schools

Schools in England are to get around £500 million in extra funding towards the teachers’ pay award this school year, reducing the risk of a strike ballot by the largest education union.

Schools had been expected to fund some of the 3.5% teachers pay increase for the current school year out of their existing budgets, which National Education Union (NEU) leaders had strongly objected to.

Daniel Kebede, the General Secretary of the NEU, said the offer of more funding was a “significant” step in negotiations.

In a letter to the union on Wednesday, which has been seen by the BBC, the government said the increase would be funded by savings in employers’ contributions to the local government pension scheme.

The letter said the 4.9 percentage point drop in what employers are expected to contribute will deliver “significant savings” on the pay bill for support staff, which will not be clawed back by central government.

The National Education Union said it expected the extra money to be around £500m, which schools can now use towards teachers pay this year.

In July, ministers accepted the recommendation of the independent pay review body for teachers and agreed a 3.5% increase from September 2026 would be followed by 3% the following year.

The pay increase had been partly funded by an additional £700m for 2026-27 and £1.1bn for the following year.

Independent economists at the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said that left schools facing a shortfall of around 1% between rising costs and funding this year.

Luke Sibieta, IFS research fellow, said the extra money would mean the pay increase this year was fully funded – and on top of other funding increases, schools would be £1.6bn better off by next year than they had expected this summer.

The additional money could potentially bring the uplift for this year into line with next year.

Kebede said schools has been “running on empty” and the funding signalled “a welcome return to reality, and a message of hope for the entire school community”.

Paul Whiteman, General Secretary of the National Association of Headteachers, said the decision is “certainly welcome”, putting schools in a “better position”.

He said his union would look carefully at the detail “to determine whether this means the pay uplift is genuinely fully funded” for schools.

Pepe Di’Iasio, General Secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he was “pleased” at the announcement of additional funding but “the wider pressure on school and college budgets remains intense”.

Similarly, the NASUWT union welcomed the news. General Secretary Matt Wrack added schools needed “a sustainable, long-term injection of extra funding” to meet the needs of young people.

In an indicative ballot by the NEU in April, 90% of teachers who voted said they would be prepared to take industrial action over funding and pay, on a turnout of 48%.

A formal ballot was due to begin on 3 October and close 15 December, raising the prospects of teachers pay strikes early in 2027.

The national executive of the NEU will meet on 24 September to consider whether to call that off following the additional funding on offer from the government.

A spokesperson for Education Secretary Lucy Powell said the government was “confident schools can now meet the costs of the award at a national level”.

“The Secretary of State has been clear from day one that supporting teacher recruitment, retention and wellbeing, and rebuilding the relationship with the profession, are among her top priorities.”

It remains illegal in California for a school district to force teachers and other staff to alert parents about their child’s gender identity, but parents must be told when they ask about it, a judge ruled Tuesday in a widely watched case dealing with parental rights.

San Bernardino County Superior Court Judge Michael Sachs, weighing both state law and a Supreme Court order, rejected an attempt by the Chino Valley Unified School District to reinstate its mandatory parent-notification policy.

“There is no requirement that the school district, on its own, after learning of transgender issues, contact parents and let the parents know of them,” Sachs said in court. At the same time, “in the event a parent makes an affirmative inquiry of a minor child regarding their status, whether transgender or not, that will trigger an obligation by the school district to respond.”

Under the Chino Valley policy, approved in July 2023, a school would have to notify parents of any request by a student “to use pronouns that do not align with the student’s biological sex or gender listed on the student’s birth certificate or other official records.” The same notification rules applied to the use of bathrooms or participation in sports.

State Attorney General Rob Bonta immediately challenged that policy in court and it was put on hold. In October 2024, Sachs had ruled that most of the policy was discriminatory — and therefore illegal — because it singled out a group of students for treatment that was different than the treatment of other students.

As an example, he cited the possibility that a student would come out confidentially to a school counselor — and then that counselor would immediately be required to alert the parents, even against the student’s wishes.

A policy that could result in mandated actions by a school employee continues to conflict with the intent of a 2025 California law that barred a school system from forcing teachers to tell parents about a student’s gender, Sachs concluded.

“That’s inappropriate and it’s still inappropriate,” Sachs said Tuesday.

New rules, new rulings

What has changed in the legal landscape, he added, is what happens when a parent requests information about their child’s gender status or sexual orientation or any number of other issues affecting that child.

Trial court rulings — affirmed by a Supreme Court majority in March — said that parents have the right to demand information about their child’s gender identity at school. School staff cannot lie to parents — including matters that a student wishes to conceal from their parents.

Attorney Emily Rae, representing Chino Valley, said Sachs was correct to acknowledge that parents had the right to information about their child, but that his ruling did not go nearly far enough — and that parent notification should be mandatory statewide.

Chino Valley also has a separate pending court challenge to the 2025 California law, contending it is at odds with the direction of the Supreme Court, which should take precedence.

Dept. Attorney General Delbert Tran, representing the state, declined to be interviewed Tuesday, but in his exchanges with Sachs, it was clear that he saw the ruling as about as much of a win as would be possible, given the Supreme Court’s recent directives.

He also said that supporters of parent-notification policies misstate or misunderstand the parent-teacher relationship that exists in practice and under state law. Parents, he said, have the legal right to observe classes and meet with teachers, and the expectation is that teachers will communicate freely and often with parents about a child’s needs and progress.

Chino Valley champions its view of parent rights

Chino Valley, a school district of 26,000 students in San Bernardino County, has adopted and defended a series of policies favored by parent activists, religious conservatives and President Trump under the leadership of school board President Sonja Shaw, a Republican currently running for the office of state superintendent of public instruction.

Under her leadership, the school system has taken a stand for a flag-ban policy in schools and classrooms, widely viewed as targeting gay pride flags; for removing school library books with passages deemed to be sexually obscene, and for working to ban trans athletes from girls sports and girls locker rooms.

Shaw attended Tuesday’s hearing and criticized Sachs’ reasoning.

“When he talks about a parent has a right to know now only if they ask, how do you know you’re being lied to or secrets being kept?,” Shaw said after the hearing. “That absolutely makes no sense.”

Shaw said the judge should have done “what’s right: Upheld parents’ constitutional right to the upbringing of their own child.”

In anticipation of Sachs’ ruling against the original policy, the Chino Valley school board revised the policy, expanding it to all students. Under the current policy, if any student “requests a change to their official or unofficial records, parents/guardians shall be notified to ensure that parents/guardians are informed and involved in all aspects of their child’s education.”

In other words, if a straight male student named William suddenly decided he wanted to be referred to as Robert on the class roll sheet — an official record — his parents would be notified.

In 2024, Sachs accepted this version of notification because students were not singled out for different treatment on the basis of their gender.

That form of the policy remains in effect.

Since that time, Shaw said, the district has been “transparent” with parents regarding important issues in the lives of their children. And Tuesday’s ruling would not change that.

Moving forward, she added, the district could assertively ask parents if they want to be informed about their child’s gender issues and that permission — if given — would continue to apply as the student proceeds through grade school.

NHS worker Francesca Longhurst says the fine is worth it as they wouldn’t have been able to afford the holiday when schools break up

A couple who were fined £640 for taking their children out of class for a Disney World adventure say they have no regrets as the fee was still far cheaper than splashing out for a trip during the school holidays. NHS worker Francesca Longhurst, 32, and plasterer Liam Longhurst, 37, worked hard and saved for years to take their children Lily, 11, and George, six, on their dream vacation.

With steep pricing during school holidays, they say they had to pull the kids out during term time or not travel at all. Wanting to give their kids life-long memories, the hard-working pair decided on the former – and were subsequently punished. Francesca and Liam were handed fines of £160 per parent per child – leaving them with a total bill of £640 for a two-week absence.

But they say they would still do it all over again. The pair say going during term time likely saved them £9,000 minimum.

“It was a holiday we have dreamed of for years but never thought we’d be able to afford it as it’s so expensive,” said Francesca, from Sandwell, West Midlands. “We put every but of money we had spare into this trip and works extra hours and days to be able to afford it. To be able to take our kids on this once-in-a-lifetime trip was so magical.

“They thank us everyday for taking them and letting them experience it. We went in term time in June because the price is triple the cost to go during the holidays. I priced up for Easter holidays and the holiday was coming to £12,000 just for the flights and hotel – and that’s without park tickets on top.

“It’s the same for every holiday you look at even those in England at caravan parks and holiday camps.”

In the end, the family splashed out a total of £7,500, including £3,000 on flights and accommodation and £4,500 for theme park tickets.

They received their penalty notices on August – around two months after returning home. Although the couple were able to afford the £640 fine because they had budgeted for it, Francesca worries such “ridiculous” penalties could cause financial hardship for other families.

She said: “We knew we would have to pay this when we come back. The fines are ridiculous but what’s more atrocious is that if we did this again within a three-year-period we could be prosecuted and sent to prison for child neglect, when all we have done is taken our children on holiday.

“Every child deserves a holiday but not every parent can afford to go during school time. The amount is what it is – it’s a small price to pay compared to what we saved by going in the school holidays, but I’d love to know where the money goes to.

“You have real criminals out on the streets yet you are sending innocent families to prison for taking their kids out of school. The whole system is a joke.”

The parents deliberately waited until Lily had completed her SATs before travelling and believes neither child missed any essential learning. Francesca said: “While we was away, she missed out on two school trips, one to Alton Towers and the other to the Black Country museum, which we have been to many times.

“She also missed out on sports day. We were walking 20,000 plus steps a day. It was the holiday of a lifetime and we went to some of the best theme parks in the world but it was also very educational.

“We swam with dolphins, fed alligators, learned about wildlife and they tried different foods. What they learned in those two weeks I can guarantee was more than they learn in the last few weeks of the school year when everything starts to die down.

“The school was also closed or open partially due to the heatwave so we are being fined for our kids being off school when others were allowed because it was too hot. Both of my children are either excelling or exactly where they need to be in regards to education and have an excellent attendance other than when we go on holiday.”

While Francesca says she understands why attendance rules exist, she believes parents should be allowed a limited number of authorised holiday days each year. She added: “We unfortunately cannot take our children on holiday again during school time due to the risk of being prosecuted.

“I work for the NHS – this would mean me losing my job as you cannot have anything on your DBS. Myself and my husband have always worked and work hard and we don’t have fancy jobs.

“Any holidays we go on, we have to save hard for. It could really put families under financial strain. We live in a cost of living crisis, you can have a good week one week and a bad one the next.

“If you’re having a bad week or month when these fines come through with a date stating it must be paid by a certain date or you will be prosecuted, this could worry people, put them into debt and affect their mental health. I’m not saying I don’t agree with the fines completely, but I do think every child should be entitled to say 10 authorised days from school a year.

“After this then yes, send the fines out because education is important.”

A Sandwell Council spokesperson said: “We recognise that there is financial pressure on families and term-time holidays may be tempting. But attendance at school is vitally important for children to reach their potential, and to gain the skills and qualifications that will give them the best start in life and the best future.

“Like all councils across the country, we work with schools to implement Government policy on unauthorised absence.”

On Tuesday morning, 12-year-old Sundus al-Hamamdeh left her home in the Masafer Yatta village of Khirbet al-Fakhit, and went to school.

It was the third day of the new school year in the occupied West Bank.

But when the sixth-grade student at al-Fakhit Secondary School returned from her classes, the house she had left behind was gone.

Israeli forces had carried out a large-scale demolition operation in Khirbet al-Fakhit, destroying homes, livestock shelters, water infrastructure, and solar-power installations.

For al-Hamamdeh, her house was more than four walls and a roof. It was her safe space, the place she came back to every day.

For children in Masafer Yatta, south of Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the spectre of demolition is always present.

Much of Masafer Yatta lies in Area C of the West Bank, where Israel has control over planning and construction. Israeli authorities justifies the demolition orders by saying that the structures were built without permits; Palestinians, backed by the United Nations, note that such permits are nearly impossible for them to obtain.

And it’s not just their homes that are under threat, but their schools.

On August 4, Israeli forces surrounded Shaab al-Butum school, according to Bassam Jabr, the director-general of education in Masafer Yatta.

An Israeli military bulldozer then demolished two rooms used by teachers and administrators, and a storage room.

The UN independently documented the demolition of the rooms, saying Israeli authorities had cited the lack of an Israeli-issued building permit.

Things could still get worse; the main school building remains under a demolition order.

Focus of attacks

Established in 2015, the school serves about 60 students from kindergarten through 11th grade. Its remote location makes transferring students to other schools particularly difficult, Jabr said.

Education officials have appealed to Israeli courts, and called on the United Nations and foreign governments to intervene.

But the schools remain under threat. Even as the Israeli military and settlers’ pogroms against Palestinians continue across the West Bank, Masafer Yatta is especially targeted.

The remote communities there have little ability to defend themselves and conditions are harsh. In addition, the Israeli military has designated large parts of the area a military firing zone, another justification for forcing out the Palestinian population.

Masafer Yatta’s schools are a central part of the effort to keep Palestinians here – ensuring that families do not have to travel far for their children to be educated. Palestinians argue that is why the schools have been particularly targeted.

Intisar Omar Abu Sabha, an administrative director at the Masafer Yatta Directorate of Education, says schools in the communities of Zif, ar-Rifaiyah, Umm Qussa, Umm al-Kheir, Jinba, Shaab al-Butum, Khirbet al-Daba, and al-Majaz are among those facing demolition orders.

In addition to the threats to their schools, students and teachers also have to navigate road closures, checkpoints, and the presence of settlers to reach their classrooms.

Abu Sabha said schools have also faced damage and settler incursions or harassment in and around their grounds. She describes a cycle in which children risk losing both their homes and their schools.

“Imagine a student who is at school, then returns home and finds their home demolished … and comes back the next day to find their school demolished,” she said.

Yasmeen Sallaq, a Palestinian lawyer, says the threat to the Masafer Yatta schools directly undermines children’s right to education.

But Sallaq says that Israeli restrictions on movement, military raids, arrests, displacement, and attacks affecting students and education workers make that right increasingly difficult to exercise.

“We face the demolition of schools every day, making the continuation of the educational process almost impossible,” Sallaq said.

‘The only outlet’

At Zif Secondary School for Girls, headteacher Hanaa al-Salameen says about 250 students attend the school.

It first received a demolition notice in 2016. Years of legal proceedings followed, but an appeal against demolition was dismissed this year, with efforts continuing to obtain an interim injunction.

The uncertainty has already taken a toll. Some girls are experiencing fear and anxiety, while others have transferred to different schools, al-Salameen said.

“The school is not just a place for education,” she said. “This school is the students’ only outlet.”

She fears the school’s demolition could push some girls out of education altogether if alternative schools are too far away or require them to travel along unsafe roads.

At Zif, 10th-grade student Rabiha Yousef Jibril described the school’s importance.

“I am growing up in this school, and my dreams are growing with me day by day,” Jibril said, adding that while students fear its demolition, they insist they will continue to attend.

“Even if they demolish the school, we will continue to study, even under the trees,” she said. “Even if they confiscate the books, we will keep them in our hearts, as well as our minds.”

Last month, former Wales captain Jonathan Davies called for the WRU board to step down.

Businesswoman Hayley Parsons had already called for them to stand down before Davies did the same, while former Principality Building Society chief operating officer Rob Regan has offered to oversee an interim board.

In a statement, the WRU board did not directly address the calls for its members to resign but stated “the kinds of personal insults and attacks that have become far too commonplace are unacceptable”.

The board also doubled down on its commitment to cut the number of professional teams from four to three by 2028, with WRU-owned Cardiff and privately-backed Dragons set to be given licences.

That announcement has plunged the futures of Scarlets and Ospreys into doubt, with the west licence either being awarded to the Llanelli-based side or their Swansea-based rivals.

Asked whether he still had faith in those running the game in Wales, Williams, who coaches in west Wales, said: “No, I don’t have much faith, to be honest with you.”

“I think we’re still none the wiser.

“I think they just took a little break in deciding what was going to happen, but knowing deep down in their hearts that they wanted it to be three regions.

“We as coaches know the uncertainty of who’s going to remain as a region next year and that is very difficult.

“But what we are trying to do and what we do need is a bit more support in the pathway side of the rugby.

“We talk about the regions, we talk about the national team, but where do they think these players come from?

“I can answer that for you straight away. That is schools and colleges.”

In its response the WRU stated: “The schools game in Wales is an integral part of our future strategy and we already provide significant funding and support in this area.

“After restructuring our community rugby department in 2025 we are now able to provide dedicated support to all clubs and schools throughout the country.

“We fund and run a number of competitions for schools including those which culminate in National Finals days held at either Principality Stadium or Rodney Parade each year.”

Milo Boyd wanted to see how best to learn a bit of Spanish before heading on holiday, putting Preply, Rosetta Stone and Battersea Spanish language school to the test

“¿Hola, qué tal?”

Cue a string of mysterious words from the cheery bartender I’d nervously tested out my very limited Spanish on. When she stopped speaking, I took that to be my turn.

“¿Me puede dar tres cervezas y tres tortillas?”

After the bartender looked confused for a moment, a miracle happened. Three beers and three tortillas arrived. If you’ve ever spent time learning a language, then you’ll know how toe-curling it can be to try it out, in the wild, for the first time.

Without an expert tutor to pick through your dodgy accent or an encouraging classmate to wait patiently while you remember what the Spanish word for ‘I’ is (yo, incidentally), it’s easy for it all to fall apart.

And on several occasions during my week in Bilbao, it did. Fumbled orders turned to English halfway through; garbled questions were met with blank stares. But when it works, it’s a fantastic feeling that almost lets you forget all the traumatic memories of KS3 French lessons.

If you do want to pick up a bit of a language before heading on holiday, how best to go about it? I put three different ways of learning to the test and found one clear winner.

The evening classes

It’d been ten years since I was last in a classroom, and I was nervous. Would my classmates like me? Would they all be really young? Would they all already know Spanish for some reason?

It’s certainly daunting going back to school, all these years on, however shiny your new pencil case is. Battersea Spanish could not have done a better job of easing me through the first-day jitters.

The South London school bills itself as a cultural hub where learners can immerse themselves in Spanish film nights, cava and conversation sessions in the on-site bar, a Spanish book club, live flamenco performances and much else.

In the first session of the term, learners get a free glass of wine, which really helps get things going. I love this way of learning. The teachers are warm, encouraging and just strict enough that you make sure to do your homework, while my classmates were lovely. Committing to an hour and a half each week, along with an hour of revision, means progress feels gratifyingly quick.

The downside? Getting there! Having to travel somewhere after work is a slog, especially on the cold winter evenings, but well worth the journey.

The app

Duolingo. Babbel. LinQ. Pimsleur. There are now almost as many language-learning apps as there are languages. Having previously spent too much time with the green owl, I gave Rosetta Stone a go.

The interface is a little simpler and more classic-feeling than Duolingo, but I prefer it. Learners choose a category (shopping, travel, food and drink, etc.) and are then shown stock photos of people doing something, with a description alongside.

‘Como comida’ is written next to a photo of someone eating food, with the words spoken out loud. Rosetta Stone works through repetition, having the learner listen to, read, and speak versions of a sentence several times, adding new words along the way.

For me, it’s a perfect app. None of the bells, whistles and premium add-ons that make language learning feel like you’re playing Angry Birds. Just straightforward, comprehensive, and vocabulary-expanding.

The downside? These apps are great if you’ve already got a bit of the language and want to expand it, or are naturally confident when trying them out. Otherwise, the move from private learning on your phone to real-world experience can be particularly daunting.

The tutor

Sitting on a bench in my local park, the summer morning sun lighting up the duck pond, I flicked open Preply and Lucia appeared. We chatted for 40 minutes, with her leading me through the words for family members and basic questions you might get asked at a party.

The major strength of one-on-one tuition is the extra time and attention you get to root out little issues before they grow into big ones, and to put everything you’ve been learning over the past week into practice. Taking a language from the textbook page into real life is probably the best, quickest way to make it stick, while building a rapport with a tutor can turn lessons from a dutiful slog to a fun cultural exchange.

From my experience, Preply tutors are lovely and affordable.

The downside? I have one major issue with Preply. It’s one that has made me start and then cancel a learning plan on three separate occasions. Preply requires learners to buy blocks of at least four hours, which get renewed on a 28-day cycle. While this encourages commitment and regular learning, the lack of flexibility is frustrating, as is the cycle length. If you start a subscription the day after payday, next month it will fall two days before. For anyone balancing a household budget, this is a big downside.

The verdict

For me, nothing beats in-person classroom learning. The accountability it requires is key to learning a language; the social scene it offers makes learning fun; and the combination of reading, writing, speaking and listening means all bases are covered.

If you’re going to learn a language, why not commit and really throw yourself into it? Battersea Spanish is based in London only, but there are plenty of similar schools across the UK, whichever language you’re learning.

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is proposing a new rule that would strip private schools and colleges of their tax-exempt status if they provide targeted help to students based on their race, a significant escalation in the White House’s campaign to eradicate diversity programs directed at Black, Latino and other minority students.

The Treasury Department proposed the change Thursday in a new regulation that, if made final, would take effect after May 2027. The rule is broadly aimed at ending any policies or programs that help students because of their race, and it specifically says such benefits in admissions, scholarships and facilities “would be incompatible” with the rule.

It’s the latest attempt by the Trump administration to pressure schools and colleges to end diversity, equity and inclusion policies that had become common before President Trump returned to the White House with a promise to eliminate them. Trump officials have used Civil Rights-era laws to unwind the policies, saying they discriminate against white and Asian American students.

Scores of universities have shut down or rebranded their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion offices and ended scholarships and clubs designed for minority students under pressure from the White House. In a statement announcing the proposal, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested that even policies that are no longer under the banner of DEI could be targeted.

“Schools rebranding race-based preferences as equitable, inclusive, or diversity-enhancing does not change their discriminatory nature,” Bessent said.

The Treasury Department and IRS estimate that up to 18,000 private schools, colleges and other education institutions could be affected by the proposal.

America’s private universities have been exempt from many taxes for more than a century because they provide a public good. The benefit saves many universities millions of dollars every year.

Trump has seen the tax-exempt status as a lever to pull in his pressure campaign against colleges that he describes as bastions of “wokeness.” He threatened to cut the benefit for Harvard University last year during his battle with the nation’s oldest college. In a response, Harvard officials said there was no legal basis for doing so and argued it would force cuts to financial aid and crucial medical research.

It’s incredibly rare for the federal government to go after a college’s tax-exempt status, but there’s one notable precedent. Bob Jones University, a small Christian school in South Carolina, lost the benefit in the 1970s over a ban on interracial dating and marriage on campus. The Supreme Court upheld the IRS’s decision to deny the school its exemption. The school has since ended the ban and regained tax-exempt status in 2017.

Laws forbid the IRS from targeting individuals and organizations for ideological reasons, and federal officials are not allowed to direct IRS investigations.

To maintain nonprofit status, which allows donations to be tax-deductible, organizations must follow IRS rules on lobbying, political campaign activity and annual reporting requirements, as well as other obligations.

The Trump administration describes the new proposal as a move toward restoring merit in the nation’s education systems.

The Justice Department has separately opened investigations into several medical schools that it accuses of favoring Black and Hispanic students in admissions. Trump officials say any such favoritism violates Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal law that forbids discrimination in education and was created to fight segregation and its impact.

A statement from IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano said private schools that promote discriminatory practices will no longer be exempt from taxes.

“Today’s proposed regulations put institutions on notice and schools that continue to engage in racial discrimination should expect to lose that status,” he said.

Binkley writes for the Associated Press. Associated Press Education Writer Annie Ma contributed to this report.

The star, who died aged 76, also presented the schools show Our World and pioneering deaf community shows Listening Eye and Insight.

One of the stars of Children’s ITV has died aged 76. Tributes are being paid to Peter Llewellyn-Jones, who played Mr Grimley in The Riddlers, which was a teatime fixture throughout the Nineties.

The Riddlers featured the adventures of Marjorie Dawe, played by Victoria Williams, her neighbour Montgomery Lancelot Grimley, played by Llewelyn-Jones, and two Riddlers – puppet creatures – called Mossop and Tiddler.

The show, which was produced by Yorkshire Television, was a huge success, running for 224 episodes on ITV from 1989 until 1998. Five videos, two DVDs and a series of Riddler books were also released.

Away from Riddleton End, Llewellyn-Jones also presented on Our World, an ITV schools series about how children approach life that ran during the Eighties and Nineties.

He was also a prominent British Sign Language (BSL) advocate and appeared in the children’s TV show Insight, which produced sketches and short stories for deaf and hard of hearing young people from 1980 to 1984.

Llewellyn-Jones also appeared on its successor, the BBC’s Listening Eye, a pioneering show for the deaf community which later became Sign On.

The British Deaf Association paid tribute in a signed video, saying: “Today the British Deaf Association is deeply saddened by the passing of Peter Llewellyn-Jones, a BSL champion and strong ally of the deaf community for over 50 years.

“Peter had a long and valued association with the BDA, supporting our work and contributing to BDA events over many decades.

“From the early BDA Summer Schools through to wider national Deaf community events, he played an important role in improving communication and access between Deaf and hearing people.

“Peter was a visionary leader and pioneering advocate for linguistic rights.”

One fan responded to the news, writing: “Sad to hear that Peter Llewellyn Jones has passed away, I love The Riddlers and I remember buying it on video, when I was a kid.”

Sept. 2 (UPI) — The Trump administration sued a Kansas City school district on Tuesday, accusing it of violating federal law with guidelines concerning disclosure of a student’s gender identity to their parents.

The Justice Department described the lawsuit as the first it has filed against a school district alleging that gender-identity guidelines violate the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act and the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment.

“Parental rights are paramount in operation of America’s public schools, and Kansas City, Kansas Public Schools does not know children better than their own parents,” Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement.

“The department will not tolerate school districts playing fast and loose with federal law in the service of radical gender ideology.”

Having campaigned on an anti-“woke” platform that included opposition to transgender rights, President Donald Trump has repeatedly targeted policies benefiting transgender Americans, particularly minors and students, seeking to ban transgender girls and women from competing in female sports and restrict minors’ access to gender-affirming healthcare.

The lawsuit filed Tuesday challenges as unlawful KCKPS guidelines that allow students to request that their transgender or gender-nonconforming identity be withheld from their parents, with such requests considered on a case-by-case basis, as well as guidelines allowing school officials to consider using a student’s preferred name, gender, and pronouns. The Justice Department described such policies as “facilitating secret ‘gender transitions’ for children at school without their parents’ knowledge or consent.”

Federal prosecutors allege that the guidelines are unlawful because they require a meeting to be held to discuss the student’s request, creating records that the Justice Department argues FERPA requires school districts to provide to parents. FERPA also arms parents with the authority to challenge records, and the KCKPS guidelines deny them the opportunity to even see the gender plan for their child, let alone challenge, correct or delete it, the Justice Department argues.

Its PPRA claim is that the guidelines violate the law’s guarantee that minor students will not undergo a survey, analysis or evaluation that reveals certain information, including mental or psychological problems, sexual behavior or attitudes and religious beliefs, without parental consent.

U.S. Attorney Ryan Kriegshauser for the District of Kansas said the lawsuit should “not come as a surprise” given that public education only works when schools and parents work together.

“When schools withhold information from parents, they undermine trust and disrupt the essential balance between families and public educators,” he said in a statement.

KCKPS denies the allegations, stating it is in compliance with both FERPA and the PPRA and that it was “disappointed by the DOJ’s decision to file the lawsuit.”

The lawsuit comes more than a year after the Education Department initiated an investigation into the school district following receipt of a complaint against its guidelines from the conservative Defense of Freedom Institute for Policy Studies, which was founded by former Trump administration officials.

In July, KCKPS Superintendent Anna Stubblefield told local KSHB41 that what the Trump administration is targeting are guidelines, not policies.

“There’s nowhere in the guidance where we say ‘withhold information from parents.’ We have no reason or incentive to withhold information from parents about anything that they’re entitled to for their students,” she said.

“When they say we have a policy, we’ve never had a policy.”

WASHINGTON — Trump administration officials announced that they had invoked executive authority to shut down 110 commercial driving schools that they said are connected to more than 5,000 truck drivers who failed English language proficiency tests.

During a news conference Monday in Detroit, leaders of the departments of Transportation and Homeland Security singled out California as the biggest problem state.

The federal officials were joined by Marcus Coleman and his 7-year-old daughter Dalilah, who in 2024 was critically injured when the driver of an 18-wheeler — an immigrant from India — crashed into their vehicle in the Mojave Desert.

“By far, the worst abusers are in California under [Gov.] Gavin Newsom’s leadership,” said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin.

“A lot of the licenses unlawfully issued come from California, New York, a lot from Illinois,” added Department of Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. “We see a lot of the violations when trucks are pulled over in the Midwest because they travel through the Midwest, and so though a license might be issued unlawfully in California, that driver doesn’t stay in California.”

The emergency school closures were part of a federal partnership to crack down on fraud and illegal practices in the commercial trucking industry. Mullin and Duffy did not say how many of the closures are in California.

Federal officials are also launching a nationwide audit of third-party testers who are authorized by states to verify commercial driver’s license applicants’ skills.

Homeland Security investigators, meanwhile, were conducting a coordinated sweep Monday of more than 200 training schools in 23 states.

Investigators with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration have also issued notices seeking to shut down another 160 training schools where they said they found unlicensed instructors, missing documentation and inadequate space for drivers to learn necessary maneuvers.

Federal officials said that drivers certified by those schools were linked to 239 commercial motor vehicle-related deaths.

The Trump administration has revoked the commercial licenses of more than 28,000 drivers over English language proficiency failures since June 2025.

On Monday, Derek Barrs, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, cited Platinum Plus Truck Driving School in Fresno, which certified 36 drivers who were later cited for English language proficiency violations.

“One of these trainees killed someone in Oklahoma that should have never been on the roadway,” he said.

At another school in California, Barrs said, operators said their classroom was the back end of an open semi-trailer, and their primary instructor was out of the country.

The Transportation Department didn’t respond to a request from The Times asking how many of the 110 trucker schools were in California. But the agency told Fox News that 11 are in California, 10 in Florida, 13 in Pennsylvania and 13 in Texas, with smaller numbers in other states.

The announcements follow a longstanding effort by the Trump administration to target immigrant commercial truck drivers — especially those from California.

Soon after returning to the White House, President Trump signed an executive order requiring commercial truck drivers to prove they are proficient in English. In early August, the Motor Carrier Safety Administration moved to codify those language requirements through the federal rulemaking process.

Deadly accidents in Florida and San Bernardino County last year brought scrutiny to Sikh Punjabi truck drivers, who make up an estimated 20% of the U.S. trucking workforce.

New federal guidelines this year began limiting commercial driver’s licenses to certain visa holders and requiring states to verify an applicant’s immigration status through a federal portal. Federal officials also ordered California’s Department of Motor Vehicles to cancel about 13,000 licenses due to a clerical error that allowed them to remain valid past a work permit’s expiration date.

The federal government withheld $160 million in transportation funding after California delayed revoking the licenses.

Most states have allowed immigrants who have legal work authorization — including visa holders, asylum seekers and recipients of Temporary Protected Status — to drive commercial vehicles.

Critics of the rule say the Trump administration hasn’t provided data to back up its claims that foreign commercial drivers pose a particular safety threat.

In 2024, about 5,200 large trucks were involved in fatal crashes, a 3% decrease from 2023 but a 30% increase in the last 10 years, according to the National Safety Council.

Immigrant rights groups say the new rules exacerbate a truck driver shortage and inflame anti-immigrant bias by perpetuating the myth that all such drivers are unqualified. They say many affected drivers are legally authorized to work and have strong safety records.

The Asian Law Caucus and Sikh Coalition sued California’s DMV on behalf of drivers who faced cancellation of their licenses.

In March, an Alameda County judge declined to halt the cancellations but required the DMV to establish a process so they could reapply. The DMV also found that some 7,000 cancellations had been issued in error.

Also Monday, U.S. Border Patrol announced that it had arrested 95 truck drivers who are in the country illegally and possessed state-issued commercial driver’s licenses, including 76 with California licenses.

DURING the school holidays I am a fan of making life as easy as possible.

So teaching my children to cook seems a major win, especially when it doubles as a fun day out.

I took my sons Henry and Nicholas, to a brilliant kids’ pasta making class at the Jamie Oliver Cookery School.

There are two London locations offering lessons for all ages and abilities, including joint parent-kid sessions – perfect for the summer break or weekends.

Our class was inside John Lewis’ flagship department store on Oxford Street, in a big, bright teaching kitchen.

Our instructor was Holly, who studied at culinary school, has written cookbooks and worked as a private chef.

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Holly explained what was on the menu and took us through the first part of the process – making our pasta dough.

It’s a great one for kids as the mixing and kneading allows them to get stuck in.

Standing in the flash kitchen with our ingredients laid out before us made us feel like we were on a cookery show.

The task does involve some skill, but no real prior expertise or fiddly equipment or techniques.

Holly and her assistant chef Robin circled the room and helped when needed, but gave the young cooks plenty of space to learn and explore for themselves.

Then, as our glistening, golden balls of dough ‘rested’ on our work benches, Holly brought everyone back together to explain how to whip up a quick tomato, basil and garlic sauce.

It was a new one on me, too, as I didn’t know you could make a delicious pasta dressing with just raw tomatoes and a grater – no cooking or chopping needed.

Then, while our sauce marinated, it was on to the rolling.

The kids loved it, and got the hang of the technique instantly, using the machine to gradually fashion a thinner and thinner dough.

Holly then showed the class how to use cutting tools to fashion tagliatelle, angel hair and farfalle (or ‘bow-tie pasta’, as we call them in our house).

The kids worked with care and precision to get their shapes spot-on and were delighted to see their tagliatelle appear like magic from the machine.

It was almost like grown-up Play-Doh!

The final step was to boil the pasta before stirring it into the pre-prepared sauce.

Clutching their steaming bowls of lovingly made pasta, the class wandered to the trestle tables in the cookery school’s dining room to enjoy lunch with lashings of grated parmesan.

Verdict from all the children: Delicious.

And for parents, what better way to spend a school holiday morning?

The only drawback for me has been that I am now being nagged to buy a pasta machine!

If you’re not a big fan of pasta, there are also classes in meatball-making,

Mexican street food, sushi, ravioli, Thai green curry and bread.

At this rate, I won’t have to worry about cooking in the holidays ever again.

That seems like money well spent to me.

The final statistics are in for transfers for the 2025-26 school year compiled by the 10 sections that make up the California Interscholastic Federation, and it was another record year for transfers.

There were 17,618 transfers, according to the CIF. The 2023-24 school year marked the first time the transfers exceeded 17,000 with 17,068.

The Southern Section led the way with 7,248, a record.

CIF transfer numbers for 2025-26.

(Los Angeles Times)

Transfers have been a major topic for discussions in high school sports around the country, with state associations coming up with different ideas, from making athletes ineligible for one year in Texas if they transfer for athletic reasons to offering one-time free transfers.

The CIF held a roundtable for discussions in 2025 about possible policy changes but everything has been on hold while waiting for a court case to play out that was dismissed for a second time recently.

CIF membership has been cautious about intervening or limiting transfer opportunities for fear politicians in Sacramento might get involved.

Ahmed Krim spent 30 years teaching English in Algeria’s middle schools. Now retired, the 60-year-old watched the language he loved remain firmly behind French as the country’s second language.

English was less valued than French, which might have been the language of Algeria’s coloniser, but continues to be present in every dialogue, six decades after independence.

On July 25 , Algeria’s Education Minister, Mohamed Seghir Saadaoui, announced that English will become the sole foreign language taught in the third year of primary school in the new academic year for 2026-2027.

French would be pushed back to the fourth year, ending its domination of foreign language classes in Algerian schools.

From next month, eight-year-olds across Algeria will become the first to learn English before French.

“It is a very good decision. But it requires thinking, planning and resources,” Krim told Al Jazeera.

It is among the first steps in President Abdelmadjid Tebboune’s linguistic overhaul for Algeria, which he first outlined in 2022 with English being introduced to primary schools.

Since then, medicine and science faculties have begun switching from French to English.

The French language has been erased from some utility bills and Air Algerie tickets. Road signs are beginning to feature English alongside Arabic, while government ministers’ websites will also have English as an option.

The shift from French to English as Algeria’s secondary language is both sweeping and structural.

It comes amid the most serious diplomatic crisis between the two countries since Algeria’s independence from France in 1962.

In July 2024, French President Emmanuel Macron publicly backed Morocco’s sovereignty claim over Western Sahara.

Algeria, which supports the Sahrawi Polisario Front and hosts over 170,000 Sahrawi refugees, viewed that as highly provocative.

That, and other issues, saw Algeria expel French diplomats, and vice versa.

Algeria’s replacement of French as the country’s second language accelerated after the diplomatic crisis grew.

A classroom without enough teachers

A rethink of the whole education system in Algeria may be needed.

“First and foremost, specialised training centres must be restored and candidates must not be forced into the teaching profession without wanting it – we need people who genuinely want to do this work,” Krim said.

He refers to dedicated institutes established after independence, where primary and middle school teachers, like himself, trained via a model that combined classroom instruction with direct school placements to meet the gap in Arabic instructors.

The centres operated until the late 1990s, when an economic crunch replaced them with the fewer and more selective Ecoles Normales Superieures.

Most teachers today are university graduates, but lack the practical, classroom-first grounding that the older model provided.

Krim said that school curricula must be designed and entrusted to “a qualified body that includes both linguistic and pedagogical expertise, free from all ideology”.

But journalist and analyst Noureddine Bessadi said the ideological dimension matters in Algeria, which overthrew colonialism following a bloody and bitter struggle against the French.

“Since independence in 1962, every shift in language policy has been fought as much on political as pedagogical grounds,” Bessadi told Al Jazeera.

After independence, Algeria’s Arabisation drive, when French was displaced from government and education, was “part of state building and enforcing Algeria’s identity, centring Arabic and Islam”, Bessadi added.

Tamazight, a non-Semitic language spoken by around a quarter of Algeria’s population, was marginalised until 1995, Bessadi said, shaped by an “ideological perception of unity that prioritised linguistic and cultural harmony”.

Critics argue that the transition from French to English is happening faster than the system can keep up with. For one, it is believed that there are not enough qualified English teachers to make the language reforms work.

But one source familiar with the matter told Al Jazeera that there are enough teachers to roll out this programme in primary schools and that any shortage could be filled through contractors.

In February, Algeria’s education ministry reportedly recruited about 15,000 English language teachers for primary schools.

Rafik Laceb, a lecturer in English at Mouloud Mammeri University in Tizi Ouzou, is cautiously optimistic about the primary school reform. But he considers the parallel push to teach university subjects in English to be rushed and poorly executed.

“Frankly, and beyond any chauvinism, I believe this decision is positive… I believe there is, today, sufficient supervision and evaluation work from the first experience,” Laceb said, in reference to the previous introduction of English in later primary school years.

The university experiment that began in 2023-2024 produced insufficient contact hours, a lack of genuine assessment of students’ English levels and no tracking of their progress.

Around 50 percent of teaching at Tizi Ouzou University’s English department is by younger contract staff, which brings other challenges.

“A young contract teacher must first master the basic principles of medicine before attempting to teach medical terminology in English,” he said.

Levelling the playing field

Currently, children only begin learning a foreign language in the third year of state primary schools, whereas multiple languages are taught at private schools from kindergarten.

Djamel Merah, whose daughter attended private schools before transferring to public secondary school, studied Arabic, French and English simultaneously from kindergarten level.

Merah welcomes the government’s language reforms at state primary schools, which will provide more children with the opportunity to learn English.

“It addresses a question about the gap in opportunities between children who get multilingual education from the start and those in public schools who don’t get the same chance,” he said.

Shakespeare’s rising shelf space

There also appears to be a more organic response among the public that precedes the government’s promotion of the English language.

Krimo Taleb, a bookseller at the Libre Pensee bookshop in Tizi Ouzou, has seen a growth in English-language book sales, particularly among female readers.

“In my opinion, it has nothing to do with government decisions. The majority of young readers today speak three languages fluently,” he said.

His own daughter, a middle school student, reads fluently in Arabic, English and French.

Colleen Hoover, Ana Huang and J. K. Rowling are some of the best-selling authors at his shop.

“Previously, our bookshops provided for English literature students the works of Shakespeare,” Taleb says. “Today, there is a diverse range of English-language titles aimed at the general public.”

However, French remains Algeria’s most influential foreign language. According to the International Organisation of La Francophonie (OIF), Algeria has approximately 15 million French speakers, nearly a third of its population.

There is not a single newspaper published in English and written English by Algerians remains in its infancy.

But there are signs that former colonies are turning their backs on France’s linguistic legacy, particularly in Africa, where Paris’s military and political presence made a resurgence in recent decades.

In March 2025, Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso withdrew from the OIF, accusing it of being a political instrument of Paris.

“Mali made its national languages official in 2023, demoting French to a working language. Burkina Faso followed the same year and Niger in 2025,” Bessadi added. “Even Senegal, which has not removed French as an official language, has begun encouraging local languages at its expense.”

For Krim, Algeria’s linguistic ambitions are not far-fetched, but for it to work, the country needs the “necessary resources… and transparency”.