New drive on child safety

Low income families will get help to make their homes safer in a bid to reduce accidents to children, under proposals published by the government.
The plan is part of a far-reaching consultation document on children's safety, Staying Safe, which also aims to tackle road safety, internet dangers, and the risks to children from domestic violence and substance misuse.
But the government wants to discourage parents from overprotecting their children and plans to run a publicity campaign to highlight the benefits of letting children play outside. "Children and young people themselves recognise that ‘you can’t make everything safe’ and that a balance is needed between risks and fun."

Government thanks flood-hit school staff

The government has said a public "Thank you" to all the staff who have been coping with floods in schools and nurseries.
About 250 schools had to be closed because of the floods, and some are still closed. Kingston on Hull was the worst affected place, with 91 schools closed.
Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, told parliament that the government was "very grateful to the committed staff in schools, early years and childcare settings and local authorities who have worked so hard to contain and reduce the effect of the floodwaters, to get many schools and early years settings back in use and to provide places in temporary or alternative accommodation where necessary."
Mr Balls said the government would set aside an extra £10 million to help schools and early years services recover from flood damage. Civil servants will work with local authorities to help as many schools as possible reopen next term. Where they cannot return to permanent accommodation, they will to try to make sure there are satisfactory temporary arrangements "so no child suffers educationally because of flood damage".

Child trafficking

Guidance on how to spot children who may be victims of child trafficking has been issued by the government.

The information is targeted at all professionals and community groups that come into contact with children, and explains how to offer help and long-term support to victims.

Three hundred and thirty cases of suspected child trafficking were identified in a recent report by the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre.

Children affected may become involved in sex work, sold as domestic servants, used as sweat shop labour or in crime.

Department for Children, Schools and Families Minister, Kevin Brennan, said: “Child trafficking is a particularly ugly and pernicious crime, with serious consequences for the young people caught up in it.

The new guidance is available for consultation for five weeks at www.dcsf.gov.uk/consultations.

More sport in schools

Up to five hours sport a week for every child, and a national school sports day led by Olympic Champion Dame Kelly Holmes are part of a new drive to increase the amount of sport children do.

With at least two hours timetabled sport, there will be an increased focus on teaching children how to swim, wider provision of school and community sports coaches, and more competitions and sporting events for children to participate in.

The changes come in the run up to the 2012 Olympics and will be implemented with £100 million pounds of government funding.

Half of all primary schools are scheduled for refurbishments to improve sports facilities over the next 15 years.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said: “We need to put school sport back where it belongs, playing a central role in the school day. I want every child to have that opportunity to take part.”

Poorer children watch more TV

Poorer children watch more television, a survey by the National Consumer Council has found.

Half of children from affluent families had a television in their bedroom, rising to 97 per cent for those living in deprived areas.

The study also revealed that children living in disadvantaged areas had greater levels of unsupervised access to television and the internet compared to children from more affluent families.

Maths shake-up

A major review of maths teaching in primary schools is to take place.

The review will look for the most effective methods of maths teaching and learning and will be led by Sir Peter Williams, Chair of the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls will head a new National Council for Educational Excellence, with the aim of pushing up standards in education.

There will also be a stronger focus on pupil behaviour during Ofsted inspections, making it clear that repeated low level disruption should not be tolerated.

"Steep rise" in autism

Experts on autism believe that there has been a steep rise in the number of children affected by the condition.

Some 12,000 primary school children were studied over three years by a team at Cambridge University, acknowledged for its world class Autism Research Centre. They estimate that one in 58 children is now affected by autism.

Autism and related conditions can make it difficult for children to make friends or lead them to display obsessive behaviour.

The as yet unpublished findings have now been used to call for improved education provision for autistic children.

Dr Simon Baron Cohen, who led the research, said: “We are urging Gordon Brown to provide a world class education for all children with autism and Asperger’s Syndrome… even autism units equipped with sensory rooms in mainstream primary and secondary schools.”

More support for parents

Text message and social networking internet sites will be used to support and inform parents under a new scheme launched by the government.

The £34 million initiative, ‘Parent Know-How’, will be aimed at parents who may struggle to find the help they need.

Kevin Brennan, Children’s and Families Minister, said: “Parent Know-How will help with a range of issues like reducing obesity in children and supporting the victims of bullying, through to improving educational outcomes.

“It will bring together pre-existing resources, such as parenting helplines, and create new ways for parents to get help, such as text and instant messages and establishing new social networks – websites where parents can join together to swap parenting tips and help solve each others’ problems.”

Behaviour programme gets SEAL of approval

A programme of teaching pupils manners, respect and good behaviour has proved so successful it will be rolled out to all primary schools by July 2009.

Currently 60% of primary schools are using the SEAL (Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning) programme, which is embedded across the curriculum.

It has had a major impact on results and behaviour according to the government.

Pupils are encouraged to understand and manage their feelings, develop their social skills and empathise with others.

Now the government has announced the release of another £13.7 million in funds, which will also see the scheme extended to secondary schools.

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said: “The programme will make sure that all children understand the importance of being confident and interacting with other children in a respectful and positive manner.”

More male teachers "won't improve boys' achievement"

Having more male primary school teachers and using ‘boy-friendly’ methods of teaching will not boost boys’ educational results, a government report has found.

It was believed that these strategies might help to close the gap between boys’ and girls’ results.

However the report, published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families concluded the approach to be ‘simplistic’, and found little difference between the learning patterns of boys and girls.

The report stated: “This finding is in line with other research suggesting that teachers have low expectations of boys’ academic potential and such low expectations could contribute to their low achievement.”

84% of primary school teachers are female.

Scotland beats England on education

Quality of life for Scotland’s children has been ranked among the lowest in an international league table. Scotland came near the bottom in almost every category, particularly for child poverty.

But in education Scotland fared better. It was ranked eighth out of the 31, with the UK in 11^th place.

Children’s charity Barnardo’s Scotland were behind the report, which compares Scotland with 31 other countries worldwide, and have now called on First Minister Alex Salmond to improve life for Scotland’s children.

The director of Barnardo’s Scotland, Martin Crewe, said: “This report highlights that urgent action needs to be taken to improve the wellbeing of children in Scotland.

“We need long-term investment in children’s futures, particularly in the development of preventative services.

“We need to learn the lessons from the relatively good performance in education and use that to improve outcomes for children in other areas.”

Index of Wellbeing report

Computers help children do better at school

Computers in primary schools boost pupils’ performance, research has found.

Primary school test results were shown to improve during a four year study costing £34 million, undertaken by computer agency Becta.

The research also found that boys in particular made significant gains in writing skills – found to be a weakness nationally – through working on computers.

In the study, £34 million was spent on ‘high levels’ of hardware, software and training.

The money was split between 23 primary schools, as well as eight secondary and further education institutions, in the disadvantaged areas of Barking and Dagenham, Sandwell and Durham.

It is thought that one reason why primary school pupils showed greater improvement was due to a greater scope for flexibility in the curriculum.

Becta said the research also showed that computer technology was not taken into consideration enough during Ofsted inspections, a finding Ofsted deny.

Children's garden opened

A garden designed and created by young people to inspire teaching outside the classroom was launched this week.

Opened by Schools Minister Jim Knight and TV presenter Chris Beardshaw at the Hampton Court Flower Show 2007, the £250,000 garden contains 11 different areas, such as wetland and woodland habitats, an adventure climbing area and a poetry garden.

More than 500 young people from 31 schools across England helped to create the garden, which has over 3,000 plants and 25 types of fruit.

It aims to help children learn first-hand about growing, farming and the countryside.

It will be rebuilt at a permanent site at Birmingham Botanical Gardens and available as a resource for schools.

Schools Minister Jim Knight said: “Learning shouldn’t just take place in the classroom – it takes place all the time in the world around us.

“We want to give children valuable educational opportunities both beyond the school gates and in the school grounds.”