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A Golden Age Of Total Solar Eclipses Begins Tomorrow

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@ 11/08/2026

Topline

On Wednesday, Aug. 12, the moon’s central shadow will cross Greenland, Iceland and Spain, beginning one of the most remarkable periods for eclipse enthusiasts in modern history. Over the next 710 days, Earth will experience three total solar eclipses visible from Europe, Africa and Australia, giving travelers an unusually accessible chance to witness one of nature’s rarest spectacles. It makes 2026 through 2028 an extraordinary period for eclipse chasers and anyone who ever wanted to experience a total eclipse of the sun.

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Schools with more disadvantaged children missing swimming target

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@ 11/08/2026

Swimming lessons 'vital' as schools gap revealed

A young boy and girl learning to swim in a pool with floats. They are being helped by a swimming teacher and they are all wearing swimming caps.Image source, Getty Images

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ByLauren Woodhead and Ema SabljakEngland Data Unit

Children at English primary schools with more pupils on free school meals are less likely to leave able to swim 25m, BBC research has found.

While 72% of Year 6 children on average left school able to swim 25m in 2024-25, this drops to just 55% for schools with a higher proportion of disadvantaged children.

Ashley Jones, head of water safety and education at the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSS), said it was "absolutely vital" children were equipped with basic swimming and self-rescue skills.

A Department for Education (DfE) spokesperson said it was aware of the gap and it "needs to change".

The national curriculum in England, external states when they leave Year 6, all pupils should be able to:

  • Swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25m

  • Use a range of strokes effectively (for example, front crawl, backstroke and breaststroke)

  • Perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations

A BBC Freedom of Information request to the DfE has revealed the proportion of Year 6 pupils at individual state schools, excluding special schools, who are able to meet the targets.

While 70% of 2024-25 Year 6 leavers nationally could on average perform a safe self-rescue, only half of children from schools with the highest level of free meal eligibility could do so.

A safe self-rescue includes being able to tread water for 30 seconds, children being able to float on their back for 60 seconds and swim 15m to exit the water unaided.

Most school groups only get six weeks of 30-minute sessions to learn basic swimming skills – three hours in total.

The findings come after several water-related deaths this summer, including an 18-year-old man who died after getting into difficulty at sea at the weekend in East Sussex.

Find out how your child's school performed

School performance ranged from no pupils leaving Year 6 able to swim 25m to others meeting the target at 100%.

Only 38 schools in the highest category for disadvantaged pupils hit the swimming target. Meanwhile, it was met by nearly 400 schools with the lowest proportion of children on free school meals.

For parents, there can be several obstacles when it comes to helping their children learn to swim and become water competent.

In 2021, Swim England published its Decade of Decline report, external warning almost 2,000 swimming pools could be lost forever by 2030.

Accessibility is one of the factors Ashley Jones from the RLSS says limits children's swimming education.

"We've got some incredible public leisure facilities, just not enough of them," he said.

"That means people have got to travel further.

"Then you are dependent on public transport, which can be costly, and access to a swimming pool in terms of cost and time is still really challenging."

Some schools are tackling transport costs in innovative ways, such as in Derby where a pop-up swimming pool was set up on school grounds.

A man wearing a blue polo shirt and brown trousers is stood next to a yellow, red and blue safety sign. Both the man and the sign are stood infront of a river. There are some houses and trees in the background, and the sky is blue with some clouds.Image source, RLSS UK

Image caption,

Ashley Jones says swimming lessons should be "universal, engaging and accessible"

The RLSS works to help people stay safe in, on, and around water. A key element of its work is using education to help people become water competent.

Jones explained: "You can be a really competent pool swimmer, but we wouldn't dare put you in 6ft of surf or throw you in a raging river.

"Building competence, you've got to have knowledge, you've got to have skills, you've got to have experience, crucially, and you've got to have training."

In order to help children build water competency, Jones believes swimming lessons need to be universal, engaging and accessible.

The RLSS would like to see "a fully funded, fully supported, high-level learn to swim programme" that is supported by water safety education and then applied in an outdoor environment.

Hampshire-based swimming teacher Bethany Harris said it was "really tough" to teach a life skill in that time to children who have not had much access to swimming.

She believes school swimming lessons should start earlier in life to ensure nobody is left behind.

"Ultimately, in three hours you can't take someone from being a nervous swimmer to confidently being able to swim 25m with a stroke that is calm and is going to keep them safe," she said.

"I don't think many of us would come out of that with something that was going to save our lives potentially.

"I think it needs to come in basically as we're teaching them to read and write in the infant school."

Harris lives "on the doorstep" of Hawley Lake, near Farnborough, where a 14-year-old died in May after going missing while swimming.

"Even being inland away from the coast you've got dangerous water all about," she said.

The bottom fifth of local authorities for the average proportion of children able to swim 25m were all urban areas.

Only four out of 31 of those council areas were coastal, with the remaining areas being landlocked.

Overall, fewer children in urban areas could swim the distance proficiently than in rural areas.

Harris would also like to see pools offer more initiatives to ensure they are accessible to all families.

She said: "Ten years ago, there used to be a summer scheme where you could swim for £1 all summer long through some leisure centres.

"I haven't heard of anything like that happening locally these days."

A group of children swimming using swimming floats in a swimming pool Image source, AFP via Getty Images

Image caption,

Fewer than two-thirds of Year 6 children at primary schools in urban areas could perform a self-rescue

A spokesperson for the DfE said a new PE Partnership Network would help close the gap seen by disadvantaged children.

It will bring together schools, local clubs and national bodies like Swim England.

"This means targeted support for the areas and pupils who need it most, so that every child, wherever they live, gets the same chance to learn to swim," the spokesperson said.

Swim England is working closely with the government to support the delivery of school swimming lessons.

"Swimming is a life skill, not just a sport, and every child should have the opportunity to leave primary school able to swim and be safe in, on and around water," a spokesperson said.

"However, schools have faced significant pressures in recent years, particularly those serving disadvantaged communities, including competing curriculum demands, increasing transport costs and access to suitable swimming pools.

"These challenges are real, so it is more important than ever that there is a collective approach to helping children gain a skill that could one day save their life."

Additional reporting by Jonathan Fagg and Emily Unia

Figure caption,

Welcome to Brown Gal Can't Swim

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More job interviews are happening way past bedtime, thanks to an AI interview tool

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@ 11/08/2026

AI is changing job interviews by letting candidates interview around the clock

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Katherine Li

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My brother was found dead – but police didn't realise for days that he had been shot

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@ 11/08/2026

A man with glasses and a green tweed cap wearing a green sleeveless jacket and blue jumper with a fence behind himImage source, Douglas Low

Image caption,

Brian Low was murdered on a rural path near Aberfeldy in February 2024

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Jewish headteachers 'spend more time on security than teaching'

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@ 11/08/2026

Antisemitism towards Jewish children 'shocking', government expert tells BBC

A family including two young girls in white dresses and pink coats along with a little boy in a blue coat. They walk down the street with their backs to the camera and in the background two Metropolitan Police officers in uniform can be seen walking in the same direction.Image source, Getty Images

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Headteachers of some Jewish schools are spending more of their time dealing with security arrangements than on educational matters, a review into antisemitism in schools and colleges has found.

Sir David Bell, speaking for the first time about his ongoing government-commissioned independent review, told the BBC he had been struck by how many leaders of Jewish faith schools had told him security was their main concern - and that "sometimes education takes second place to that".

The extent of antisemitism directed at children and young people was "shocking" he said.

The report, due ithis autumn, examines experiences of Jewish pupils and staff in faith and secular schools and colleges in England.

Sir David said he found that pupils were "subject to regular harassment and abuse".

He said Jewish children and young people "are facing a pressure - and indeed one might say even a crisis - that is not the experience of other communities in this country".

The review is likely to recommend dedicated training for all teachers and improved education about antisemitism for pupils, the BBC has been told.

The BBC has spoken to several headteachers and staff at Jewish schools. All asked not to be named because of concerns over their security and that of their schools.

One headteacher said: "In recent years [security] has become an overwhelming priority and increased a significant amount. There have been weeks where approximately 90% of my time has been spent on security-related matters.

"Security concerns can become one of the many things that headteachers carry with them beyond the school day and, quite literally, can be among the things that keep me awake at night."

A man with close-cropped white hair, wearing a suit, holds his hands in front of an illustrated mural of SunderlandImage source, University of Sunderland

Image caption,

Sir David Bell said it was "quite shocking" to see how many young people had encountered antisemitism

Another headteacher, who has led a different Jewish school for 13 years, told the BBC: "I've never spent so much of my time and so much energy dealing with security issues, talking to governors and parents, and above all making daily decisions about how to ensure children in our school are safe."

He said it prevented him from "working on educational priorities and on improving our school - instead my focus and time has been spent on security, something that should be a given for every child in this country".

Sir David Bell, a former Ofsted chief inspector and senior civil servant at the Department for Education, is now vice-chancellor of the University of Sunderland. He has heard evidence from pupils, teachers, governors and parents across both the state and independent sectors as well as community organisations.

The Bell review has also drawn evidence from a bespoke survey of 5,000 children conducted by the universities, colleges, and admissions service, Ucas. It found about 20% had experienced or observed antisemitic behaviour in schools and colleges.

Sir David said: "When you think about antisemitism, you assume that it's going to be directed towards adults… What's been quite shocking is the extent to which antisemitism is encountered by children and young people."

'Nazi salutes became quite widespread'

Recent figures from the Community Security Trust, an organisation which provides security for the Jewish community, showed a spike in antisemitic incidents at schools.

It found in the first half of 2026, antisemitism in schools reached the highest level ever recorded for the first six months of any year. It jumped by 59%, from 112 reported incidents in the first half of 2025, to 178 recorded over the same period in 2026.

Dr Dave Rich, director of policy at the CST, said the review was timely and hopes "it will lead to practical recommendations that help educational institutions tackle antisemitism effectively."

Education Secretary Lucy Powell told the BBC the review was a "vital piece of work" and she would "carefully consider the conclusions and recommendations to ensure we do what is necessary to prevent antisemitism in our schools and colleges".

She said in a statement: "Antisemitism has no place in our society, let alone our education system. Jewish children and staff should never face hatred or prejudice, and every school and college must be equipped to tackle it when it happens."

One teenager who gave evidence to the Bell review is Jonathan Frisher, from Cheshire. Now a sixth former, Jonathan was the only Jewish student at his school. He first experienced antisemitic bullying when he started secondary school in 2020.

"Having one single lesson about modern-day antisemitism really did help," he said.

"Attitudes changed immediately and people did apologise to me. I experienced a lot less antisemitism. If it works in my school, there's no reason that it can't work in every school across the country."

A young man with blond hair and wearing a dark jumper stands on a path in a forest

Image caption,

Jonathan Frisher: "People were telling me that I should be in a gas chamber"

Sir David said the majority of the 700 people who had responded directly to his "call for evidence" were Jewish parents and pupils at non-faith schools.

He said the evidence has led him to realise that many schools do not record antisemitic abuse in part because of a lack of understanding about how to recognise it.

When his report is published, he is likely to recommend a standardised approach to reporting and recording antisemitic incidents in schools and colleges.

Jonathan Frisher's own experiences have led him to campaign for antisemitism education to be made compulsory in schools. A petition he started has gained nearly 40,000 signatures.

He said: "People were telling me that I should be in a gas chamber. Swastikas were drawn in lots of classrooms and Nazi salutes became quite widespread. Obviously for someone whose family suffered in the Holocaust it was incredibly difficult to have to deal with comments like that."

'My car is searched with an under-car mirror'

Sir David added that pupils travelling to and from Jewish schools were "subject to regular harassment and abuse". Pupils aged 12 and 13 in one Jewish faith school in London told him they were regularly abused on the school journey and on public transport. "It's a very different experience for these children and young people to what the vast majority of children and young people in this country face when they're going to and from school and college," he said.

He said many teachers at Jewish faith schools reported that going out on school trips was more hazardous than before.

One teacher at a Jewish primary school told the BBC security had been stepped up since the spate of arson attacks against Jewish sites and the stabbing of two Jewish men in Golders Green earlier this year.

She said: "There's a security presence patrolling outside the school, inside the school, at all times of day. When I get to school in the morning and enter the car park, my car is searched with an under-car mirror."

She added that recent incidents had at times contributed to a "heavy" atmosphere.

She said: "There have been reports from parents that antisemitic comments have been made while [pupils] are walking to school. We've had children at music events and sporting events who were booed. There was a comment made about big noses at one of the events that we took the children to.

"We do what we can to shield the children from a lot of it, but also, if they approach me with their concerns, I can't ignore it. And when one of my pupils said to me, 'Why do people hate Jews so much?', that was really difficult for me to answer.

"It just goes to show what they're internalising."

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