BBC Education News
Tens of thousands of families may not be getting their first choice school
Almost one in 10 parents in England applying for a primary school place for their child is missing out on their first choice, a survey suggests.
In areas such as Kent and Birmingham, an even higher proportion is not allocated their preferred school.
It suggests the anxiety about finding secondary school places has now filtered down to primary schools.
The survey was carried out by the Press Association, based on 42 out of 150 local …

Times Joanna Sugden
Parents will have the power to trigger school inspections in a shake up of Ofsted that gives pupils as young as five influence over the verdicts of inspectors.
Teachers’ leaders and parents groups criticised the introduction of annual parent surveys, announced today which they say betray a lack of trust in schools and are a waste of money. The results of the questionnaires will be used to determine when inspectors should move in to schools and pupil surveys will contribute to whether a school is judged inadequate, …

By Laura Clark Mail
Last updated at 8:58 AM on 13th May 2009
Parents are ignoring the threat of fines or even jail by taking their children on cut-price holidays during term time, a survey reveals today.
A quarter admit to having taken their children out of school already this year, with nearly a third considering doing so before the end of term.
Rising numbers are risking fines of up to £100 as the recession deepens and the plunging pound raises the cost of foreign travel, according to a poll of 4,022 families.
Parents …

The next big thing?Gordon Brown’s masterplan, for parents to be able to complain about schools, received a muted response.
Joanna Moorhead asks teachers, parents and experts to come up with their own big idea
Joanna Moorhead
The Guardian, Tuesday 12 May 2009
Gordon Brown speaks to students at Prendergast Hilly Fields school in south London. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/PA
Shirley Williams
Former education secretary
The curriculum is what needs addressing: it’s peculiarly dry and manages to do all the choosing for children, rather than allowing them to choose for themselves. It’s far too narrow and rigorous. …

By Laura Clark Mail
SATs may finally be scrapped in favour of teacher assessment.
Ministers have accepted ‘in full’ proposals that called for a move away from traditional pen and paper exams.
Children’s Secretary Ed Balls announced the scrapping of SATs in science from next year in favour of assessment by teachers and formal testing of just a few pupils.
Changes ahead: Pupils now face teacher assessment instead of SATs
While pledging that tests in English and maths – under threat of a teacher boycott – would stay for the time being, Mr …

Alexandra Frean, Education Editor Sunday Times
Primary pupils aged 11 will not be prepared for next year’s national curriculum tests for the first time in 15 years, head teachers said.
Instead of spending up to ten hours a week in the spring term practising for Key Stage 2, children in Year 6 will be able to concentrate on learning and on enjoying what should be the most exciting year in primary school, Mick Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT), said.
Speaking after a vote by his union …

Tim Ross London Evening Standard
All children will be expected to start primary school at the age of four under reforms announced today.
The Government promised funding for full-time places in England from 2011. It marks a significant shift in policy and a move towards lowering the already early starting age for formal education.
Currently children have to start education in the term after they turn five, although many start earlier.
Many who are “young for their year” are kept at home until they are thought to be ready for full-time schooling.
But …

By Laura Clark daily Mail
Teachers were accused of ‘ living on another planet’ after demanding an inflation-shattering 10 per cent pay increase yesterday.
The National Union of Teachers insisted the recession must not be used as an excuse to restrain pay rises as they dismissed the Government’s 2.3 per cent offer.
Members said an immediate 10 per cent rise or £3,000 payment – whichever was greater – was needed to prevent staff leaving the profession.
Ian Murch: ‘No morality lessons from ministers’
In a swipe at Home Secretary …

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor telegraph
The National Union of Teachers wants an increase more than four times higher than the Government’s public sector pay settlement, prompting accusations that they are out of touch with the realities of the economy.
Private sector workers are seeing their salaries fall at the fastest rate on record and the value of their pensions crumble. Consequently, Gordon Brown has pledged to limit the growth of pay for public sector workers – whose pensions are guaranteed by the state, to 2 per cent.
Public sector workers could see …

Indepentent
By Richard Garner
Tuesday, 14 April 2009
Teachers’ leaders have thrown their weight behind a pay claim of least 10 per cent after hearing a young teacher claim she had been forced to quit and work abroad because she could not afford to live on her salary.
Delegates to the National Union of Teachers’ annual conference voted overwhelmingly for a motion calling for a 10 per cent or £3,000 pay rise next year – plus an extra 6 per cent to counter below-inflation settlements over the past four years. The decision immediately provoked …