More than one in five pupils in England now have special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), as the latest annual statistics from the Department for Education (DfE) show a sharp increase in the number of children receiving additional support in school. The data confirms predictions of an increase in families seeking education, health and care plans (EHCPs) before ministers' efforts to reform funding and provision for children with SEND. The number of children with EHCPs rose by 11.6 per cent this year compared with last, adding 58,000 for a record total of 538,500. This means six per cent of all schoolchildren now have active EHCPs. There was also a three per cent increase in the number with special needs and support without an EHCP, to nearly 1.4 million children. When the two groups are combined, 21 per cent of the school population is regarded as having special needs in some form. By Richard Adams, The Guardian. 

With just one week to go until the ISC Digital Conference, Esther Chesterman, CEO of the National Extension College (NEC), writes in a new ISC blog that genuine inclusion – where learning is adapted to the needs of individual users – can be delivered affordably and at scale. "By breaking complex curricula down into accessible, low-stimulus, micro-learning ‘chunks’ we discovered that when you design a digital pathway that an autistic or highly anxious learner can navigate autonomously, you create a cleaner, more effective learning environment for every student," she explains. 

A new natural history GCSE qualification is to be made available in schools from September 2028 as part of curriculum reforms, the government has confirmed. Plans for the qualification were first announced by former Conservative education secretary Nadhim Zahawi in 2022, with the intention of it being taught in schools from 2025. Ministers said they expect natural history to be "first taught in schools at the same time as the teaching of the revised GCSEs", following the Francis Curriculum and Assessment Review. By Kyle Tormey, Tes. 

Writing in The Telegraph, Doug Gurr, director of the Natural History Museum, highlights the significance of the new natural history GCSE, which "will equip young people with the knowledge and skills they need to navigate, and to protect, the world they are inheriting". On why the museum is so supportive of the new qualification, he adds: "Ecological literacy is not a niche hobby for birdwatchers or botanists; it is part of civic literacy in a century defined by biodiversity collapse, climate instability and environmental degradation."

The "absolutely horrendous" workload of new Ofsted inspections is driving school staff to create rafts of new documents in an attempt to be ready when they are called, headteachers have warned. Nearly half of secondary school teachers and nearly two-fifths of primary school teachers surveyed by Teacher Tapp said their school has produced new documents as a result of inspection report cards being introduced. The majority of the 2,000 teachers polled last week also reported their schools having made changes of some kind in preparation for Ofsted. By John Roberts, Tes. 

Pupils in their final school year and young people starting university will be offered two doses of a vaccine to protect them against meningitis B, ministers have announced. Beginning in late July, the one-off vaccination programme follows an unprecedented outbreak of meningitis B in Kent earlier this year along with clusters of cases in Dorset and Berkshire that, together, led to the deaths of three people. Caroline Temmink, director of vaccination at NHS England, said the NHS would directly contact those eligible via the NHS app, text and email. By Nicola Davis, The Guardian. 

Last month, Walthamstow Hall in Sevenoaks welcomed students from seven local senior schools to take part in its Science Week.

The event opened with a visit from pioneering fertility expert and celebrated TV science commentator Professor Robert Winston, and centred on the theme CSI: Wally, the IVF Enigma, inspired by Professor Winston's landmark work on embryo screening. Visiting students joined Walthamstow Hall's Year 10s for a hands-on programme of activities: reconstructing DNA base-pairs in sterile conditions, and examining the stages of mitosis under the microscope. Pupils also took part in a mock House of Lords debate on the motion to ban genetic enhancement of the human species, presided over by Professor Winston himself.

Before handing out student prizes with his characteristic warmth and humour, Professor Winston then gave a wide-ranging talk on the ethics of reproductive medicine.

For Walthamstow Hall, collaborating with neighbouring schools was as important as the event itself. Dr Emma Doyle, the school's head of science, said: "We were delighted to share this special event with other schools."

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