Author: Nelson Rosario

Schools don’t really have the luxury of waiting to see what happens when the Met Office issues a red weather warning, which clearly indicates that lives may be at risk. As Britain prepared for temperatures never seen in recorded history, dozens of headteachers found themselves in this situation. The temperature was on the verge of rising above 40°C, and in old, south-facing classrooms with brick walls, that number ceases to be a weather statistic and instead becomes a building safety concern. Panic was not what happened. It was more measured and, in a sense, more revealing. Schools all over England,…

A school going silent in the middle of the day, not because of a holiday or a storm, but rather because of the sun, has a subtly unsettling quality. As record-breaking temperatures force head teachers to make decisions that many of them have probably never had to make before, that is precisely what is happening in some parts of Devon this week. Numerous schools in Devon’s North, West, and South have already declared either complete closures or drastically reduced school days. On Tuesday, June 23, the Shoreline Academy in Barnstaple completely closed due to excessive heat inside the school. The…

Seeing an empty school parking lot on a Wednesday morning in late June has a subtle unsettling quality. No teachers with lanyards juggling coffee cups and marking folders, no kids pouring through gates. The building will remain closed due to extreme heat, according to a notice taped to the entrance and locked doors. That’s what’s happening in some areas of Somerset this week, and it feels like a minor turning point. Nerrols Primary in Taunton and Cheddar First School in Cheddar are two of the county’s schools that have announced complete closures for Wednesday and Thursday. Some are starting to…

A university that requires reservations just to visit has a subtle allure. It makes a statement about demand. The dates of the University of Edinburgh’s 2026 Open Days are Saturday, September 26 and Saturday, October 24. If you are even thinking about applying, you should put these dates on your calendar right away. Late August is when registration opens, which is later than most prospective students anticipate. One thing the university has made clear is that you should not make travel plans before your spot is confirmed. That’s useful advice, but it also raises an important point: these events become…

An email that could pay off tens of thousands of dollars in federal student loan debt is currently somewhere in an inbox. The Department of Education was the source of it. It doesn’t appear glamorous. Most likely, there wasn’t much fanfare when it arrived. However, it may be one of the most important messages the borrowers have ever received. About 36,000 federal student loan borrowers recently received notices that their loans will be discharged under the Borrower Defense to Repayment program. This is part of the ongoing fallout from the Sweet v. McMahon settlement — a legal agreement that’s been…

Point Cook Senior Secondary College has a subtle sense of purpose. It is located in the western suburbs of Melbourne and is surrounded by a rapidly expanding community that includes young families, new housing developments, and immigrants from numerous nations who are attempting to establish a stable life. All of that is reflected in the school. As you walk through it, you get the impression that the administrators have carefully considered what a senior secondary school should be doing in 2026 and that it goes beyond simply getting students through exams. Currently serving 799 students in Years 10 through 12,…

The way a university brings together dozens of digital services under one roof is subtly impressive. That’s precisely what the Ulster University Student Portal does, and for many students, it’s the last thing they check before logging off and the first thing they open in the morning. It’s not glamorous. Talking about it is not very exciting. However, it is effective, which is more important than most people realize. The portal is fundamentally a single sign-on gateway. Your Office 365 account, library databases, Banner Student Records, and Blackboard Ultra can all be accessed by logging in once with your student…

When you stroll through any elementary school in September, you’ll notice something that initially goes unnoticed. One child in a kindergarten class may appear calm and collected, while the child next to them is still clinging to a backpack strap and appears somewhat alarmed by the whole thing. It’s not always personality that makes a difference. Sometimes it only takes a few months. In the US, the majority of kindergarteners are five or six years old. That’s the straightforward response. However, families soon find that how states, districts, and individual schools truly address the issue of when a child is…

Sitting in a British classroom in July brings with it a certain kind of misery. The windows hardly open at all. The blinds are partially damaged. In Year 8, someone has passed out. As the thermometer nudges 34 degrees, the teacher, red-faced and silently enraged, tries to explain fractions. These days, it occurs every summer. Nevertheless, a UK school is still not required by law to close or even pause at a certain temperature. It’s not a mistake. It’s a decision, and a contentious one at that. To assist schools in managing extreme weather, the Met Office and the UK…

Most maps don’t bother naming the small creek that flows through the Chinese village of Xiashi. Sitting on either side of that creek were two halves of a community that were gradually disintegrating, not in a dramatic or noteworthy way, but rather in the slow, quiet way that small villages typically vanish. Then someone made the decision to construct a school on top of it. In terms of structure, the Bridge School in Xiashi is precisely what it sounds like. A functional primary school is situated between two steel trusses that span the creek. Villagers can use the pedestrian walkway…