Instagram has passed thousands of pages of “pretty dreadful” material from the account of Molly Russell to her family’s legal team, a court heard. The 14-year-old killed herself in 2017 after viewing graphic images of self harm and suicide on the platform. A pre-inquest hearing on Friday was told not all the material had been studied yet as it was too difficult for lawyers and police to look at for long. A date for the inquest itself is yet to be set. The inquest will look at how algorithms used by social media giants to keep users on the platform may have contributed to her death.

Some schools are planning to increase their class sizes to up to 60 pupils so that they can continue to offer students an education this term, as fears grow of a looming teacher shortage. Headteachers are worried that a significant number of staff will need to self-isolate for long periods this winter as they struggle to gain access to tests for Covid-19, and that schools will soon run out of money to pay for cover from supply teachers.

Up to a quarter of childcare providers in some areas are at risk of closure without the government providing more financial support during the Covid-19 pandemic, latest research shows. A study of 25 members of the County Councils Network (CCN) found that 80 per cent of respondents said one in 10 childcare providers in their area were at risk of closure over the winter, with the remaining 20 per cent predicting that one in four were at risk.

Teachers should not tell children that they might be a different gender based on their personality or the clothes they want to wear, new guidance from the Department for Education states. The guidance, published on Thursday, notes teachers in England must not “reinforce harmful stereotypes” and resources used to discuss topics involving gender and biological sex should be “age-appropriate and evidence based”.