39 h. ago Texts to parents highlighting missed school days help improve attendance – study

A trial evaluation found texts stating, for example: ‘Tom has missed five days this term’ had a small positive impact on school attendance.

Culture

45 h. ago QUENTIN LETTS: Ambitious Ed took ownership of the PM. Maybe, just maybe, he could seize the helm again...

When we could all have done with some soothing liniment, up stepped Ed Miliband to create a fresh squall of argy-bargy. It was the last morning of Labour's tetchy conference.

Politics

50 h. ago Powell and Phillipson vie for votes as Labour conference draws to a close

The pair displayed little disagreement during a hustings at the end of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool on Wednesday.

Politics

62 h. ago QUENTIN LETTS: For a grinding hour, Sir Keir pulverised the nation into a powder of boredom

Sir Keir Starmer lumbered on stage, clerical and boxy. His hair was scraped, the face shiny. A plodder newly released from the barber's chair. He did a walk of destiny.

Politics

2 d. ago ‘I am quite tough’: Schindler’s List star Embeth Davidtz on her explosive film about Rhodesia’s final days

After starring in Mad Men, Californication, Spider-Man and Junebug, Davidtz soured on acting. Now she’s directed – and starred in – a powerful debut filmBorn in the US, raised in apartheid-era South Africa, a reluctant star in her 20s following her big break in Schindler’s List, and now a first-time director at the age of 60, Embeth Davidtz knows what it means to be an outsider. “I’ve always had the feeling,” she says, “that I don’t quite belong.”Normally found in Los Angeles – where she lives in a house once owned by Julie Andrews, with her husband, the entertainment lawyer Jason Sloane – Davidtz is today in Cape Town for work and family commitments. Speaking by video call from a cream-and-beige bedroom, wearing a white top and glasses with peach-coloured frames, her brunette hair tied back, she looks the picture of serenity. The effect is completed by her voice, which soothed millions of children when she starred as the perfect teacher, Miss Honey, in the 1996 film of Roald Dahl’s...

Events

3 d. ago Bridget Phillipson says scrapping two child benefit cap is ‘definitely on the table’

The education secretary argued there is ‘absolutely’ more to do when it comes to tackling child poverty, adding that she will ‘make it happen’

Politics

3 d. ago QUENTIN LETTS: She droned on and on like a robot with a bunged

She has gone the full Bernard Bresslaw. A horrible year in office has tarred Rachel Reeves's voice. It is deeper, more adenoidal. In her conference speech she kept honking.

Events

3 d. ago Labour to reintroduce grants axed by Tories for poorest university students

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said universities shouldn't 'just be for the wealthy few' as she vowed to take action before the end of the Parliament

Politics

4 d. ago Students on ‘priority courses’ will receive maintenance grants, says Phillipson

The grants would be funded by a new levy on international students.

Politics

4 d. ago QUENTIN LETTS: His eyeballs thrashed in their sockets during his BBC party conference interview... the Prime Minister was jolly cross

Reform bashing was everywhere. It cheered up the delegates. Charlatans, snake-oil salesmen, peddlers of division and hatred: these were but some of the insults hurled at Mr Farage's brigade.

Politics

5 d. ago Bridget Phillipson pushes back at criticism over potential Year 8 reading tests

The Government is set to introduce compulsory reading tests as part of its upcoming Schools White Paper.

Politics

6 d. ago Truth about 'next deputy Labour leader' Bridget Phillipson's poverty

In the battle to become Labour 's deputy leader, Bridget Phillipson has spoken more than once of her working class roots - growing up on 'a tough street of council houses'.

Politics

6 d. ago Around 500,000 more children to receive free breakfast as scheme expanded

Bridget Phillipson has announced that 2,000 primary schools will join the programme

Politics

6 d. ago Labour education chief drops huge two child benefit cap hint as pressure mounts

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who is standing as deputy leader, has said the impact of the two child benefit cap is 'clear for all to see'

Events

6 d. ago Labour must get on front foot against Farage's 'extreme' views says Bridget Phillipson

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, who is running to deputy Labour leader, says the party must be more assertive over Nigel Farage's 'dangerous and divisive' messages

Politics

6 d. ago Free breakfast clubs to be rolled out to half a million more kids within months

Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said she was proud that free breakfast clubs will be rolled out to 2,000 more primary schools next year

Politics

6 d. ago Bridget Phillipson: 500,000 more children set to receive free breakfast

Around 2,000 primary schools throughout England will join the scheme, in a move backed by an £80 million cash injection.

Politics

7 d. ago Farage endangering women by failing to condemn paracetamol claims, says Bridget Phillipson

Labour deputy leader candidate criticises ‘scaremongering’ on autism and says party must be firmer in tackling ReformUK politics live – latest updatesNigel Farage is “endangering women’s health” by failing to condemn Donald Trump’s claims that using paracetamol during pregnancy causes autism, Bridget Phillipson has said.The education secretary and minister for women said she had used the painkiller throughout her second pregnancy, and she warned that Reform’s connections with medical conspiracy theories including anti-vaccine rhetoric made the party a danger to public health. Continue reading...

Sport

8 d. ago Unite decides not to endorse either candidate for Labour deputy leader

Unison and the GMB union earlier announced they were supporting Bridget Phillipson for the post.

Politics

8 d. ago Government consulting on cutting Ofsted inspection subsidy for private schools

Fees for some private schools could increase by more than £1,000 a year over the next five years.

Politics