Mr Cameron said the plans had “a lot of merit” and creating “quality affordable childcare” was a priority. (more…)
London’s spectacular population growth is driven by its galloping birthrate, which means a lot more London kids, which means that London needs a lot more space to educate them in. A new report by London Councils, which represents the capital’s 33 local authorities, anticipates “continued and disproportionate pressure” on school places for the foreseeable future, with a shortfall of 118,000 primary and secondary school places by 2016 – a tidy chunk of an anticipated school age London population of 1.25 million. A demographer recently told a London Assembly committee that by 2031 the capital will contain 300,000 more 4-15 year olds than it does today. Where will the little darlings be taught? (more…)
Some are employed on contracts of up to £1,080 a day – an income equivalent to almost £250,000 a year – which run for up to 10 years. (more…)
There are two years until the next general election but already Michael Gove’s mind is wandering. At The Spectator’s schools conference yesterday, the Education Secretary posed a question: would his education reforms survive his departure? If Ed Miliband triumphed in 2015, could he snuff out the academy programme as quickly as Tony Blair abolished the hundreds of schools liberalised under the Major government? No, he concluded, the genie of choice is now out of the bottle. The reforms are being driven by teachers, not politicians, so the momentum is now unstoppable. (more…)
Barnaby Lenon, now chairman of the Independent Schools Council, said some headteachers also fear they will lose pupils if they set up a high-quality state school in their catchment area. (more…)
In a briefing document, the Treasury argues that families with one stay-at-home parent are less deserving of state help than families where both parents work. (more…)
Parents will be allowed to claim back 20% out of a total of around £6,000 – what they believe to be the average annual price of a childcare place. (more…)
Michael Gove’s flagship education project has been dealt an embarrassing blow after inspectors demanded that three of the new wave of “free schools” must improve their teaching, leadership and pupil performance. In the first official verdict on the Education Secretary’s free schools programme, Ofsted inspectors have ruled that three of the first nine institutions to be examined are “not good” schools. (more…)
It rather grated seeing David Cameron chucking a rugby ball around with kids in Millwall, east London, this weekend — and not only because the track-suited Prime Minister so desperately wanted to beat Lord Coe in a relay race. (more…)
Prime Minister David Cameron will unveil the long-awaited strategy on Saturday, alongside his Olympic legacy advisor Lord Coe. (more…)
Finally, seven months after the multimillion-pound closing ceremony of the £12bn Olympic Games, here it is, David Cameron’s “Olympic legacy boost” for school sport – £150m, to cover all the 17,000 primary schools in England. (more…)
They fear that schools will not quickly recover from the impact of the decision by the Department for Education to axe £162m in ringfenced funding for a nationwide network of school sports partnerships and are concerned that the anticipated new plan remains flawed because it will rely heavily on external coaches rather than staff PE teachers. (more…)
The funding deal, to be unveiled in the coming days by David Cameron, will effectively guarantee that children will continue to have access to specialist sports teaching at least once a week. Competitive sports will form the centrepiece of the lessons. (more…)
The research, published at the start of National Apprenticeship Week, reflects the uphill struggle the Government faces in convincing parents – and young people – of the merit of doing the vocational work placement. (more…)
The PM is to say he wants work-based training to sit “at the heart of our mission to rebuild the economy”. (more…)
Baroness Benjamin – who sits as a Lib Dem peer in the Lords – said girls were becoming increasingly sexualised while more and more boys were treating them as little more than ‘sexual objects’. (more…)
