By Richard Garner, Education Editor Independent
Tuesday, 23 February 2010
The cost of bringing up a child has risen to more than £200,000 for the first time, according to a survey released today.Figures show the average parent is likely to have forked out more than £201,000 per child by the time their offspring has reached the age of 21. The cost has increased 4 per cent over the past year and 43 per cent in the seven years since the survey was first launched. The biggest cost is childcare at £54,696 …

Jessica Sheperd: Guardian
Parents’ groups support teachers who argue that the tests are not in the interests of children or schools. The final year of primary school becomes all about the tests, say teachers.
Parents today came out in support of a threatened teachers’ boycott of primary school tests this summer.The 300,000 teachers who are members of the National Union of Teachers and the National Association of Head Teachers will vote later this year on whether to boycott Sats, the English and maths tests in English sat by 600,000 10- and …

Hello,
I am producing an item on You and Yours on Radio Four next Wednesday, January 27th about school uniforms. Tescos are planning to sell school uniforms with bespoke embroidered crests. Tesco is promising to undercut specialists by at least 40 per cent. It already offers a £3.75 school uniform without a crest. Many parents are unable to buy cut-price uniforms because some schools stipulate that clothing must bear the school logo. Nearly one parent in in five is forced to buy school uniform and sports kit from a …