Writing to The Times, Sir Anthony Seldon, founding director of Wellington College Education, highlights the benefits and risks of artificial intelligence (AI) in schools. Drawing on decades of work with educators to "eliminate products that are addictive and harmful, precisely to protect genuine education", he says big tech companies have shown a "blithe disregard" for such concerns. Citing Australia’s recent ban on social media for under-16s, Sir Anthony warns: "Unless the government quickly learns from the ample evidence globally of what other governments are doing to confront this issue, then such a ban may become inevitable here." The letter appears halfway down the page.

Writing in Tes, Caroline Barlow, co-chair of the Headteachers’ Roundtable, shares her experience of collaborating with Ukrainian teachers as part of an initiative run by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development. On the inspirational dedication of her colleagues in Ukraine, she writes: "Through the privilege of this partnership, we have met and worked with these beacons of our profession and can vouch for their resilience." 

More than four in 10 Scottish children have additional support needs (ASN), official SNP government statistics show. The data reveals a record 299,445 pupils were classified as having ASN in 2025, equal to 43 per cent of the school roll. This was more than double the proportion of pupils in England (19.6 per cent) deemed to have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). The most common single reason cited this year was "social, emotional or behavioural difficulty", with more than 77,400 children falling into this category, and boys representing about two thirds of the total. By Simon Johnson, The Telegraph.

Former children's commissioner Baroness Anne Longfield is to chair the government's inquiry into child sexual abuse, Shabana Mahmood has announced. The home secretary said "we must root out this evil once and for all" as she told the House of Commons Baroness Longfield would lead the three-year inquiry, which was launched in June after Sir Keir Starmer accepted the recommendation of Baroness Louise Casey's audit into group-based child sexual abuse. By Maia Davies, BBC News.

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