Private tutors for state schools

26 July 2011 Last updated at 13:26 GMT By Sean Coughlan BBC News education correspondent Private tutors will operate from five secondary schools in East Anglia A private tutor company is going to set up learning centres within five state secondary schools in England, selling extra lessons to schools and parents.

The schools will pay the TLC Education Group ?22 per 80-minute additional lesson for their own pupils.

Parents of pupils from other schools will pay ?27 to attend lessons.

Andrew Hutchinson, head of the Parkside Federation, where tutors will be based, said it would provide one-to-one lessons for a wider range of pupils.

But the ATL teachers' union attacked the scheme as an "unethical use of public money".

'Pragmatic decision'

Head teacher Mr Hutchinson said the tutoring service was a flexible way of supporting pupils, such as those arriving from primary school who needed catch-up lessons or pupils preparing for GCSEs.

Private tutors were already being used by families who could afford it, he said.

"It's a pragmatic decision - trying to broaden the opportunity," said Mr Hutchinson, who runs two Cambridge secondary schools as part of a federation.

Continue reading the main story

For a state-funded school to allow a private firm to use its premises to make money... seems both unfair to those parents who can't afford the extra lessons and an unethical use of public money”

End Quote Martin Freedman ATL And he says that schools should not be "hung up on dogma", but should be finding ways to "provide a more bespoke package for individuals".

A head teachers' union said that "buying in" extra tuition in this way could "make sense".

"Clearly schools will target resources to best meet students' needs and there is good evidence of the benefits of one-on-one tutoring, especially for students who are starting to slip behind," said Sarah Gadzik, spokeswoman for the Association of School and College Leaders.

"Having a tutoring company based in schools is not something we have come across before but, assuming that robust quality assurance measures are in place, it could be a cost-effective way for schools to target support at individual students."

But Martin Freedman of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers criticised the arrangement.

"ATL knows that individual families can make a decision to buy private tuition for their children - but for a state-funded school to allow a private firm to use its premises to make money, and for the school to buy in cheap tuition from that firm instead of employing teachers, seems both unfair to those parents who can't afford the extra lessons and an unethical use of public money."

The private tutors will run "learning centres" in five schools in East Anglia, offering customised lessons in English and maths.

Unfair advantage?

Lessons will be taught in groups of up to five pupils, either in breaks during the day, after school, weekends or in school holidays.

In exchange for providing premises, the school receives a reduced rate for lessons bought by the school for its pupils.

But the tutors based in these schools will also teach pupils from other local schools, at the higher cost of ?27 per session.

And parents in the five schools who want extra lessons outside those offered through the school, can also pay private rates for private lessons.

The schools are Samuel Ward Academy and Wymondham High School in Norfolk, two schools in the Parkside Federation in Cambridge - Coleridge Community College and Parkside Community College - and the Open Academy in Norwich.

There have been longstanding questions about the impact of private tuition on exam results - and about the advantages gained by pupils whose parents can afford extra lessons.

Much of this extra tuition has been at home - or in after-school catch-up classes - so the extent of this additional coaching has remained uncertain.

A survey carried out for the Sutton Trust education charity two years ago found that about one in five secondary pupils in England was receiving lessons from private tutors.

But this was particularly concentrated in some areas - with the survey claiming that 43% of pupils in London were receiving extra lessons.

Another survey of parents of grammar-school pupils carried out three years ago suggested that almost half had paid for tuition for their children when they were preparing for the 11-plus test.

Simon Barnes, director of TLC Education, said: "Our partnerships mean that we can help improve examination grades and build confidence in students of all ages and abilities."

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Poor 'lag' in struggling schools

10 July 2011 Last updated at 23:06 GMT Schools falling below government targets are considered to be 'underperforming' The gap between the poorest pupils and their better-off peers in struggling schools in England is wider than in other schools, research suggests.

A Sutton Trust study found pupils eligible for free school meals in schools below national standards were a third as likely to reach GCSE targets as better-off peers elsewhere.

White British pupils "seemed to pose the biggest challenge", the study said.

The government said it was targeting funds at the poorest pupils.

The trust studied 165,000 pupils in primary and secondary schools in England whose results fell below targets set by the government.

It found only 40% of these children reached expected standards at primary school, compared to 81% of children not eligible for free meals who attended schools which attained the government targets.

At secondary level, only 18% reached the target level - five A-C GCSE passes including English and maths - while 61% of their wealthier peers in schools that were not struggling reached the benchmark.

"These attainment gaps are significantly larger than the gaps between free school meals-eligible pupils in all schools and their peers who are not eligible for free school meals," the report said.

At secondary level, white British children in this category lagged behind most other major ethnic groups.

For example, they were only half as likely to reach the GCSE target as Bangladeshi children, and also lagged behind Pakistani, Black African, Caribbean and Asian pupils.

In the primary schools identified as underperforming in 2010, attainment had dropped 13% in the past three years, the study said.

'Stark reminder'

The trust is launching an Education Endowment Foundation (EEF) targeting this group of children, using ?125m of government money and income from other sources.

Continue reading the main story

It is a scandal that the results of the poorest children in the weakest primary schools have actually worsened over the last three years”

End Quote Education Secretary Michael Gove Charities, schools, local authorities and other organisations will be able to apply for funds for projects aimed at raising the attainment of the poorest children in the worst-performing schools.

The Sutton Trust says it will aim to focus support on "innovative projects and on scaling-up projects which are cost effective and have the potential to be replicated in other schools".

Sir Peter Lampl, chairman of the EEF and the Sutton Trust, said the research was "a stark reminder of the inequalities facing poor pupils in this country".

"Too little is known about what works in raising the achievement of the poorest pupils and it is incumbent on us... to help address this."

Education Secretary Michael Gove said: "It is a scandal that the results of the poorest children in the weakest primary schools have actually worsened over the last three years."

He said the new fund, together with the pupil premium - money allocated to schools for every child they teach who is eligible for free school meals - would "ensure that more resources and expertise get to the children who need it most".

Raising standards

In June he announced that 200 of the worst-performing schools in England would be closed and reopened as academies, run independently of local authorities, in September 2012.

A further 500 schools would be targeted for conversion in the following years, he said.

He also said he planned to raise the targets for secondary schools.

At present a school is assessed as underperforming if fewer than 35% of pupils get five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including maths and English,

But the government plans to raise this to 50% by 2015.

For primary schools, the target is 60% of pupils achieving level four in English and maths in the national curriculum tests known as Sats.

Also, for either a primary or a secondary school to be considered underperforming, more pupils than the national average must be failing to make the expected amount of progress in maths and English.

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County told it is failing schools

13 July 2011 Last updated at 15:23 GMT Estyn found Blaenau Gwent's education services for children and young people unsatisfactory Blaenau Gwent has become the first Welsh local education authority to go in to special measures after a report found "systemic" management failures.

Education Minister Leighton Andrews said a task force led by Neath Port Talbot council will be brought in.

Blaenau Gwent, which accepted change was needed, must now provide an immediate action plan for its 34 schools.

Mr Andrews said the shortcomings are "quite simply unacceptable".

"Scrutiny of education by elected members has too often been undermined by political point scoring.

"This has meant education officers and head teachers have not been held accountable for poor performance, effectively letting them off the hook.

Stood down

Continue reading the main story

There can be no excuses for letting children and young people down this badly”

End Quote Leighton Andrews Education Minister "Much of Blaenau Gwent is of course severely deprived. That means that a small council faces significant challenges across all of the services it provides, " Mr Andrews said.

"But that cannot be an excuse - there can be no excuses for letting children and young people down this badly"

Blaenau Gwent's executive member for education Stephen Bard has stood down.

According to Estyn an authority is placed in special measures when it fails to give pupils an acceptable standard of education, and the people responsible for leading, managing or governing it do not have the ability to make the necessary improvements.

Estyn's report found that children and young people in Blaenau Gwent "do not make good progress" and that standards "are well below what is expected".

Continue reading the main story

The authority should:

Raise skills levels and secure better outcomes for learners at all key stages and in the youth support serviceChallenge schools more robustly and provide prioritised support for schools according to needIdentify and challenge under performance in schoolsEvaluate the effectiveness of provision both within the education service and across partnerships serving children and young peopleIncrease pupil attendance rates in all schoolsSecure sustainable improvements in the percentage of post 16 learners in full time education, training or employmentImprove scrutiny of the council executive to account for the performance of local authority services and hold head teachers to account for the performance of individual schoolsImprove provision for learners with additional learning needsSource: Estyn reportSupport for school improvement and additional learning needs was unsatisfactory, the report found.

Estyn found the authority had unsatisfactory prospects for improvement because senior officers and elected members of successive administrations had provided unsatisfactory leadership.

Managers did not evaluate the impact of initiatives or target resources to learners with the greatest need, and leaders and managers had a track record of "slow and incomplete" responses to recommendations from successive Estyn inspection reports.

It the first Welsh council to receive an overall "unsatisfactory" judgment since Estyn introduced a new inspection regime last year.

Dr Philip Dixon of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said the report made "disturbing reading".

Clear direction

"We are talking about the futures of the children in one of the most deprived parts of Wales," he said.

"The local authority is obviously too small to deliver effectively and the report is another filip for those who want to see education delivered on a more effective consortia basis.

"It also shows the catastrophic effects of long term failures in political leadership, and an apparently revolving door in regard to senior management."

However, Dr Dixon said the report also raised more questions than it answered as Welsh Government data recently showed Blaenau Gwent was the third best performing authority in Wales in terms of "value added".

Blaenau Gwent leader Des Hillman said the council was already working with other authorities to raise standards.

He said: "Progress has not been as fast as we want, and more needs to be done.

"The tough decisions we have already taken mirror the clear direction set by the education minister and the Welsh Government's policy directives but clearly we need to do more.

Denbighshire was placed under special measures in 2007 under a previous Estyn framework.

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Indiana schools drop handwriting

12 July 2011 Last updated at 11:02 GMT Education officials say the move makes sense in a computerised world Indiana is the latest US state which will not require its schoolchildren to learn joined-up, or cursive, writing.

But students will have to learn basic typing skills, which education officials say are more useful in the modern employment world.

The move is part of the Common Core State Standards Initiative, which aims to ensure consistency in US education and makes no mention of handwriting.

But critics say writing well is a vital skill for life and builds character.

US schoolchildren currently learn to write with joined-up writing from about the age of eight.

But under the core standards - which were released in June 2010 and have been adopted by nearly all US states - there is no requirement for them to do so.

'Progressive'

Children from grade six upwards - about 11 years old - will, however, be expected to "demonstrate sufficient command of keyboarding skills to type a minimum of three pages in a single sitting".

Many schools have said there simply is not enough time in the term to teach children both.

Dr Scott Hamilton, an Indiana clinical psychologist, said the time children spend labouring over script could be better used.

"From an intuitive standpoint, this makes sense, based on the increasingly digital world into which this generation of children is growing up," he said.

Denna Renbarger, an education official in Lawrence Township, Indiana, said there were many more important things for students to be learning at school

"I think it's progressive of our state to be ahead on this," she told the Indianapolis Star.

Indiana officials have stressed that the standards are not exhaustive and that teachers could continue teaching handwriting if they chose.

But some parents, teachers and psychologists have reacted angrily to the move, saying there is more to handwriting than being able to write quickly.

"The fluidity of cursive allows for gains in spelling and a better tie to what they are reading and comprehending through stories and through literature," Paul Sullivan, head teacher of a school in California, told CNN.

"I think there's a firmer connection of wiring between the brain's processes of learning these skills and the actual practice of writing."

Parent Jerry Long told the Indianapolis Star he was worried about what the new system could mean for his sixth grade daughter in the future.

"I don't agree with it. How are they supposed to know how to sign their names?"

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Funds 'push schools into phonics'

7 July 2011 Last updated at 14:45 GMT By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter The report places an emphasis on the importance of reading for pleasure Schools in England are being given financial incentives by the government to use certain phonics materials to teach reading, MPs have said.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group for Education said matched funding was directing schools towards a "small range of products".

It also warns this way of teaching reading by blending sounds can "switch off" children from a love of books.

The government said the phonics system was proven to work.

A phonic system is where children are taught the individual sounds of each letter and group of letters, then how to blend those sounds to make words.

The report on literacy, by the independent cross-party group of MPs, says: "For cash-strapped schools the incentive to take advantage of the matched funding offered for phonics products and training will push them in the direction of synthetic phonics."

'Broad approach'

It adds: "Phonics materials are being assessed externally and approved at departmental level and linked to a matched funding stream.

"Additionally the matched funding stream is only available to those approved products purchased through one supplier appointed to the catalogue of resources.

"The message appears to be that if educational professionals want to take advantage of matched funding, they have to buy from only a small range of products and only from one source.

"The financial incentive will be very strong and will be hard to ignore for many cash-strapped schools."

The report says: "This is in contrast to many teachers' experience that a broad-ranging approach to literacy, alongside one-to-one tuition is most effective."

Instead schools should be free to choose their own resources to suit the literacy needs of their pupils, the MPs' report argues.

'Reading for pleasure'

It says: "There should be no government prescription of resources, and funding should be given directly to the professionals to deal with their school's literacy issues, for example, targeted support for a wide range of programmes that have been proven to work such as Reading Recovery."

It also argues that schools should have a whole-school approach to reading, in which teachers and parents are encouraged to work together.

This way children should learn that reading is for meaning and enjoyment as well as an essential skill.

And it says there is still a need for reading to be encouraged in the early years of secondary school, when teenagers are starting to become independent readers.

"The active encouragement of reading for pleasure should be a core part of every child's curriculum entitlement because extensive reading and exposure to a wide range of texts make a huge contribution to students' educational achievement," it adds.

Schools Minister Nick Gibb said studies showed the systematic teaching of synthetic phonics was the best way to teach basic reading skills, especially to those aged five to seven.

"It is vital that we focus on the reading skills of children early on in their lives and give those who are struggling the extra help they need to enable them to go on to enjoy a lifetime's love of reading rather than a lifelong struggle.

"Schools have the option of applying for match-funding to buy approved products and training to help them teach high-quality systematic synthetic phonics."

Responding to the report, the National Union of Teachers (NUT) accused the government of adopting a "heavy-handed" approach and a "one-size-fits-all" policy.

"Yet again we see a blatant disregard for the opinion of teachers and a total lack of trust in their judgement," she said.

"Synthetic phonics is not the Holy Grail when it comes to the teaching of reading.

"As this report warns, being prescriptive about teaching methods for reading can alienate children from this process."

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Schools' Oxbridge divide 'stark'

8 July 2011 Last updated at 13:49 GMT By Sanchia Berg BBC Today programme Cambridge and Oxford Universities are under pressure to boost their intakes of poorer students Just five schools in England sent more pupils to Oxford and Cambridge over three years than nearly 2,000 others combined, researchers have found.

The Sutton Trust charity said its school-by-school data on university entry showed "stark" differences.

BBC analysis of the data shows private schools often get more pupils into selective universities than state schools with similar results do.

Universities called for more freedom in offering places to bright state pupils.

The Sutton Trust has, for the first time, combined individual schools' A-level results with data from the university admissions body Ucas.

Its table shows, by individual school, what percentage of pupils went forward into higher education in general, and what percentage went to a list of 30 universities the charity considers "highly selective".

Continue reading the main story

A bright student is a bright student is a bright student... it doesn't matter what their school or educational background is, the interview will allow us to pull that out”

End Quote Mike Nicholson Director of undergraduate admissions, Oxford University Four independent schools - Eton, Westminster, St Paul's Boys and St Paul's Girls - and state-funded Hills Road Sixth Form College in Cambridge, together sent 946 pupils to Oxford and Cambridge between 2007 and 2009.

By contrast, 2,000 lower-performing schools combined sent a total of 927 students to the two elite universities, getting less than 6% of available places, the Sutton Trust found.

Many of these schools sent no pupils at all, or on average fewer than one per year.

The BBC used the data to compare schools with similar average A-level points against each other, and found that the figures suggested a gap remained between independent and state schools' university admissions.

For example, among schools where pupils achieved an average of 801-850 A-level points each (900 is equivalent to three A grades), 26% of the comprehensive school pupils went on to the selective universities, compared with 45% of the independent school pupils.

Continue reading the main story And for schools with 851-900 A-level points per student, 50% of independent school pupils got places at the selective universities, while only 32% of comprehensive pupils did.

Sutton Trust chairman Sir Peter Lampl said "stark inequalities" in university entrance were driven primarily by the exam results.

Independent and selective state schools tend to dominate the highest A-level grade scores.

But he added that the data "reveals that university chances can vary dramatically for schools with similar average grades".

The Trust also noted that pupils from high-attaining independent schools put in more applications to highly selective universities than comprehensive school peers with similar grades.

'Subjects are key'

However, the Russell Group, which represents 20 leading universities, said it was concerned that the Sutton Trust report failed to explain fully the reasons behind the gap.

Universities say A-level subject choice is often a factor in place offers

It said a simple A-level point score did not show what subjects were taken, nor exactly what grades were achieved.

Professor Anna Vignoles of the Institute of Education has researched the issue.

She also notes that students with good grades may still not have studied the required subjects for certain courses.

And she adds that a points average might camouflage wide grade variation within an individual school.

But even so, there is still some disparity in acceptances between independent and state schools with similar grades which could not be explained away, she said.

"In our research, not all of that gap disappears even when you account for subject and choice at A-level."

Mike Nicholson, director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford, said that the university targeted state schools which had little or no history of sending pupils there.

In recent years, state school applications had risen, he added.

During the selection process, the university now flags up candidates with excellent results who are from disadvantaged backgrounds - whether from an under-achieving school, a postcode indicating deprivation, or time spent in the care system.

Such candidates may be fast-tracked to interview.

"A bright student is a bright student is a bright student... it doesn't matter what their school or educational background is, the interview will allow us to pull that out," said Mr Nicholson.

'Damning indictment'

Universities UK, the vice-chancellors' umbrella body, called on the government to demonstrate a "strong will and commitment" in backing the use of such information - sometimes called "contextual data" - about deprived students' backgrounds, in university admissions processes.

In its recent White Paper, the government outlined plans to allow universities to offer as many places as they want to students with AAB grades at A-level.

These must "explicitly allow universities to use contextual data in the admissions process", said UUK president Professor Sir Steve Smith.

"However, we must make sure that efforts to increase the participation rate of disadvantaged students isn't focused solely on a handful of the most competitive courses and universities," he added.

The University and College Union said the report showed that an expansion of places for students with AAB grades "would most likely be filled by students from the most privileged backgrounds".

The National Union of Students called for changes to the admissions system, to allow university place offers to be based on actual rather than predicted grades, arguing that poorer students were more likely to receive inaccurate grade predictions.

Its president, Liam Burns, also called for more powers for the Office of Fair Access to tackle the "entrenched bias of some universities".

But the Schools Minister Nick Gibb said the report was a "damning indictment" of "Labour's failure to improve social mobility".

"Despite all their promises, they left hundreds of thousands of children with little to no chance of getting to the best universities," he said.

Mr Gibb said the government was tackling the problem by improving schools and targeting funding at the poorest pupils.

The Department for Education said it was planning to publish, from next year, school-by-school data on the proportion of pupils going on to university, as well as destinations of post-16 school leavers.

But critics, including Labour, argue that the government's decision to allow universities to charge up to ?9,000 per year in tuition fees is likely to put off students from deprived backgrounds.

The fees are paid up front by the government in the form of a loan, which is then paid back after the student graduates and is earning above ?21,000 a year.

The Office of Fair Access is due next week to publish the "access agreements" under which universities wanting to charge higher fees commit to targets for recruiting disadvantaged students.

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Dog mess disrupts York school's lessons

7 July 2011 Last updated at 14:27 GMT Council signs on the field clearly show the area set aside for use by the children Staff and pupils at a York school say sports lessons and after-school clubs are regularly disrupted due to the amount of dog mess on a nearby field.

The council-owned field, next to Scarcroft Primary, is open to the public, but part of it is set aside for the school's outdoor activities.

Pupils are now appealing for dog owners to take their animals elsewhere.

Pupil Esther Nixon said: "We just end up going inside because there's too much mess. It's really irresponsible."

Scarcroft Primary said games lessons, art clubs and football matches had all been affected by the problem.

'Quite outrageous'

Signs and fences erected by York Council clearly indicate the area of the field set aside for use by the school, but pupils said these were being ignored by some dog owners.

Pupil Lucas Hindle said: "We can put cones on the dog mess but it's not ideal when you want to play football.

"It's not very nice. It's quite outrageous really."

Ruth Wanless, the school's deputy head teacher, said there had been "several occasions" when children were forced to turn back from the field.

Mrs Wanless said while the school did have a playground, the field was "very precious" to the children.

"It's their opportunity to go out onto an open field without playground equipment on it," she said.

Pupil Maddie Goodwin said she hoped dog owners would take heed of their plea and keep off the field.

"There are other people out here who would really like it if there wasn't as much dog fouling," she said.

"They should use the dog fouling bins. They're there for a purpose."

Janet Looker, City of York Council's cabinet minister for communities and neighbourhoods, said she "absolutely endorsed" the appeal.

Owners who fail to clear up dog mess face prosecution or a ?50 fixed penalty notice.

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'Rate schools' on degree places

8 July 2011 Last updated at 12:09 GMT By Hannah Richardson BBC News education reporter Eyes on the prize: schools should focus on university entrance, says Ucas chief Schools should be rated on the number of pupils they get into universities, the head of the university admissions says.

Ucas chief Mary Curnock Cook says league tables have led schools to "unduly" focus on upping GCSE results.

She argues the focus should now switch to schools' higher education success to boost the number of poor pupils in universities.

The government plans to publish data on the destination of schools leavers.

Ucas chief executive Mrs Curnock Cook said: "Schools for many years have been completely focused on getting their percentage of five good GCSEs up.

"Until the government measures and tracks the destination of school leavers into higher education I don't think it will change. I think it is almost essential.

"Higher education has become mass education and more people enter higher education today than took O-levels in the early 1980s.

"The measure of performance in schools needs to shift up in the way that achievement has."

'Ambitions'

The comments come as a report for the education charity, the Sutton Trust, suggests five schools - including four top independent schools - get more pupils into Oxford and Cambridge than another 2,000 schools put together.

Continue reading the main story

Parents need as much data so they can make genuinely informed choices about which school is right for their child. ”

End Quote Department for Education Ms Curnock Cook also suggested that some schools were encouraging pupils into taking GCSE-equivalents, which will help pupils get through the five good GCSEs threshold, but which could hold them back in their university ambitions.

She said: "Some of these more applied-style qualifications are supposed to be equivalent to four to five GCSEs.

"One of the problems is that young people are advised at age 13 parents' evenings to take OCRs or BTecs, not that I have anything against these qualifications, but it is then much harder for them to transfer into the GCE (A-level) curriculum.

"Young people need to understand that more broadly based academic subjects won't close the door to anything.

"If you have a clutch of 3.5 A-levels - it gives you a broad spread of courses you can apply for," she added.

'Informed choices'

Some 73% of students who are accepted on to degree courses do so with A-levels. This rises to 90% for Russell Group universities.

A Department for Education spokesman said: "We live in an age when people expect to have access to much more information about every area of their lives, and schools should be no different.

"Parents need as much data so they can make genuinely informed choices about which school is right for their child.

"We are going to be publishing far more information about how schools do - including from next year, the proportion of students getting into Higher Education as well as into the top universities.

"This will help up standards; reduces perverse incentives to offer qualifications which universities and employers do not value; and make schools more accountable for their performance."

This week, Ucas reported a small increase of 1.4% on applications for university courses starting in 2011 compared to this time last year.

But this slight rise comes against the backdrop of a 3% dip in the number of 18-year-olds in the UK population compared to last year and a significant increase in the number of higher level apprenticeships being taken.

Some 566,000 candidates based in the UK have applied to universities so far this year. Last year some 432,524 applicants were accepted on to courses.

And there has been a significant drop, 36.7% or 17,447, in the number of applicants planning to defer their course for a year. Deferring would mean they would be paying higher tuition fees.

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'12,000 schools' hit by strikes

30 June 2011 Last updated at 14:13 GMT Teachers and lecturers make up the bulk of those protesting Hundreds of thousands of pupils across England and Wales have missed lessons as teachers staged a one-day strike over changes to their pensions.

At least 12,000 schools are known to have been closed or partly closed. Unions say the total is higher.

It is the biggest walk-out by teachers in a generation.

The Education Secretary Michael Gove says he is "disappointed" by the strike.

Action is being taken by members of the National Union of Teachers, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers and the University and College union.

Teachers say planned changes will mean they will have to work longer, pay more and get less when they retire.

Regional variations

College lecturers are also staging a strike and say 350 colleges and 75 newer universities are being hit.

Teachers and lecturers make up the largest group among the hundreds of thousands of public sector workers striking on Thursday over planned changes to their pensions.

According to the Department for Education, about a third of England's schools are completely closed, a third are partially closed and one third are open.

The department based its a calculations on data from 80% of schools.

The NUT believes more schools were affected and estimates 85% of schools in England were are either closed or partially closed.

In Wales, more than half of schools - about 1,000 - are fully or partly shut, with 20,000 teachers there joining the protest.

Continue reading the main story

We're still in negotiations and the people who really lose out as a result of today's strike are children who are not in school enjoying their lessons”

End Quote Michael Gove Education Secretary Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said: "Today's action across the country demonstrates the anger and distress that this government is causing teachers. Their unjustified attacks on teachers' pensions are nothing short of disgraceful.

"Teachers are dedicated to the children and young people whom they teach. They are professionals and do not take strike action lightly. But they cannot stand back and see their pensions attacked when all the evidence shows that they are affordable and sustainable and that their costs are falling."

As many teachers prepared to join rallies around the country, Mr Gove went to a primary school in London which was open.

He told reporters: "I feel disappointed that people have chosen to go out on strike today. I understand that there are really strong feelings about pensions and we absolutely want to ensure that everyone in the public, especially teachers, have decent pensions.

The NUT's Christine Blower and Andy Brown of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers explain why they are taking strike action

"We're still in negotiations and the people who really lose out as a result of today's strike are children who are not in school enjoying their lessons, and in particular hard-working parents, who have been put to quite a lot of inconvenience as a result of this action."

The government says changes to public sector pensions are essential to make them sustainable for the public purse and fair to all tax-payers.

The impact of the strike on individual schools is varied, depending on how many teachers belong to the ATL and NUT.

Around 220,000 members of the NUT and 80,000 members of the ATL in England and Wales were eligible to strike.

Regional picture

In some parts of the country the majority of schools are disrupted. In Oldham, Greater Manchester, 80% of schools are closed or partially closed.

In West Yorkshire, about 460 out of 900 are affected.

Continue reading the main story

We should look after the teachers more than anyone else because they are helping the future”

End Quote Peminder Grewal, parent Support for the strike appears strong in London. In Camden, all but four of the area's 58 schools are completely closed.

In the London Borough of Brent, 64 out of 78 schools are closed or partially closed (82%).

In Kent and Shropshire, about one third of schools are closed or partially closed, while in Surrey, about a third of the county's 400 state schools are shut.

In East Sussex more than half of schools are closed, while about a quarter of schools in Slough are.

Private schools

The strike action is also affecting schools in the independent sector. Some 18,000 of its teachers are members of the ATL, of whom more than 4,000 voted in favour of striking in the union's ballot.

Many teachers at private schools belong to the teachers' pension scheme.

Lord Hutton, in his review of public sector pensions, said having non public sector workers in state schemes could increase their financial risk.

The ATL fears that the government plans to exclude independent school staff from the pension scheme - which it says would affect 60,000 teachers.

David Levin, headmaster of the City of London Boys' School, said a handful of his staff would be on strike and lessons affected would be covered by senior management.

The BBC's Wales correspondent, Colette Hulme, talks to a head teacher at a school in Cardiff

Mr Levin said teachers who were taking action were doing so in sorrow rather than in anger.

"They think it's a matter of conscience. They are very reluctant and, with great regret, are exercising their conscience."

Mr Levin, who also chairs the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference, said he knew of a number of independent schools that would be affected by the strike, but all were determined to stay open.

Family challenge

The Education Secretary Michael Gove has repeatedly complained about the likely impact of the teachers' strike on parents.

But Mary Bousted, general secretary of the ATL, said: "We regret any inconvenience caused to parents, but a one-day strike will have significantly less impact on children's education than the damage done by making education an unattractive career".

Siobhan Freegard, the co-founder of the parenting website Netmums said many parents were supportive of their children's teachers' right to take action - but support might wane if the action continued.

"It is a pain, there's no doubt about it, lots of mums are having to take time off or make other arrangements, " she said.

"Nobody is really blaming anybody."

"Tolerance is not going to stretch very far because the majority of mums now work. One or two days are fine, and businesses understand, but a lot of people work in situations where businesses aren't going to put up with taking all these days off, and, as with snow days, start docking money."

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Strike to hit Welsh schools

28 June 2011 Last updated at 14:51 GMT Almost 40,000 teachers and civil servants will strike in a dispute over pensions.

Nearly half of Wales' schools will be affected on Thursday if planned strike action by teachers goes ahead.

The National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) have said they will take part in industrial action over pension changes.

Of approximately 1,880 schools in Wales nearly 400 have said they will be closed and around 440 partially closed.

The Welsh Government said it aimed to "minimise the impact" on its services.

UK Education Secretary Michael Gove has said the strike would harm the teaching profession's reputation.

With thousands of teachers expected to join in the action on Thursday, parents across Wales are having to reconsider their childcare arrangements.

Some areas look likely to be worst hit than others.

They include Newport where 43 schools are set to close or partially close, whereas in Ceredigion the authority said it had received no confirmation of any school's intention to take strike action.

More than 100 schools will be closed or partially closed in Cardiff with only 16 across the city saying they expect to be fully open.

In Pembrokeshire two schools out of 71 will fully close and 41 will be open but closed for some classes, while in Conwy around 38 will be affected. In Wrexham, nine of its schools are scheduled tol be closed or partially closed, with two open.

A list of councils and how they expect to be affected is here.

Continue reading the main story

ATL is renowned for its moderation. This is the first time in 127 years that we have gone on national strike”

End Quote Dr Philip Dixon ATL The walk outs across Wales and England are the unions' response to changes to public sector pensions.

Ministers and union leaders are holding talks in the run up to a planned strike.

Thousands of other public sector workers, including court workers and police support staff, will take co-ordinated strike action on Thursday.

Members of the PCS union will join teaching unions in a walkout over pay and pensions.

Dr Philip Dixon, director of ATL Cymru, said he had never seen such spontaneous anger from teachers before.

"Teachers are not doing this lightly," said Mr Dixon. "ATL is renowned for its moderation. This is the first time in 127 years that we have gone on national strike.

"That's an indication of how strongly our members feel about the proposals, and how angry they are that the government in Westminster will not enter into meaningful negotiations, that they just want to impose this onto teachers."

Dr Dixon said the union's members were particularly angry about the proposal that teachers work until they are 68.

"Teaching is a very demanding job, both physically and mentally," he said. "Do we really want children being taught by 68-year-olds?"

David Evans, secretary of NUT Cymru, said the union remained committed to try to have meaningful discussions with the UK government, and that the day of strike action was "the last resort".

He said: "No one wants to go on strike and we would happily call it off if the government wanted to play ball, but it seems to be their way or no way.

"There's clearly essential information they are withholding from us. Their refusal to budge on any issues is unfortunate.

"That's not the way government should operate when you are talking about so many thousands of public sector employees.

"It's almost as if they want the strike action, but that's not in anybody's interests."

Continue reading the main story

Pensions are not a devolved matter and our focus is on minimising the impact of any industrial action on our public services”

End Quote Welsh Government Teaching unions not striking on Thursday have issued their members with legal advice on the strike.

Anna Brychan, director of NAHT Cymru, said: "We have made our members aware that the decision on whether to keep their school open or not will depend on a health and safety risk assessment on the day.

"We would also expect employees to make every reasonable attempt to cross the picket line."

Ms Brychan added that NAHT Cymru would be balloting for strike action "probably in the autumn".

"We do have significant concerns about current pension proposals and their impact on recruiting," she said.

Though not taking part itslef, Wales-based education UCAC said it supported the strike action.

Elaine Edwards, UCAC's general secretary said: "We're one hundred per cent behind this strike. The viciousness of the Government's attacks on public sector pensions is entirely uncalled-for.

"The government's proposals will mean a severe and immediate pay cut for staff, and will see teachers and lecturers struggling to make ends meet in their retirement."

A Welsh Government spokesperson said: "Most public sector workforce groups in Wales are covered by UK or England and Wales pay arrangements.

"This includes the civil service, the NHS, teachers, other local government, higher education and further education staff.

"As such, pensions are not a devolved matter and our focus is on minimising the impact of any industrial action on our public services."

Prime Minister David Cameron is due to make another call for public sector workers to call off Thursday's strike over pensions later.

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Strike to hit over 5,000 schools

28 June 2011 Last updated at 16:20 GMT By Katherine Sellgren BBC News education reporter Education Secretary Michael Gove: "Strike will cause a massive inconvenience to hard-working families"

More than 3,000 schools in England and Wales will be closed and some 2,200 partially closed on Thursday when two teaching unions stage strike action.

Education Secretary Michael Gove, who announced the figures, said the strike action, over pension changes, was regrettable, unnecessary and premature.

He was responding to an urgent Commons question by his shadow, Andy Burnham.

Action is being taken by members of the National Union of Teachers and the Association of Teachers and Lecturers.

They say the changes will mean they will have to work longer, pay more and get less when they retire.

Mr Gove told the Commons the strike would cause "massive inconvenience to hard-working families" and would hit working women particularly hard.

"This strike, at this time will not help our schools," he said.

He said his department had established that 3,206 schools would be closed and 2,206 would be partially closed on Thursday.

In total 84 academies would be shut and 128 partially closed.

Mr Gove said when the figures were collated on Monday, the situation with another 10,872 schools was "not at that stage known".

Further updates would be released on Wednesday and on Thursday.

He said: "In order to minimise the impact of this strike on working parents I wrote last week to all local authorities, as the employers of teachers, and to all schools, emphasising their duty to keep schools open wherever possible.

"In response to requests from governors, I also laid out the flexibilities at the disposal of schools to ensure that they stayed open.

"Schools can vary staff/pupil ratios, they can depart from the national curriculum and they can draw on voluntary support from the wider community, with those who have been CRB-checked able to provide particular help.

Ballots

"Nothing can replace the great teaching offered by gifted professionals, but I would far rather see schools stayed open and offered a restricted curriculum than see hard-working families have to lose a day's pay themselves or have to pay for ad hoc and expensive last-minute childcare."

Mr Burnham said: "On Thursday children should be at school, their parents at work.

"On this side we have said consistently that these strikes are a mistake."

But he said he the government could not "evade its share of the responsibility for the disruption".

About 220,000 NUT members were balloted over the pensions changes. Around nine out of 10 (92%) of those who voted, backed the strike action with a turnout of 40%

Just over half of the ATL's members were eligible to vote - the rest are not members of the pension scheme.

Some 83% of its eligible members who voted backed the strike action - on a turn-out of 35%.

The Girls' School Association, which represents independent girls' schools, said some of its schools had ATL members who would be taking action.

But a spokewoman said schools would remain open as usual.

"We're not aware of any schools that are closing. All schools seem to be making reasonable adjustments to keep the schools open," she said.

Civil servants are also staging strikes over pension changes.

Prime Minister David Cameron has urged them to call the action off.

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Bishop warns over schools changes

20 June 2011 Last updated at 17:22 GMT The government is keen to expand the number of academies in England A leading bishop has warned that the Church of England must "act now" to secure its role in education amid swift policy change.

Rt Rev John Pritchard, who chairs the Church's education board, said "very short notice" changes were "not the best way to build for the future".

He expressed concern about support for Church-run academies and the exclusion of RE from the English baccalaureate.

The government said RE was important and remained compulsory.

"The changes brought in by the present Coalition government present significant challenges to the Church' s continued involvement in the public education system," Rt Rev Pritchard wrote in a report to General Synod.

"The changed rationale and growth of academies requires action now to ensure the survival of our provision."

The rapid pace of change was "not the best way to build for the future", he said.

The Bishop of Oxford said there were "serial challenges" to the "national well-being" of religious education in non-faith schools.

The exclusion of the subject from the English Baccalaureate had had an "immediate and depressing effect" on the GCSE choices pupils were making nationally, he said.

The Ebacc is awarded to students who get good GCSE passes in English, maths, two science qualifications, a language and history or geography, and is already one of the measures used to rank schools in league tables.

He said standards in RE were "not healthy" and teaching about Christianity was "generally not well done".

Even the Church of England's own schools should not be "overly complacent" about their teaching of Christianity, he wrote.

The Department for Education said RE was an "important part of the curriculum - that is why it remains compulsory".

The English Baccalaureate is "about ensuring pupils from all backgrounds have the chance to study a core of the main subjects, including those such as languages and history where entries have declined in recent years in a number of schools", a spokesman said.

Success in the RE GCSE will continue to be recognised by other school performance table measures and as a qualification in its own right, the spokesman added.

Faith-based places

Rt Rev Pritchard also said "hostility towards faith-based schools" had increased, with "renewed attacks" on the principle of reserving places for children who attend church.

The Bishop said earlier this year that he believed up to seven in 10 Church of England schools could become academies in the next five years.

The report points out that already, with at least 42 academies, the Church of England is the largest single provider of academy schools.

But it says only "a very small number" have places which will be allocated on the basis of religious observance.

The bishop warned that there had been a danger that Church of England schools that became academies could "let the Church foundation drift until it had no meaning".

This had been averted by the production of Church guidelines for new academies, he said.

But dioceses would increasingly need to develop ways to support schools in the way that local authorities currently do, for example by managing "poor performance" in Church schools, he said.

The Church of England has around 4,700 schools educating almost a million children.

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New free schools bids total 281

20 June 2011 Last updated at 15:16 GMT Many free schools are trying to set up in existing buildings There have been 281 bids to open free schools in England in the second round of applications, the Department for Education has said.

It follows 323 applications made in the first round, of which more than 12 are expected to open in September.

The government says free schools, set up by parents, teachers and other groups, will increase provision and drive up standards.

But a teachers' union said money was being squandered on "trophy schools".

Free schools are founded as academy schools, funded directly by central government, and outside the control of local authorities.

Proposers include community groups, charities, businesses, universities, trusts and religious and voluntary bodies.

The second round of applications includes proposals for 37 university technical colleges (UTCs).

These are secondary schools sponsored by universities and local employers, which have a focus on developing vocational and technical skills alongside traditional academic disciplines.

The second round of applications to set up free schools were received by the Department for Education between 17 March and 15 June.

Michael Gove said free schools will be 'free from meddling and prescription"

Of the 281 bids, 227 were for mainstream schools, 20 for schools for children with special educational needs, and 34 for alternative provision schools, such as pupil referral units.

Of the 227 mainstream applications, 56% were from local groups, with 18% from independent schools wishing to move into the state sector, and 5% from groups that already run existing academy schools.

The proportion of faith school applications dropped from 49% last year to 29% this year.

Nearly a third - 81 - of the applications were for schools in London.

The successful bidders will be announced in September.

'Ending rationing'

Speaking at the Policy Exchange, Education Secretary Michael Gove said there had been "no drop-off in momentum" in applications.

He said it was "remarkable" that "over a dozen" free schools were due to open this year.

"Before the election, countless people told me that it was foolish to expect any free schools at all to open in September 2011. But we proved them wrong."

"We are not being prescriptive about free schools and so they come in all shapes and sizes," he said.

Some were housed in existing schools, while others would be in adapted buildings including a former library in London and an office building in Norwich, he said.

The government had also made the application process "more rigorous", he said, and introduced interviews for applicants.

"We are absolutely determined to ensure that no one who has an extremist agenda - whether it's politically or religiously extremist - has access to public money," he added, saying a team had been set up to vet applicants.

Mr Gove said about a third of the free schools aiming to open in September were located in the most deprived 20% of the country.

The Department for Education says that the number of new applications is in line with expectations.

The first application window ran from 18 June 2010 to 11 February of this year.

'Lavishing' money

The National Union of Teachers said it was "shameful" the government was "squandering public money on a few 'trophy schools'" at a time of "huge cuts" .

General secretary Christine Blower said there had been "a disproportionate amount of help and investment of resources into supporting these few schools".

This had come from 100 DfE staff and from the government body Partnership for Schools, which had been helping to find and fund free schools' premises, she said.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) said Mr Gove had not detailed the full amount of money spent on free schools.

ATL pay, conditions and pensions head Martin Freedman said: "At a time when teachers are facing a pay freeze and are being told that the government can't afford their pensions, Michael Gove is lavishing so much money on free schools that his department is embarrassed to reveal the total."

Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham said Mr Gove was "pouring time, energy and resources into a free schools programme which will be irrelevant for most parents, and is diverting funding out of mainstream schools into wealthier areas".

A total of ?50m - taken out of an axed technology fund for schools - has been allocated for free schools for the first year of the policy.

But no detail has been given on how this has been spent and whether it covers capital spending on school premises.

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School's hair rule discriminated

17 June 2011 Last updated at 13:25 GMT The hairstyle was important to the boy's cultural identity, said his family A London school's ban of the cornrows hairstyle resulted in "unlawful, indirect racial discrimination", the High Court has ruled.

Mr Justice Collins said the ban by St Gregory's Catholic Science College in Harrow was not unlawful in itself, but should have taken into account individual pupils' family traditions.

A 13-year-old boy, "SG", was refused a place because of the hairstyle.

The school said it was "naturally disappointed" and may try to appeal.

"St Gregory's is proud of its rich cultural and ethnic diversity and is run on the belief that everyone at the school is equal and made in the image of God," it said in a statement.

Hero 'had cornrows'

SG's African-Caribbean family claimed the style was of importance to his cultural identity.

Continue reading the main story

This judgement is an important development. It echoes some of the defining moments in British race relations, such as Sikh bus conductors' 1970s battle to wear turbans.

The issue at the heart of the ruling is not explicit religious or racial rights - but the broader and more subjective question of what is culturally conventional.

The boy said he was left asking what was "wrong" with the only hairstyle he had ever known, something he regarded as part of his core identity and family traditions.

So although the school never intended to discriminate, the High Court said it did so indirectly.

Schools want their pupils to regard each other as equals, rather than as distinct groups, living parallel - but separate - lives.

But St Gregory's attempts to confront that multicultural challenge, by minimising differences in appearance, inadvertently rubbed up against the law: they wanted to ensure equality - but one pupil lost out as a result.

He was refused entry to St Gregory's as an 11-year-old on his first day in 2009 because he had the cornrows style - with hair braided, close along the scalp.

He was forced to attend another school. He does not wish to return to St Gregory's despite the outcome of the case.

In a statement read out to the High Court at an earlier hearing, SG said: "When I saw my idol, David Beckham, cornrow his hair, it showed me that he appreciated African hair styling, and that we are all the same underneath it all."

Mr Justice Collins, sitting in London, ruled that the hair policy was not unlawful in itself, "but if it is applied without any possibility of exception" such as in the case of SG, "then it is unlawful".

'Fair' uniform policy

The judge said in future the school authorities must consider allowing other boys to wear cornrows if it was "a genuine family tradition based on cultural and social reasons".

Following the hearing, SG's solicitor, Angela Jackman said: "This is an important decision.

Rob Berkley, director of the race equality think-tank the Runnymede Trust: "This isn't an outrageous hairstyle"

"It makes clear that non-religious cultural and family practices associated with a particular race fall within the protection of equalities legislation."

The school said it had "always striven to ensure that our uniform policy, including that related to hair styles, is fair and equitable to the wide range of cultures which make up our school community".

The court had not decided SG was treated unlawfully or that the school had been guilty of any kind of discrimination, it added.

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Gove sets schools new GCSE target

15 June 2011 Last updated at 14:47 GMT Secondary schools in England are to be given new exam targets Secondary schools in England are to be set a more ambitious target of securing five good GCSE passes for at least half of their pupils.

Education Secretary Michael Gove is to make the announcement in a speech in Birmingham on Thursday.

He wants to end what he claims is a low expectations culture in some schools.

Mr Gove will also reject accusations from Labour that his academies programme is solely focused on successful schools.

At present a school is assessed as under-performing if fewer than 35% of pupils get five GCSEs at grades A* to C, including maths and English and if children are failing to make the expected level of progress in English and maths.

Raising the bar

But Mr Gove believes the bar for the GCSEs benchmark should be raised to 50% by 2015.

Last year 870 out of the 3,000 secondary schools in England fell short of that benchmark.

This new target would require the worst-performing secondaries to bring their results up to the level currently achieved by the average school.

Those which fail could be taken over by a successful neighbouring academy, a policy introduced under the last Labour government.

The government said, however, that it would retain the "progress measure" element of the so-called "floor target" by which schools are judged to be underperforming.

This states that if a higher-than-average number of children in a school are making the expected amount of progress in English and maths, given their attainment when they start secondary school, the school would still not be classed as underperforming even if its GCSE results fall below the bar.

On Wednesday the schools watchdog, Ofsted, said that 6% of primary and secondary state schools inspected this academic year were found to be inadequate.

This was slightly down from 8% the previous year, despite the fact that Ofsted has been concentrating its inspections on schools previously rated satisfactory and inadequate.

However, a total of 322 schools were in "special measures" at the start of April, up from 291 a year earlier.

In his speech, Mr Gove will argue that Britain and the rest of Europe need to accelerate the pace of educational improvement to compete with successful economies, especially in Asia.

He is expected to propose raising the benchmark to 40% in the 2012-13 academic year and to 50% by 2015.

'Negative impact'

Christine Blower, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, said the move proved the Coalition did not trust schools and teachers to get on with the job.

"Raising the benchmark will have a negative impact on those schools who are trying to raise the achievement of all their pupils, " she said.

"This is yet another ruse to increase the number of schools eligible for intervention and hence conversion to academy status."

ATL comment on Michael Gove's target for 50% of pupils at all secondary schools to get five A* to C passes at GCSE

Dr Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers said: "Can this be the same Michael Gove who criticised Gordon Brown in 2007 saying that 'A decade of top down targets has failed to raise achievement but all he offers today is more of the same'?

She said attainment would be move likely to improve if the government concentrated on offering schools "support and encouragement" rather than "interference and threats".

However, Elizabeth Reid, chief executive of the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, said it was "right" to have "high expectations of schools".

"Many schools have shown that dramatic improvements in exam performance are possible and are continuing to raise standards. They are proving that all children can succeed, whatever their background," she said.

Schools have long been rated on the "benchmark measure" of the percentage of pupils getting five A*-C grade GCSEs, or equivalents.

The requirement for English and maths GCSE was added to the measure in 2007, because of fears that schools were relying too much on vocational exams to boost their ratings.

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Oldham schools 'divided by race'

25 May 2011 Last updated at 14:06 GMT The research was conducted 10 years after race riots in Oldham Schools in Oldham are largely polarised along racial lines, research has found.

More than 80% of primary school pupils of Pakistani or Bangladeshi origin attended schools, in 2009, in which no more than 20% of the pupils were white.

The study, by Bristol University, found more than 70% of white pupils were in "majority white" schools, in which at least 80% of pupils were white British.

Oldham Council said it did not dictate where parents should send children, but was trying to encourage mixing.

The report says the picture has changed little since 2002, when 74% of Pakistani and 85% of Bangladeshi primary pupils attended minority white schools and 92% of white British pupils attended majority white schools.

The research - by Simon Burgess and Rich Harris at Bristol University's centre for market and public organisation - was conducted 10 years after riots in Oldham that saw confrontations between white and Asian, largely Pakistani, gangs.

"While the precise triggers of the rioting remain controversial, there is general agreement that a key underlying factor was the polarised nature of schools and communities in the towns," the report says.

At secondary school level, the research found that 60% of Pakistani pupils and 65% of Bangladeshi ones were in the "minority white" schools.

The study suggests the lack of integration between children in the town could be explained partly by catchment areas, as well as by the fact that more than 30% of primary schools and 40% of secondary schools are Roman Catholic or Church of England, which ask for "demonstrable practice of faith" in their admissions criteria.

It could also be because parents wanting to choose integrated schools are unwilling to be among the only ones to do so.

"It is undoubtedly very hard to be the first mover and as a parent to lead a movement for integration by applying to a school numerically dominated by another ethnic group," the report says.

Academy hope

The 2010 opening of The Oldham Academy North, which aims to promote integration and social cohesion, could help, the study says.

Professor Burgess said: "Parents may prefer a mixed, integrated school, but the fact that the school system is so highly segregated means that they are forced to send their children to essentially mono-ethnic schools.

"More pessimistically, it could be that there are few mixed schools because no-one really wants a mixed school."

The study says about 60% of primary school pupils in Oldham are from a white British background, compared with 72% nationally.

And 17% of primary pupils are of Pakistani ethnicity and 14% of Bangladeshi ethnicity, compared with 4% and 2% respectively for England as a whole.

Responding to the research, Oldham Council said its primary schools "reflect the communities in which they are based and the choices that parents make when deciding where to send their children to school".

The council said it taught children about the history of Oldham's changing population and ran linking between schools to boost interaction between pupils of different ethnic and religious backgrounds.

The council also said research on Oldham sixth-form colleges had shown "high levels of quality relationships between students from different cultures and backgrounds".

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Plan to ease good schools' growth

23 May 2011 Last updated at 11:42 GMT Parents often face a struggle to secure a place for children at popular schools Education Secretary Michael Gove wants changes to the admissions code to make it easier for popular schools in England to expand.

Ministers are considering ending requirements that schools gain local-authority permission to enlarge and hold a public consultation if they want to add more than 27 pupils a year.

Mr Gove said this would put pressure on underperforming schools to improve.

But head teachers warned they should not be allowed to "wither on the vine".

Schools are funded according to the number of pupils they have.

Mr Gove told the Guardian newspaper he wanted to "remove bureaucracy" affecting expansion as part of planned changes to the admissions code.

The government is currently preparing a "slimmed down" version of the document, which sets out the rules for fair admissions in England.

'Full up'

Currently, every school is set a "planned admissions number", but ministers say the process for trying to expand beyond it is too complex.

Mr Gove said: "We hope the new admissions code allows the possibility of increasing planned admissions numbers so good schools can expand, and there will be underperforming schools that have fewer and fewer numbers. That will compel their leadership and the local authority to ask what is wrong.

"It's wrong to have a situation where the local authority says, 'This is a good school, it's full up, parents have to go to the less good school down the road.' Because as a result of the local authority's failure to deal with educational underperformance, children continue to go to a poor school."

The government has said it intends to offer support for underperforming schools, but has threatened to use powers to force them to become academies if they do not produce effective improvement plans.

'Declining resources'

Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said: "There is no problem with good schools expanding, but school places must be carefully planned across an area or we risk damaging education in every other school."

"'Withering on the vine' might work in the private sector but it is not an acceptable outcome for children... Struggling schools need rapid help to turn around, not a long drawn-out death of declining resources and numbers, condemning the remaining pupils to lower standards," he added.

The government is expected to publish a draft version of the updated admissions code later this year.

It says the document should be simplified, although some teaching unions have said they fear this could have the effect of watering it down.

Chris Keates, General Secretary of the NASUWT teaching union, accused the Education Secretary of "showing disregard for parliamentary process" by failing to publish the draft admissions code alongside the Education Bill, which has been debated in the House of Commons in recent weeks.

"Why is it taking so long to be publish the Admissions Code - what has he got to hide?," she asked.

Both the Conservatives and the Labour government that preceded the coalition have said they want to make it easier for popular schools to expand.

Labour created a fund to which oversubscribed schools could apply to help increase capacity.

One in seven pupils failed to get a place at their first choice of secondary school this year.

There are also concerns about a shortage of primary school places in the next few years in some areas, with London predicting a shortfall of about 70,000 over the next four years.

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Healthy eating 'improves schools'

24 May 2011 Last updated at 13:29 GMT The Food For Life Partnership scheme was found to improve pupils' academic performance and behaviour Primary schools in England involved in a healthy-eating project have improved their inspection results and pupils' behaviour, researchers say.

The University of West England (UWE) study analysed 48 of the primaries in the Food For Life Partnership (FFLP).

More than a third (36.2%) were judged outstanding by Ofsted, compared with 17.3% before they joined the FFLP.

Funded by a ?16.9m lottery grant, the project encourages pupils to grow, cook and eat good food.

The more than 3,600 participating primary and secondary schools work towards bronze, silver and gold awards, based on their approach to food education, quality, culture and community engagement.

The UWE study found the proportion of children eating five portions of fruit and vegetables a day had risen from 16% to 21% after their school joined the programme.

And 45% of parents surveyed told researchers their family was now eating more vegetables.

The researchers also found pupils from less privileged homes were benefiting.

During a two-year period, free school meal take-up rose by 13 percentage points in FFLP schools.

'Holistic approach'

Mat Jones, senior lecturer in health and social policy at UWE, said the project connected food issues across the whole school and out into the community.

"It brings together students, teachers, cooks and parents in a shared mission. This holistic approach appears to make a lot of sense for children who are encouraged to take their learning from classroom to dining hall and into their homes.

"Evidence of positive outcomes - for health, environmental awareness, wider learning and parental involvement - highlight the potential of joined-up action in schools."

FFLP director Libby Grundy said: "The UK has the highest rate of childhood obesity in Europe, with almost a quarter of adults and about one in ten children classed as obese and a further 20-25% of children overweight.

"The UWE evidence shows that our programme has made a positive difference to improving diet and this in turn is having a knock-on effect on behaviour and attainment.

"Yet, just as the programme looks as if it has reached the tipping point in terms of making a cultural shift, cuts to local authority school meal budgets - and an uncertain funding future for the FFLP programme itself - could undo all the good work."

The FFLP is made up of four charities - the Soil Association, Health Education Trust, Garden Organic and Focus on Food Campaign.

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Teach 'kiss of life' in schools

15 May 2011 Last updated at 23:43 GMT Life-saving skills include dealing with cardiac arrests and heart attacks, serious bleeding and choking. A heart charity is calling on the government to include the teaching of life-saving skills in the national curriculum.

In a survey carried out by the British Heart Foundation, 73% of schoolchildren wanted to learn how to resuscitate someone and give first aid.

More than 75% of teachers and parents also agreed it should be taught in schools.

The survey questioned 2,000 parents, 1,000 children and 500 teachers.

The BHF wants emergency life support skills (ELS) to be taught as part of personal, social, health and economic education (PSHE) lessons and alongside physical education, citizenship and science.

Life-saving skills include cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which can help someone who's had a cardiac arrest.

It also covers how to deal with an unconscious person, serious bleeding, choking and heart attacks.

Latest figures show that in 2007 around 100,000 people had a heart attack in England.

Continue reading the main story

It's down to heads to set a curriculum which best meets the needs of their pupils.”

End Quote Department of Education spokesman Up to heads A spokesman from the Department of Education said there was nothing stopping schools teaching these life-saving skills already.

"It's down to heads to set a curriculum which best meets the needs of their pupils.

"We are carrying out a root and branch reform of the national curriculum to set out the essential academic knowledge that children need, while leaving schools free to decide how to teach it.

"We know that high-quality PSHE is important - that's why it will remain a compulsory part of the curriculum, but we trust teachers to design lessons to suit their pupils."

Maura Gillespie, head of policy and public affairs at the BHF, said teaching these skills was crucial.

"Teaching young people how to save a life is as important as learning to read and write. They are skills which equip them for real situations they might face in their lives."

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State schools 'crisis' - Starkey

11 May 2011 Last updated at 09:52 GMT David Starkey was critical of what he described as waste in state school education The historian David Starkey has said England's education system is in crisis and the money spent on it might as well have been "burned".

Mr Starkey said too many youngsters were leaving school unqualified and unprepared for the world of work.

The author, who controversially called a pupil fat in a reality TV show, said good teachers and tougher discipline would be better than extra resources.

He was speaking at a conference run by independent school Brighton College.

Mr Starkey failed to control his class when he worked as a history teacher on Jamie Oliver's Channel 4 programme Jamie's Dream School.

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It's arguably our greatest national crisis, that half of the population of state schools emerges wholly unqualified and wholly unable to work”

End Quote David Starkey The show brought together figures such as Alastair Campbell, Rolf Harris and Daley Thompson to teach a class of 20 teenagers from different backgrounds.

Mr Starkey said the show had showed the funding of their education had been a waste.

"It's arguably our greatest national crisis, that half of the population of state schools emerges wholly unqualified and wholly unable to work," he said

"If you think of what it costs to educate a child in the state system, one hundred or two hundred thousand [pounds], it must be of that order in the period of compulsory education.

"You might as well have taken that money and burned it for all the impact that it had made on them.

"Multiply that by thousand after thousand after thousand, tens of thousands, millions, and that's what you're looking at."

Social mobility

The historian also predicted the living standards of the middle classes would drop.

"We constantly talk about the importance of social mobility. This is one of the great things about the current government.

"But, ladies and gentlemen, true social mobility involves downward mobility as well as upward mobility.

"And we are going to see increasingly, I suspect, downward middle-class mobility - children who will not be able to maintain the living standards that they have been brought up to."

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