The Guardian explores how a pilot project serving pupils nutritious breakfasts made from donated surplus food draws on Sweden’s 'folkhem' welfare model to boost health and sustainability. The scheme has been drawn on for the country's national food strategy and its 2025 guidelines for school meals. By Jonna Dagliden Hunt.

There is an "urgent need" for GPs to be trained in managing attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) to help prevent young people leaving work and school, a report by an independent ADHD taskforce has recommended. Without early intervention, it warned ADHD is "a potent route into educational failure, long-term unemployment, crime, substance misuse, suicide, mental and physical illness". The report also said patients on waiting lists should all be given "needs-based" support, such as flexible working or extra time in school exams. By Eleanor Hayward, The Times. 

The government is planning to launch a £3 million education neuroscience research centre to help inform policymaking in key reform areas such as special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). Schools Week understands that the Department for Education (DfE) is considering piloting a new research centre to help ministers better understand how brain development, learning processes, mental health and SEND impact pedagogy and policy. The move follows calls for a SEND evidence "custodian”, similar to the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence’s role in generating guidance and quality standards for the NHS. By Samantha Booth. 

Three in four headteachers do not think that rating schools on how well their school supports SEND pupils in league tables would enhance provision, a poll by Teacher Tapp has found. Some 57 per cent of nearly 5,000 respondents said it would "probably not" or "definitely not" improve SEND provision in their school. The findings follow a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which called for performance tables to give "greater weight" to how well schools work alone and together to support children with additional needs. By Samantha Booth, Schools Week. 

The curriculum review continues to generate significant discussion and media coverage, attracting both praise and criticism.

The Times reports that ministers have been accused of "recklessly weakening" school assessment rules, risking pupils dropping subjects such as history, geography, and languages at GCSE. Baroness Spielman, the former chief inspector at Ofsted, said abolishing the EBacc would be a "death blow to secondary languages teaching". Echoing the concerns, a spokeswoman for the Historical Association, the national charity for history, warned that the changes "may lead to a decrease in those taking history at GCSE". Professor Charles Forsdick, lead fellow for languages at The British Academy, which champions humanities and social sciences, said abolishing the EBacc system would "eliminate one of the few remaining safeguards for language provision in England’s schools and risk narrowing education for the next generation". By Oliver Wright and Nicola Woolcock.

A group of academy trust leaders has expressed their support for the review, describing it as a "thoughtful, evidence-based" contribution to shaping what pupils learn and how progress is assessed. In a letter to The Times, the education executives say the review should not be dismissed as "dumbing down", but recognised as a chance to improve ambition within the national curriculum. "This review is serious, balanced work, drawing on solid evidence and wide consultation," they conclude. The signatories include chief executives from major multi-academy trusts including Oasis Community Learning, United Learning and Ark Schools. The letter appears above halfway.

The curriculum review has been met with positivity among cultural figures, who hope the proposed reforms will reverse years of neglect toward the arts. The composer Andrew Lloyd Webber said he was pleased ministers have acknowledged "what some of us have known for years: that arts and music in schools is a fundamental right for young people as part of a successful education". By Lanre Bakare and Nadia Khomami, The Guardian. 

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