Speaking in the House of Commons yesterday, technology secretary Liz Kendall described the social media ban as a "defining moment", adding that it will give children "freedom to be children again". BBC News. In her statement on children and social media, Ms Kendall said further details on areas including default overnight curfews and breaks in infinite scrolling for 16- and 17-year-olds will be issued next month when ministers' pilot schemes are complete.

Ellen Roome, a bereaved mother who has campaigned for changes to social media following her son Jools Sweeney's death has described a government ban for under-16s as "fantastic". Ms Roome believes her 14-year-old son died in an online challenge gone wrong in 2022. She told BBC News: "I actually think it's really good news. We've been waiting for so long, they're actually stepping up and doing something and making some changes." By Duncan Cook. 

BBC News' technology editor Zoe Kleinman looks at some of the questions surrounding the ban, described as a "huge change for the online generation". She writes: "I'm still haunted by a message I received from a teenager a short while ago who said without social media they would be dead, because the community they had discovered online had given them reasons to live."

In an article reporting that Drumduan School, a charity-run Steiner Waldorf school in Scotland, is to close its kindergarten at the end of the academic year at the end of June due to financial pressures, The Telegraph looks at other independent schools left with no option but to close amid Labour’s VAT on fees policy. A number of schools in membership of the ISC’s constituent associations are mentioned, as is data from the ISC showing more than 100 independent schools have closed since the tax was introduced in January 2025. 

As England prepare to play their first 2026 World Cup match, Steve Brace writes in Tes on some of the ways teachers can bring the tournament into geography topics at Key Stages 2 and 3. "Exploring how different ideas or images underpin a nation’s identity will reveal many different perspectives on how different countries can be represented", he explains.

In a letter to The Times, Jane Lunnon, head of Alleyn’s School, welcomes the government’s social media ban for under-16s, but warns that children “will be able to figure out ways to get round age controls” since it is “engrained in the way they socialise”. On the need for ministers, educators and families to work together on teaching children how the safe and appropriate use of technology and social media, “which is not going away”, Ms Lunnon says:  “We need to teach them to be social-media safe, in the same way we teach them to be street-safe. We also need to provide real-world opportunities for children to build social skills and connect with one another.”
The letter is at the top of the page.

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