No go for "gay" insults

Using "gay" as an insult should be viewed as seriously as racist abuse, says new bullying guidance.
The homophobic bullying guidance covers primary and secondary schools. It includes detailed help for teaching assistants and teachers on how to deal with homophobic insults, and how to protect the children of gay parents from bullying.
Education secretary Ed Balls, launching the new guidance, said "Children cannot learn, let alone enjoy school if they are frightened of bullying.
"I reject any notion that addressing homophobic bullying is political correctness for its own sake. Even casual use of homophobic language in schools can create an atmosphere that isolates young people and can be the forerunner of more serious forms of bullying."
Homophobic bullying

"Sickie" head caught out by lunchtime supervisor

A head teacher who called in sick and was spotted on her way to Tenerife by a lunchtime supervisor has lost her claim for unfair dismissal.
Lesley Tidy, head of Thackley primary school in Bradford, called her deputy to say she was feeling unwell and thought she might have "winter vomiting virus".
The next day, the day before spring half term last year, she missed a staff training day she was due to lead, and bumped into lunchtime supervisor Sue Astley at Leeds airport.
Ms Tidy told an employment tribunal that she was flying to Tenerife to visit an old friend who had become ill, and said that she believed people would understand when they heard the circumstances.
"I obviously misjudged that," she said.
She claimed she had been victimised by the chair of governors who wanted to get rid of her. But the tribunal dismissed her unfair dismissal claim, and said the governors and acted fairly and reasonably.

Support staff pay body will come into force in 2008

A new stand-alone national body will set pay and conditions for school support staff in England from next September, the government has announced.
The new body will set pay scales for all school support staff who will no longer be covered by local government pay negotiations. The trade unions representing support staff support the move, and want the pay scales to be binding for all state schools, as the teachers' pay scales are now.
A "shadow" chair for the new body is to be appointed as soon as possible, and a group will start work in January, ready for its full launch next September.
Schools minister Jim Knight said, “Each time I visit a school, I am reminded of the increasingly significant and powerful contribution that support staff are making every day in the classroom and behind the scenes to free up teachers to do what they do best - teach.
“We want support staff to make the maximum contribution to the classroom. In order to do that we need their pay and conditions to reflect that contribution in the right way. We want fair representation and transparency for all our workforce and this new group will work in the interests of all support staff, ensuring they are fairly rewarded for the work they do, as well as making it easier for school leaders to recruit the best staff and reward them fairly."

TAs strike in northern Ireland

Teaching assistants across Northern Ireland are staging a one day strike today in a pay and regrading dispute that has been going on for twelve years.
Strikes are also planned for three days next week, and if the dispute is not resolved there could be an all-out strike by the 2,500 classroom assistants in public sector union NIPSA
In a ballot, 93% of teaching assistants in the union voted to go on strike.
The classroom assistants have waited more than twelve years to have their jobs evaluated under a job evaluation scheme agreed in 1995, says NIPSA.
They accuse the Education and Library Board - the school employers' organisation- of trying to move the goalposts to avoid paying the back pay owed to the classroom assistants. The employers are proposing to change the full-time working week for classroom assistants from 32.5 hours to 36 hours, which will reduce classroom assistants' hourly rate of pay by more than £1 an hour.
At least one school closed in support of the teaching assistants. Peter Cunningham, principal of Ceara Special School in Lurgan, said it was an absolute disgrace it had taken 12 years to come to this.
He is reported to have told the local paper, the Lurgan Mail: "Our school has 29 classroom assistants and they are worth their weight in gold. We rely on them so much we feel we have to close for the sake of the health and safety of the children," he said.
"I fully support them in their cause and hope this issue can be resolved as soon as possible.
I have said time and time again, if this was a male dominated profession this would have been sorted out within a month."
The strike went ahead despite last minute attempts by the Northern Ireland Assembly to get the issue resolved.

Education Minister, Caitríona Ruane, told the Assembly "Classroom assistants provide an invaluable role and are a hugely positive force in the lives of the children they serve. They work with some of our most vulnerable young people, including those who have a range of special needs. I am concerned that since the Assembly debated this issue in June, and despite my own meetings with both the management side and the unions, there has been no real progress in resolving this issue.
“I am now calling on the employing authorities to proceed as swiftly as possible to implement the new gradings so that these valuable staff receive the pay rates to which they are entitled as a result of the systematic job evaluation process which has been carried out. These staff have already had to wait an unacceptable amount of time. We need to get the money to them that they deserve."

Mystery bug closes school

A WELSH primary school was shut down for deep cleaning after an outbreak of illness caused by a mystery stomach bug.

Sickness and diarrhoea spread rapidly to 81 pupils and three staff members at Cwmlai Primary School in Rhondda Cynon Taf.

The decision was taken to close the school for three days whilst specialist contract cleaners were called in.

Tories call for primary science labs

SCIENCE labs should be built in primary schools, to help get children interested in science from an early age, says the Conservative Party.

The report also called for more resources to be given to teaching science to younger pupils and for the provision of specialist science teachers.

The task force consulted major UK professional bodies to see how the hi-tech industries can be improved and was commissioned by Conservative leader David Cameron.

The report, by the Conservative Science, Technology, Engineering & Mathematics Task Force can be viewed at: http://www.iantaylormp.com/type2show.asp?ref=525&ID=90

KS1 writing standard falls again

THE basic writing standards of seven-year-olds have fallen for the second year in a row, government figures show.

80 per cent of children reached Level 2 in writing tests, down from 82 per cent of children last year.

For maths, science and reading, figures remained the same as the previous year, and one point down on 2005.

Girls outperformed boys in every category, particularly writing, where 86 per cent reached the target compared to 75 per cent of boys.

Schools minister Andrew Adonis said he was pleased with the results but stressed the need to push for improvements.He said: "We know that children who reach the expected level in reading, writing and maths at seven years old have a much better chance of leaving primary school with a solid foundation in literacy and numeracy skills.

"That is why we are doing much more to support early reading, writing and maths."

Nailbomb attack on primary school

A NAILBOMB planted in a teacher’s car exploded just 30ft away from a Liverpool school on Friday.

The homemade device detonated at 2.50pm, minutes before the end of the school day, in a silver saloon in the staff parking area.

Nails and glass were sent flying by the force of the blast, believed by police to be made with a firework.

Superintendent Ian Pilling of Merseyside Police said: "This was a despicable offence because children were in the process of leaving the school at the time. Nobody was killed or injured but that was down to good luck."More than 300 children between the ages of three and 11 attend the private, Catholic, Runnymede St. Edward's School in the affluent area of Sandfield Park, West Derby, Liverpool.

Children were kept inside school buildings as police examined the scene, before being evacuated later.

Mr Pilling said: "This is an extremely unusual offence and we are investigating fully to bring the offenders to justice as quickly as possible."

Parents face fines over excluded children

Parents of children who have been excluded from school must keep them indoors during school hours, and must attend compulsory interviews with the head teacher under new powers introduced this week.
If an excluded child is found in a public place during school hours the parent could get a £50 fixed penalty fine. If they don't pay it in the first 28 days it will rise to £100, and if they still don't pay it could rise to £1000.
Heads can also apply to the courts for parenting orders to force parents to cooperate with the school in managing a child's behaviour to prevent exclusion.
After five days of a fixed term exclusion the school must provide an alternative source of full time education - until now this duty applied only after 15 days.
If a child has been excluded permanently it is the local authority's job to provide alternative education.

Government asks how to make children happy

The government wants the public's views on how best to help children.
Prime minister Gordon Brown, together with Children, Schools and Families secretary Ed Balls is asking for the views of children and young people, parents and people working with children on what needs to be done to improve children's lives.
They have launched the consultation to help shape the government's Children's Plan for the next ten years - the outline policy for all services affecting children including education.
Earlier this year Britain's children were found to be the least happy of all industrialised countries in a survey by the United Nations Children's Fund.
Mr Balls said new challenges were facing families in Britain. "The Prime Minister and I want a debate about what more we can do to help children.
"We want to tap directly into the experience and expertise of the children, young people, parents and professionals who work with them to find what the big issues are that need addressing."
the point was he said to help children receive the best education, have a "happy, healthy and safe childhood and prevent young people going off the rails and getting into trouble."
As well as the public consultation, three expert groups will look at services for children in three age bands - 0 to 7, 8 to 13 and 14 to 19.
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