Dennis Barnes’s offers from 125 colleges and universities approach a national record
A high school student in Louisiana has received more than $9m in scholarship offers, an amount that leaves him at least close to clinching what is believed to be a US record.
Dennis Barnes has been offered aid from 125 colleges and universities, after maintaining a cumulative grade point average of 4.98, among other academic accomplishments, at International high school in New Orleans.
Continue reading...Evidence to MPs claims parents more cautious about sending children to school with minor ailments
Increased anxiety and lack of mental health support are driving a steep increase in children missing school since the Covid pandemic, with some children “struggling to leave home”, according to councils in England.
Local authorities are also highlighting budget pressures that have forced cuts in school support staff, with some schools trying to “manage” students out of classrooms or disguising their attendance records, while others are “off-rolling” students to artificially boost school exam results.
Continue reading...Dominic Raab denies wrongdoing after report on his behaviour delivered to Rishi Sunak this morning
Today’s announcement by the Association of School and College Leaders that it is to hold a formal ballot for national strike action for the first time in its history (see 9.49am) marks a significant development in the ongoing dispute between teachers and the government.
Up until now only members of the National Education Union (NEU) have taken strike action in England, with five more days of strikes planned for later this term. In addition a fresh ballot is to be held to provide the NEU with a mandate for further strike action up until Christmas.
Continue reading...Film-maker asked by No 10 to be ‘maths champion’ says ‘nobody thought to ask me whether I support this policy’
Downing Street has reportedly ditched a campaign to promote Rishi Sunak’s “maths to 18” policy after officials only obtained one case study – a film-maker who actually thinks the proposal is “misguided” and “tone deaf”.
The prime minister’s office appears to have left it until the last minute to seek endorsements from people across British industry for a social media push, the Times reports. Stephen Fellows, a leading film data analyst, was approached on Friday, three days before the PM relaunched the policy with a speech in London.
Continue reading...It is thought complaint refers to prime minister’s wife, Akshata Murty, being a shareholder in a childcare agency
Q: Are you going to have to offer more money to teachers?
Sunak says what is on offer is “a good and fair settlement”.
Continue reading...Exclusive: child mental health crisis deepens with one-third of all referrals denied help
A quarter of a million children in the UK with mental health problems have been denied help by the NHS as it struggles to manage surging case loads against a backdrop of a crisis in child mental health.
Some NHS trusts are failing to offer treatment to 60% of those referred by GPs, the research based on freedom of information request responses has found.
In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org. You can contact the mental health charity Mind by calling 0300 123 3393 or visiting mind.org.uk. YoungMinds is at youngminds.org.uk.
Continue reading...Dr Patrick Roach of NASUWT calls on education secretary Gillian Keegan to reopen pay talks
Ministers could avoid teachers’ strikes in England this summer if they make an improved pay offer as good as that made to NHS nurses, the leader of one teaching union has proposed.
Dr Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT union, called on the education secretary, Gillian Keegan, to reopen talks to allow pay negotiations to continue, saying strikes were “not inevitable” if a better deal could be reached.
Continue reading...A mix-up on dates meant Rasikh Aziz travelled from Pakistan too soon. Now the University of Law has reported him to the Home Office
An international student who travelled to the UK two months early after being given the wrong enrolment date by his university is facing deportation after it reported him to the Home Office.
Rasikh Aziz was incorrectly told by the University of Law that he must arrive by October 2022 for a postgraduate course beginning in January 2023, according to documents seen by the Observer. He subsequently flew to the UK and presented himself at the university’s Birmingham campus, where he had an induction, underwent an ID check and was issued with a student card. In January, he began attending classes without a problem.
Continue reading...NASUWT general secretary said ministers ‘not serious about compromising’ in last month’s talks
Ministers are treating teachers in England with contempt if they refuse to renegotiate their “miserable” pay offer, according to a teaching union leader who fears the government wants to “walk away” after only six days of talks.
Patrick Roach, the general secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, said the government insisted on using forecasts of very low inflation next year to justify its pay offer and was “not serious about compromising” during negotiations last month.
Continue reading...NEU survey also finds one in five teachers aged 29 or under have taken on a second job as pay fails to keep up with cost of living
One in three young teachers in England are skipping meals and spending less on food because their pay has failed to keep up with the rising cost of living, while others are taking second jobs, a survey has found.
More than 8,000 state school teachers in England contacted by the National Education Union revealed that 34% of teachers aged 29 or younger said they have been forced to skip meals to make ends meet, with one in five saying they have taken on a second job in addition to teaching full-time.
Continue reading...The death of headteacher Ruth Perry after a devastating report from schools watchdog Ofsted has prompted a growing backlash. Michelle Sheehy, headteacher of Millfield primary school in the West Midlands, explains why
When Ofsted inspectors visited Ruth Perry’s primary school in Reading last year, they told her it would be downgraded to the lowest ranking because of gaps they found in the school’s safeguarding administration. Perry’s death last month has led to an outpouring of anger.
Her sister Julia Waters said her family were in no doubt she had taken her life in January as a “direct result” of the pressure put on her by the Ofsted inspection.
Continue reading...Exclusive: group says military is compromising children’s right to education with its campaign against militants
Egyptian forces have taken over 37 schools and transformed them into military bases while dozens more have been destroyed during a 10-year war with militants in Sinai, a rights group has found in an initial assessment.
In a months-long investigation shared with the Guardian before its official release, the UK-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR) accused the Egyptian armed forces of compromising the right to education of children during its campaign against militants in north Sinai.
Continue reading...Latest updates: Diane Abbott says Miliband and Keir Starmer have given different reasons for Corbyn’s ban
Nadia Whittome, the leftwing Labour MP, has said this morning that she hopes the party’s national executive committee throws out the motion that would ban Jeremy Corbyn from being a candidate for the party.
Labour has now sent out the full text of Ed Miliband’s speech to the Green Alliance this morning. We have already covered the main points (here and at 10.55am), but it was a substantial, serious speech, and here are some futher things he said.
Miliband confirmed that Labour would issue no more licence for oil and gas fields in the North Sea. This is from my colleague Fiona Harvey.
Continue reading...A former student killed three children and three adults at a Christian elementary school in Nashville on Monday, armed with two “assault-style” weapons and a handgun after elaborately planning the massacre by drawing a detailed map and conducting surveillance of the building, police said.
Nashville chief of police John Drake told NBC News the shooter had planned to attack several different places, saying a manifesto belonging to the suspect “indicates that there was going to be shootings at multiple locations, and the school was one of them”.
Continue reading...Corporation rejects freedom of information request from campaigner who claims show is ‘rigged’
The BBC has been accused of “hiding” the extent of its Oxbridge bias on University Challenge in a deepening row about alleged elitism on the show.
The Guardian revealed that Frank Coffield, a Durham-based emeritus professor of education at University College London, is campaigning for fairer entry rules for the show for what he says is a rigged contest.
Continue reading...Headteachers forced to use non-specialists as turnover continues, education research body reports
Teacher vacancies in England have virtually doubled since before Covid, with school leaders increasingly forced to use non-specialist teachers, which threatens to drive down pupil attainment, according to research.
A report by the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER) found that teacher vacancies posted by schools were 93% higher in the academic year up to February 2023 than at the same point in the year before the start of the pandemic.
Continue reading...Initial call for protest came after family of headteacher Ruth Perry said she took her own life after news of lowest rating
A Berkshire headteacher who issued a plea on social media for support for her plan to prevent Ofsted inspectors visiting her school has withdrawn her request, asking people not to come to the school, in the interests of children and staff.
Flora Cooper, the executive headteacher at the John Rankin federation of nursery, infant and junior schools in Newbury, wrote on Twitter earlier on Monday that Ofsted inspectors were due to visit on Tuesday morning.
In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is at 988 or chat for support. You can also text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis text line counsellor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org
Continue reading...Downing Street reveals cost of improved pay offer for nurses and paramedics but will not say where the money will come from
Downing Street says the improve pay offer for health workers in England announced yesterday will cost around £4bn.
At the morning lobby briefing, a No 10 spokesperson said the “non-consolidated element for 2022-23” – the one-off payments worth up to 8.2% – would cost an extra £2.7bn.
Analysis showed that in two years’ time - by which point Labour could have won a general election - two million people could face paying taxes of up to 55 per cent on their pots as a result of [Rachel] Reeves’ policy.
Continue reading...Activists hopeful as Canada’s largest school district takes first step towards banning caste discrimination
When Vijay Puli arrived in Toronto with his wife and baby daughter, he thought they had finally left behind the discrimination, violence and social rejection they had faced in India.
Puli identifies as a Dalit, a member of a group who in India are considered to be at the very bottom rung, often deemed “untouchable”.
Continue reading...Incident involving Vianne Timmons is latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud
The president of a Canadian university has apologized and is taking a leave of absence after allegations that she falsely claimed to be Indigenous, in the latest high-profile case of apparent cultural identity fraud.
Vianne Timmons, who is president of Memorial University of Newfoundland, said that she would be taking a six-week leave after the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) published a report last week questioning her claims that her father’s great-great-grandmother was Mi’kmaq.
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