Is it OK for kids to miss school amid rising “absence epidemic”?

Plus what's the strange noise spooking stranded astronauts on space station?

There are certain issues that get people talking over on my Instagram account. One of those is term-time family holidays. 

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has riled up some parents after issuing tough words to those who allow kids to miss school for a birthday treat, runny nose or cheaper holiday. 

In this week’s Sunday Times she wrote that “every day of learning lost does serious harm” to a child’s future. 

Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

She says it is an “emergency” that figures from last year shows that one in five children were persistently absent from school, missing a day every fortnight or more.

But parents who do take term-time holidays are taking umbrage with being lumped into the “persistent absence” crackdown. 

Most parents are not taking a term-time holiday because they do not care about their child’s education. It’s because travel firms more than double the price of breaks as soon as school’s out. This leaves people with the choice of not ever taking that memory-making family trip abroad, or cutting out of school a few days or week early. 

Lots of you got in touch after I shared the education secretary’s comments over on Instagram, with a poll revealing most readers (69%) saying yes to term-time holidays. 

I think the issue here is the debate has centred around attacking term-time holidays, rather than making it about persistent absence. 

It is one thing for a family to take a child out of school for one week at the end of term, at a time when no exams are taking place for a once-in-lifetime trip. It is another for a child to have a week or more’s holiday every term for an entire school year, every year. 

The government is choosing to particularly focus on holidays because this is the largest reason for absence, according to the data. 

Over on IG, some of my readers suggested the government should allow five or even 10 days of holiday for each child during term-time. 

I’ve read a very broad range of arguments about this from my followers - some from teachers saying it’s a huge problem, others from teachers saying it’s OK for a few days and from parents furious the government is having a pop at them. Some are particularly annoyed at the punitive fines in the context of travel firms cashing in on school holiday breaks. 

None of those opinions defended persistent absence, but they did differ in terms of how long is OK to take off for a holiday. 

Some say two weeks would be OK, others say only a week is acceptable. There is a range of takes on what frequency and duration is acceptable for a term-time holiday, and this is why the issue is such a challenge for the government to manage any way other than simply saying “no”. 

All parents do not approach term-time holidays in the same way. The vast majority will opt to just take the last week of term off and then diligently ensure their kids are all caught up on any schoolwork that they have missed. Others may take weeks off at random throughout the school year. 

For the government they have to look at the picture in the round. It’s those children who are losing learning with no hope of catching up that the government, and schools, are most concerned about. 

I suspect we will never see a government go soft on their rhetoric when it comes to term-time holidays. That’s because as soon as you permit some time off, it has the potential to be seen as a go-ahead for even more absence. It muddies the waters when it comes to the importance of attending school. 

If the volume of children taking time away throughout the year increases then schools are left with multiple kids in every class who need catching up on different areas of learning. It becomes an increasingly difficult task. 

Given the difference in cost for a term-time holiday is potentially thousands of pounds less, and the fine for unauthorised absence is £80 per parent per child (rising to £160 if not paid within 21 days, and £160 for any subsequent absence within three years), we will continue to see parents who do the math and decide the fine is worth it. 

I would love to hear your views on this issue, please let me know. 

Has the government killed off the post-election good vibes?

Just days after the general election, headlines were already speculating whether the “honeymoon is over” for Sir Keir Starmer. I said then it was premature. 

Now I would say we can probably roll those out with some accuracy, which comes in a bad week for Starmer, with his top team forgetting to wish him a happy birthday at their morning meeting.

A YouGov poll found his net favourability is down 21 - his popularity was never at ravingly great levels but the post-election fall is noticeable. 

He’s even losing Mumsnet, which revealed opinions of Starmer had shifted, with negative sentiment overtaking positive sentiment in the last two weeks.

Starmer’s fall from those election campaign good vibes could in part be down to people having reduced the election battle as being one between good and evil. Tories have made your lives a misery, but Labour are here to save the day and “change” what’s been going wrong. 

That placed high expectations on this Labour government, and living up to those was always going to be impossible given the challenges of leading. That’s not to say Labour can’t be accused of orchestrating its own fall from grace.  

Their decision to make the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance means-tested weeks before the energy price cap hike and then warn of a “painful” autumn statement in October has, for some, killed off the feelings of optimism the general election campaign generated. 

New analysis out this week suggests most pensioners in poverty will lose their winter fuel payment. An analysis released by Sir Steve Webb, a former pensions minister, found only 300,000 people on pension credit will retain winter fuel payments, out of 1.9 million pensioners who meet the commonly used definition of poverty.

Even some Labour MPs are struggling to back the policy, with Rachael Maskell telling BBC Newsnight that she cannot vote to support it when it comes to the Commons next Tuesday. 

Disgruntled former Conservative voters feel the current message of “everything is terrible and it’ll take ages to fix it” isn’t the vibe they backed in July.

Supporters of Labour would argue Starmer is simply being realistic about the multiple challenges ahead - overcrowded prisons, solving the housing crisis, fixing the NHS, bringing down high net migration numbers, growing the economy, resetting EU relations etc. These are issues that take time, and money, to fix. 

However you cannot help but wonder if he would be faring better now had Labour been more honest during the general election about their plans for the first 100 days in office. 

The Conservatives lost the general election a long time before Rishi Sunak called it. During that time those voters angered by partygate, cronyism and the disastrous mini-budget were happy to go with the next feasible option. 

Now Labour is learning how fickle support can be when voters clock that the concept of change comes with more strings attached than they realised. 

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The government suspended some arms sales to Israel

What happened? Foreign Secretary David Lammy said on Monday the UK would be suspending 30 out of 350 arms export licences to Israel, affecting equipment such as parts for fighter jets, helicopters and drones. The government said these were chosen because they supplement equipment used in Gaza for “offensive purposes”, while the “vast majority of other parts our country exports to Israel are either not related to the conflict or maybe used for Israel’s defence”. Over 40,000 people have died in Gaza since October last year, according to the Hamas-run health ministry. 

What was the reaction? The Chief Rabbi in the UK said the decision “beggars belief”. During Prime Minister’s Questions, the leader of the opposition, Rishi Sunak, asked how suspending weapons export licences to Israel would help free the hostages. Starmer said the remaining hostages must be released, however the decision on licences was made using existing legal framework. Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision “shameful” and said it would “only embolden Hamas”. 

How does this impact Israel? There is more of a symbolic impact than a practical one. The UK government says this decision was taken for legal reasons. The UK accounts for just a tiny fraction of arms sales to Israel - with most coming from the US and Germany. However the UK and Israel are allies, and this decision is seen by the Israeli government as a weakening of support for the country as it continues to fight Hamas and other proxies of Iran in the region. 

The timing. Some have criticised the government for announcing the arms suspension just days after six hostages, taken during the October 7 attack, were murdered by Hamas. A military spokesperson for the group said this week they would execute hostages if Israeli forces attempted to rescue them. 

US pressure. Some reports have claimed the decision on arms exports puts the UK at odds with the US on Israel. The US has not suspended its arms sales to the country, and continues to support its right to defence. There were some reports that the White House was “angered” by the UK’s decision. However publicly Joe Biden is also ramping up pressure on Netanyahu, saying the PM is not doing enough to secure the ceasefire deal with Hamas. We are seeing the tone on Israel becoming tougher as the war in Gaza continues - although both Biden and the new Democrat candidate for president Kamala Harris both say they are committed to Israel’s defence. 

Not far enough. While Israel and other critics of Labour’s decision criticised this decision, it has not gone far enough for others. Human rights group Amnesty International called the action “too limited” and advocated for a complete halt on weapons sales. Those on the far left of Labour will also be unsatisfied with anything less than a total ban. 

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Also this week… 

• The deaths of 72 people in the Grenfell Tower fire in 2017 were “all avoidable”, the chairman of the inquiry into the disaster has said. The full report of the six-year public inquiry was published this week and issued a damning verdict on the chain of failures by governments, "dishonest" companies and a lack of strategy by the fire service. You can read about the victims of the fire, including an unborn baby, here. 

• Twelve people, mostly women and girls, drowned after a small boat carrying around 70 migrants from France to Britain ripped apart. Labour has vowed to smash the gangs who profit from organising the boat journeys. Smuggles are now cramming three times as many people onto boats, making the already treacherous trip even more risky. More than 21,000 migrants have made the crossing this year, which is about three per cent up on last year’s total but 18 per cent lower than 2022. This BBC report from France says locals and politicians blame Britain for the crisis in the Channel, citing the lure of a loosely regulated jobs market.

• Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick are the frontrunners in the Conservative leadership contest. Badenoch’s campaign launch this week included a video where she said she is not afraid of Doctor Who, in reference to a comment made by actor David Tennant earlier this year where he said he wishes she “would shut up”. Former home secretary Priti Patel has been knocked out of the contest after failing to win enough support from fellow Conservatives. James Cleverly, Tom Tugendhat and Mel Stride have also reached the next round of the race. A winner will be announced on November 2, just days before the US presidential election.

• Afghan women have posted videos of themselves singing in protest against the Taliban’s laws banning women’s voices in public. The Taliban published new restrictions deeming women’s voices to be potential instruments of vice and ordering that women must not sing or read aloud in public, nor let their voices carry beyond the walls of their homes.

• Sir Keir Starmer’s kids have picked up a new Siberian kitten this week - but a cat flap is proving challenging thanks to Number 10’s bomb-proof door. The kids had been keen to get a German shepherd to join them in their new home, but the PM revealed they had opted for the kitten instead. "There's been a long summer of negotiations, back and forth, different options," Starmer revealed in a BBC 5 Live interview with Matt Chorley. “But now we've gone for - and this is agreed after long negotiations - I said we'd get in the room and sort it out - we are now getting a kitten instead of a dog. This is a Siberian kitten, which is being picked up today by my daughter, and so that's where it ended up.” The bomb-proof door has already caused issues for the Starmers' family cat, JoJo. Larry the Cat, Downing Street’s chief mouser, could not be reached for comment. 

• Spare a thought for the two astronauts who are not only trapped in space for 8 months on a trip that should have lasted 8 days, but have now got a weird noise blaring in their ears. Butch Wilmore and Sunita Williams, the two astronauts who recently learned they will be remaining on the International Space Station until at least February, began hearing strange noises emanating from the failed Boeing Starliner craft. “There’s a strange noise coming through the speaker,” Wilmore told mission control in Houston, Texas, on 31 August, in a recording captured by an enthusiast. “I don’t know what’s making it.” Mission control told Wilmore they would investigate the regular, pulsing sound. NASA has revealed the pinging noise was nothing alarming - just an “audio configuration issue”. Phew. Now those astronauts just need to make it through without incident to February, when they will hitch a ride back to Earth with SpaceX. 

• Sources have poured cold water on claims the Duke of Sussex wants to mastermind a return from exile in the US. The Mail reported Harry was consulting trusted former aides on how he could rehabilitate his image in the UK. However a source told the Telegraph that Harry has “no interest” in returning to royal duties. Harry’s wife and children are now settled in California, so the idea Harry would ever return to the UK to live or even work part-time is highly unlikely.

• A new expedition to the Titanic wreck has revealed the effects of slow decay, with a large section of iconic railing now on the sea floor. The loss of the railing - immortalised by Jack and Rose in the famous Titanic movie scene - was discovered during a series of dives by underwater robots this summer. The ship sank in April 1912 after hitting an iceberg, resulting in the loss of 1,500 lives.

• A judge was “frankly astonished” after the mother of one of Britain’s youngest rioters missed her 12-year-old son’s court appearance to go on holiday to Ibiza. District Judge Joanne Hirst ordered a parental summons at Manchester Magistrates’ Court after it was revealed that the boy’s mother had decided to fly abroad for a five-day break, with her son due in court for sentencing having admitted two counts of violent disorder. The lad is one of the youngest rioters to be convicted over the summer disorder. He took part in a large-scale protest outside a hotel in Newton Heath on July 31 and in Manchester city centre on August 3. The judge said this week: “One day before the hearing we find out the mum has gone on holiday and is not with her son who played a greater part in the recent civil disorder than any adult or child I’ve seen coming through these courts. I’m frankly astonished. I will require a full explanation from mum on her decision to go on holiday one day before her 12-year-old son comes to court facing a potential custodial sentence.” The mother was in court on the day of the lad’s plea hearing. His uncle accompanied him to the sentencing, which was adjourned until September 11. There has been no mention in coverage of the boy’s case about the presence of his father in his life, but the mother said the boy lived with his gran for seven months as she struggled to care for him. 

• I loved this feature about the great Lego spill, where nearly 5million Lego pieces spilled into the sea in 1997. Pieces are still showing up on the coastlines of England, Belgium, France and more.

What to know about the Ofsted changes

What has the government announced? Ofsted's one or two-word overall grading system - where schools are deemed Outstanding, Good, Requires Improvement or Inadequate - has been scrapped. Ofsted will continue to inspect schools against the same standards, but will now only issue gradings related to individual aspects of a school's performance, with no overall headline grade.

Why? Debate over the need for reform at Ofsted intensified after headteacher Ruth Perry took her own life after learning her primary school would be judged inadequate. An inquest found the inspection contributed to her death and her family has been campaigning for the system to be changed. Teaching unions argue the current system causes stress for school staff and that a grade cannot sum up the complexity of a school. 

Who’s for it? The unions have welcomed the move, but say more needs to be done. Paul Whiteman, general secretary of National Association of Headteachers, said: “We would have liked the government to have gone further by also removing sub-judgements from inspections. It will be vitally important that the grades do not end up being used as proxy measures or given any sort of elevated status.”

Who’s against it? Britain’s “strictest head teacher”, Katharine Birbalsingh, has accused the government of indulging in “the tyranny of feelings being more important than facts” over its decision.“This ‘report card’ will NOT give more clarity to parents,” she wrote on X. “BUT, those Ofsted judgements were not necessarily accurate and made schools the victims of whimsical, or inexperienced, or tired, or poor inspectors, giving parents bad advice.” The Conservatives accused Labour of bowing to the unions.

Will it be better? Sir Keir Starmer rejected the suggestion the new system lacks the simplicity of the old one, and said it would provide parents with a "richer picture" of what a school does well, and where it requires improvement. The government has yet to release further details of how this will work, but essentially the system is the same but the overall grade is gone. Parents will get that richer picture because they will have to read the judgement in full, rather than relying on a single or two-word grade. 

How will school standards be maintained? The changes announced mean that single or two word headline judgement is gone, but the foundations of the current system appear to remain. The key fundamental change is that “coasting” schools - those deemed as “requires improvement” - will be deemed “struggling” instead. Intervention for “struggling” schools will remain, and the government has said “the bar for this intervention will not change”. instead of facing academisation or rebrokering, they will get “targeted support” from a high-performing school. So if a school is not hitting the right standards, it won’t receive a big “inadequate” grade, but will be told it needs to make changes.

What I’m watching 

New Girl (Disney+). I am several years late to the party on this series but it’s always nice to discover something new that is complete and has six seasons of episodes there for you to binge. Its characters are ever-so-slightly irritating, but I think the kookiness is part of the charm. Newly single Jess moves into an apartment with three guys and hilarity ensues. It’s sweet, it’s fluffy, it’s funny, it’s easy to watch. 

The Grand Tour (Prime). After 22 years the dream team that is Jeremy Clarkson, Richard Hammond and James May are parting company. Their final episode of The Grand Tour - the show they launched after Clarkson was fired from the BBC’s Top Fear - is available to stream from September 13. I must admit I’ve not kept up with The Grand Tour but have dipped back into it now that it’s coming to an end. The magic of this show was always the chemistry between the three presenters - something the BBC never quite managed to replicate. May, Clarkson and Hammond write about their memories of the show in this Times piece.