life, sex and identity is an awards magnet and has made stars of its young cast, who now front fashion campaigns and appear regularly on stage and cinema screens. Gillian Anderson and Asa Butterfield star as mother and son Jean and Otis Milburn, who live in an enviable, chalet-style house overlooking the gorgeous Wye valley.

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Fears as more children falling ill in latest US Covid surge and school approaches

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  • National Institutes of Health director says 1,450 kids in hospital
  • Teachers union shifts, calls for vaccine mandates for teachers

Amid increased fears that children are now both victims and vectors of the latest Covid-19 variant surge, National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins signaled on Sunday that increasing numbers of children are falling ill in the US.

His comments also came as one of America’s largest teachers unions appeared to shift its position on mandatory vaccinations for teachers.

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Dear Gavin Williamson, if Latin is about levelling up, I have other ideas | Michael Rosen

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Why not emulate private schools with class sizes, playing fields, music facilities and modern languages?

Just as many of us are thinking ahead to winter and a possible next wave of Covid, worrying about whether schools have proper ventilation and what emergency measures you might have up your sleeve if a major outbreak occurs, you choose to put Latin at the top of your agenda. Well, not quite top because you also managed to signal the end of BTecs (a disaster in the making). Perhaps you were using your Latin splash to hide that announcement.

You’re also keeping very quiet about what is happening with the GCSE marking – the results only days away for my offspring. I can’t work out which is going to be more exciting: hearing his results or listening to your convoluted explanations as to why a) this year’s teacher assessment method was perfect and b) why – even though it’s been perfect – we’ll all have to go back next year to the one-off, high-stakes, unnecessary obstacle of GCSEs.

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Olympic antihero: how Michael Gove trashed the legacy of London 2012 | Letter

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Chris Dunne on the successful school sport partnership scheme that the Conservatives dismantled in 2010 – and on why good coaching is the crucial factor at any level of sport

Barney Ronay (Gold medals are illusory, world-class public facilities should be the goal, 23 July) says “the idea of a tangible legacy [from the London 2012 Olympics] was always flimflam”, but one of the most important factors in the Games being awarded to the UK was that we had already put in place the grassroots plan to ensure the legacy years before we even made the bid.

In 2002 the Labour government had created, in England, school sport partnerships (SSPs), based in 450 secondary sports colleges, each of which was responsible for hugely increasing participation in sport in both their own school and a network of local secondaries, each releasing PE specialists for half of every week to help train primary school teachers to widen the sports offer to their pupils and to deliver quality coaching. Identifying talent at the grassroots and nurturing it through to local clubs and on to county, national and Team GB participation was another very firm objective.

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Aid cuts make a mockery of UK pledges on girls’ education | Zoe Williams

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The government’s words at the global education summit are completely at odds with its behaviour. Whatever the event achieves will be despite its UK hosts, not because of them

With all the fanfare Covid would allow, the global education summit opened in London this week. Ahead of the meeting, the minister for European neighbourhood and the Americas was on rousing form. “Educating girls is a gamechanger,” Wendy Morton said, going on to describe what a plan would look like to do just that.

The UK, co-hosting the summit with Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta, plans to raise funds for the Global Partnership for Education, from governments and donors. The UK government has promised £430m over the next five years.

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Delays aggravate debate over Covid jabs for UK children

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Analysis: opinion is becoming sharply divided in the absence of official recommendations

The delay in deciding whether to vaccinate children over 12 against Covid is unlikely to help resolve what is already a contentious issue.

A survey by the Office for National Statistics has found that almost 90% of parents in England would favour giving their children a vaccine if offered, and school leaders have also backed jabs for pupils.

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