The latest news from the world of education and schoolswork:
- Teaching ban for BNP members to be examined: Any teacher found to be a member of the British National Party (BNP) faces being banned from the classroom after the Government announced it is to launch a fresh attempt to stamp out racism from Britain’s schools.
- School trips put off over teachers’ fears: Children are being denied school trips for fear teachers will be sued if something goes wrong, despite the fact that only 156 recorded legal actions have ended in compensation in the past decade, new research reveals.
- School asks parents to stop drinking at gates: A school governor has called for a ban on parents drinking alcohol while picking up their children.
- School first with rooftop nature reserve: A primary school has become the first building in the country to have a Local Nature Reserve on its roof Natural England said.
- Google ‘ranks websites by how true they are’ say UK children: One in three British teenagers believes that Google ranks websites according to how “true” they are new research suggests.
- Free toilet paper for Irish school: Loo roll company comes to the rescue of cash-strapped school that had asked pupils to supply their own.
- Special needs children excluded eight times more often: Number of school exclusions has dropped overall, figures show, but those with special needs, on free school meals and from certain ethnic minority groups are sent home most often
- Sats tests ‘should be axed’ in school shakeup: Sats tests should be scrapped in their current form as part of a major overhaul of English primary schools a landmark report will conclude.
- Churches defy writers over schools vetting: The Churches Child Protection Advisory Service has backed the new Independent Safeguarding Authority.
- Children educated at home at severe disadvantage: Home pupils more likely to be known by social services and be out of work, education or training
- Should we keep paying pupils to stay on?: The £545m-a-year “cash for lessons” scheme, under which the government pays young people up to £30 a week for staying in education beyond the age of 16, should be scrapped because it is a waste of money and has had little impact, according to a major new study.
- Rowan Williams condemns ‘oppressive’ English educational system: Rowan Williams, the archbishop of Canterbury, has set out a devastating critique of the “oppressive” English education system accusing successive governments of prioritising test marks over children’s spiritual or emotional happiness.
- Teacher of the year award for dyslexic: Dyslexic teacher Edward Vickerman was told he would never have a future in the classroom. But the 26-year-old proved his critics wrong by winning a national award for the UK’s outstanding new teacher of the year.
- 54% of Britons back teaching creationism: British Council poll finds UK adults overtake Americans in wanting science teaching in schools to include intelligent design
- Teachers fight false claims of pupil assault: Poll by Association of Teachers and Lecturers reveals that quarter of school staff have faced unfounded accusations
- NUS calls for student loan boss to resign: The National Union of Students has called for the head of the company charged with administering student loans to resign after figures showed that more than 100000 students are still without full funding this year.
