Daily roundup 7 September: Brexit impact, young Muslims, and school uniform

Brexit is being blamed for a sharp fall in the number of children starting school in London. The Evening Standard reports that the number of four-year-olds entering reception class in the capital has fallen to 99,000 this year compared with 103,000 last September. London Councils says the larger than expected fall is due to families leaving the capital as a result of the UK's vote to leave the European Union.


Young Muslims living in the UK face an enormous social mobility challenge and are being held back from reaching their full potential, a report by the Social Mobility Commission has found. The report outlines significant barriers to improved social mobility for young Muslims from school, through university and into the workplace - with many reporting experience of Islamophobia, discrimination and racism.


A secondary school has ordered girls to wear trousers to make the uniform gender neutral and to deal with complaints over the decency of short skirts. Instead of wearing a grey skirt, girls starting at the Priory school in Lewes, East Sussex, this month must wear grey trousers. The policy was introduced for all students by the school's head teacher, Tony Smith, to ensure transgender pupils felt included, reports the Guardian.


Public health spending on children and young people in Suffolk is to be cut by 10 per cent in April 2019, reports the East Anglian Daily Times. The planned budget cut of nearly £1.1m comes as a report by health and council leaders has warned that austerity is harming the resilience of families in the region and could hinder efforts to tackle child health problems such as obesity.


A survey has found that four out of five parents and carers in Northern Ireland have struggled to afford healthy food for their disabled or seriously ill children in the last year. The survey by UK children's charity Family Fund also found that 46 per cent of parents reported they missed a meal in order to feed their children instead.