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| Institute for the Study of Civil Society |
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30 July
- It transpires that only 153 schools applied to become academies, despite Michael Gove's claim that over 1,000 had done so. The discrepancy appears to stem from the schools which showed an interest in the scheme being represented as having actually applied. The lower-than-expected demand also queries why Gove needed to use emergency parliamentary procedures to rush through the academies bill this week.
Guardian
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The proportion of pupils permanently excluded from school fell by 19% last year, compared with the year before, prompting claims of a 'merry-go-round' system in which problem students are passed from one school to another or repeatedly suspended. Roughly half as many children were excluded last year than in 1997-98.
Guardian
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Michael Gove's intentions to reform A-levels may lead to a 'collapse' in the amount of children studying maths to a high standard, the Advisory Committee on Mathematics Education has warned in a letter to Gove, revealed in the Times Educational Supplement today. The last major overhaul in A-Levels in 2002 led to a 19% drop in the number of pupils studying maths at sixth form.
Telegraph
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A study from the Department for Education shows August-born children do consistently worse than older classmates in the public exams, with around 10,000 teenagers a year failing to achieve good GCSEs because of their birth date. Summer-born pupils are less likely to take academic A-levels or go to university. The government-commissioned Rose review recommended summer-born pupils be allowed to start school four months earlier than their peers.
Guardian
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Children are being put at risk in failing nurseries, according to Ofsted inspections of early years care. Almost a third of provision at this level was found to be not good enough, following the introduction of Labour's nappy curriculum in 2008: 2% of 40,081 providers inspected were judged inadequate and a further 30% merely satisfactory.
Telegraph
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160 pupils across three primary schools in Oxford are to be taught Ancient Greek from September. The move follows the successful introduction of Latin to dozens of state primaries in England. The Iris project, a charity campaigning for the teaching of the classics, will provide the new lessons.
Telegraph
Students from outside Britain and the EU will pay an average of £10,463 in tuition fees next year, a rise of 5.6%. Government rules means that tuition fees for British and EU students are capped but universities are free to set unlimited fees for foreign undergraduates. Institutions are also preparing to raise the cost of postgraduate courses for British students, which are not protected by a cap.
Telegraph
David Willetts has suggested that British students should be able to study for part of their degree in India. He told the Times he was more interested to see collaboration between British and Indian universities to share staff, conduct joint research and coordinate courses than realisation of new legislation which enables foreign universities to set up campuses within India.
Times
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In the largest scam of its kind to be prosecuted in the UK, a Sussex Reverend has been convicted of conducting hundreds of fake marriage ceremonies to enable illegal African migrants to gain residency in Britain. In many of the 360 sham weddings, brides recruited by a Ukrainian national married men who were about to be deported, known to a local Nigerian-born pastor and solicitor.
Guardian
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Girlguiding UK has released a list of 15 activities that girls should aim to take part in before they reach the age of 15. They claim girls do not have the same opportunities for adventure as boys and that travelling abroad alone, learning self defence, and to save a life, earning a first £100 and campaigning are activities which will help girls build confidence in themselves and raise their aspirations.
Telegraph
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The BBC meets the women who choose not to have children.
BBC
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