General
Wednesday
26th Aug 2026
‘Thank you Dolly Parton, you gave millions the chance of the right start in reading’
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library revealed an understanding of the importance of early reading and offered help to those who could not provide the environment themselves, writes Professor Jessie Ricketts
Church of England names DfE official as education chief
Charlie Lang, who has spent more than two decades at the Department for Education, will take up the role in November
Why attendance policies aren’t working for students with long-term health conditions
A research project is attempting to understand the difficulties children with conditions such as diabetes, asthma and epilepsy experience at school. Dr Simon Pini details its findings so far
Call for schools to ban packed lunches
Schools already have to follow healthier food standards from September, but ‘more draconian’ rules are needed, says Dame Prue Leith
Monday
24th Aug 2026
DfE awards £300K contract for school AI benchmarks
Consultancy firm will develop national standards setting out how teachers should use AI and technology safely and effectively
Ofsted to lead review on preventing drift to Neet
Inspection evidence from schools will help inform strategies for keeping 16- to 18-year-olds in education, training or employment
What an abandoned plan for a robot TA means for AI in schools
A scheme to deploy a humanoid robot to schools in a US city has been paused after a public backlash. But will AI-powered robots eventually replace human teachers?
Friday
21st Aug 2026
AI may repel students from taking GCSE computing, exam board boss warns
As results day data shows falling entries, Cambridge OCR managing director Myles McGinley says the subject is ‘more important than ever’ as AI takes off
How a short-term behaviour intervention can bring long-term benefits
Interventions don’t need to be long to deliver results, explains Clare Dash, whose doctoral research is exploring how a one-week residential is improving pupil behaviour and wellbeing