• The government is to scrap Labour's new primary curriculum and its 'academic' diplomas, and to scale back support for vocational diplomas, as part of a £359 million programme of cuts. Gove is to drop Labour's extension of pilot schemes offering free school meals to all primary pupils and take back unspent cash from one-to-one tuition schemes. These form part of a £670 million programme of cuts in the education department. Guardian
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• Uncertainty continues over the prospects for schools within Labour's £55 billion Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme. Pressed repeatedly in the House of Commons over what was to happen to the project, Gove told MPs that plans were under review. Many schools are midway through planning or building. BBC


• Scottish teachers are to get an extra day of training to prepare them for the major changes to be implemented as part of the Curriculum for Excellence, to be used from August. Scottish Labour has described this as 'too little and far too late in the day' but the day seems to have somewhat placated the EIS union, which had previously expressed concerns about 'the scarcity of dedicated time' for teachers to prepare. BBC


• Fiona Millar probes the hazy coalition pledge of the pupil premium. With a considerable premium already in place for deprived children, what will the new government do that is different? She argues that the league table incentives of admitting more privileged children would likely still outbalance most cash premiums for schools, and abolition of all selection is the best route to education equity. Guardian


• A government study has indicated that children who learn to read from a very young age perform no better at age 5 than those who learn later. This implies that the billions of pounds Labour put into the Early Years - or 'nappy' - Curriculum may have been ill-advised. The curriculum is to be reviewed in September. Times


• Prince William yesterday launched a campaign to ensure 2,012 public playing fields are protected in law for perpetuity by 2012 in a move to mark 60 years since Queen Elizabeth's coronation and the year of the London Olympics. This aims to give members of communities 'access to outdoor space for sport, play and recreation'. Times

• Oxford has come top of the Guardian's university league table for the sixth year running, with Cambridge in second place. The more money the university spends on the student, the higher it is likely to be ranked (this is not a consideration in their initial formation). Imperial College London was rated top for job prospects. Guardian


• The Guardian's University Guide and League Tables 2011 Guardian

• Nick Clegg has signalled government uncertainty over the coalition's plans to afford anonymity to defendants in rape cases. In the Commons yesterday, he commented that the government 'will not press ahead with any measures without listening to the full range of views and, if necessary, adapting and changing our approach to make sure we get it right'. Labour Europe Minister, Caroline Flint argued that the proposals carried the 'clear inference that rape victims were less reliable, less credible'. Guardian


• The UK Border Agency is to set up a £4m 'reintegration centre' in Afghanistan so it can start deporting unaccompanied child asylum seekers to Kabul from Britain. Immigration officials would hope to forcibly return 12 boys a month; just under 200 minors from Afghanistan claimed asylum in Britain in the first three months of this year. Similar policies are being replicated across the EU. Guardian


• Former Labour welfare reform minister Frank Field has been appointed by Cameron to lead an independent review into poverty. He will examine whether the current definition of poverty (households with less than 60% of the median income) should be changed and how to encourage parents and local services to nurture children. Field has argued that it is time to look away from Labour's academic approach towards how grassroots groups transform children's lives. Guardian

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