Category Archives: Education policy

Labour Send changes at risk as parents rush to secure support, say experts

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Overhaul of special education in England could unravel, thinktank finds, because of ‘use it before you lose it’ dynamic

Labour’s flagship changes to special education in England are at risk of unravelling because parents are rushing to secure support for their children before the system changes, new analysis has found.

The Institute for Government (IfG) thinktank says the government’s plans to largely replace education, health and care plans (EHCPs) in England with more widespread support in mainstream schools may be too optimistic and take longer to complete than its 2030 timeline.

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Pupils with Send plans in England likely to double to one in 10 in rush for support

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Schools and councils express financial concerns as EHCP applications surge before potential change in provision

Schools and councils across England are expecting the proportion of children with special needs plans to double to one in 10, with families rushing to secure support before ministers bring in changes.

Headteachers have reported an “unreal” surge in applications for education, health and care plans (EHCPs) mandating support for needs or disabilities such as speech and learning difficulties, autism or ADHD. In 2025, just one in 20 school-age children had EHCPs.

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UK politics: Tories’ Philp rejects French claim that shots fired from naval boat near him were training exercise – as it happened

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Shadow minister says there was no warning and ‘it looked and sounded like deliberate intimidation’

It is not just the Russians firing on Brits in the English Channel; Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has accused a French warship of firing “warning shots” near him while he was on a boat in the Channel monitoring small boat crossings.

In a post on social media, he says:

On the channel today monitoring illegal migrant crossings … as I was being interviewed by the BBC just now a French warship approached close and fired 17 live rounds behind us. There was no notice or training exercise in place. Felt like warning shots or attempted intimidation

On the crisis in prison places, this has been a long time coming. We did some things, as I said [see 10.11am], it wasn’t enough, and I’m sorry about that.

But I can’t fix the past, but what I can do is come up with solutions for now, and for tomorrow.

This was something which we were doing in government. We had plans to rent prison places, just like Sweden has done with Estonia, so that we didn’t have to just release these sorts of violent criminals early. We could have put them in other countries.

If everybody says ‘no prison near me’, we won’t get these [prison places] built, so this is something the public can help with … We cannot say ‘no’ to every potential site for a prison.

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Nurseries in England charging extra fees to cover funding gap, campaigners say

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Head of Early Years Alliance says additional charges paid by parents represent ‘cross-subsidy’

Parents of nursery children in England are being charged extra fees to cover for government underfunding of free childcare hours, with some paying thousands of pounds a year for consumables such as food, wipes and nappies, campaigners have said.

The comments came as the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, asked the competition watchdog to investigate hidden extra charges that parents have encountered when trying to access government-funded childcare.

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Mobile phones to be banned in schools in England under new plans

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Government amendment to children’s wellbeing and schools bill to replace existing guidance with statutory ban

A ban on mobile phones in schools in England is to be introduced by the government to ensure that “critical safeguarding legislation” is passed.

The government will table an amendment to the children’s wellbeing and schools bill in the House of Lords after the bill was held up by peers on opposition benches.

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UK government caps student loan interest rates at 6% from September

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Minister says change for plan 2 and 3 loans in England and Wales will ‘protect borrowers’ from impact of global conflict

Millions of graduates will have the interest on their student loans capped at 6% from September as a temporary measure to protect them from the risk of rising inflation driven by war in the Middle East.

Ministers acted after months of criticism over the loans becoming a “debt trap” that often leave graduates in England and Wales paying tens of thousands more than the original loan amount.

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It’s been decreed: something must be done about student loans in England

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The education secretary wants a fairer system and the Tories have leapt in with their own plan – but why now?

For anyone who attended university in England in the last 15 or so years, the idea of student loans feeling like some sort of debt trap is hardly news. But three weeks ago, when the journalist Oli Dugmore discussed this on the BBC’s Question Time, it felt like a moment.

It was less the size of the initial debt, he explained, than the way above-inflation interest rates meant the interest charged alone was now almost as much as the original sum. “So was it mis-sold to me?” he asked, rhetorically. “Yes, I’d say so.”

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University students in England get two-thirds of funding of a decade ago, analysis finds

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University leaders says planned levy on international student fees will leave many institutions even worse off

University students in England get just two-thirds of the funding they would have received a decade ago, after inflation and government cuts have reduced the resources available for teaching, according to vice-chancellors.

University leaders said the situation was likely to get worse if the government went ahead with a new levy on international student fees in Wednesday’s budget.

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All schools in England with removal grants to be Raac-free by 2029, says Phillipson

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Education secretary promises ‘clear timelines’ are in place to permanently remove crumbling concrete

All 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.

Setting out a new timeline for dealing with the crumbling concrete crisis in schools, Bridget Phillipson said: “We inherited a crumbling education estate, but I won’t let that be our legacy.

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Rachel Reeves pledges a library in every primary school in England

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Exclusive: Chancellor also set to unveil plans to get young people back into work in party conference speech

Rachel Reeves will deliver a library in every primary school in England as part of Labour’s plans to give all children the best start in life regardless of their background.

The scheme, which will create libraries in the 1,700 primaries currently without them, will be funded from £132.5m of dormant assets that will be unlocked to give young people access to cultural opportunities.

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Labour MPs call for action to tackle deprivation in coastal ‘sea wall’ seats

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Exclusive: Group warn coastal communities need greater investment to reduce inequality and fight off threat from Reform

A group of Labour MPs representing coastal areas will demand urgent action to tackle deprivation in their seats, warning a lack of progress could leave them vulnerable to Reform.

They will use the party conference this weekend to call for an equivalent of the London Challenge, which turned around failing schools in the capital under Tony Blair’s government, but with a focus on post-16 training and apprenticeships.

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Phillipson, Thornberry and Ribeiro-Addy enter Labour deputy race

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Education secretary Bridget Phillipson favourite to win as she is most likely to meet the threshold of MP nominations

Bridget Phillipson, Emily Thornberry and Bell Ribeiro-Addy have thrown their hats in the ring for the Labour deputy leadership contest.

Phillipson, the education secretary, immediately became the favourite to win as she is most likely to meet the threshold of MP nominations.

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Bridget Phillipson: parents must do more about bad behaviour and attendance in schools

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Education secretary targets 800 schools as she attempts to turn around post-Covid trends with enhanced support

Parents and caregivers “need to do more” to reverse post-Covid trends of poor attendance and behaviour in schools, the education secretary has said, announcing new measures to support schools in England before the start of the new school year.

Bridget Phillipson unveiled a UK government programme on Sunday targeting 800 schools attended by about 600,000 pupils, beginning with an initial wave of 21 schools that will serve as attendance and behaviour hubs.

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As Covid effect ebbs, GCSE results reveal broken legacy of Gove’s resit policy

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Experts talk of ‘resit crisis’ as number accounts for nearly a quarter of maths and English entries, an all-time high

This year’s GCSE results in England delivered something that teachers and policymakers had craved in recent years: stability, at least for most 16-year-olds.

Covid and its aftermath had sent GCSE results seesawing until this summer, when results were more similar to the previous year than at any time since the pandemic struck in 2020.

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Parents in England skipping meals to afford school uniforms, survey finds

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Education secretary urges schools to change uniform requirements as costs force many parents into debt

Parents in England are skipping meals and turning to buy-now-pay-later services such as Klarna in order to afford school uniforms before the autumn term, according to a survey.

Almost half (47%) of the 2,000 parents who took part in the poll said they were worried about uniform costs, which can run into hundreds of pounds due to expensive branded items, while more than a quarter (29%) said they had forgone food or heating to pay for uniforms.

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Funding for English youth clubs aims to keep children off smartphones

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Keir Starmer says £88m package will help tackle trend of young people becoming ‘disconnected from their communities’

Youth clubs and after-school activities in England will receive a funding injection of £88m as ministers try to get more children away from smartphones and computer screens.

The package, which Keir Starmer announced on Tuesday, is intended to give pupils access to sport, outdoor activities, art, music, debating and volunteering.

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Secondary schools in England to tackle ‘incel’ culture and teach positive role models

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Government says new guidance will challenge ‘manosphere’ myths as DfE reports epidemic-scale misogyny

Secondary school pupils in England are to be taught about “incel” culture and the links between pornography and misogyny as part of long-awaited statutory government guidance due to be published on Tuesday.

It will include a new focus on positive role models for boys and challenge “myths about women and relationships that are spread online in the ‘manosphere’”, but will warn schools against “stigmatising boys for being boys”.

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Fewer pupils in less affluent English schools taking languages, survey finds

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Less than half taking foreign languages GCSEs compared with 69% in most prosperous state schools

Ministers must make access to language learning a national priority, experts have said, after research showed that children from more deprived areas of England are disproportionately denied the chance to learn a foreign tongue.

This year’s Language Trends report by the British Council surveyed 1,000 primary, secondary and independent schools and found that the proportion of pupils studying a modern language GCSE in less affluent English state schools was 38% lower than in the most affluent and 12% lower than the average.

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Pizzas, iPads and praise stamps: pupils reap rewards for attending school

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Schools combining incentives with sanctions saw better response than those relying purely on punishment

Pizza parties and iPads are being offered to pupils as incentives to improve school attendance, according to a new report which says sanctions alone are less likely to work.

While some schools in England are using fines, detentions and letters home to crack down on absence, others prefer a rewards-based approach, with prize draws for bikes and iPads, trips and “praise stamps” which pupils collect then trade in for chocolates or stationery.

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Toilet training and cutlery use key part of England’s ‘school-readiness skills list’

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Checkpoints backed by education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, follow complaints from teachers of children arriving in nappies

Toilet training and the ability to use cutlery are two key checkpoints in a new list of “school-readiness” skills developed by a coalition of early-years educators and endorsed by Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary.

The group said the guidance was the first of its type, intended to help parents to prepare children starting in reception classes in England from the age of four and came after complaints from teachers of children arriving at school in nappies, lacking basic skills and unable to play with others.

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