The school says it is making ‘significant improvements’

A Cambridgeshire school has been told it needs to make “significant improvement”, following its latest Ofsted inspection. Highfield Littleport Academy in Elm Side, Ely, underwent an Ofsted inspection on July 7.

When the school was last inspected in 2022, it was rated good in all areas . However, the areas assessed in its latest inspection have been rated as ‘needs attention’ and ‘urgent improvement’.

Ofsted has told the school that it requires “significant improvement”. The report said: “His Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires significant improvement because it is performing significantly less well than it might in all the circumstances reasonably be expected to perform.”

A spokesperson for the Active Learning Trust, which oversees the school, said it was “disappointed with the report”. However, they added: “It’s important to recognise that Highfield Littleport has made significant improvements and progress since the inspection took place in July.

“This includes welcoming several new members of staff since September. New staff include a children’s communications specialist, an autism specialist and a play therapist, all helping to remove any barriers to learning, as well as the four new calming rooms and sensory room available to pupils.”

The school welcomed a new headteacher, Adam Daw, just five weeks before the inspection took place. The spokesperson added: “[He] is extremely well placed to support Highfield Littleport on this improvement journey. His excellent and thorough leadership at Highfield Ely has already been widely recognised by parents and children as well as by Ofsted.

“We are pleased that Ofsted recognised that pupils feel safe, valued and want to attend Highfield Littleport, and we look forward to working together with staff at Highfield Littleport to ensure that every pupil can achieve their full potential.”

The school was rated as needing urgent improvement for curriculum and teaching and achievement. It was rated as needing attention for: attendance and behaviour, inclusion, leadership and governance and personal development and wellbeing.

Inspectors said pupils weren’t “achieving well enough” at the school, and they sometimes “disengage from learning because tasks are either too easy or too hard”. The school’s curriculum was also described as “unclear”.

Inspectors added: “Over time, staff have been given the freedom to plan new ideas, but leaders have not checked this closely enough to make sure what pupils learn stays ambitious and well thought through.”

For pupils who are pre-verbal or non-verbal, they “do not build their communication skills properly” at the school. Inspectors also said that many pupils have gaps in reading, writing and maths.

“These gaps are not picked up routinely, so pupils move forward with shaky foundations,” the report added.

The school’s facilities were praised for “supporting pupils’ wider development”, such as having access to a gym. The school’s attendance is also above national average, and leaders were praised for “building strong relationships with families, so pupils feel safe, valued and want to attend.”

Inspectors did acknowledge that the school’s “standards slipped suddenly because of turbulence in leadership”. They added: “The trust responded appropriately and as quickly as it reasonably could. Still, this disruption unsettled staff and some left.

“Leaders struggled to recruit experienced replacements. This has weakened pupils’ learning and achievement. Very recent leadership changes have steadied the school. Parents and carers, pupils and staff now report renewed confidence in leadership.”

Ofsted suggested a number of improvements including that it needed to define a clearer curriculum, ensure teachers’ response to pupils’ needs, and identify gaps in pupils’ foundational skills.

The Faverdale McDonald’s was due to open on September 23 but will now welcome customers on October 14, 2026.

The fast-food chain’s site, located on Faverdale Industrial Estate, has been under construction since March 2025.

The restaurant was originally due to open last December but has suffered several delays.

A recent timelapse video of the construction confirmed the launch date and was captioned ‘great things take slightly longer than expected’.

The restaurant will be McDonald’s third Darlington branch, joining outlets at North Road Industrial Estate and Morton Park.

The wider Faverdale development was delayed over concerns about its impact on existing businesses and jobs.

Darlington Borough Council deferred the plans in July 2023 before approving them the following month.

The original plans for the site included McDonald’s, Costa Coffee, and Taco Bell, as well as additional retail units and an industrial unit.

Taco Bell has withdrawn from the project and has instead opened a branch on North Road, in the former KFC building.

Friedrich Merz’s demeanour was grim as he stepped before the cameras on Sunday evening to address his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party after two more disappointing state election results. Following what the German chancellor had called the CDU’s “worst defeat in many years” in Saxony-Anhalt two weeks ago, Merz described the result of Sunday’s Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania election as a “disaster”.

His party won just 4.9% of the vote in the largely rural, eastern, coastal state. This means that, for the first time, it fell short of the 5% threshold needed for entering a state parliament.

The CDU found itself squeezed in a contest between the minister-president of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), Manuela Schwesig, and the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD). As in Saxony-Anhalt, the AfD topped the poll but fell short of a majority.

Schwesig’s campaign was criticised for trying to unite all voters opposed to the AfD behind her and thus harming the chances of other parties. But complaining about political opponents trying to win over your supporters is hardly a compelling argument for the CDU.

In Berlin, the evening got worse for Merz. Exit polls suggested the party was on course for 20% there, but in the final count it slipped back to 18.8%. This represents a loss of 9.5 percentage points compared to the last election three years earlier. The Left Party was triumphant, with 25.7% of the vote (up 13.4 percentage points compared with 2023).

Here, too, there were state-specific reasons for the CDU’s result. Its governing mayor, Kai Wegner, did not stand for reelection after criticism of his handling of power cuts earlier in the year and his apparent decision to play tennis rather than manage the crisis.

Just 20% of Berlin voters were satisfied with the performance of Wegner’s government – in a state where successive leaders from the SPD and CDU have struggled to address challenges around housing affordability, crime and education.

But still, one poll finding from election night was telling: just 1% of CDU voters thought Merz was helpful to the party in these elections. So, where does all of this leave Merz – and what happens next?

In his post-election statement, Merz recalled local election victories in Hesse and Lower Saxony in March and September. He also doubled down on his ambition to undertake structural reforms as the “antidote to the authoritarian poison which is penetrating ever more deeply in our society”.

But the autumn will be tough for Merz. His coalition partner in the federal government, the SPD, has made it clear it expects changes to proposed pension reforms – in particular allowing those with a full contribution history to continue to retire at 63.

It has also called into question health and social care reforms already agreed before the summer, suggesting they may need revision. And Merz faces rebellious CDU backbenchers threatening to block the federal budget if bigger tax cuts are not agreed.

The eight CDU minister-presidents issued a statement recently, seemingly aimed at ending the debate over Merz’s position. The statement said: “The path to restoring public trust in Christian democracy lies in listening and taking political action, not in discussions about personnel.”

But Robin Alexander, a German journalist who reports on the CDU, uncovered that the road to this statement owed much more to disagreements within the party about the way forward than representing unequivocal backing for Merz.

And the SPD’s Schwesig, whose internal stock has risen with her election result in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, has now criticised Merz’s election night statement. She called for more “humility” rather than doubling down.

What happens next?

Almost nobody expects Merz to lead the CDU into the next federal elections as party leader and candidate for the role of chancellor. These elections are scheduled for 2029. But there are several possible scenarios moving forward.

First, Merz could carry on as party leader and chancellor but the CDU could nominate an alternative chancellor candidate for the 2029 election. However, the alternative candidate’s political authority would be rather limited.

Second, Merz could hand over the reins to an alternative as party leader, while carrying on as chancellor. Former German chancellors Gerhard Schröder and Angela Merkel both did this in 2004 and 2018 respectively. But this would be a blow to Merz’s authority.

Third, Merz could be forced out as chancellor and party leader by CDU grandees sooner rather that later. In this scenario, there would be some hurdles to the process. A successor would need to win a majority among MPs in a secret ballot, which is no foregone conclusion.

Perhaps the most likely successor candidate is Hendrik Wüst, minister-president of North-Rhine Westphalia. But he stands for a rather moderate course that would not be welcomed by all in the CDU, especially those looking for a rightward turn to combat the AfD.

Bavaria’s minister-president, Markus Söder, is another possible option. But he has a weaker starting point. Söder leads the CDU’s sister party, the Christian Social Union, and lost the battle to stand as chancellor in 2021.

At that time, the CDU made clear its expectation was that the chancellor would be one of its own number. The CDU has gone into federal elections with a CSU chancellor candidate twice before, in 1980 and 2002, and ended up losing on both occasions.

Boris Rhein from Hesse has also occasionally been floated as an alternative to Merz, but has a relatively low public profile. In each case, contenders might want to keep their powder dry for longer, let Merz push on with difficult reforms and seek to enter the fray closer to the next election.

More fundamentally, while Merz has struggled to govern and has been brutally exposed by these elections, the main issue is with the huge strategic difficulty faced by the CDU. How can it push through structural reforms with a reluctant coalition partner, while at the same time retaining moderate voters and shoring up its right flank against the AfD?

Merz might depart, but these dilemmas will live on.

Lindsay Clancy‘s lawyer has asked a judge to probe the phone data of the sole juror who voted against acquitting the killer mom in her case which ended this month. 

Eleven of 12 jurors were ready to clear Clancy of criminal responsibility last Friday, but their deadlock forced the judge to declare a mistrial, leaving the case unresolved. 

Neither side disputed that Clancy strangled five-year-old Cora, three-year-old Dawson and eight-month-old Callan Clancy in the family’s Massachusetts home in January 2023 before trying to end her own life. 

However, her defense attorney Kevin Reddington said she was a loving mother in the grip of a rare condition called postpartum psychosis, while prosecutors argued that she knew what she was doing.

The sole holdout juror, Michael P. Desronvil, 48, sided with prosecutors and said that he had no doubts about Clancy’s guilt, in opposition to the verdict reached by the other jurors. 

Now, Reddington has asked the judge, William Sullivan, to examine Desronvil’s mobile phone metadata during the time the jury was deliberating over the case, according to a motion seen by the New York Times. 

The motion also asks the judge to question Desronvil about the truthfulness of the statements he provided during jury selection and the use of his phone or any outside information during deliberations. 

Reddington has requested the questioning to be on the record, in the presence of attorneys from both sides.  

The sole holdout juror, Michael P. Desronvil (pictured), said last week that he had no doubts about Clancy’s guilt, in opposition to the verdict reached by the other jurors

‘The inquiry will not touch the substance of deliberations,’ the motion reads. 

It is unclear whether the jury’s decision could be reversed. 

Clancy, a former labor and delivery nurse, did not deny that she killed her three children, but argued she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity as she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time.

While 11 of the jurors agreed with this characterization of the killings, Desronvil did not buy the story.

Since a mistrial was declared, several jurors have publicly accused him of refusing to meaningfully engage with their arguments, with some describing him as ‘arrogant’.

Fellow juror Paula Devlin, 65, told the Daily Mail that the holdout juror made ‘no sense’ when pressed on his reasons for his vote and was ‘quiet’ for most of the week-long deliberations.

He was more focused on policing the tenor of the group’s discussions than offering explanations for his conviction that Clancy was guilty, she said.

Clancy did not deny that she killed her three children, but argued she should be found not guilty by reason of insanity as she was suffering from postpartum psychosis at the time

Fellow juror Paula Devlin, 65, told the Daily Mail that the holdout juror made ‘no sense’ when pressed on his reasons for his vote and was ‘quiet’ for most of the week-long deliberations

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‘The main thing he focused on is sometimes we would all want to talk at once, and that was very upsetting to him.

‘He would get upset and say, ”Listen to what she’s saying, listen to what he’s saying, be respectful’.”

‘We were trying to say to him, that sometimes somebody says something and they get lost in their thought or they can’t find the right word, and somebody else puts that word in there for them or finishes their thought, that’s how normal conversation works.

‘But when that would happen, he would get upset and just take all this time lecturing us about not being respectful.’

Devlin also claimed the holdout rarely fraternized with the group during the trial, instead preferring to speak to his wife or watch videos on his phone.

She said the 11 jurors who decided Clancy was not guilty of murder or manslaughter in the deaths of her kids felt ‘defeat’ and ‘anger’ when the mistrial was declared.

Meanwhile, the father of the three slain children, Patrick Clancy, revealed on Sunday that he suffered a panic attack and ended up needing medical treatment while giving grueling testimony at his ex-wife’s trial.

The grieving father sat down with 60 Minutes to share his heartbreak over the deaths of his three children Cora, five, Dawson, three and Callan, eight months old, as well as the toll that their mother’s trial took on him.

Cora, five; Dawson, three; and Callan, eight months, were found strangled to death at their home in Duxbury, Massachusetts on January 24, 2023 

Patrick was one of the key witnesses in the case, testifying to Clancy’s spiraling mental health and describing the moment that he returned home to find his children dead.

Throughout his hours-long testimony, the Daily Mail saw the 38-year-old struggling to contain his emotions, physically trembling, taking deep breaths and wiping away tears as he relived the painful memories from that day in January 2023.

Speaking about the ordeal to 60 Minutes, Patrick shared that he had experienced a ‘massive, traumatic panic attack’ during a recess in proceedings inside Plymouth County Superior Court, Massachusetts.

‘We did take a break right before they played the 911 call, which I knew was going to be just horrific,’ he said.

‘And I went to a back room, and I started having this massive, traumatic panic attack. My heart was pounding.’

Patrick said he was put in an ambulance and offered medication, but turned it down, insisting he wanted to resume testifying.

‘I said “I don’t want it because I want to go back and I want to finish this so I can be done with this,”‘ he said of that moment. ‘And I went back and I finished the testimony.’

Why does pumpkin make baked goods so soft?

Sooo… how did it taste?

The astronomical beginning of autumn happens when the Sun passes directly over the Earth’s equator – we call this the Autumn Equinox. The date shifts slightly each year, and in 2026 it falls in September for the first time since 1931.

(Image: Amy Nolan-Podmore – Bolton News Camera Club)

On Wednesday 23 September, the Sun will cross the celestial equator at approximately 1:04am, marking the enchanting Autumn Equinox. During this Equinox, night and day are almost perfectly balanced, making that day, if not the time, for an autumn stroll.

The moorlands above Rivington and Belmont are the perfect places to capture the stunning Equinox light, offering the first glimpses of the golden and orange tones across the landscape.

A few days later, on Saturday 26 September, the Harvest Moon will peak at around 5:49pm. For several evenings afterwards, the Moon will rise just 20–30 minutes after sunset, compared to the usual 50 minutes. Farmers once relied on this quick moonrise to finish gathering their crops long after the Sun had gone down.

The Harvest Moon will it is said creates mystical reflections on the still water in Turton and Entwistle Reservoir, casting a magical glow over the evening walk.

Don’t miss these two charming walks this autumn!

Donald Trump‘s visit to the UN General Assembly will not be televised by the major US broadcasters on Monday as they band together to boycott his ban on CNN and MS NOW.

Fox News, CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC, collectively known as the TV pool,  are protesting the White House and have decided to not dispatch cameramen or reporters to cover the president on Monday. 

This means that Trump’s trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly meeting on Monday will go unaired on the major networks. 

Still, the conservative outlet Real America’s Voice (RAV) will be on hand to stream the event from the UN while local TV operator Hearst will cover the president’s White House events. 

Fox News Washington Bureau Chief Bryan Boughton, who serves as TV pool chair and is responsible for the logistics of presidential coverage, confirmed the decision to not send any TV news personnel to the UN in an email sent out on Monday morning. 

‘This is to advise that, effective today, the TV pool will not be covering events designated as pool coverage of the President,’ Boughton writes. 

‘This follows the White House’s position preventing CNN from fulfilling its assigned pool duties. There will be no replacement pool put in place.’

It is unclear when the major broadcasters will resume coverage of the president.  

TV broadcast tents at the White House were vacant on Monday after Trump banned some outlets from the residence

CNN was previously scheduled to serve as the TV pool crew on Monday, but that was before Trump banned that outlet, MS NOW and Politico from the White House. 

However, the official daily guidance sent out by the White House on Sunday stated that there would be no TV pool on Monday, leaving CNN’s rotation off the list. 

Trump has also threatened to take action against the New York Times and the Washington Post. 

Trump banned the outlets on Friday, calling them ‘fake news’ and lashing out at their critical coverage of his administration. 

‘It’s about basic fairness,’ Vice President JD Vance said of the ban on Monday.

‘They can still report. They still have the access to free speech. They’re just not going to get an office in the White House anymore.’

When reporters from the banned outlets appeared at the White House for work over the weekend, some had their press passes revoked. 

The major broadcasters coalesced around the banned outlets and issued a blistering statement against the president’s decision. 

CNN Senior White House Reporter Betsy Klein, right, departs after having her credential revoked on Saturday following President Donald Trump’s ban on CNN, MS NOW and Politico, at the White House

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MS NOW White House Correspondent Vaughn Hillyard delivers a television report on a street corner outside the White House grounds on Monday after his outlet was banned 

‘The public has a vital interest in receiving accurate, independent information about its government,’ they said in a statement. ‘No administration should restrict a news organization because it objects to its reporting.’

When pressed for comment, the White House responded with a social media post from the president published earlier on Monday morning. 

‘The White House is not instituting an assault on the Free Press, something which I cherish,’ Trump wrote. ‘It is instituting an assault on the fake news, something that has grown like Cancer in our beloved United States of America.’

‘It is corrupt, purposeful, pervasive, fully coordinated, and totally out of control. It is a threat to our National Security, and must be stopped, now!’ 

While CNN was banned from the White House, its reporters and crew still covered Secretary of State Marco Rubio as he opened the New York Stock Exchange on Monday, showing that the White House ban does not extend to other departments.  

The three media outlets Trump targeted, CNN, MS NOW and Politico, announced they would combat the administration in court over the ban. 

‘This morning, we notified the government that we are filing a lawsuit today to protect our First Amendment rights and defend the principle that the government does not decide what the press reports or publishes,’ they said in a statement released on Monday. 

‘Without notice or process, the White House revoked our journalists’ credentials because it objected to our reporting,’ the statement continued.

‘Left unchallenged, this threatens press freedom and the public’s right to independent journalism free from government interference.’

US District Judge Timothy Kelly, who Trump appointed in his first term, is presiding over the case and is on familiar legal ground. 

In 2018, he ordered the White House to restore CNN journalist Jim Acosta’s credentials after his press pass was pulled following a heated clash with Trump. 

The White House also published a cryptic social media post on Monday with a TV showing static with the caption: ‘Something’s coming. Stay tuned.’

Two giant memorials to a man dubbed the ‘Traveller King’ and his brother at a council-run cemetery have sparked fury – after the first was erected without planning permission. 

The latest nine-foot-high stone memorial marks the grave of Michael Collins and is situated just metres from a 37-ton, £200,000 marble headstone in memory of his bare-knuckle-boxer brother Willy Collins. 

Willy, described as the ‘King of Sheffield’, was buried in a 22-carat gold coffin in Shiregreen Cemetery, Sheffield, after collapsing and dying aged 49 in Majorca, Spain, in 2020. 

His gravesite broke planning rules, according to Sheffield City Council, sparking a row between the authorities and the Collins family. Willy’s widow Kathleen even threatened ‘war’ if the site was pulled down. 

But now, four years later, another huge marble headstone has appeared just metres away to remember Michael, who passed away aged 51 in December 2024. 

Images of the new structure show how white statues have been constructed on top of a black marble base, which features pictures of Coca-Cola bottles and inscriptions of heartfelt messages.

Willy’s memorial, including Irish flags, flowers and a large inscription reading ‘KING’, is situated only metres away in the distance. 

Dozens of locals in South Yorkshire have been left disgruntled since the newer memorial appeared, with one comparing it to ‘haunted crazy golf’. 

Michael, the brother of ‘Traveller King’ Willy Collins, passed away aged 51 in December 2024

His memorial is situated only metres from Willy’s (pictured left), which features inscriptions reading ‘KING’

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Michael is pictured in a life-sized structure at Shiregreen Cemetery

Many have also speculated that the site could have been erected without planning permission, though this is yet to have been clarified. 

‘It is there because the council did not take action against the first one,’ one resident complained. 

Another fumed: ‘So if they didn’t get permission the first time, why is this allowed? One rule for them because they don’t want any trouble and another rule for the rest of us.’ 

A different local added: ‘That’s wrong. A shrine that big should be in a private cemetery not a council one.’

‘They’re travellers that ruled the streets of Sheffield and made their own rules and laws they answered to no one and still don’t,’ another complained.  

Some residents have defended the headstone, saying it is a ‘beautiful place to remember their loved ones’.

The lavish nine-and-a-half-feet-tall memorial – which was built this month – includes two white life-size statues of Michael, a father-of-four. 

One stands as a centrepiece with what appears to be two large statues of Jesus Christ on either side. Behind him is a marble pint of Guinness, and depictions of a can of Guinness and a bottle of Budweiser.

The second is sat on a bench on the left side of the memorial next to a tribute and an image of the four Collins Brothers captioned ‘Sheffield Collins Brothers’, all four of whom have passed away. 

Willy’s gravesite, situated just in front of Michael’s, is pictured

Michael’s memorial features pictures of a Diet Coke as well as a working Bluetooth marble jukebox

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The lavish nine-and-a-half-feet-tall memorial – which was built this month – also includes two white life-size statues of the father-of-four

A number of heartfelt messages to Michael are engraved into the structure

The four Collins brothers – Michael, Willy, Terry and Anthony – are seen in a picture at the site

Terry Collins died aged 52 in September 2024, while Anthony was laid to rest aged 22 in 2002 after suffering fatal stab wounds in an incident at the Afro Caribbean Club on Spital Hill.

They are also buried in the cemetery.

To the right of the Michael memorial is a working Bluetooth marble jukebox bearing the words ‘Legend Michael Collins’ – alongside two Irish flags and a CD in a case, featuring a photograph of Michael at its centre.

Next to that is what appears to be a sculpture of a Ford Transit van and a tribute to Michael from his family.

A giant sculpture of a watch sitting on top of a chair is positioned to the left.

Paying tribute to Michael, one of his loved ones said: ‘He was a loving father, uncle, brother, husband and son and grandfather.

‘His brother was Willy Collins and is buried across from him. He lived in Sheffield throughout most of his life being part of the Sheffield Collins traveller family.

‘He was known as the true blue of Sheffield and one of a kind.’

At the time of his death Michael’s heartbroken daughter, Paris, said: ‘Dad was a loving family man.

‘He lived and died for his wife and children, and he absolutely doted on his little grandbaby. He thought the world of him.

‘My mum is absolutely heartbroken. They’d been together for 27 years and they did everything together.

‘My dad is in heaven now with his brother, Willy, sister-in-law, Josie, and Willy’s oldest daughter, Bonnie.’

Memorials such as the one erected in Sheffield require a permit to be built. 

Sheffield City Council has been approached for comment.