• The Telegraph sums up the Conservative manifesto: overhauling key stage 2 tests and league tables; a public sector pay freeze from 2011; cutting Child Trust Funds for all but the poorest third of families; 10,000 extra university places a year. Telegraph


• The Telegraph on the Lib Dem manifesto: axing the National Curriculum in favour of a Minimum Curriculum entitlement; scaling back Key Stage 2 tests; scrapping university fees for first degrees. Telegraph


• At the launch of the Liberal Democrat manifesto, Nick Clegg urged voters that a vote for the Lib Dems would end the 'political stitch-up' between Labour and the Tories. He promised £2.5bn targeted at the poorest pupils, class size cuts and a shake up of the tax system which would leave low and middle income families better off. Telegraph


• Fiona Millar reminds us to interrogate not only the parties' policies, but the facts they deploy. She points out that Labour's education legacy cannot be scrutinised until the beneficiaries of their early years programmes come to do A Levels and that Gove's statistics on the low A Level achievements of those eligible free school meals excludes entirely the 40% of A Level students who go to sixth form colleges. Guardian


• In a pioneering move, an inner city London primary school has bought a former public school in Sussex to continue educating its children as boarders through to 18. It intends to fund the project from a health centre the school runs on its Lambeth site and a £25million grant from central government. Telegraph


• Labour have attacked Conservative manifesto promises to scrap central accountability and give more power to service users, such as parents. Mandelson claimed this would leave families having to 'fend for themselves' and Balls that the Conservatives would spend £1.7bn less on education and 38,000 jobs would be axed in schools. Telegraph


• A third of 8 - 16 year old boys say they can't find anything to read which interests them. In the Premier League Reading Stars scheme, each of the 20 Premier League clubs picks a player to select their favourite books and the club then adopts a library which gets free copies of the title. Families come, meet the players and borrow the books. Guardian


• Around 50 head teachers and leading educationalists write to the Guardian. Their prime concern is of the 'naive educational tourism' of Conservative-proposed 'free schools' around which, they argue, there is no research consensus and which would take existing 'shared vision' and professional effort back to 'year zero'. Guardian


• The Hole in the Wall project which inspired the film Slumdog Millionaire is being piloted in three primary schools in NW England. Here, a Self-Organised Learning Environment (SOLE) is created, whereby children work unaided on a computer in groups to answer a SATS or GCSE question. Telegraph

• Yet more politicians are signing the NUS petition against a further rise in tuition fees. Currently MPs and candidates of 437 of England's 533 constituencies have signed up, including more than 300 Lib Dems, nearly 200 Labour and 10 Conservative members. The NUS propose a monthly graduate tax lasting 20 years instead. Guardian


• Universities received an unprecedented £25 billion last year, with the increase owing to tuition fees and education contracts; however there was a 9% increase in spending - outstripping the 8.3% rise in revenue. Income from endowments and investment fell by 30% - figures suggesting that more courses will be cut and class sizes rise. Times


• Students are polled at 30 universities, in 20 universities the Conservatives lead and only 7 opt for Labour. Of the students, 30% intended to vote Tory, 21% Labour and 19% Liberal Democrat. The poll seems to have focused on Russell Group universities. Telegraph


• A Professor of Higher Education Policy calls for changes in governance style at UK universities following high profile resignations. These would move away from lean, governing bodies independent of staff to two tier structures where staff, students and community members could supervise the executive and commission external institutional reviews. Guardian

• Questions remain about the politicised removal of Sharon Shoesmith from Haringey council, as releases show re-drafts of the Ofsted document with notes from the DCSF; Ed Balls photographed surrounded by the million and a half signatures the Sun had collected against Shoesmith and an earlier report doctored in anticipation of a breaking scandal. Guardian


• J K Rowling writes 'A Single Mother's Manifesto', based on her experience of family policy since 1993 as a single mother. She praises Sure Start; childcare tax credits and Gingerbread's crossparty campaign to fight negative stereotypes of lone parents. She views the marriage tax break as indicative of a 'renewed marginalisation of the single, divorced and widowed' under any Conservative administration Times


• The judge who was yesterday sworn in as President of the high court's family division added to colleagues' comments regarding social workers' enthusiasm to remove children from families. Referring to a specific case, he said it would do nothing to dispel the impression that social workers were 'arrogant' and neglectful of their primary duty to unite rather than separate families. Guardian


• Findings today on food provision by nurseries show a lack of snacks mid-morning and mid-afternoon; too much fruit; insufficient carbohydrates and too much salt. Council chiefs want guidance for nurseries and parents on suitable food. Times


• The Guardian posts the blog of a former children's care worker, who has been longlisted for the Orwell Prize for political writing. Guardian


• Facebook has announced a series of new measures to bolster online safety including a 24 hour police hotline, a £5m education and awareness campaign and a resdesigned abuse reporting system. It continues to refuse to install a 'panic button' linking to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre. Guardian


• Child Protection campaigners have called on Primark to remove padded tops for girls as young as seven from sale. Primark's website comments that 'Every girl wants to look her best and at Primark we make no exception for the younger ladies.' Telegraph


• The South Korean government is introducing policies to curb the amount of time children spend playing online games. BBC

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