Kids pausing their football so a friend can pray; theology chats over lunch – I’ve seen the richness that religious diversity brings to school life

A Muslim student at Michaela community school in Brent, north-west London, has lost a high court challenge to the school’s ban on prayer rituals. As a Muslim secondary schoolteacher, I have to say I am disappointed – but not surprised.

The appeal was lost on the grounds that the school declares itself secular. This is something the headteacher, Katharine Birbalsingh, insists all students and parents know when applying. In the written judgment dismissing the student’s case, Mr Justice Linden went as far as to say that: “The claimant at the very least impliedly accepted, when she enrolled at the school, that she would be subject to restrictions on her ability to manifest her religion.”

Nadeine Asbali is a secondary school teacher in London and the author of Veiled Threat: On Being Visibly Muslim in Britain

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Fawcett Society warns sector is lacking in ambition and delivery and calls for free ‘universal’ hours

• Labour in a bind over much-needed childcare reform

England’s childcare system is failing and falling behind those of much of the rest of the world, a UK charity for gender equality and women’s rights has said.

The Fawcett Society said childcare in England was failing on several fronts: affordability, quality and levels of public spending.

National Education Union chief Daniel Kebede says Labour pledges are ‘a long way from the scale of change’ needed

A new Labour government could find itself facing a wave of industrial action by teachers in England and Wales if it fails to meet demands over pay and education funding, the leader of the UK’s biggest education union has warned.

Daniel Kebede, the general secretary of the National Education Union (NEU), fired a warning shot over Keir Starmer’s bows, declaring that Labour’s current proposals on schools and education were “a long way” off the scale of change needed.

Union poll on school buildings also highlights sewage and wastewater leaks, overheating, severe cold, pests and mould

A survey by the UK’s biggest education union on the state of school buildings in England and Wales has found two in five teachers reporting signs of vermin or pests and more than a quarter complaining of sewage or wastewater leaks.

Of the 8,000 members of the National Education Union who responded to the online poll, two-thirds (68%) said they worked in buildings that leaked, with one in 10 describing the problem as “severe”.

Long waiting lists and insufficient resources part of system that is ‘failing’ children, according to NEU members in England and Wales

One in three teachers say they have no behaviour support team for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), while one in four have no educational psychologist or speech and language therapist to help them, according to a union survey.

The online poll, which attracted responses from 8,000 members of the National Education Union (NEU), indicated that seven in eight teachers feel resources are insufficient to meet growing demand, with three-quarters calling for more learning support assistants in classrooms.

Improving schools is first challenge for new first minister, Vaughan Gething, as IFS study shows lower attainment is not due to poverty

Wales’s new first minister, Vaughan Gething, faces a major challenge in improving the country’s schools, after the Institute for Fiscal Studies found that pupils in Wales were performing only as well as disadvantaged children in England.

The IFS study follows Wales’s weak performance in the OECD’s most recent Programme for international student assessment (Pisa) standings, in which results in Wales declined by more than in other UK nations and were well below the average across OECD countries.

Survey by Coram found nursery costs and dwindling places will put pressure on government plans

Rishi Sunak’s plans to expand childcare provision in England are at risk of not living up to parents’ expectations as nursery costs surge and available places dwindle, a charity has warned.

The cost of 25 hours a week for a child under two has risen by 7% on 2023, with the most expensive area being inner London where the average cost is £218 a week, the latest annual survey of the Coram Family and Childcare charity found.

Teachers and school leaders in England call government proposals vague, leaving them vulnerable to losing court cases

Teaching unions and school leaders in England are calling for an overhaul of ministers’ proposed guidance on the treatment of transgender pupils, saying the current version is incomplete and vulnerable to legal challenges.

The unions and other organisations, including the campaigning group Sex Matters, are also critical of the guidance proposals for how schools should respond to children wanting to socially transition to a different gender by changing their names or uniform.

Campaigners launch proposal for schools to have ‘plan for play’ that would be subject to Ofsted inspection

Campaigners studying play and childhood are calling for a major focus on reviving play in schools to tackle an “escalating crisis” in child mental and physical health.

The “plan for play” launched on Tuesday outlines a vision for the Department for Education to require every school to have a play plan that would be subject to Ofsted inspection. Under the proposals, teachers would be taught about play-based learning for children of all ages, not only early years.