The answers to today’s problems Earlier today I set you these puzzles, set by the author of Much Ado About Numbers, a new book about mathematics in Shakespeare’s day. 1. Hours and hours ..read more

The Beaks are among the families in England and Wales who have faced fines over health-related school absences Chloe Beak lives with chronic, debilitating migraines that leave her unable to attend school for days at a time. But instead of receiving support from her school, her parents have been fined by the local authority for her truancy. The family’s current fix is to send their daughter in with a migraine until she gets sent home, meaning her absences are registered as authorised. If they do not, the school will consider her a truant as it believes she has emotionally based school avoidance ..read more

Don’t make this a comedy of errors UPDATE: Read the answers here Today’s puzzles come from the quill of Rob Eastaway, the bard of brainteasers, whose latest book Much Ado About Numbers is a journey into Shakespeare’s mathematical life and times. 1. Hours and hours ..read more

The long-running series in which readers answer other readers’ questions on subjects ranging from trivial flights of fancy to profound scientific and philosophical concepts Which individual has been treated most unfairly by history? Alex Middleton, Rutland Post your answers (and new questions) below or send them to nq@theguardian.com. A selection will be published next Sunday ..read more

Leading barrister warns that the kit – used to support gender-questioning children – is likely to be in breach of equality laws and could violate pupils’ rights Schools in England and Wales have been warned by one of the country’s leading equality and human rights barristers that the “toolkit” many of them use to support gender-questioning children is unlawful. The toolkit, introduced by Brighton and Hove council in 2021 and subsequently replicated by a number of other local authorities, says schools should “respect” a child’s request to change their name and pronoun as a “pivotal” part of sup ..read more

In a historic achievement, Benard McKinley, 39, was accepted to Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago Since leaving prison in December 2023, Benard McKinley, 39, has been busy preparing for huge next steps. Between working and visits from friends and family, McKinley is getting ready for his first year of study at the prestigious Northwestern Pritzker School of Law in Chicago, a historic achievement ..read more

Arts education is essential – yet on both sides of the Atlantic, the humanities and critical thinking are under attack. With massive redundancies announced at this London institution, is it the canary in the coalmine? It is a couple of days before Easter, and the students who have been holding a sit-in in the Professor Stuart Hall building in Goldsmiths, University of London are packing up. The large basement smells of duvets and camping mats and solidarity and liveliness, and deodorant sprayed on in a hurry under a T-shirt, and it smells like a place where people have slept, which 20 of them ..read more

School rolls swelled because of fertility surge in 2000s but birthrate and migration patterns have brought decline Schools in England could lose up to £1bn in funding by 2030, researchers warn, with exceptional falls in pupil numbers prompting a wave of closures as some establishments cease to be financially viable. Mergers and closures are already under way in parts of London, where pupil numbers have been falling for some time. According to the Education Policy Institute (EPI), a thinktank, the north-east is projected to see the greatest decline in primary pupil numbers, down 13% by 2028/9 ..read more

AI to be used by researchers to scour documents for information on women omitted from chronicles written by men about men Four centuries ago Dublin had an official city “scavenger” who was tasked with running sanitation teams to clear streets of human and animal waste. In return, the scavenger earned tolls from shopkeepers and traders. It could have worked well, except the contractor decided to cut costs and maximise profits by deploying just two carts rather than six. Dung piled up and the city stank ..read more

As calls grow for Labour to reinstate the centres for early years support, we hear from some of those who saw its benefits Baby massage classes, breastfeeding support, early intervention for children with special needs and advice on hair clips for nervous dads were just some of the multiple benefits of Sure Start, according to parents who used the service. “My Sure Start centre had wings and a halo,” is how one grateful parent puts it. “I would have been lost to postnatal depression if it wasn’t for our local centre,” says another. “Sure Start steadied me, held me, kept me from being lonely ..read more