Category Archives: Schools

Call for schools to open in the summer after lockdown

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Children’s commissioner says schools will play an important role, but teachers and parents may oppose loss of six-week break

Schools should consider opening in some form over the six-week summer holidays to help children catch up with the curriculum – and to provide childcare for families who need to get back to work, the children’s commissioner has said.

Anne Longfield said that when schools are allowed to reopen, they could be vital during the long summer holidays. “Whether they are open to all or not, schools do have a really important role, especially for vulnerable children over the coming months.”

She added: “It would be really valuable, if the scientific advice says they can, to have schools consider opening in some form over the summer holidays to help children learn and catch up but also to offer them a safe place to play and socialise with friends. It would also provide vital childcare for families who need to get their incomes back up as they, hopefully, return to work.”

Longfield said schools could bring in play, sports and youth workers to help supervise pupils.

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French reality show seeks to turn around lives of ‘dunce’ pupils

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Les Cancres (The Dunces) features pupils coached by celebrities who also struggled at school

French schoolchildren learn an early lesson that failure in the classroom is likely to mean failure in life.

Pupils are encouraged to compete for the best marks and grades that will allow them to study at prestigious grandes écoles and subsequently become part of France’s professional or political elite.

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The longest holiday: parents coping with coronavirus school closures in east Asia

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In a bid to stem spread of the virus, schools in Hong Kong, China and Japan have been shut for weeks

“It’s been a long holiday,” laughs Hong Kong insurance worker and mother, Sarah Wong.

Wong and her two daughters, Chloe and Greeta, are at a co-working space in Jordan, Kowloon. Chloe has set her desk up like home, with an iPad, her own lamp, and an aromatherapy diffuser. The girls, aged 12 and eight, are listening to online lessons from their school which has been closed because of the coronavirus.

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Top authors take to Instagram to defend teenage book lover

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Callum Manning, 13, whose reviews were mocked by pupils, backed by Matt Haig and others

A 13-year-old boy who was taunted for his online book reviews has received messages of support from bestselling authors.

Callum Manning, from South Shields, Tyne and Wear, created an Instagram account last week to write posts about some of the books he had read. But he was left “devastated” after other pupils at his new school began to mock the reviews in a group chat he had joined.

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Amazon to donate to drug charity linked to Scientology

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Exclusive: experts have queried methods of Narconon, which has given talks in UK schools

Amazon has agreed to channel funds to a controversial drug rehabilitation charity linked to the Church of Scientology, the Guardian has learned.

The web giant will make donations to Narconon – which runs programmes for drug addicts based on the teachings of the Scientology founder, L Ron Hubbard – when supporters buy products through the site, with shoppers able to pledge 0.5% of purchases to selected charities under Amazon’s “Smile” feature.

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Food for thought: the school lunch scheme linking London and Liberia

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By providing free school meals to some of the poorest children on Earth, a UK charity is also ensuring they get an education

It’s breakfast time in Domagbamatma (population: 63) in the depths of the Liberian rainforest, but there’s no food in evidence in the home of Massa Kamara. The eight-year-old has been up since dawn, collecting firewood, fetching water.

Now she’s ready for school in a crisp white shirt and navy-blue skirt in her family’s muddy, two-room shack.

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Is it over for Justin Trudeau? – podcast

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The Canadian prime minister achieved a historic victory in 2015 but as he nears the end of his first term a series of scandals are making his political future less certain. With elections next month, journalist Leyland Cecco discusses how likely it is Trudeau will repeat his initial success. And: Kaitlyn Regehr on why new sex education lessons in schools are already outdated

As Justin Trudeau looks to renew his parliamentary majority in a forthcoming federal election, a series of scandals have made his political future uncertain. Most recently, the publication of a series of images showing Trudeau in blackface forced the Canadian prime minister to admit he could not recall how many times he had worn it.

Toronto-based journalist Leyland Cecco talks to Rachel Humphreys about Trudeau’s first term in office and whether he can rescue his campaign to win a second – opinion polls shows him in a tight race against his Conservative rival.

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Labour conference: shadow ministers should quit if they won’t back Corbyn on Brexit, says McCluskey – live news

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Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen, including events from the Labour conference in Brighton

In her speech to the conference Diane Abbott, the shadow home secretary, said Tory policies were to blame for rising crime. She said:

There is no question that the cuts in police numbers have contributed to the rise in crime. But other contributors are the cuts to education, the increase in school exclusions, all the zero-hours contracts, all the homelessness and inequality. All the cuts in mental health services have also played their part.

And these are all Tory policies. When they say they will lead the fight against crime – do not believe a word of it. They are the ones who have created the conditions for rising serious and violent crime. Senior police officers are increasingly going on record and saying that cuts to public services have created an environment where crime flourishes. Cuts have consequences. You cannot keep people safe on the cheap.

We will welcome refugees, including child refugees.

We will proudly uphold the torture ban and treat the victims of torture with humanity, not detentions and deportations.

Speaking at a fringe meeting about how Labour can win back support in its heartlands, Jon Trickett – shadow Cabinet Office minister and MP for Hemsworth – said he was fed up with the argument that the people who voted for Brexit were from “backwards” communities in the north of England. He said:

Here’s the point I want to make. Those held-back communities – the heartland communities – can be found in Hastings, they can be found in Hackney and they can be found in Hartlepool.

A very senior member of the Labour party, she said to me: ‘Well, no wonder they’re all coming down south, the young people, because you can’t be gay up north.’ That was said by somebody whose name you will have mentioned several times in the past few weeks.

Those people who are suggesting that the people who voted for Brexit did not know what they were voting for infantilises 17 million people.

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Ministers accused of ‘radio silence’ over LGBT school protests

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Louise Casey says Birmingham demonstrations have been put in ‘all-too-difficult box’

The former integration tsar, Dame Louise Casey, has accused ministers of “radio silence” over protests against the teaching of LGBT equality at a Birmingham school.

Casey said the government had failed to act on what she described as homophobic demonstrations because it was in the “all-too-difficult box”.

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Why do Dubai’s princesses keep trying to run away? – podcast

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Ola Salem discusses the divorce case of Princess Haya, who fled to London. Why do royal women keep trying to escape the emirate? Plus John Marsden on the growing trend of toxic parenting

Over the summer, Princess Haya, the estranged wife of the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, asked an English court for a forced marriage protection order relating to their children and a non-molestation order after the breakdown of their marriage.

The Guardian reporter Haroon Siddique describes the court scene to Rachel Humphreys, while the journalist Ola Salem discusses previous attempts by two other princesses to flee the Dubai royal family, and looks at why this case is so significant for women in the emirate.

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Secret report reveals government fear of schools chaos after no-deal Brexit

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Risk of axed exams and food shortages, while informing the public ‘may cause panic’

Schools may have to close, exams could be disrupted and fresh food for pupils’ meals could run short because of panic buying with prices soaring by up to 20%, according to a secret Department for Education analysis of the risks of a no-deal Brexit obtained by the Observer.

The five-page document – marked “Official Sensitive” and with the instruction “Do Not Circulate” – also raises the possibility of teacher absences caused by travel disruption, citing schools in Kent as particularly at risk.

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Russia denies visas to teachers at Anglo-American school

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Staff say decision is ‘blowback’ as a result of worsening relations with US

Russia has denied visas to teachers of the Anglo-American school in Moscow, in a move described by one teacher as “blowback” over worsening US-Russian relations.

The US ambassador, Jon Huntsman, called the decision to deny visas to 30 teachers at the Anglo-American school “unfortunate” and said it would “affect over 1,100 students and their families, who represent over 60 countries, including Russia”. The day school is popular among the children of western diplomats and businessmen.

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Teachers strike over pupils ‘carrying knives and brawling’

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Staff given panic buttons at outstanding-rated Starbank school in Birmingham

Teachers have gone on strike at a school in Birmingham rated outstanding by Ofsted where they say “feral” students are carrying knives, threatening staff and brawling in classrooms.

Staff at Starbank school, whose pupils’ ages range from three to 16, have been given panic buttons and are “scared to come out of their classrooms” between lessons, according to a teaching union.

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Teachers want climate crisis training, poll shows

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Survey says teachers feel ill-equipped to educate pupils, as school strikes continue

A growing number of teachers want their pupils to learn more about the climate crisis and are calling for environmental training so they can prepare children for a rapidly changing world, according to a poll.

The findings from YouGov research commissioned by Oxfam come before the latest round of school climate strikes on Friday, in which it is expected that hundreds of thousands of young people will walk out of classrooms around the world.

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Greta Thunberg backs climate general strike to force leaders to act

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Swedish activist says world faces ‘existential crisis’ and must achieve goals of Paris deal

Greta Thunberg, the 16-year-old Swedish environmental activist, has given her support for a general strike for the climate, saying the student movement she inspired needs more support from older generations to ensure politicians keep their promises under the Paris agreement.

Speaking at a public event in London as Extinction Rebellion protests continued in the capital, the initiator of the school strike for climate movement was typically frank about the scale of the problem the world faces and the impact her campaign has made. “People are slowly becoming more aware, but emissions continue to rise. We can’t focus on small things. Basically, nothing has changed,” she said.

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Year 6 pupils spend Easter at school cramming for Sats

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Teaching officials angry that children are having to attend revision classes over holidays

Children at hundreds of primary schools in England are being asked to attend Sats revision classes over the Easter holidays, a teaching union official has revealed, warning that it was part of a disturbing trend.

Darren Northcott, the NASUWT national officer for education, said revision classes for primary school pupils were unheard of five years ago but that he now knew of hundreds of cases of pupils in their final year of primary – Year 6 – being asked in for “cramming” by their schools ahead of the tests next month.

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Youth climate change protests across Britain – live

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Tens of thousands of young people in Britain and abroad are demonstrating for climate action in the latest wave of strikes

We will be closing the live blog shortly, so thanks to all those who contributed.

Organiser Cyrus Jarvis, 16, a year 11 student from London Academy school in Barnet, North London, reflected on the march, saying:

The police tried to frighten us with arrests but we just moved on. We are really sorry for anyone who did have issues because of us, but unfortunately this is what we have to do to get our point across to the government. If we don’t cause disruption they don’t listen to us and they haven’t listened to us in the past.”

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‘Let gay Muslims be gay’: Owen Jones goes to the centre of the LGBT lesson row – video

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Earlier this year protests began over LGBT-inclusive lessons in Parkfield primary school Birmingham. The lessons were suspended and the protests have since spread to other schools. Owen Jones travels to the city to speak to the protesters, teachers and activists at the heart of the row to ask what happens next.

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