In a blog marking the start of the new term, Queenswood's deputy head pastoral, Ceri Stokes, reflects on how the school has built a culture where online safety is deeply embedded, with collaboration across the whole community driving continuous improvement and innovation. 

The Telegraph recently reported that Immanuel College is to close, with governors citing "significant and sustained" financial pressures. In a comment piece this weekend, the paper's deputy comment editor Michael Mosbacher reflects on the impact of the VAT on fees policy on smaller independent schools. Mr Mosbacher notes that more than 100 independent schools have closed since the tax came into effect in January 2025, and highlights that Immanuel College is the UK’s only mainstream Jewish independent secondary school. He goes on to warn: "The loss of these schools is not just another business closure. Every school closure disrupts children’s education and can be a profoundly traumatic event. And it is no accident that these small schools are closing. It is a consequence of how VAT works." The first report is by Joe Wright and Sabrina Miller.

Tes features a number of articles focusing on the government's planned reforms to the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system. 

A detailed article explores the key changes, which include creating new national inclusion standards, a new inclusion fund, redesigning how statutory support works, providing SEND and inclusion training for all teachers, and spending £1.8 billion to ensure schools can call upon external experts where required. By John Roberts. 

More than a million children and young people with developmental language disorder (DLD) could be left behind amid the reform plans, Speech and Language UK is warning. The charity has published a report raising concerns that the plans have "failed to take the opportunity to talk specifically about children and young people with DLD at all". It is urging Department for Education officials and Ofsted inspectors to be trained to better understand DLD. The charity also says ministers must recruit and train enough speech and language therapists to ensure children with DLD receive the support they need to learn each day. By John Roberts. 

Sabrina Hobbs and Dave Whitaker from the Headteachers’ Roundtable look at how SEND support has evolved and argue that ministers' plans to provide expert support to mainstream schools could work well in a MAT landscape. "If we are serious about inclusion, we must be equally serious about how we resource and structure the support that underpins it," they explain. 

Alex Stafford and Kate Cox, lawyers at the Independent Provider of Special Education Advice charity, say the detail in the government’s SEND reform plans needs careful deliberation, particularly regarding the rights of those affected. "Replacing enforceable rights with guidance, processes and non-binding plans would not strengthen the system," they warn. 

With ministers planning for every secondary to have an inclusion base, Amanda Goldthorpe-Hallone, a school business leader who researched mainstream SEND provision for her MBA, shares key guidance on getting these units right. 

The Royal Academy of Music, Britain's oldest conservatoire, has been criticised for launching a "widening participation" programme that disqualifies independent school pupils regardless of their other circumstances. The Academy has opened applications for a fully funded foundation year to prepare "under-represented" musicians aged 18 to 20 for undergraduate study, saying the course was intended for "talented young musicians who have previously faced significant obstacles", especially those who had lost out from "decades of decline in state music education". Speaking to The Times, Philip Britton, chair of HMC (The Heads’ Conference) and head of foundation at Bolton School Boys' Division, said there are "plenty of less well-off people in independent schools and plenty of privileged people in state schools", before adding: "[It is] time to cut across this idea independent school pupils can be discriminated against as a group." Echoing the comments, Richard Jones, head at Bryanston School, said the "naïve" categorisation was "playing into the prejudice" against independent schools, and "the reality is each independent school will have a significant number of children on bursaries". By Finton Hogan. 

Tom Bennett, the Department for Education’s ambassador for attendance and behaviour, has said weak-willed parents are to blame for their children’s poor behaviour in class. Speaking to The Telegraph, he also claimed schools were having to tighten up discipline since so many parents rarely say no to their children, and let them "be on their iPads and phones all day". Mr Bennett told the paper teachers have had to build new systems "from the ground up" to tackle unruly children who think "they can do what they want". The article includes comments from readers who share their views on the issue of behaviour in schools. By Tom Cotterill.

The House of Lords is set to defy prime minister Sir Keir Starmer for a third time by pressing for an under-16s ban on social media, in a move that could see it run out of time to become law. Lord Nash, the former schools minister, is putting forward a new amendment for an Australian-style ban to be introduced in a year, giving ministers and officials time to devise the best way of implementing it. Peers have twice rejected Sir Keir's plan to wait for a public consultation before deciding on a summer ban, but the standoff must be resolved before Parliament prorogues at the end of this month, ahead of the King’s Speech on 13 May. By Charles Hymas, The Telegraph. 

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