in the moments before he accidentally killed a crew member on set. a warning that dog owners are pretending their lockdown pets are strays, in order to get rid of them. and the coastal town that's received a £41 million donation from the woman behind fisherman's friend cough sweets. a leading teaching union is calling on the government to introduce tougher covid measures in england's schools and speed up the vaccination of children, amid rising infections. the association of school and college leaders says the first half of the autumn term has left some schools "on their knees", as staff tried to prevent the virus spreading among pupils and teachers. mask—wearing stopped being compulsory in england's schools in may, and the requirement for pupils to be separated into bubbles also ended. pepe di'lasio is president of the ascl and the head teacher of wales high school in rotherham. it is fair to say this has been the hardest half term that i have ever faced as a teacher and in my years as a leader, the most challenging. we have had a very long eight weeks that started back in august when we were doing a mass testing and ended yesterday with us vaccinating another 200—300 students in the school and during that time we have seen an increase in the number of students absent from school and the highest infection rate of 12—15—year—olds and more staff off suffering with covid and long covid symptoms, so it has been tough to get through what is now our first half term and we look forward to a winter ahead where we are not really quite quite sure what is ahead. we just hope the vaccination is a way forward for our young people and our schools. steve chalke is the founder and leader of the oasis community learning multi—academy trust which runs more than 50 schools across the uk. thanks forjoining us. how have your schools coped in the first half of the autumn term? i schools coped in the first half of the autumn term?— schools coped in the first half of the autumn term? i would echo what we have already _ the autumn term? i would echo what we have already heard. _ the autumn term? i would echo what we have already heard. this - the autumn term? i would echo what we have already heard. this has - the autumn term? i would echo what| we have already heard. this has been the toughest half term and the problem has been that all of the issues to do with the last 18 months, there is a part of society that tries to put that behind us as though we have emerged from this, and i live in london and if you get on the underground, the vast number of people do not wear masks even though you are told to wear masks. so i think people are trying to return to normal but what is happening in our schools but all of those last 18 months at the trauma that has built up in the lives of children, they have not reached the learning stages they would have otherwise, many of them have emotional and social health problems, mental health issues, plus running the school and exams being back, and ofsted inspection, this is all you'd pressure on top of caring for children and what our staff are crying out for is for ministers to turn the rhetoric of education being central, of young people being sent to and children being central, into policies that keep schools open and keep them safe. and vaccinations and wearing face masks would be two of those. , ,. , .,, ., wearing face masks would be two of those. , ,. , ., those. keeping schools open and save is a tricky balancing _ those. keeping schools open and save is a tricky balancing act, _ those. keeping schools open and save is a tricky balancing act, isn't - those. keeping schools open and save is a tricky balancing act, isn't it? - is a tricky balancing act, isn't it? what do you think needs to be done to make sure that can be done more safely? we to make sure that can be done more safel ? ~ ., to make sure that can be done more safel ?~ . ,. , safely? we have schools across the country and — safely? we have schools across the country and in _ safely? we have schools across the country and in some _ safely? we have schools across the country and in some locations - safely? we have schools across the country and in some locations our l country and in some locations our children all wear masks, secondary schoolchildren, and that is because the local authorities in those areas haven't said it is mandatory. where there is a choice, people don't do it, hence my thing about the underground, in london you go onto any tube station and there is lots of signs saying, it is compulsory to wear a mask but everyone knows it is not compulsory and so most people don't. that is why the government needs to take a lead and they need to speed up the roll—out of the vaccinations for 12—15 —year—olds and they need to take early action to prevent what the headlines say would be the doomsday scenario that christmas is obliterated again. not just christmas, but the winter, and if schools have to shut, that adds to the mental health long—term issues of children which are already considerable.— considerable. thank you for your time and speaking _ considerable. thank you for your time and speaking to _ considerable. thank you for your time and speaking to us. - considerable. thank you for your time and speaking to us. that i considerable. thank you for your time and speaking to us. that is| time and speaking to us. that is steve chalk. we can speak now to kevin courtney, the general secretary of the national education union. thanks forjoining us. what would you like to see the government do? at the very least we would like to see the government in westminster following the government in scotland about mitigations in school. in scotland children in secondary schools are still wearing masks and perhaps more importantly, if you are a very close contact and if your brother or sister test positive for covid, you have to stay home for three days and get a pcr test and only go back if you have a negative test. that is unlike england, where there is no mask wearing and if your brother or sister test is positive, you are back in school the next day, we can see from the data that cases in scottish schools are falling, while cases in english schools are rising. the number of children off in scottish schools is only two thirds of the rate in england despite the fact that close contacts are staying off which has got to be are staying off which has got to be a better way. there is less disruption, less cases, so we think the government in england should do that straightaway, and there are some local authorities moving in that direction. wakefield, calderdale, swindon, trafford, they are moving in that sort of direction. we think that is very sensible. double vaccination really helps, but that does not solve all the problems because children have to stay off if they are positive and what we are finding in schools is so many teachers and support staff, even though they are double vaccinated, picking the virus up from children, testing positive, and then having to stay at home and that is causing enormous stress, disruption to education and stress on the other staff who are in school. ~ ., ., , ., ., ,, on the other staff who are in school. ~ ., ., .,~ ., school. what do you make of the government _ school. what do you make of the government response _ school. what do you make of the government response that - school. what do you make of the government response that the i school. what do you make of the - government response that the current rate of cases is within the range that they were expecting? timer;r rate of cases is within the range that they were expecting? they are not clear what _ that they were expecting? they are not clear what range _ that they were expecting? they are not clear what range they _ that they were expecting? they are not clear what range they are - not clear what range they are expecting and sajid javid was talking at cases going up to 100,000. double vaccination has really helped but we all know that when cases go up, hospitalisation goes up, as well, even though the death rates are much lower than they were, they are still too many people dying ? there are. if they let cases go dying ? there are. if they let cases 9° up, dying ? there are. if they let cases go up, the nhs will fall over and it will not be able to deal with cancer patients. everybody knows someone who is suffering with one of these long—term illnesses and if the nhs cannot do ? deal with them, we will have to go into a locked down, and nobody wants that so we should be acting out, and follow the scottish government would really help with these mitigations, they also need to improve on the vaccination in scottish schools. they have reached a point there where half of the secondary school students in the 12-15 secondary school students in the 12—15 year old group have been vaccinated but in england it is only 20% so they need to improve on the vaccination and they do need to look at ventilation, improving ventilation, investing in improving ventilation, investing in improving ventilation, does not disrupt education but will help us get through all of this. if education but will help us get through all of this.— through all of this. if the government _ through all of this. if the government does - through all of this. if the government does not. through all of this. if the i government does not bring through all of this. if the - government does not bring in any additional measures in schools, what you see the impact being? the additional measures in schools, what you see the impact being?— you see the impact being? the worry is that the number _ you see the impact being? the worry is that the number of _ you see the impact being? the worry is that the number of cases - you see the impact being? the worry is that the number of cases will - you see the impact being? the worry is that the number of cases will go i is that the number of cases will go up, and it might fall a is that the number of cases will go up, and it might falla bit is that the number of cases will go up, and it might fall a bit over half term, fingers crossed cases do fall because the children are in school but then that is the pattern last autumn. it fell at half term but then started rising again and was rising very fast amongst secondary school students in particular and then amongst primary school pupils, as well, so both of them going up, that leads to more children being off school and it will lead to more staff contracting the virus, not being seriously damaged by it, in the vast majority of cases, but still having to stay off. it is now clear there is more long covid, cases are highest amongst educational staff in any of the occupations we are now seeing, and long covid also being a threat so the government should be acting to try and stop cases being that high. following the scottish government on what happens if your brother or sister test is positive, but you should stay—at—home until you have had three days and then a negative pcr test, that would really help. looking at mask wearing in the areas where cases are highest, that would really help. investing in ventilation. the prime minister putting out a call for parents to test their children twice a week with lateral flow tests, all those steps would really help. they would reduce the case numbers in schools and reduce education disruption and reduce the number of education staff that test positive and then have to be off work, all of that, itjust seems like a no—brainer to us, and my worry is if they don't do that, cases will carry on going higher and higher. cases will carry on going higher and hiaher. ., , cases will carry on going higher and hither. . , ., , cases will carry on going higher and hither. . , ., y ., higher. that is kevin courtney, from the national — higher. that is kevin courtney, from the national education _ higher. that is kevin courtney, from the national education union. - higher. that is kevin courtney, from | the national education union. thanks forjoining us. a prominent adviser to the government on covid—19 has said he is "very fearful" there will be another "lockdown christmas" this year. professor peter openshaw, a member of the new and emerging respiratory virus threats advisory group known as nervtag, warned the public they shouldn't wait for ministers to act, and urged people to do everything they could to reduce transmission of the virus. he said the number of infections and deaths were "unacceptable". well, i am very fearful that we are going to have another lockdown christmas if we don't act soon. we know that with public health measures, the time to act is immediately. there is no point in delaying. if you do delay, then you need to take even more stringent action later. you know, the immediacy of response is absolutely vital if you are going to get things under control. we all really, really want a wonderfulfamily christmas where we can all get back together. if that is what we want, we need to get these measures in place now in order to get transmission rates right down so we can actually get together and see one another over christmas. take matters into your own hands. don't wait necessarily for government policy. i am very, very reluctant now to go into crowded spaces because i know that roughly one in 60 people in a crowded space are going to have the virus. and if you can, cycle to work, don't go on public transport and just, you know, i think do everything possible in your control to try to reduce transmission. don't wait for the government to change policy. the sooner we all act, the sooner we can get this transmission rate down and the greater the prospect of having a christmas with our families. the chancellor's promising to spend nearly £7 billion improving transport in england's city regions outside london, as one of the spending pledges unveiled ahead of this week's budget. rishi sunak, says the "transport revolution" will bring public services in those areas in line with the capital. labour says the government lacks a coherent plan to transform regional economies and tackle the climate crisis. here's our political correspondent helen catt. waiting for the train to arrive. it takes longer in the north of england and the midlands than in london, says the chancellor, and he sees no reason why that should be the case, so he'll confirm next week that england's city regions will get 5.7 billion for them to spend on improving transport. it'll fund projects like a cycle superhighway in west bradford and new battery packs for merseyrail trains in the liverpool region. greater manchester will get just over £1 billion to start its plans to improve connections. some of it will go on new tram carriages for its metrolink services. it's absolutely going in the right direction... 0k. ..but it needs to be consistent year—on—year. i mean, one lump of cash does not make a london—style transport system. it's going to take a decade. £3 billion has previously been committed to improve bus services. rishi sunak will announce that 1.2 billion of that will we used to make fares simpler and cheaper and buses more frequent in some places. i think that it's not so much of a north—south divide, but there are many areas across the whole country that feel left behind and need levelling up. so, areas that have very infrequent bus services, no service in the evenings and the weekends. and these glaring gaps in current provision that need to be addressed. and from buses to babies, the chancellor will also announce a £500 million package to support children and parents. it will include £100 million of mental health support for new mums and dads and those still expecting. there'll be £200 million for the supporting families programme, which helps the most vulnerable. and 82 million to fund family hubs, described as "one—stop shops for advice and guidance". they're similar in some ways to the sure start centres set up under tony blair. hundreds of those have closed since 2010. your viewers will make up their own mind. - is this just a revamp| of an existing policy, and why did they allow sure start centres to wither on the vine? i i can only assume it's- the same approach to allow early—years providers, - at this particular point in time, to go by the wayside. labour says the new plan is a sticking plaster, which rings hollow, but the government says the hubs will be an upgrade on sure start and will help children of all ages and their parents. helen catt, bbc news. vicky nevin from the nspcc welcomed the investment — but said much greater funding was needed for health visitors. it isa it is a very important announcement, that parents and babies need more support, especially regarding perinatal health. so it is important that on wednesday the government also invests in core services, central services like health visiting which can reach out to families and make sure that every family has a fair start. we are calling for much greater investment in health visiting and we want to see 33,000 more health visitors. what sort of a difference can health visiting make to those early years? it is very important that every family receives at least five visits that they are entitled to so that parents can spot any concerns and they can build a trusted relationship with the families so they are able to open up about perinatal mental health or any concerns about their child's development and for that to happen you need a consistent health visitor that can build the relationship. but at the moment there has been a cut to public health funding which means we have seen health visiting numbers decline by 30% since 2015 so to make sure that parents are aware of the support that is available to them, to make sure they are being signposted to these family hubs, we need to make sure those core services are funded, as well. how much more do we need? there have been cuts to the services and now it is trying to regain the ground. how far does this go and how much further is needed? to employ another 3000 health visitors would be £500 million in itself so we do need some additional funding on top of this package although we do welcome the fact the package is focusing on mental health because it is so important that parents can provide a nurturing care for their babies so they can grow up healthy and happy themselves. we really appreciate that, but it is about outreach, as well and making sure that health visitors are there to build those trusted relationships. those health visitors can be based in family hubs so when a family comes along and looks for support, it is trusted expert advice, and it is about having the workforce for the hubs as well. the headlines on bbc news... a leading teaching union calls for tougher action against covid in england's schools, saying staff are "on their knees". a fresh push for people to get their boosterjabs. it comes amid fears over rising coronavirus cases in england. the chancellor's promising to spend nearly £7 billion improving transport in england's city regions outside london, as one of the spending pledges unveiled ahead of next week's budget. sport and a full round up from the bbc sport centre. good afternoon. let's start with football. chelsea thrashed norwich 7—0 in a really one sided match — as they cement their place at the top of the premier league. it was england international mason mount who got the rout up and running, afterjust seven minutes with a low drive from outside the box. callum hudson 0doi added a second before reece james chipped the ball over tim krul from a tight angle to make it 3—0 before half time. one from ben chilwell and then a max aarons own goal made it 5 after the break and before mount finished the scoring off for the afternoon with his second and third of the match — that's his first premier league hat—trick for chelsea. we are definitely versatile and a lot of the boys have scored this season. i said lot of the boys have scored this season. isaid in lot of the boys have scored this season. i said in mid week it was about time i got on the scoresheet so today was the day and it took, i think i was getting in positions before in other games but i never put it in the back of the net but today when it all comes together, three come around, so fortunate today. it's going to be an historic day at wembley, with england's women playing a competitive match there for the first time, kick off is at 5pm. northern ireland are the visitors — and both sides have yet to drop a point in qualifying so far. it's obviously maybe something we thought would happen a bit more frequently following on from the germany game, so for it to finally come around and for it to be the first competitive fixture i think is a milestone for us. so hopefully the performance will match the occasion. although it is massive, it is wembley, it is england, we have a job in hand and we want to get the three points and make this campaign bigger than the last. i think that is what it has come to now. we want to have that feeling again of winning and being in the campaign right to the very end. england's men and women are in rugby league action against france today — it's half—time in the men's game with england leading 20—0. but the women's team have already thrashed the french. they won by 40—4, in the sun in perpignan. super league woman of steel jodie cunningham scored the pick of england's 7 tries. the men's game is on bbc one right now. we kept turning up for each other and that is one of the key things we talk about, turning up for each other no matter what the opposition throw at you. we changed a couple of things and we thought we had them in the middle, but france are a good, tough side, an intimidating atmosphere, but this strengthens us as far as i'm concerned. england have just started their opening match of the t20 world cup against the west indies. earlier australia beat south africa by five wickets in the opening match of the super 12 round of the tournament. neither of the sides has won this competition and south africa didn't get off to the best of starts when quinton de kock dismissed himself in bizarre fashion forjust seven runs. aiden markram top scored with a0 as south africa set australia a target of 119. it ended up being a tight contest with marcus stoinis clinching the victory with just two balls to spare. world no 1 ashleigh barty won't defend her wta finals title next month because of the quarantine rules she'd face on her return to australia. the finals were last held in 2019, but barty won't travel to guadalajara in mexico for this year's event. the current wimbledon champion says she doesn't want to "compromise" her preparation for her home tournament, the australian open in january. barty hasn't played since losing in the third round of the us open in september. 27-3 at 27—3 at the moment now, the west indies, in theirt20 27—3 at the moment now, the west indies, in their t20 world cup opening match against england. that's all the sport for now. you can find more on all those stories on the bbc sport website. the actor alec baldwin was told a gun was safe moments before he fatally shot a crew member on the set of his new film. that's according to new documents filed as part of the on—going police investigation into the killing in new mexico. 0ur north america correspondent david willis reports. emergency phone call: accidentally i shot on a movie set by a prop gun. i we need help immediately. that call to the emergency services, the first public indication of the tragic events that had unfolded in the foothills of northern new mexico. police arrived to find halyna hutchins — an up—and—coming cinematographer — dead, and the film's director, joel souza, badly hurt. their injuries inflicted by the film's star, alec baldwin who — according to court documents — was handed a gun he was told was safe to use, but which was in fact loaded with a live round. in a statement, alec baldwin said he was cooperating with the police investigation. this is not the first tragedy of its kind. nearly 30 years ago, on the set of the film the crow, brandon lee — the son of martial arts expert bruce lee — died after being shot by a gun firing blanks. safety standards have been tightened on film sets since then, but on the family twitter account, brandon's sister, shannon, posted the message, "no—one should ever be killed by a gun on a film set, period." unconfirmed reports suggest that several crew members walked off the set in new mexico only hours before halyna hutchins died, in protest at working conditions and concerns about safety. as detectives comb the set for clues, the key question facing them is, how did a live round end up in a gun fired by alec baldwin? david willis, bbc news, los angeles. the us military says it has killed a senior al-qaeda leader in a drone strike in north—west syria. a us central command spokesman said that abdul hamid al—matar had been successfully targeted using a reaper drone. it's been estimated that uk households bought more than 3 million pets during lockdowns — but some dog owners are now abandoning their pets as normal life resumes. rescue charities say their shelters are being filled, and owners are pretending their dogs are strays in order to get rid of them more easily. others are reporting calls from vets, fearful they will be asked to put down healthy animals because they're no longer wanted. sarah rosserfrom the hope rescue centre in wales says staff have been dealing with many "fake strays." the fake stray phenomenon is not a new thing but we have never seen it at the levels that sadly we are experiencing at the moment. sometimes we might have owners who are on the waiting list, waiting for a space and then we see that dog turned up at the centre as a stray and we also are getting in a number of dogs who are then turning out to have been on sale on gumtree a few days prior, and then they have not been able to sell them and then have brought them into us, pretending they are a stray. how do you go about tackling the issue? is it a case of getting the message out so you can get enough people adopting these former pets? i think so. the biggest message we want to get across to people is that we do understand that there may be genuine reasons why you need to rehome your dog but if you are struggling with behaviour, for example, try to engage with a behaviourist and wait for there to be a rescue space. ring around, get on their waiting lists and when you abandon a dog in this way it puts so much pressure on the system and it also means that we have no history on the animal. so we are starting from scratch with their assessments and with their veterinary treatment rather than having some history which would really benefit that dog going into a new home. is there a concern that centres will just get full and there will be nowhere for them to go? it is a concern for us at the moment because we are definitely in a crisis. we have never had as many dogs coming through our doors, people asking for help, so we are spending a lot of time trying to utilise our resources in the best way possible, engaging with more foster homes and working hard on some of the dogs we have got coming into us with quite complex needs. a small coastal community has been left £41 million in the will of one of its locals. doreen lofthouse was part of the fishermen's friend cough sweet empire and left the money to a charity dedicated to revitalising fleetwood, a lancashire town where fisherman's friend's operations are based and where she grew up. fleetwood town council's vice chairman mary stirzaker told us about doreen lofthouse. she was the mother of fleetwood, an incredible woman. she has donated so much to the town during her life. improving things for fleetwood and its visitors. it has been incredible and i don't know what fleetwood would have done without her, to be honest. she has invested in the promenade and in the pavilion, she has given an eros statue on the roundabout, pointing people towards the town. her business has employed a lot of fleetwood people throughout their lives and ijust hope this continues. this money will mean her legacy, people will never forget doreen lofthouse. she was our mother. she looked after the town and she never forgot her roots. she came from shop girl to global enterprise leader. she just put fleetwood on the map and this money, hopefully, will mean her legacy will continue. now it's time for a look at the weather. quite the wet evening and night to come in northern ireland and for the rest of the uk plenty of clout even though you may not see much in the rain from it, but the western scotland, some areas will see some travel reception. the northern ireland, the rain pushing in support of wales and the western side of england, a mild night to come. tomorrow, outbreaks of rain slipping south—east through wales and england, becoming increasingly patchy and cherie and parts of east anglia and the south—east ? shower e. behind it it will rout and up, and for scotland and northern ireland are much brighter day, may be some showers, occasionally thundery, and still quite windy out there. average speeds.