British values should take precedence over others in the classroom, Laura Trott, the shadow education secretary, told the Conservative Party conference in Birmingham yesterday. "We should be talking about the values that we have in our culture and why they are important," she said, adding that the Conservatives would reverse the plans for citizenship lessons in primary schools. If re-elected, Ms Trott said her party would refocus the education system on core subjects and introduce Ofsted "impartiality" investigations as part of routine inspections. By Ben Clatworthy, The Times. 

Ofcom is investigating whether Meta breached its obligations under the UK's online safety laws with the launch of its "Instants" feature on Instagram. Launched earlier this year, the tool enables users to take and share an instant image with close friends, which then disappears once viewed. The regulator said it would examine whether Meta breached the UK's Online Safety Act duties by not carrying out "a suitable and sufficient illegal content risk assessment and children's risk assessment before the launch of Instants". Disappearing messages and images have previously been identified as posing particular risks to young people using some apps. By Liv McMahon, BBC News. 

Essex County Council has ordered a review of its home-to-school transport service for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) after the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found the scheme caused distress to families and put children's safety at risk. Speaking to BBC News, a number of parents said that missed and late pick-ups, frequent driver changes and poor communication had left children anxious about travelling to their specialist schools. Rebecca, whose son is 11, is one of a number of parents who have raised complaints with the council. Describing her child's experience of the service, she said: "He will be awake in the night... the first thing he says to me in the morning is 'I don't want to go to school'." By Mousumi Bakshi and Katy Prickett.

Writing in Tes, Maddy Jones, deputy head of secondary at The International School @ ParkCity in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, says effective leadership is less about having all the answers and more about listening to others, delegating responsibility and creating the conditions for good decisions. "Leadership is not about being the person who fixes everything. Sometimes your role is to listen. Sometimes it is to support someone else to find the solution. Sometimes you need to step back and allow people to take responsibility for their own problems," she explains. 

More than 50 young footballers from across the globe have joined a new Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) Academy at Shropshire boarding school Ellesmere College. Almost half of the players coming to the academy, which is one of 14 set up by the winners of the Champions League in the UK, are from overseas. Describing the partnership as a "hugely positive step" for the school's sporting and educational community, Ellesmere's Stephen Mullock said the academy was the result of 12 months of "hard work" and "offered a unique development pathway" for aspiring footballers seeking access to elite-level training alongside their education. By Charlie Stubbs and Shehnaz Khan, BBC News.

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