Children

The Dangerous Dogs Act 1991 has received public calls to be removed from all forms of UK legislation after 30 years. Animal welfare activists are campaigning for a review of the Act which prohibits ownership of certain types of dogs. The Scottish SPCA has accused the Act of discrimination against certain dog breeds, including the […]

More than a third of children referred to mental health services last year were turned away. Around 73,000 of 195,000 patients were closed before treatment even began in the year 2020-21, according to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from the Labour Party. It is likely that these figures actually understate the number of children […]

A study conducted by University College London has concluded that the harm of lockdown school closures extends to children, with the most common illness being anxiety. Around 60% of boys and 47% of girls are said to be the major casualties. It has long been known that lockdown has had a tremendous impact on mental […]

A National Audit Office report has found that school funding for the most disadvantaged areas of England has fallen, while funding for the most affluent areas has increased. The report found that the average per pupil funding in the most deprived fifth of schools fell by 1.2% between 2017-18 and 2020-21. In contrast, this funding […]

We all remember when we were young seeing adverts for junk food and begging our parents to buy us some from the shops. It’s hard to imagine a world where you aren’t subjected to endless food advertisements between programmes – but that could all change very soon. The UK government have made the decision to […]

Professor Andrew Pollard, who helped develop the Oxford AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine, has said that it is “morally wrong” to offer the jab to children in wealthy countries before adults in poorer nations. Professor Pollard is the director of the Oxford Vaccine Group and told a group of MPs that global vaccine inequality is “plain to […]

For the first time in history a malaria vaccine has achieved the World Health Organisation-specified (WHO) 75% efficacy goal. The vaccine, developed by researchers from Oxford University and their partners, reported a 77% effectiveness among African children. Trials took part with 450 participants aged between five and seventeen months. They were recruited from the catchment […]

Never one to see a person sit on the bench for long, Marcus Rashford is now ready to take on literacy after tackling child hunger last year. Teaming up with powerhouse publisher, Macmillan, the England footballer is launching a book club that will provide books to disadvantaged children in 850 primary schools across England and […]

Roughly three children in every classroom have a diagnosable mental health condition. In 2017, suicide was the most common cause of death for young people, both male and female, aged between five and 19. But what is it like for young people who are trying to access support from the NHS? The picture, tragically, is […]

Poorer A-level students in England are up to three grades behind their more affluent peers, research from the Education Policy Institute (EPI) has found. In some areas, including the North, the “disadvantage gap” meant poorer students were up to five grades behind. The research specifically found that lower GCSE grades, then fewer and lower level […]

You may have seen the recent news story making waves across the US this past week: a Texas jury ruled against a father trying to win sole custody of his twin seven-year-old sons, one of whom is due to begin hormone replacement therapy in order to begin the transition from male to female. This transition […]

It doesn’t matter whether your parents are together or divorced, or whether you live with your mother or your father, or your two mothers or just your dad – everyone has two parents. And, generally speaking, you love those two parents just the same and they love you just as much as the other. Obviously, […]

After many visits to Alton Towers, I can safely say that I have a fairly good concept of the UK’s number one theme park. Alton Towers is centred around a centuries-old castle which belonged to the old Duke of Alton, who had a supernatural encounter with a witch. The story goes that the witch cursed […]

What if you thought you had died, only to wake up to find that your brain and eyes had been transplanted into someone else’s body? When Lucy, a teen diagnosed with terminal cancer wakes up cancer-free, it should be a dream come true. But faced with a life she didn’t choose and trapped in a […]

Children who have suffered trauma early in life and are being let down by mainstream education are to be helped by short-stay schools. A new plan for the Your Place Academy in Norwich intends to help change the lives of children who have suffered all too much in their short lives. Ranging from domestic violence […]