A total of 22 organisations across the country will receive investment from a £40m National Lottery funding pot from Sport England to help families get active together. The organisations will put on a variety of free and low-cost activities including activity roadshows so families can try out new sports. It is hoped the projects will help up to 15,000 people get active, including families who've suffered domestic abuse and are living in a refuge, children with special needs, and families with complex mental health needs.
Girlguiding has launched a campaign calling for dedicated funding for schools, colleges and universities to provide period products, and for all pupils to be taught about periods and puberty as part of the new relationships and sex education curriculum. The youth organisation said it wants to tackle period poverty across the rest of the UK and address the stigma and shame that can be associated with periods.
A ban on smoking in outdoor grounds of hospitals, schools and playgrounds in Wales has moved a step closer. The BBC reports that Welsh Health Secretary Vaughan Gething has launched a consultation with the ban planned for summer 2019 and those who break it could face a fine. Voluntary bans are currently in place in some school and hospital grounds and also in public playgrounds.
Two teenage boys have been found guilty of plotting a Columbine-style shooting at a school in North Yorkshire. The BBC reports that the two boys, both 15, planned to shoot and kill pupils and teachers at the school in Northallerton. A jury heard they were motivated by their "hero worship" of Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who killed 13 people and themselves at Columbine High School in Colorado in 1999.
West Midlands Police and Crime Commissioner David Jamieson has criticised local councils after it emerged that a total of 244 children had to spend the night locked in a police cell due to a lack of suitable alternative accommodation. The Express and Star reports that Jamieson said it shows that local authorities were failing in their duty to find suitable accommodation for youngsters who have been accused of a crime.
