Smash Hit

Brothers in business of discreet generosity

Self-made Essa Academy sponsors Anwar and Yakub Patel may be high on the rich lists but prefer to keep a low profile

Mandatory sex lessons for every 15-year-old

Announcement that sex education to be made compulsory prompts fury from faith groups who will oppose the move

Council used terror powers on school place mother

Jenny Paton has taken Poole Borough Council to court for spying on her family for three weeks over school application

Tories to give head teachers greater powers

Schools will be able to exclude children and higher standards will be expected from trainee teachers, says Michael Gove

Lessons face legal challenge

Faith groups react with anger to proposals by Ed Balls to force all pupils to learn about sex before they are 16

The curriculum through the years

What children will learn about sex in Personal, social, health and economic lessons

For and against sex lessons

Teachers’ representative and Catholic blogger give their views on Ed Balls’ proposals to abolish parents’ opt-out

Sex education to be compulsory under 16

Under new laws parents will lose their right to withdraw their children from sex education after they reach 15

Achievement reports for students may replace degree classifications

Certificates will detail grades in each module and even extra-curricular behaviour as employers complain about system

Bonus scandal head quits ahead of hearing

Sir Alan Davies, who was suspended in May from Copland Community School in Wembley, has escaped a disciplinary hearing

State schools prevented from sitting IGCSE

The Government said that the exam syllabus was rejected because it would allow pupils to stop studying Shakespeare at 14

Undergraduates to get 'consumer rights'

Students to get details of projected earnings and quality of teaching as part of new strategy for higher education

Innovative minds are essential

University education trains students to think for themselves and to collaborate in their development as skilled creators of knowledge

We deserve more public money, say universities

Higher education generates billions for the economy so the sector should receive more funding, vice-chancellors claim

Scottish universities ‘at risk from Mandelson plan’

Watchdog to overhaul Oxbridge admissions

Fresh review is aimed at the 16 elite universities to improve access for poorer students, government sources say

The lottery of primary school admission

Case studies: parents in different parts of the country tell of their experience in getting their child into primary school