Education

[ad_1] BBCSimone Collins is sitting in her 18th century cottage in Pennsylvania, dressed in a black pilgrim pinafore with a wide collar, bouncing one of her four children on her lap. It is 8.30am and she looks a little tired – she runs several businesses, a foundation and is currently pregnant with her fifth child, though she and her husband Malcolm plan to have more."At least seven," she declares, "and

[ad_1] Staff at the University of Sheffield have voted to go on strike over "drastic" restructuring plans which aim to save £23m over two years.The University and College Union (UCU) said up to 1,000 jobs would be put at risk by the plans, which have seen the number of academic departments cut by more than half.The university said it would not be making that many staff redundant, with a "significantly

[ad_1] Alex BishBBC South East Investigations TeamPA MediaThe latest government figures suggest a rise in pupil suspensions for assaults on adultsCouncils in the South East have paid out tens of thousands of pounds in compensation to staff who have been injured during school violence, a BBC investigation can reveal.Between 2019/20 and 2023/24, local authorities paid damages of £64,555 for cases linked to assaults on teachers or teaching assistants.It comes as

[ad_1] Kevin PeacheyCost of living correspondentGetty ImagesA series of essential household bills are rising at the start of April, with warnings that single parents are among the hardest hit.Water bills, energy prices and council tax are all going up in what has been dubbed "awful April", although the minimum wage is also increasing.The charity Citizens Advice said the finances of millions of people on the lowest incomes were "already stretched

[ad_1] Rachel CandlinBBC News, West of EnglandTogether for Short Lives/Ric RawlinsReagan and her family are supported by the Jessie May respite charityA woman who has a daughter with a life-limiting condition said Mother's Day would be special, although becoming her carer was "a hard pill to swallow".Reagan, 28, from Yate, near Bristol, gave birth to Alessi in September 2020 and following complications during delivery, her baby was brain-damaged and is

[ad_1] Pamela BilalovaBBC News, North East and CumbriaYukun TaoYukun Tao has been on road trips in the UK too, including to the HighlandsAn exchange student who drove 6,800 miles (11,000 km) to get to university in the UK says his journey has inspired others to do the same.Yukun Tao travelled across nine countries from his home city of Nanjing, near Shanghai in China, to Durham by car last September.The 26-day

[ad_1] Getty Images / JohnnyGreigClearer advice is needed on how to make campuses inclusive without falling foul of free speech regulations, the National Union of Students (NUS) has said.The body representing university students has expressed concern after the University of Sussex was fined £585,000 by the Office for Students (OfS) this week for failing to uphold free speech - the first case of its kind.The higher education regulator launched an

[ad_1] There were 8,000 more secondary school pupils in special schools in England than places available for them last year, according to Department for Education (Dfe) figures - a rise of 25% in 12 months. About two-thirds of these schools were at or over capacity in 2023-2024, despite the number of special school places rising by 5,000.On Thursday, the government said the £740m of funding investment it announced in December

[ad_1] Parents trying to retrieve money from a pre-payment system for school meals are "disappointed and frustrated" at being charged a £10 administration fee to reclaim funds, a school leader has said.The sQuid app allowed parents to put money on a card so pupils could pay for meals and other items but it ceased UK operations on 14 March.The firm said it announced the move on 3 February, citing "increasingly

[ad_1] The University of Sussex has been fined £585,000 by the higher education regulator, the Office for Students (OfS), for failing to uphold freedom of speech.It follows the case of Prof Kathleen Stock, who left the university in 2021 after being accused of transphobia for her views on sex and gender issues.The OfS criticised the university's policy statement on Trans and Non-Binary equality, saying its requirement to "positively represent trans