Leaked WhatsApp messages shared with The Telegraph have revealed that former health secretary Matt Hancock mounted a "rearguard action" to close schools during the pandemic despite Sir Gavin Williamson battling "tooth and nail" to keep them open. According to the correspondence, published in what The Telegraph is referring to as 'The Lockdown Files', Mr Hancock suggested in December 2020 that it was "mad" that the former education secretary was trying to keep classrooms open.

Writing in The Telegraph, Sir Gavin Williamson says that he considered quitting his post over the Government's decision to shut schools as he "just felt so personally upset about it".

Schools Week reports that the leaked messages suggest the former education secretary claimed school staff were seeking an 'excuse to avoid having to teach'. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), has said the “ugly exchange demonstrates the chaos and duplicity at the heart of government”. By Freddie Whittaker.

According to 'The Lockdown Files', face masks were introduced in schools for the first time - despite England’s chief medical officer, Sir Chris Witty, saying there were “no very strong reasons” to do so - to avoid an "argument" with Nicola Sturgeon over the issue. The policy on face masks was one of the most controversial of the pandemic and remained in place for 16 months.The Telegraph.

The messages also suggest that pupils with false positive COVID tests were sent home from school to isolate for 10 days because officials did not want to “unpick” a policy that had already been written. Mr Hancock was reportedly warned that “thousands” could miss lessons unnecessarily due to rules the Government put in place on testing when schools returned after the third lockdown in March 2021. The Telegraph.

All of the coverage in today's Telegraph is credited to The Lockdown Files Team.

An Ipsos poll published today suggests around 60 per cent of parents and 48 per cent of the public said they support the teacher strikes and are sympathetic to teachers’ campaign over pay and funding. Around 40 per cent of the 2,187 adults questioned said they were concerned about the impact action was having on education, but 60 per cent were more worried about a lack of funding for schools more generally. By Mark Gould, Tes.

Reflecting on the strikes and the issue of teachers' pay in an article for Independent School Management Plus, Helen Pike argues that the independent sector could be part of the solution to the recruitment crisis in education. She says: "Not only do independent schools train teachers, they tend to pay them more competitively while doing so." Helen Pike is master of Magdalen College School.

The Scottish Government and Scotland's largest teaching union, the EIS, have said some progress has been made during informal talks to end the pay dispute, with education secretary Shirley-Anne Somerville saying that discussions with the union and a Cosla official touched on possible "areas of compromise". BBC News.

Tes features live updates on the strikes taking place today.

Initial data from a sample of one in four councils across the country suggests the proportion of pupils winning a place at their first choice of secondary school has fallen by 0.4 per cent. In 2022, 85.1 per cent of pupils across the sample secured their first place, whereas in 2023 84.8 per cent of pupils did so. By Catherine Lough and Louisa Clarence-Smith, The Telegraph.

Analysis by The Times has found more than a third of children will miss out on a place at their first-choice secondary school in parts of England, including London, this year due to the 'population bulge' which is now shifting from primary to secondary schools. By Nicola Woolcock and Lara Wildenberg.

The Department for Education (DfE) has published its improvement plan to provide high-quality support to children with special educational needs across England, with thousands more school places being provided and 33 special schools built in an attempt to end the “postcode lottery” of provision for pupils with additional needs. By Emma Yeomans, The Times.

Research by End Sexism in Schools (ESIS) suggests that only two per cent of GCSE students study a book written by a female author, prompting campaigners to call for examining bodies to provide an equal balance of male and female authored texts and protagonists and to ensure schools are given support to change the texts they teach. By Rachel Hall, The Guardian.

The University of Cambridge is going to allow students to use ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence (AI) platform, as long as it is not used to write coursework or exams. While the technology “has not been banned”, the university disclosed that students must still “be the authors of their own work” or risk being investigated for academic misconduct. By Max Stephens, The Telegraph.

Cormac Keenan, head of trust and safety at TikTok, has said the social media platform will impose a default 60-minute screen time limit for users under the age of 18 in the coming weeks. In blog post yesterday, Mr Keenan explained that when the time limit is reached, minors will be prompted to enter a passcode and make an “active decision” to keep watching. By Lisa Salmon, The Independent.

To mark World Book Day today, the Queen Consort has spoken of the importance of reading at a young age to help children understand “different places, different cultures, different ways of life”. Camilla also met with children’s laureate Joseph Coelho to discuss their shared love of books and their favourite tales as a child. By Naomi Clarke, The Independent.

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