Category Archives: Schools

Sacking of Christian school worker over posts about LGBTQ+ lessons unlawful, court rules

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Kristie Higgs was dismissed after sharing posts on plans to teach equalities programme at her son’s C of E school

A Christian school worker who was sacked after she shared Facebook posts raising concerns about lessons in LGBTQ+ relationships for primary schoolchildren has won her battle in the court of appeal.

Kristie Higgs was dismissed from her role as a pastoral administrator and work experience manager at Farmor’s, a secondary school in Fairford, Gloucestershire, in 2019 after an anonymous complaint from a parent at the school.

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Texas may allow families to pay for private schools with public funds

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School voucher bill likely to benefit wealthier families, allowing $10,000 of taxpayer dollars per student per year

Donald Trump’s executive order on school choice last month may soon be wholly embraced by the state of Texas.

Earlier this month, the Texas governor, Greg Abbott, announced school choice as an emergency item during his State of the State address, and just last week, the Texas senate easily passed a school voucher bill (known as senate bill 2 or SB2), which House Republicans expect to pass imminently.

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Ofsted’s new school report card worse than old system, say headteachers

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Unions as well as school leaders say proposed changes to replace four-grade approach in England are ‘demoralising’

Moves to overhaul the way schools are inspected in England have been criticised by headteachers and teaching unions as “demoralising” and worse than the system they are aiming to replace.

The changes by the Ofsted schools inspectorate would replace single judgments such as “outstanding” with a new report card for parents. They will be unveiled by Ofsted’s chief inspector, Martyn Oliver, on Monday alongside the launch of a public consultation.

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Ofsted overhaul for English schools to be put out for public consultation

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Five-step rating from ‘exemplary’ to ‘causing concern’ set to replace single-word judgments

Schools in England are likely to be judged on a new five-step scale, under proposals by the Ofsted inspectorate to be put out for public consultation as soon as next week.

The consultation is the culmination of plans by the government to overhaul the way schools are rated, with Labour having pledged to scrap inspection reports using single headline grades such as “outstanding” or “inadequate” after a coroner’s report said an Ofsted inspection had contributed to the death of Ruth Perry, a headteacher, in 2023.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org

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Oklahoma schools plan to require proof of students’ immigration status

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Proposal from state board of education condemned by teachers and rights groups, as parents and students protest

Parents enrolling children in Oklahoma public schools will be required to provide proof of their child’s US citizenship or legal immigration status under a proposed rule approved Tuesday by the state board of education.

The board voted unanimously to approve the rule aimed at helping Donald Trump’s immigration policies. It still needs to be approved by the legislature and the governor.

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Keir Starmer did not discuss threat of US tariffs on UK imports in first call with Donald Trump, No 10 says – UK politics live

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Downing Street says PM’s call with Trump was ‘warm’ and did not include tariffs, Greenland, defence-spending or Ukraine

The hearing has stopped for a short break. Heather Hallett, the chair, tells Badenoch that her evidence will be finished by lunchtime.

Keith is now asking Badenoch about the fourth report produced by the Race Disparity Unit. It was produced in December 2021.

Relevant health departments and agencies should review and action existing requests for health data, and undertake an independent strategic review of the dissemination of healthcare data and the publication of statistics and analysis.​​

Government is not necessarily great at delivering these systems. They tend to be big boondoggles for the private sector, but there are private sector companies that can deliver this. There need to be caveats around that.

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Launch natural history GCSE in England now, campaigners urge Labour

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Environmentalists say new course could be delayed until 2030 because it is viewed as Conservative party initiative

Leading environmentalists have called on the government to introduce a natural history GCSE immediately, amid fears it could be postponed until 2030.

The previous Conservative administration had supported creating the GCSE, which would teach pupils how to observe, identify and classify plants and animals.

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State school pupils in England may have to drop GSCE Latin after funding pulled

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DfE urged to delay ending funding of popular programme so that hundreds of students can complete their courses

• Axing the Latin excellence scheme: a classic mistake

State 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.

School leaders, scholars and authors are urging the Department for Education to offer a reprieve to the Latin excellenceprogramme, to enable hundreds of students to complete their GCSE courses and allow schools time to find additional support.

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Schools in England face ‘death by a thousand cuts’, headteachers say

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Rising costs likely to outstrip funding in coming year, despite recent injections of additional money

Schools 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.

Without more ambitious government investment in education, the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) said there could be yet more cuts in England’s already depleted schools, reducing pastoral support and curriculum choice, while class sizes are likely to grow.

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Labour says cap on school uniform items could save families £50 a child

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Government 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.

The cost-saving measures are laid out in the government’s children’s wellbeing and schools bill which is due to be debated on Wednesday when it gets its second reading in parliament.

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UK charity steps up campaign against child hygiene poverty

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The Multibank, founded by Gordon Brown, receives boost with Amazon-led drive for 250,000 items this month

A charity founded by the former prime minister Gordon Brown is to increase its campaign efforts against child hygiene poverty this year.

The Multibank, which was founded by the former Labour leader, is working with a number of sports clubs across Britain and the Hygiene Bank charity. Over the Christmas and new year period it collected thousands of hygiene products at sporting fixtures.

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Labour’s private school tax plan strongly backed by public, poll shows

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Government accuses Tories and rightwing media of being ‘out of touch’, as VAT policy due to come into force

The 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.

The poll, commissioned by the Private Education Policy Forum (PEPF) thinktank, found that 54% of people backed the idea, with 22% opposing it. This is an even greater margin of support than seen in similar polls carried out before the election.

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Starmer seeks to relaunch premiership with new promise to crack down on crime

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After a rocky start, PM sets out ‘next phase’ covering economic growth, NHS backlogs, energy, and a ‘bobby on every beat’

Keir Starmer will attempt to reset his premiership with a series of pledges to show he is “delivering change”, including 13,000 extra neighbourhood police and a named “bobby on every beat”.

In a speech Labour hopes will set out the “next phase” of government, the prime minister will detail half a dozen “milestone” targets covering living standards, NHS backlogs, secure energy, housebuilding and children’s readiness for school.

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Children’s development ‘put back by years’ due to failure of special educational needs system

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Local government ombudsman report into SEND in England offers damning assessment

England’s special education system is failing, causing thousands of children to have their development put back by months or even years, according to a damning report by the local government ombudsman.

Amerdeep Somal, the local government and social care ombudsman, said her caseload was now dominated by complaints from families involving special educational needs (Sen) provision and schools, with more than 90% of complaints being upheld.

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Tests for year 1 pupils in England should be dropped, headteachers urge

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NAHT says early checks on phonics, arithmetic and English in primary schools are potential waste of time and funding

Primary school pupils in England should not face compulsory tests on phonics, times tables or grammar and punctuation, an influential headteachers’ union has advised the government.

The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) told the government’s national curriculum and assessment review that there was an “urgent need” to reconsider the phonics check of reading ability, along with the multiplication check and tests of spelling, grammar and punctuation, as a potential waste of school time and funding.

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Call to ban cakes and biscuits at school lunchtimes in England

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Campaigners want ministers to overhaul rules to outlaw snacks that contain up to 12 teaspoons of sugar

Schools in England should be banned from giving pupils cakes or biscuits as part of their lunch because they contain so much sugar, food campaigners say.

They want ministers to overhaul the rules that guide schools on the nutritional content of the meals they serve to outlaw such sugary snacks.

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The Gruffalo’s illustrator launches book to help UK pupils learn German

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Axel Scheffler says he hopes Wuschel auf der Erde will encourage more children to learn his first language

Axel Scheffler, the illustrator behind the international children’s bestseller The Gruffalo, has launched a book to help primary school pupils learn German.

Wuschel auf der Erde: A New Adventure in Learning German tells the story of a friendly alien called Wuschel arriving on Earth from a distant planet with a mission to learn German. Through Scheffler’s distinctive illustrations, children are introduced to their first German words, such as die Maus (mouse) and der Spielplatz (playground), in a fun and interactive way.

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Schools in England could be judged on scale of colours in Ofsted proposals

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Inspectorate aims to replace single headline grade such as outstanding with assessment of 10 key areas

Schools could be judged on a five-step scale of colours or descriptions across 10 separate areas, such as inclusion and belonging, according to proposals by England’s schools inspectorate.

The proposals by Ofsted aim to replace inspection reports that culminate in a single headline grade such as outstanding, which Labour pledged to scrap after a coroner’s report said Ofsted’s inspection had contributed to the death of headteacher Ruth Perry last year.

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Dutch school bars parents from marks-sharing app in push to lower pupil stress

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Experiment for a term prompted by research showing that sharing every result put added pressure on students

A secondary school in the Netherlands is blocking parental access to children’s grades for a term in an attempt to reduce the pressure on pupils to perform.

Like many countries, the Netherlands has a system under which students need a certain grade average to progress to the next year, but Jordan – Montessori Lyceum Utrecht found that a widely used app that shares every mark with parents was increasing stress among children.

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Smoking to be banned outside schools and hospitals, but pubs get reprieve

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Parliamentary bill will also ban the advertising of vapes and restrict their flavours, packaging and marketing

Smoking is set to be banned outside schools and hospitals as part of a crackdown on one of the UK’s biggest killers and its most common cause of cancer.

But the government has dropped plans to outlaw smoking outside pubs and restaurants, prompting health campaigners to complain about “vested interests” covertly influencing policy.

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