2 HRS AGO - The National Audit Office says a £35m pilot to test the expansion of free childcare in a few areas was cancelled. Collapse

22 HRS AGO - He had barely started his career when abuse left him mentally ill. But he went on to phenomenal success – and has just been made president of the UK’s leading drama schoolThis is the first time David Harewood has stepped through the doors of Rada’s London headquarters since he became its president in mid-February, and he’s immediately struck by flashbacks of his time as a student here. “Stunning memories,” he says. “Memories of my audition, the paintings … and that staircase will always be memorable because you walk in and go: ‘Oh my God, I’m at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts!’ It’s very evocative.”Harewood, 58, is the first person of colour to lead Rada, and he follows in the footsteps of such luminaries as Kenneth Branagh, Richard Attenborough, Princess Diana and John Gielgud. It is the most prestigious of acting schools – some would say the luvviest of them all – and has been a training ground for everyone from Anthony Hopkins to Tom Hiddleston, Fiona Shaw to Phoebe Collapse

1 DAY AGO - The university is to hold virtual classes after protests on campus culminated in the arrest of more than 100 studentsOver 100 students at Columbia were arrested last week after refusing to leave a pro-Palestine protest encampment set up on the university’s main campus. The arrests have since set off a chain of events, including the re-establishing of the encampment and solidarity protests on other US college campuses.On Monday, Columbia announced it will hold classes virtually to try to “reset” the situation on campus. Here’s what we know so far about what’s happening at Columbia. Continue reading... Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Improving provision for pupils outside mainstream education ought to be a top priorityThe doubling in the rate of children suspended from school in England since before the pandemic provides alarming evidence of worsening problems with behaviour and lack of in-school support. Persistent disruption was the reason most often cited in figures covering last spring, followed by physical assault against another pupil. The steep rise in suspensions of four- and five-year-olds is a particularly alarming trend, with 10,256 primary-age children suspended for assaulting an adult.Being out of school is associated with a range of adverse experiences and outcomes, the vast majority of those affected being boys. Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities (Send) and those eligible for free school meals are at disproportionate risk, as are black Caribbean boys and those from some other minority ethnic groups. For this reason, a broad consensus supports the view that exclusions, Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - No matter how low you sink, your dreams can still come true: one woman’s inspirational storyAs a woman with decades of business experience, a Cambridge graduate with a fulfilling career running my own company, alongside a joy-filled family life, few would guess from looking at me today how close I came to having a very different story.From the outside, my childhood was idyllic – my family lived in Nigeria until I was 11, before moving to London. I went to Sunday school at church every week and I aspired to be a doctor, just like my cousin. I envisaged having a beautiful house, a fulfilling career, a nice husband, kids, and, most of all, making my parents proud. Continue reading... Collapse

3 DAYS AGO - Pro-Palestinian students interrupted a dinner held by a top free speech defender at Berkeley. A polarized and very public controversy has followedDuring a dinner for students that the dean of the University of California, Berkeley law school held in his house’s backyard earlier this month, a woman wearing a hijab and checkered Palestinian scarf suddenly stood up with a microphone and amplifier. What followed lasted only a couple of minutes, but has led to a fierce debate about the limits of free speech, drew death threats to those involved, and created a “media firestorm,” as the dean, Erwin Chemerinsky, has put it.Some short and chaotic viral videos illustrate part of what happened. One of them shows the woman, Malak Afaneh, as she gives a Ramadan greeting; she is accompanied by a small group of other student protesters. As Afaneh begins reading a speech about the Israel-Gaza war, Chemerinsky and his wife, the law professor Catherine Fisk, quickly cut Afaneh off. Continue reading... Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - University says it is ‘redesigning’ commencement plans days after it decided to prevent Asna Tabassum from speaking on 10 MayThe University of Southern California is “redesigning” its entire commencement plans – just days after making the controversial decision to cancel the valedictorian speech of a Muslim student – and will also cancel the keynote speech by film-maker Jon M Chu.The Los Angeles university’s provost, Andrew Guzman, said on Monday that it took the unprecedented step of canceling valedictorian Asna Tabassum’s speech at the 10 May ceremony because because the “alarming tenor” of reactions to her selection as valedictorian – along with “the intensity of feelings” surrounding Israel’s military strikes in Gaza – had created “substantial risks relating to security”. They did not cite any specific threats. Continue reading... Collapse

4 DAYS AGO - The EU Commission said UK and EU citizens under 30 should be able to work or study for up to four years. Collapse