Labour makes working-class children key to schools reform

Minister pledges more sports and drama in curriculum review as row deepens over two-child benefit cap

• Interview Labour’s Bridget Phillipson: ‘I will help working-class pupils defy the odds to succeed’

Expanding opportunities for working-class children by broadening the school curriculum to include more sport, drama, art and music alongside core academic subjects will be top priorities for the Labour government, the new education secretary says today.

In her first newspaper interview since being appointed to the cabinet by Keir Starmer, Bridget Phillipson insists her aim is to “break the link between background and success”, and to ensure every child has the same level of opportunity, regardless of their parents’ means.

Continue reading...

‘I was shielded from my history’: the changes young black Britons are calling for

Exclusive: from schools to policing, 50 people share their experiences of growing up in the UK

Following the resurgence of the Black Lives Matter movement in the UK and across the world, the Guardian interviewed 50 young black Britons, many of whom have been at the heart of the recent anti-racism protests, to ask what changes they would like to see in their lifetime.

Three demands came up repeatedly: decolonising the curriculum; divesting funds away from police forces in favour of a public health-focused approach to crime; and better representation of black Britons across a wider section of society.

Continue reading...