bbc--2019-12-19--A school looking after its children – and their families

The government says school funding is at record levels, but Bellfield Junior School in Northfield, Birmingham, still finds it hard to make ends meet. Pastoral care is one of the big items on its budget, discovers the BBC's Emma Jane Kirby - care for children and sometimes for their families too.  Bellfield's head teacher, Nigel Attwood is doubled up over his desk, giggling and chortling while his deputy, Claire du Toit, stands over him, hand on hip as she tries to smother her own mirth and look cross.  "It wasn't me, it was the elf!" Nigel grins, delighted with a prank he has successfully pulled off in Claire's classroom. She's laughing openly now and lifts her hands to me in a gesture of mock helplessness.  "I tell you," she says good-naturedly, "it's a good job we can laugh here, isn't it?"  With its budgetary problems, temperamental boiler, draughty windows and many pupils in financial or family crisis, you might not imagine Bellfield Junior School could create such a happy space. Yet the staff here constantly recharge the atmosphere with their high spirits and sense of fun - and never more so than at Christmas time.  The children have already enjoyed Christmas Jumper Day, Pancakes with Santa, Silly Songs and a Special Christmas Dinner and now Year 5 are about to perform a nativity and carol concert to their families.  "It's a time of year when we can all be together in school and enjoy being together," explains Nigel, as we hurriedly drink coffee in his office before the bell rings. "As much as Christmas is a time for families, we also find it's a time for us to be a family in school too - it's about being a community."  Bellfield is located in Northfield, a deprived area of Birmingham, where 60% of the 315 pupils are classed as disadvantaged.  "We know our parents struggle," adds Claire. "And Christmas is a difficult time because there's high expectations for people to provide something special, and it's very difficult for them to do that. So, every way we can support them by doing some of it in school, well, we do!"  In the corridor, tea-towelled, antlered, winged or crown-sporting children scuff their plimsolls on the carpet and jiggle in excited anticipation as they wait their turn to file into the hall, some desperately trying to catch their parents' attention, others staring fixedly at the floor, solemnly mouthing their lines. A visiting toddler, breaking free from his mother's hand, catches sight of his big brother who is dressed as a sheep, and slumps star-struck on to the carpet, scattering his crisps.  Just behind the line-up, the light goes on in the Rainbow Room. In fact, the light is pretty much always on in the Rainbow Room. It's a sort of therapy room, adorned with sea life murals where a soothing soundscape of twittering birds comforts children in difficulty who need time out to talk. And there are always children here who need to talk.  When I visit in October, pastoral care manager, Jamie Neadle, and learning mentor Lorraine Harvey admit they are overwhelmed by the number of children who come to see them and by the seriousness of their problems. And mention the 60% of pupils here who receive "pupil premium", a grant given by the government to a school for each disadvantaged child it educates, and Jamie, who served 30 years as a plain talking policeman, will give you short shrift.  "Don't say 'pupil premium'," he snaps. "Say it as it is - free school meals. And what we're really saying is 60% of our parents can't afford to give their children a hot dinner."  Over a quarter of children at Bellfield have special educational needs and disabilities and over a third are on the vulnerable register. Bellfield spends about £114,000 a year - that's about 7.5% of its annual budget - on pastoral care to help children overcome problems, so that they can concentrate better on learning.  Listen to Emma Jane Kirby's latest report from Bellfield School for the World at One, on BBC Radio 4 (starts at 35 minutes)  Click here for her radio report on pastoral care (October 2019)  "The problems we see in here range from emotional to pure mental health issues to violent and aggressive, destructive behaviours and to self-harming," says Jamie. "Oh, we're talking seven and eight-year-olds self-harming," he explains, when he sees my astonished look. "And they're not just playing at it, believe me, they're doing it for real."  Lorraine has picked up one of the soft toy puppets she uses to help children express themselves in therapy sessions and is absent-mindedly stroking its head with her thumb while she listens to her colleague. She's been working at Bellfield Junior school for 18 years and says, very quietly, that the situation has got so much worse.  "There are so many children coming to us throughout the day now that we actually have to turn children away." She focuses her eyes on the puppet.  A thin little girl in tears has been knocking repeatedly at the door while we are talking, complaining bitterly about being left out of a playground game.  "Not now," says Jamie firmly. "Go and find another adult. Go on - we're busy."  The child persists, rattling the door handle until Lorraine goes out to comfort her. Jamie confesses she's a child they are deeply concerned about and not because of alleged bullying at school. His hands are balled into fists as he talks.  "There are children in this school who have walked across bare boards this morning," he tells me, nodding his head at the little girl on the other side of the door, who is now cuddled up to Lorraine.  "Children with no breakfast in their stomachs because there's no food and no carpet at home. And people think we're making it up. We're not. This is Britain. Britain in the 21st Century."  Lorraine has now successfully despatched the distressed child back to class and she sits down heavily, sharing a despairing look with her colleague.  "Behaviour can be triggered by anything," she starts. "But obviously if a child is hungry, they are going to behave in a classroom in a way that's not acceptable."  She stares through the door into the empty corridor where the little girl had been standing.  "Some of our families are living in horrendous conditions," she sighs.  "Everything's gone up and they just can't cope with day-to-day living. I mean, a pair of decent school shoes is what, £40? So I think a lot of children are slipping through the net. There are just so many issues. And then we expect these children to come to school and function. Well, sorry, but how can they do that?"  At break time there are two distinct lines queuing to get into the hall - free toast on the right, or for those lucky few with a pound in their pocket, bacon butties or sausage sandwiches on the left. The line on the right snakes out of the hall door.  Jamie asks me to remember that most of the children's parents are working yet still rely on handouts.  "We've got to ask the question as a society, they're working and yet we have to give them extra money to survive. I mean, they're trying. You can't point the finger and say they're not trying. They're struggling."  And with social and other support services stripped back to the core, the school now finds itself on the front line to deliver assistance, not just to the pupils but to their whole families. Parents regularly need debt counselling, help with parenting skills, or simply some emergency food shopping. It's not unheard of for head teacher Nigel Attwood to switch off his computer at the end of the school day and then to jump in his car to go to the supermarket, and to take supplies to a family in crisis, to make sure their children are fed through the weekend.  The school has also had to step in to pay gas and electricity bills for struggling families, while teachers have been approached by shame-faced parents needing help to provide Christmas dinner. At a parents' evening, two mothers tell me confidentially that during difficult family times, the Rainbow Room has often saved their sanity. Both independently describe the primary school's pastoral care service as a "lifeline".  Lorraine tells me that when she first started work at the school, 18 years ago, there was an educational social worker working beside her. But now, she and Jamie, neither of whom are trained psychologists, are completely on their own. When I ask her if she feels out of her depth sometimes, she shakes her head slowly and looks wearily at Jamie.  There's a very small pot of money within the pastoral budget to bring in specialised counsellors and educational psychologists.  "I don't think we are always the best placed people to be pushing for these children," Jamie admits. "But the systems aren't there. Children's services are a sham at the moment. We get frustrated with them but we know the pressure they're under and why they struggle to do the things we think they should do."  Another small, tear-stained face has appeared at the Rainbow Room's window and looks in hopefully. Jamie walks slowly towards the door.  "But somebody's got to keep pushing for these children," he says over his shoulder. "Somebody's got to keep pushing."  Emma Jane Kirby reported in June on Bellfield's decision to drop down to a four-and-a-half-day week.  It was feared that attendance might suffer as a result, but Nigel Attwood says attendance is now at its highest rate in 12 years.  Over the six months that I've been visiting Bellfield Junior School, there have been incidents that we cannot report for legal reasons. Last month, the receptionist who tots up attendance figures, alerted the pastoral team when she tried to contact the parents of a child with an unexplained absence from school. Alarmingly, the given telephone numbers proved to be unattributed or simply rang out.  "The families that resist our help we worry about," says Jamie. "Because then other services have to move in on an emergency basis, and that's never good."  Lorraine's eyes are unfocused when she talks about the children she suspects of being physically or sexually abused.  "We have sessions with them, we try to get them to talk," she says, "but unless they actually tell us, there's really nothing we can do." She's also concerned about parental drug and alcohol abuse, which she says always leaves children neglected.  We sit in silence for a moment. Jamie offers to switch on the soothing tweeting "dicky-birds" CD. The brightly coloured puppet slips from Lorraine's knee on to the floor.  Lorraine admits that she can't always sleep after a heavy day in the Rainbow Room. Often during the holidays, she says, she finds herself dialling Jamie's number for a chat. Jamie protests that he always slept peacefully when he worked as a police officer - there's no bravado in his voice when he says that policing was child's play next to his current job.  The thin little girl has reappeared at the door and squints at us anxiously through the glass. Lorraine gets up wearily.  But today it's celebration time and on stage now in the hall, Year 5 is belting out the Calypso carol while the shepherds and their flock sway self-consciously. Every child is word-perfect and completely focused on the performance. Those with speaking parts deliver their lines with evident pride and professionalism, ignoring interruptions from audience members' beeping mobile phones and younger siblings clamouring for juice or the toilet.  By the time they get to We Three Kings, any residual nerves have dissipated and each child is jubilant and sings joyfully. Their teachers watch them with genuine emotion and the applause is thunderous.  Nigel Attwood is grinning from ear to ear.  "We've done a lot of work with the children on resilience and aspirations," he shouts over the noise of scraping chairs as the hall is cleared. "And it looks like it's really paid off."  He pauses to congratulate an elated angel who is galloping back to class, still humming the Calypso carol under her breath.  "Some of our children have some really huge problems," Nigel reminds me. "But tell me, did that show when they were up on that stage? The children gave it everything they've got."  Since I began following Bellfield Juniors back in June, the school has had some glad tidings of its own. Although the BBC has not been fund-raising for the school and nor did Bellfield agree to take part in our programmes in the hope of receiving donations, nonetheless a number of concerned well-wishers have sent gifts of money, stationery, books and shoes, all of which have deeply touched head teacher Nigel Attwood and his deputy, Claire du Toit.  Last summer, Claire complained there were no whiteboard markers left in her classroom and that she couldn't order more until the new term and the new budget. The next day a jiffy bag of pens was pushed through the school's letter-box. Over the following weeks, several more packs arrived by post until Bellfield's supplies cupboard contained more than 700 pens. Cheques from £5 to £500 flooded in to help fix draughty windows, to fund school prizes and educational visits. And three huge consignments of shoes, sandals, trainers and wellies were sent from a shoe shop in the Channel Islands.  "If you could see the look on the children's faces when they get a brand-new pair of shoes or wellies," laughs Nigel. "The way they look after them and how they go skipping down the corridor!"  "It's such a total surprise to see how other people do things for you and it gives you faith in the world really," interjects Claire. "Everybody's looking out for everybody and we're not on our own."  There was a moment last month, though, when the school really felt it was sinking. After breakfast club one morning, the dinner ladies noticed that the floor in the dining hall was buckling. Nigel Attwood showed me the damage and laughed bitterly when I asked him how he was going to manage the cost of replacing the floor. He retired to his office to punch numbers into a calculator but it was clear that, however good he may be at juggling figures, the repair work would push the school into deficit.  And then, incredibly, two BBC listeners stepped in and sent a cheque for £20,000 - enough to cover replacing the dining hall floor. Nigel Attwood and Claire du Toit still have difficulty expressing how they felt when they opened the envelope.  "I thought they'd got the noughts in the wrong place," smiles Nigel. "Honestly, I was speechless. I have no words."  Although he has never shared the school's financial difficulties with the pupils, he did decide to tell the children on the School Council (who are like prefects) about the donations. Flabbergasted, they asked first why someone wanted to help their little school so much and then immediately afterwards, asked if they might write the donors a letter of thanks?  "Apart from the overwhelming generosity, it's the fact that people are getting a really clear message about what's happening in school," reflects Claire. "It's the understanding, really, that we did this for. Because it gets hidden under all sorts of other headlines… and there are so many schools in this position."  She taps her pen on the desk to emphasise her point.  "It's the education of the children that suffers. And each year that goes by, each year it gets worse for them."  Outside the staff room, Jamie Neadle is trying to cajole a little boy who's squeezed himself into a corner and who's hiding his face in his hood, back to his classroom. Recently a concerned psychologist who heard Jamie speak of Bellfield's difficulties on the radio, telephoned the school to offer staff some free training.  The £114,000 a year that Bellfield spends on pastoral care could pay for three more teachers, for more classroom assistants, for necessary school repairs. When budgets are stretched so tightly, difficult choices have to be made and Lorraine Harvey and Jamie Neadle say that since they are not part of the core teaching service, they always fear the axe might fall on their department.  "We can understand that, but what happens to the children then?" asks Lorraine rhetorically.  Astoundingly, on the day I visit in October, she has spent much of her morning counselling a scared 10-year-old who's been approached by the local gun and knife gangs.  "Oh yes," she nods when I look at her incredulously. "Gangs. It's constant. And it's mainly gun-gangs round here and some of our children are allowed to wander Northfield alone, so, you know, it's easy for the gangs to pick on them. The children just don't see the danger."  "We're seeing more and more of it," he says. "We have children interacting with gangs on a daily basis because their parents don't know where they are. You have to remember a lot of our children don't have much, they don't have nice things, so if someone offers them something…"  He presses his fists to his temples.  "We haven't lost a child to a gang yet, but it's yet."  Lorraine and Jamie begin to tidy the Rainbow Room, turning off lights and plumping the cushions.  "You know," says Jamie suddenly, with barely suppressed anger, "we sit in here sometimes with our heads in our hands, because it's just heart-breaking."  We can hear the busy chatter of children in the corridor putting on their home-time coats and wellies. Jamie jerks his thumb towards the noise.  "We have children in this school who could fly through university, who are as clever as any children in this country, in this world, but they will never get there because of the blockages in the way. They'll never get the opportunity because regardless of all the things we try to do, breaking the cycle that exists in society is impossible. It's heartbreaking."  After the carol concert, on the hall stage, a tinsel halo and a discarded Christmas jumper are all that remains of Year 5's triumph. In the adjacent dining room, the coloured plastic bowls and beakers for tomorrow's breakfast club have already been laid out in neat lines.  Jamie Neadle's phrase still echoes in my ears. "Someone's got to keep pushing for these children."  All photographs by Alison Baskerville except portrait of Jamie Neadle  You may also be interested in:  When Jessica Share bought sperm from a sperm bank in order to start a family, she never imagined that more than a decade later she would meet the donor - and would feel a strong attraction to him.  I met my boyfriend 12 years after giving birth to his child


bbcuk--2019-01-27--Do your children have a balanced diet of play

Do your children have a balanced diet of play?

Two generations: parents and youngsters. One is tech-obsessed, with a short attention span, who find it difficult to talk about their emotions. The other is their children.  Whatever their own addiction to social media or the demands of day-to-day life, parents are desperate for their sons and daughters to have a more balanced approach to life. They want them to spend less time tucked behind a screen on their own, and more out and about playing with friends or enjoying the board game they were bought for Christmas.  These demands, not always backed up with research, have been noted and developed by schools, many of which run mindfulness sessions for even the youngest children, helping them to settle down ready to learn after whizzing around the playground.  They have also been seized on by toy manufacturers, for whom staying calm may carry on profit making.  "Anything that encourages emotional play should be valued," says Natasha Crookes from the British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA), who says mindfulness is an emerging theme in the sector.  "It can help children to sleep better and discuss their emotions more."  New toys aimed at this market could be found this week on the fringes of the BTHA's Toy Fair in London's Olympia - the UK's biggest toy industry trade fair.  On the smaller stalls, beside the global giants promoting licensed film spin-off toys and games, were people like Fernando Del Rio of Magic Box Toys.  He was there to show off Moji Pops - new pocket money collectable characters, being launched in the UK this March. The face on each figure swivels to reveal one of 12 different expressions.  "It is all about emotions and making it easy for children to express them," he says.  The aim is to encourage youngsters to talk about how they are feeling and create stories using the characters in front of them. The target audience is aged between four and eight.  On a nearby stall is Chris Carpenter, a geophysicist turned game-maker, with his decks of cards that engage the brain without children realising they are educational.  One pack - a cross between snap and tic-tac-toe - allows all the young players to be involved in the game at the same time, without waiting for their turn. Another is a game with no rules.  Some youngsters are faster than their parents, he says, as we shut off parts of our brain as we age.  All of this is designed to extend attention spans, against a backdrop of children's TV in which episodes are shortening, sharing on social media is instantly gratifying, and games can be called up in a second on a smartphone.  In fact, only 1% of toys are "connected" devices and one expert says the best advice for parents is to give their children "a balanced diet of play" including digital, imaginative and cognitive tasks rather than imposing bans on certain activities.  "There is a place for all kinds of play in a moderate and balanced approach. Parents should not demonise screens," says Dr Amanda Gummer, founder of research consultancy Fundamentally Children.  She argues that children should not be left to solitary, sedentary, passive activities, but also says parents who schedule certain types of play at certain times may find it counterproductive.  Some regard mindfulness as a "silver bullet", she says, but she argues that a better approach is to ensure children are immersed in slow toys or activities.  "Our brain needs time to consolidate," she says. So, everyone needs to make the most of "natural opportunities" to slow down. That could be anything from walking to school or carrying out a repetitive household chore, to reading and modelling.  That will be music to the ears of Peter Rope, a graphic designer and the creator of Junko, which sells packs of accessories to make junk modelling into cars and boats. The packs contain wheels, chassis, and paddles, all made in the UK out of recycled plastic from children's suitcases, which then attach to junk models.  It was launched just before Christmas and inspired by making models with his own children and coming up short when trying to find working wheels.  "It puts creativity first. We think it will inspire a whole afternoon's play, then children will return the next day to paint them," says Mr Rope.  Toys that guarantee half a day's entertainment, stimulate children's imaginations, and avoid dumping more plastic on the world hits all the buttons of an environmentally conscious, time-pressed, modern parent.  Now all they need to do is get the kids off their phones.


bbcuk--2019-02-02--Ban phones in schools says minister Nick Gibb

Ban phones in schools, says minister Nick Gibb

Pupils should be banned from taking smartphones into school, the minister for school standards in England has told the BBC.  Nick Gibb spoke out ahead of the government publishing new guidance for schools, expected to address internet safety, social media and online gaming.  It is expected to say children should be taught to limit the amount of time they spend online.  Schools have the power to ban phones from being taken on to the premises.  But government policy is that it is the responsibility of head teachers to determine whether this is appropriate.  Patsy Kane, executive head teacher at the Education and Leadership Trust in Manchester, said Mr Gibb's plan was "missing the point on just how fantastically useful mobile phones can be for learning."  She told BBC Breakfast her multi-academy trust encourages the responsible use of smartphones during lessons and that teachers do remove the devices if they are used inappropriately during school time.  She added: "There's a fantastic range of apps now for revision - and the students are really motivated to use them."  The trade union that represents head teachers has expressed its scepticism about outright bans.  But Mr Gibb said: "Many schools have already taken the decision to ban mobile phones from the classroom.  "While this is clearly a matter for the head teacher, my own view is that schools should ban their pupils from bringing smartphones into school or the classroom."  Katie Ivens, of the Campaign for Real Education, said she supported a classroom ban but that pupils should be allowed to carry phones to and from school for safety.  What is known as "relationships education" is to become compulsory from September 2020, with schools being encouraged to teach it from September of this year.  Last summer, the government published draft guidance about how this could be implemented.  "Children and young people are growing up in an increasingly complex world and living their lives seamlessly on and offline," it said.  But it acknowledged that while this presented "many positive and exciting opportunities" there were also "challenges and risks".  Since the publication of the document, which said "pupils should be taught about the benefits of balancing time spent on and offline", there have been more than 11,000 responses to it and new guidance is expected soon.  "Children should not be spending hours and hours on their smartphones or iPads. There are obviously huge benefits to the internet and there's nothing intrinsically damaging about spending time online," Mr Gibb said.  "But if the time children spend using social media or playing computer games becomes excessive, it drives out time for them to talk to their parents, exercise, do their homework or play with friends.  "It eats into the amount of sleep and rest children have, resulting in their coming into school the next day tired and unable to concentrate."  The minister, who has spent more than six years at the Department for Education, added: "Ensuring children can regulate their own use of smartphones and social media is becoming an increasingly important life skill for them to learn."  But the NAHT union, which represents school leaders, has said banning pupils from taking a mobile phone to school can be counterproductive.  Giving evidence to the Commons Science and Technology Committee in October last year, the union's senior policy adviser Sarah Hannafin said: "Mobile phone bans certainly work for some schools but there isn't one policy that will work for all schools.  "Outright banning mobile phones can cause more problems than it solves, driving phone use 'underground' and making problems less visible and obvious for schools to tackle."  She added: "Ultimately, schools work to prepare young people for the outside world, giving them the awareness and strategies to responsibly monitor their own screen use and the ability to identify and deal with any negative impacts or problematic content they encounter."  If you're a parent or teacher, what's your view on banning smartphones in school? You can get in touch by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.  Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:


bbcuk--2019-02-03--Smartphones in school Ban restrict or allow

Smartphones in school: Ban, restrict or allow?

Love them or hate them, smartphones have become an integral part of our daily lives. But should they be left outside the classroom?  Nick Gibb, the minister for school standards in England, told the BBC he believes schools should ban their pupils from bringing in smartphones.  Opinions are certainly divided, with many people saying that pupils should be taught how to use their phones responsibly.  Peter Freeth, whose daughters are aged 13 and 18 years old, says schools should do more to integrate phones into the learning experience.  "Schools expect children to do their homework on computers. They need to use apps in the classroom as part of the process, to watch videos, stream content, log attendance and participate in study groups. Basically, all the things that smart businesses do."  "Banning phones is based on an old idea that students should sit quietly in front of the teachers. There shouldn't be a disconnect. In the work place we're adapting the learning process to the learner. The idea of getting rid of smartphones is about conformity."  Astrid Natley, an English teacher at a secondary girls grammar school in Lincolnshire, incorporates phones into her classroom.  "My school does not have money for classroom tablets and technology."  "When students use their phones for research, they learn that they have a fantastic power in their hands. We can give the student the ability to see how education can be accessed at home without it feeling like a despised departure from their own world."  "For reading difficulties, font size can be increased on their phones; for recording their work, photos can be taken, and I also use group quizzes to engage the students."  "If we stop children using phones, then we're rejecting something they care about. Phones are important for them and that's not going to change."  Meanwhile, Yvonne Lockhart, a registered nurse who has worked for community education supports a complete ban.  "I am banned from mobile phone usage at work, and my phone must be 'removed' from my person or handed in. If I am caught with it in my pocket, I will be subject to a disciplinary procedure which will impact on my career."  "We need to teach children how to behave like the professionals they are striving to become. Ban the phones, they have no place in a child's life."  On Facebook, Tara Blount reveals her children's school has implemented a ban and are seeing the benefits.  Richard, a secondary school English teacher in the independent sector, thinks there should be a clear separation between school and home.  "We wouldn't expect children, left to their own devices all day with no formal schooling, to voluntarily pick up text books at home and learn, so it is inherent in the system that they do things differently in the two environments."  "Children are getting more than enough screen time and access to this technology in their lives without the need to bring it into the classroom. The internet is too easy and too unreliable a research tool, so let's leave phones and laptops at home, and show them a different world in their lessons - one of books and pens."  Assistant head teacher Alison Gill, from Shropshire, agrees an all-out ban is necessary so staff can "do what they're trained to do and not take on the role of the police or social services."  "We have a computer suite, where students can use the internet, under supervision. We've no way of tracking what they're looking at on their phones, iPads or smart watches."  "We have already had a case of harassment whilst a student was off school. Allowing students mobile technology into school adds another layer of issues for teaching staff to deal with and also leads to further confrontations inside and outside of the classroom."  Many people accept that mobile phones are a very useful way of keeping in touch with children and making sure they travel safely to and from school. Parents with children who have medical conditions say a smartphone is vital to keep tabs on their health.  Kay Bellwood's 11-year-old son has Type 1 diabetes and relies on his phone to to tell him his blood glucose levels.  "His phone has tracking, so if his blood glucose level is too low he can be found if he's unable to walk or talk. He can send an SOS."  "It is literally life saving medical technology. A ban would be direct discrimination under the equality act."


bbcuk--2019-03-19--Students at university who are inspiring younger siblings

"Why do you want to be an apprentice and be a car technician, when you can go to university and do motor-sport engineering?" asks Alison.  "Why fix cars when you can make cars?"  The first in her family to go to university, Alison is now trying to inspire her three younger brothers, aged 16, 15 and seven, to follow in her footsteps.  According to researchers from Brunel University London, first-generation students such as Alison can be pivotal when it comes to persuading under-represented groups to consider studying for a degree.  Their research says these students have a social-mobility "slipstream effect" on those close to them, which can help to widen access to university education.  Alison told the researchers how her move to university had started to change her eldest brother's vision for his future and made him challenge his school's suggestion that he completed an apprenticeship and became a car technician.  "I said to him, 'You can do aviation and pilot training and fly planes,'" she told the researchers.  "At school you don't hear about the things you can go on and do."  The Brunel research says: "Alison has become an educational role model to her siblings as she has superseded her mother's educational achievement and knowledge.  "This has given her both the cultural capital and personal ability to directly challenge her brother's perceptions and his school's trajectory for him."  Another first-generation university student, John, whose mother is a single parent and lives above a shop on a council estate, told the researchers: "I suppose my brother will now have to do a degree as well. He's much cleverer than I am.  "I'll probably give him a lot of help because it's now part of my experience. It will make it a hell of a lot easier for him than it was for me when I came."  Paula, also the first in her family to attend university, told the researchers her younger brother had been thinking about joining the Army but her university stories were making him reconsider.  "He is interested in my experiences, in what I'm doing," she said.  "I tell him about the lab sessions we have, then he gets really excited because, obviously, it's in a lab and it's like sciencey stuff.  "He does listen a lot, for sure, he does ask a lot of questions, so I reckon he's thinking about it [university]."  And the effect is not just on younger siblings - the study found parents too were influenced by a young person's move into higher education.  Paula told the researchers: "My mother is going - [she] is retaking one of her GCSEs so she can do her A-levels and go to uni. She is trying to do occupational therapy or be a physio.  "I said, 'Well, yeah, you can do that. You can always go back to college and get A-levels.'"  The research paper is based on a year-long project at a London-based campus university where researchers conducted in-depth interviews with eight first-generation students.  And it concludes that these students have "relatively untapped potential" to become role models.  "While the entrenched discourse about first-generation students may construct them as 'at risk' of attrition and therefore as 'risky' students, the narratives presented here provide a counter to this, acknowledging the potential they can offer in terms of widening participation and support among under-represented groups," it says.  "How we conceptualise these students needs to change, with them and their families reimagined as a key resource for family learning, social mobility and university practice."  Report author Dr Emma Wainwright said: "Universities need to engage more thoroughly with the families - parents and siblings - of their students.  "These institutions should become sites for learning interaction, experience and role modelling based on the family unit, however it is configured."  Figures from the university admissions service, Ucas, show the numbers of UK applicants whose parents did not go to university has gradually risen since it started collecting this data.  In 2009, 143,585 applicants were not from graduate homes. This compares with 181,300 in 2018, with a peak of 201,625 in 2015.  Universities UK said it was committed to widening access and ensuring "the success of all their students, regardless of their backgrounds", pointing to the success of schemes such as Durham University's first generation scholars network and the University of Sussex's first-generation scholars scheme.  A UUK spokeswoman said: "Eighteen-year-olds from the most disadvantaged areas in England are more likely to go to university than ever before and this can help inspire younger siblings or peers to do the same but we know that a number of challenges remain.  "To further improve access to university for first-generation university students, the post-18 education review [which is due to report back to the government in the coming weeks] should make recommendations that support access to higher education for anyone with the potential to benefit from a university education.  "This should include better support for part-time learning and targeted maintenance grants for those most in need."  Illustrations for this article created by Emma Russell


bbcuk--2019-04-01--Schools and NHS could be held accountable over youth crime

Teachers, NHS workers and police officers in England and Wales could be held accountable for failing to spot violent crime among young people under government plans announced on Monday.  Home Secretary Sajid Javid has launched a consultation to assess whether there is a "public health duty" to report concerns over children at risk.  He said he will use "all the tools" at his disposal to end violent crime.  But unions for teachers and NHS staff have raised concerns about the plans.  A summit on serious youth violence is being held at Downing Street this week.  Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: "Neither the blame for, or the solution to, violent crime can be laid at the door of schools or front-line hospital staff."  She said schools already had "strong safeguarding practices in place" and added: "The problem is what happens after issues of concern have been identified."  The Royal College of Nursing, meanwhile, expressed concerns that obligations to report people involved in violent crime could deter people "from seeking help for fear of being reported".  The government says its plan is intended to "help spot the warning signs that a young person could be in danger, such as presenting in A&E with suspicious injury, to worrying behaviour at school or issues at home".  Mr Javid called violent crime "a disease rotting our society" and said he was "committed to ending this scourge".  "The public health, multi-agency approach has a proven track record and I'm confident that making it a legal duty will help stop this senseless violence and create long-term change," he added.  Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, Children's Commissioner for England Anne Longfield said agencies such as schools "don't often feel that they've got the tools or the systems" to know what to do with children who might be involved in, or at risk of, violent crime.  She added: "We've got to think of more creative and effective ways to help these children."  Teachers' leaders are highly sceptical about these knife crime proposals - suggesting it's a way of avoiding thornier questions such as the number of police on the streets.  Heads and teachers say they don't understand how in practice schools would be held "accountable" for reporting those at risk of knife crime.  "It is hard to see how it would be either workable or reasonable to make teachers accountable," says Geoff Barton, leader of the ASCL head teachers' union.  "What sort of behaviour would they be expected to report and who would they report to?" he says.  Schools are at risk of getting caught in a blame-game over knife crime, says Chris Keates, leader of the NASUWT teachers' union, who warns of teachers being "scapegoated".  If teachers were to face sanctions over spotting those at risk, she says it would create a "culture of defensive reporting", in which the police and social services would be swamped by referrals.  Majella Fergus, 53, a biology teacher at a secondary school in Cumbria, told the BBC that in recent years both the government and parents had tried to transfer their responsibilities "onto the shoulders of teachers".  "Adding yet another non-teaching responsibility to the shoulders of strained teachers and squashed teaching time grinds us down further," she said.  "Knife crime is a much wider societal issue and it isn't just simply going to be fought by teachers."  The Home Office announcement comes a day after Mr Javid handed the police greater stop and search powers to tackle rising knife crime in England.  With 285 deaths from stabbings in 2017-18, the most ever recorded in the UK, ministers have come under increasing pressure to tackle knife crime.  As well as hosting the summit on youth violence in England and Wales, which starts on Monday, Prime Minister Theresa May will meet privately with families affected by knife crime.  Mrs May said that while strong law enforcement "plays an important role", she added that communities need to look at what they can do to safeguard young people.  "That is why our plans to introduce a whole community - or 'public health' - approach are designed to identify more young people at risk," she said.  More than 100 experts will meet at Downing Street during the week to discuss the issue.  The consultation, which is open to the public and professionals across the UK, will run until May 28.  Are you a teacher or an NHS worker? What do you think about government's proposals? Tell us by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk  Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways:


bbcuk--2019-04-01--Violent crime Police cannot arrest the issue away - May

Violent crime: Police cannot 'arrest' the issue away - May

Violent crime is an issue that cannot be solved solely by increasing police powers, Theresa May has warned.  Speaking at the start of a youth violence summit at Downing Street, the prime minister said the issue needed a "great cooperated long-term effort" from numerous bodies.  "We cannot simply arrest ourselves out of this problem," she added.  The summit comes after the Home Office announced proposals for teachers and NHS workers to help tackle youth crime.  Unions are resisting the plans, and say making teachers and nurses responsible for spotting and reporting youth violence is impractical, and could make the problem worse.  The youth violence summit, which focuses on England and Wales, will involve more than 100 experts, including Met Police Commissioner Cressida Dick and Baroness Newlove, the victims' commissioner for England and Wales.  Opening the event, the PM said: "In recent months we've seen appalling number of young lives cut short or devastated by serious violence crime including a number of horrifying incidents this weekend.  "In many cases the perpetrators of these crimes are as young as their victims and this is something that has to be of deep concern to us all."  The prime minister has previously faced criticism after insisting there was "no direct correlation" between police cuts and a rise in violent crime.  Under the new Home Office proposals, teachers, NHS workers and police officers in England and Wales could be held accountable for failing to spot violent crime among young people.  But unions for teachers and NHS staff have raised concerns that they will carry the blame if violent crime continues to rise.  Dr Mary Bousted, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: "Neither the blame for, or the solution to, violent crime can be laid at the door of schools or front-line hospital staff."  She said schools already had "strong safeguarding practices in place" and added: "The problem is what happens after issues of concern have been identified."  The Royal College of Nursing, meanwhile, expressed concerns that obligations to report people involved in violent crime could deter people "from seeking help for fear of being reported".  Teachers' leaders are highly sceptical about these knife crime proposals - suggesting it's a way of avoiding thornier questions such as the number of police on the streets.  Heads and teachers say they don't understand how in practice schools would be held "accountable" for reporting those at risk of knife crime.  "It is hard to see how it would be either workable or reasonable to make teachers accountable," says Geoff Barton, leader of the ASCL head teachers' union.  "What sort of behaviour would they be expected to report and who would they report to?" he says.  Schools are at risk of getting caught in a blame-game over knife crime, says Chris Keates, leader of the NASUWT teachers' union, who warns of teachers being "scapegoated".  If teachers were to face sanctions over spotting those at risk, she says it would create a "culture of defensive reporting", in which the police and social services would be swamped by referrals.  The government says its plan is intended to "help spot the warning signs that a young person could be in danger, such as presenting in A&E with suspicious injury, to worrying behaviour at school or issues at home".  Home Secretary Sajid Javid said: "The public health, multi-agency approach has a proven track record and I'm confident that making it a legal duty will help stop this senseless violence and create long-term change."  Majella Fergus, 53, a biology teacher at a secondary school in Cumbria, told the BBC that in recent years both the government and parents had tried to transfer their responsibilities "onto the shoulders of teachers".  "Adding yet another non-teaching responsibility to the shoulders of strained teachers and squashed teaching time grinds us down further," she said.  "Knife crime is a much wider societal issue and it isn't just simply going to be fought by teachers."  With 285 deaths from stabbings in 2017-18, the most ever recorded in the UK, ministers have come under increasing pressure to tackle knife crime.  As well as hosting the summit on youth violence in England and Wales, Mrs May will meet privately with families affected by knife crime.


bbcuk--2019-04-20--Inside the school for bullied children

Inside the school for bullied children

Bullying blights the lives of many pupils, but what happens when children are left so sick with anxiety that they refuse to go to school? In the Midlands, a tiny specialist school has been helping youngsters rediscover their confidence and achieve their potential.  When you walk into the reception of Northleigh House School, Benji the school dog soon offers his paw, and there's the homely aroma of cakes being baked.  New pupils here soon learn that teachers are to be addressed by their first names and discover that teaching is either one to one or in small groups.  Pupils are encouraged to work at their own pace and new students start off gradually; in the early stages they are even allowed to sleep in an upstairs room if they choose.  Lily Povey had changed primary school four times as a result of bullying and had not been in mainstream education for two years when she began attending Northleigh in 2015.  One memory that endures from the days before Northleigh is of a girl spitting on her plate of food after being encouraged by another.  The 18-year-old can't ever recall being happy at school before she left mainstream education.  "I think it was the whole environment in general; I just didn't get along with it and I wasn't very social," she says.  "I didn't like to talk to other kids and I just kept to myself. With primary school, some girls were quite nasty from about eight.  "I had to be forced to go - I really hated it. I would cry and would make up any excuse not to go."  Some girls who bullied her went on to the same senior school and encouraged others to put her down.  "It got to the point that I couldn't go in any more; it would just make me feel sick."  Growing up in a small Warwickshire village, he was anxious about the move to a large senior school shortly after his 11th birthday. Diagnosed with dyslexia, he also worried about the workload.  He was soon struggling with the change and his anxiety escalated after he was bullied on the bus home.  "It was name calling from a main group of people," he says. "It was physical a little bit as well - it wasn't massive, just pushing and shoving.  "I was already very anxious and that added to it."  Aaron could no longer face the bus journeys and his parents began driving him to school.  "I wouldn't even leave the house, so getting to school was always a struggle and some days I ran in front of the car as they were trying to pull away," he says.  Near the end of his first term, in December 2011, he panicked after being dropped off.  He remembers a teacher taking him to an office and locking the door, telling him to unlock it from the inside and go to class when he felt ready.  "I had a massive panic attack when he left me on my own," he said.  "I rang my dad and I told him what had happened and he picked me and I never went back again."  Aaron's parents were able to get local authority funding so he could become one of the first pupils at Northleigh House.  The school had been set up months earlier by retired couple Viv and Fred Morgan in their former B&B in Hatton, near Warwick.  Mrs Morgan says the idea for the school stemmed from her picking up a newspaper left by a B&B guest and being shocked to read the story of Simone Grice, a vulnerable 15-year-old who left school through bullying and later took her own life.  She ultimately decided to set up a school where vulnerable children could benefit from a "therapeutic learning environment".  Seven years on and Northleigh House, which Mrs Morgan says gets a lot of support from the community and local firms, has taught about 70 youngsters.  For Aaron, going there was a huge turning point.  "I basically went straight to Northleigh and I loved it instantly," he says.  "There was a fire lit and it has always felt very homely. It always felt safe because of that.  "They won't make you do something if you are not ready and they focus on you as a person.  "And they realise that if you are doing well mentally, then you'll do well at school."  Receptionist Nikki Perks explains how some new children are so anxious they "will not get out of the car". She finds one of the most rewarding things about working here is seeing pupils' confidence blossom.  The criteria for attending are simply "struggling and not going to school".  "We don't know if they have been bullied because they don't tell you," says Mrs Morgan.  The emphasis is on kindness and respect - "happiness first and learning after". Pastoral sessions are emphasised and children are encouraged to speak about their problems.  Mrs Morgan says she has taken away some of the "structure" of mainstream education, in that her pupils work at their own pace, concentrate on subjects that most interest them and are "not shouted at".  However, she insists this style of learning is "not a soft option". There are clocks in all rooms and pupils have to get to lessons on time.  "We adjust to what they can do, and they do very well," she says.  Woodwork and photography are among popular activities, as well as learning about nature from the school's wildlife pond.  Ofsted inspectors rated the school satisfactory in 2012 and said areas such as pupils' progress and quality of education could be improved. But they liked its overall philosophy and said it was helping bullied children recover.  Staff set about fulfilling inspectors' requirements and now Northleigh offers the full GSCE curriculum and some A-levels to its 30 children aged 11 to 17.  It employs 25 teachers, including four who work full time. The school was rated good in 2016 in its last Ofsted report, which praised its "excellent pastoral care" and found staff were very skilled at helping children have more confidence in themselves and their abilities.  "Pupils who were fearful and used to hide away are now starting to enjoy meeting others and learning from new experiences," inspectors said.  A Centre for Social Justice report said it was estimated about 16,000 children between the ages of 11 and 15 were absent from state schools in England with bullying as the main reason.  The Department for Education said schools should respond sensitively and do "all they can to ensure that all children can attend school in a calm and safe environment". In extreme cases, when a child cannot be reintegrated into school, it could mean a transfer to another mainstream school or "alternative provision".  Lauren Seager-Smith, chief executive of charity Kidscape, says how each school deals with this is a "lottery" and they need more support.  Educational provision across England for children who self-exclude because of bullying is "patchy" and dependent on where they live, she says.  Lily certainly feels as though Northleigh has enabled her to have the education she was unable to receive before.  At first, she felt scared at Northleigh and ate lunch alone, but gradually grew in confidence.  She says she had "very low self-esteem" but was helped by pastoral sessions with a caring mentor.  "I always remember my mentor continually reassuring me to believe in myself and telling me that I could do whatever I wanted to do, no matter what anyone else said," she says.  "That has stuck with me since and always will - because she was right."  Lily and Aaron have now left Northleigh, where not only did they find a love of learning, they also found each other. The teenagers have been in a relationship for 18 months.  She began a hairdressing course at college last year, with Aaron waiting in the library on her first day to support her.  Lily is enjoying college, where she is moving to a health and social care course, and is feeling positive about the future.  "Before, I wouldn't speak to anybody really. I found it very difficult," she says.  "I couldn't get my words out and was still very anxious when I went to college, but felt I could do it."  Aaron has discovered a love of science, a subject he previously "hated".  He started college in 2016 to study psychology and biology A-levels and is looking forward to starting a third A-level in his favourite subject, chemistry, in September. He hopes to go on to university to study medicine.  "There was no chance I was going back to secondary school, so without Northleigh I wouldn't have even got my GCSEs," he says.  "I don't know where I would be without Northleigh, to be honest."  Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, and sign up for local news updates direct to your phone.


bbcuk--2019-05-20--Birmingham head teacher threatened over LGBT lessons

A head teacher at a primary school giving lessons on LGBT equality has received threatening emails and phone calls.  Police are investigating messages sent to Sarah Hewitt-Clarkson at Anderton Park Primary School in Birmingham.  There have been seven weeks of protests outside the site from which "hundreds" of pupils were kept away on Monday.  Birmingham MP Jess Phillips has called for an exclusion zone at the school to limit where people can demonstrate.  The city council is looking into Ms Phillips' request, with the authority's leader saying some outside the school are "peddling hatred".  The complaints at Anderton Park, mainly from Muslim protesters, focus on lessons for which pupils have been given books featuring cross-dressing children and gay families.  The protests' leader says that amounts to "social engineering".  Similar teaching has been opposed in letters sent predominantly by conservative Muslims to schools across England, BBC Newsnight reported last week.  Ms Hewitt-Clarkson said of the protests: "There's a whole variety of emotions: embarrassment for lots of our community and our parents who think this is just awful what's happening; frustration that it's going on so long; frustration that great British laws like 'you can protest peacefully' actually are causing us a problem.  "It's interesting what a normal person on the street would think peaceful means and what actually is peaceful outside here."  She described the scene in the Sparkhill area of the city as "very loud, it's very aggressive, it's tiresome".  Ms Hewitt-Clarkson said she was "meeting lots of parents", with a series of 12 meetings set up between now and the end of June.  She also denied a claim from some parents that she is Islamophobic, saying she believed in "equality for everybody".  In England, relationships education will be compulsory for all primary pupils from September 2020.  Shakeel Afsar is the leader of the Anderton Park protests, although he has no children at the school.  He said the school had pulled "the shutters down" on parental engagement and was promoting LGBT lifestyles to children.  He said 600 pupils were kept from school on Monday "to make it crystal clear we will not have our children indoctrinated or participating in any social engineering programmes which undermine our family values by promoting child sexualisation".  Anderton Park said more than half of the 700-strong student body had attended school. The council has been contacted to confirm attendance figures.  Overnight, counter-protesters adorned the site with heart-shaped messages featuring the words "love is the answer".  West Midlands Police, which is investigating the threats against Ms Hewitt-Clarkson, said officers were also looking into "disorder" outside the school in which eggs were thrown at the counter-protesters.  The force said it was investigating three reports of assault and two of criminal damage.  Outside the school earlier, Mr Afsar was involved in a stand-up disagreement with Ms Phillips, Labour MP for Birmingham Yardley.  She said protesters could not "pick and choose" which equality they could and could not have.  Saying the worst thing about the protests was damage "to the reputation of a peaceful" community, she called for an exclusion area "to protect the 700 children in this school".  Ian Ward, leader of Birmingham City Council, said he had asked authority officers to see whether they could use a Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO) to counter the protests.  He said: "If a PSPO is not appropriate, then we will look at alternative options, because the children and staff at Anderton Park have a right to attend school without this daily disruption.  "It's one thing for parents to ask questions about elements of a school curriculum, it's quite another for others to pounce on the situation as an excuse to peddle hatred and misinformation."  A council spokesperson said PSPO proposals would normally go out to public consultation and, based on response, a decision made by the authority and "police leads".


bbcuk--2019-05-30--Special needs Petition demands end to national crisis

Special needs: Petition demands end to 'national crisis'

Thousands of disabled children and their families will take to the streets across England and Wales on Thursday to demand action on "the national crisis" in special needs funding.  Send National Crisis campaigners will deliver a 13,000-signature petition to Downing Street at 12:00 BST, and will then hold a rally in Parliament Square.  They say special needs funding is failing to keep pace with demand.  Ministers say they are increasing the cash available.  Rallies are planned in 28 towns and cities from Leeds and Liverpool to Reading and Rhyl.  The organisers say it will be the first national action of its kind.  They point to reductions in school and college funding with "vital teaching assistant support being cut".  Also, they say, funding pressures on councils have led to the widespread closure of children's centres "which provide essential support for disadvantaged and disabled children".  They add: "As a result, more disabled children are out of school, or being illegally excluded or off-rolled, and more families are having to fight to get the right provision."  Nadia Turki, Send National Crisis co-founder, said: "We can no longer remain silent when our children are suffering for want of adequate government funding."  Ms Turki says the organisation is demanding better regulatory controls to ensure that funding for special needs and disabilities is ring-fenced and delivered "precisely where it is most needed".  In April, analysis by the National Education Union (NEU) found that central government funding had failed to keep up with demand for special needs education to the tune of £1.2bn since 2015.  "This is clearly a crisis, with pupils and parents bearing the brunt of real-terms funding cuts and the wholly inadequate planning by government," said NEU joint general secretary Kevin Courtney.  Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the head teachers' union NAHT, added: "We urgently need the government to recognise the true scale of the problem and release more money from the Treasury, both for schools and for health and social care services."  The government reformed special education provision in England back in 2014, replacing special needs statements with Education, Health and Care plans (EHCs), aiming to deliver a "simpler and more joined up system", from birth to age 25.  But five years on, parents and carers say the system is not working and last year, Ofsted described the failure to deliver support for thousands of children in England with diagnosed special educational needs as "a national scandal".  The report highlighted the cases in 2018 of 2,060 children, whose needs were set out in EHC plans, but who were receiving no support.  This figure was even higher in 2017 at more than 4,000.  The government says it is listening.  Children and Families Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: "Our ambition is for every child, no matter the challenges they face, to have access to a world-class education that sets them up for life.  "Funding for the high-needs budget is a priority for this government and we know that councils and schools are facing pressures. That's why in December we provided an extra £250m up to 2020 to help manage these costs.  "This takes the total amount that we have allocated for high-needs funding to £6.3bn this year, compared to £5bn in 2013.  "At the same time, the education secretary has been clear that we are working closely with the sector as we approach the spending review and we have launched a call for evidence to make sure the funding system is getting money to the right places at the right time.  "We are revising the Send code of practice to improve ways to identify and meet special educational needs."


bbcuk--2019-05-30--University tuition fees should be cut to 7500

University tuition fees 'should be cut to £7,500'

University tuition fees in England should be cut to £7,500, says a landmark review commissioned by the government.  This will be balanced by extending repayments from 30 to 40 years - so that people could be paying back student loans into their 60s.  But the review calls for the return of maintenance grants, which were axed in 2016, for poorer students.  Prime Minister Theresa May said scrapping them had been a mistake.  The review, chaired by the banker Philip Augar, has come up with ideas to provide better value for money in higher and further education.  His big conclusions are that fees are too high in university - and that funding is too low in further education.  Universities have seen "generous funding" while other sectors have faced austerity, he argues, and he suggests that more support should be switched towards vocational education.  The review is the prime minister's personal project and she pressed ahead with publishing its findings in her final days in office.  It will be one of the last major announcements before she leaves No 10 - and she spoke with conviction about trying to drive "social mobility".  Echoing her own words at the beginning of her premiership, she called for an end to "burning injustices".  Mrs May accepted that her party's abolition of maintenance fees had not worked.  But she argued the package of measures would remove barriers and make sure that no-one should feel that "because of who they are or where they are from, the world of higher education is not open to them".  She also made a strong call for better funding for further education, saying that colleges had been "overlooked, undervalued and underfunded".  But in terms of how it went down - the conversation afterwards, in an audience of education leaders, was about the curious gap between the strength of the message and the absence of such activity while in office.  Or perhaps that Brexit had consumed everything else around it.  It sounded like a rallying call going into government, rather than a legacy on leaving it.  The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) says that the biggest winners will be the highest earners.  They pay off their debts relatively quickly, saving on interest charges. The cut in fees will mean that they will pay even less, with the IFS estimating that the highest earning 20% could cut payments by 30%.  The losers could be lower earners, who currently might never have paid off their debts and had them written off. Extending the repayments to 40 years could mean they have to pay off more of their loans.  Former universities minister Jo Johnson said the system was "regressive".  But there are other factors to be considered.  The return of non-repayable grants will cut costs for poorer students.  And the longer-term aim is to reduce the number of "low value" courses, so that fewer students are taking degrees which are going to give them low earnings in the jobs market.  The prime minister was unambiguous about the scope for cuts in fees.  "Plenty of courses do not cost the full current rate of £9,250 per student per year to teach," she said at the launch of the review.  Dr Augar said universities had enjoyed rising incomes, while other sectors had faced a decade of austerity - and there was room for "efficiencies".  There are also proposals for direct funding to fill the gap of reduced fees.  But this will also be a lever for the government to influence the courses being offered - by giving more funding to courses which are either expensive to deliver, such as some sciences.  Or else it will be a financial incentive for universities to teach courses which are seen as being of "high value" to the economy.  The Russell Group of universities says there would need to be a "cast-iron guarantee" that any shortfall would be replaced.  The Association of Colleges, facing a boost in income for further education, was much more enthusiastic.  "For too long, we've had a system that works for half the population whilst neglecting the other half," said chief executive David Hughes.  A snap poll from YouGov showed that the idea of lowering fees is popular - backed by 59%.  But Conservative and Brexit supporters are the least likely to want lower fees, say the pollsters.  There is also a question of perception.  Shakira Martin, president of the National Union of Students, said it would help to address "the debt aversion caused by high fees, high living costs and the lack of maintenance grants".  Dr Augar also reminded the launch event about how negatively high fees and debts could be viewed, and the misunderstandings of the system.  He said research for the review had come across a grandparent wondering whether they should sell their house to pay off a grandchild's student debt.  The review says a fee cut would not happen before 2021-22 at the earliest.  But there remains another significant political catch. Changes in the level of tuition fees have to be approved by both houses of Parliament.  With the current political deadlock it seems unlikely that such a measure will be pushed forward any time soon - and the future of the plans will depend on the response of the next prime minister.  Labour, which wants to completely scrap tuition fees, has already dismissed the review as "all talk, empty promises and very little action".


bbcuk--2019-06-04--Sure Start centres big benefit but face cuts

Sure Start centres 'big benefit' but face cuts

Sure Start centres, aimed at improving early years health and education in England, brought "big benefits for children's health", researchers say.  The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) found a positive impact from the scheme, launched 20 years ago as a flagship of Tony Blair's Labour Party.  But the think tank warns that funding has been cut and 500 sites have closed.  The Local Government Association says councils have "done all they can within ever tightening budgets".  The report examines the effect of Sure Start, an early intervention policy designed to support the wellbeing of children before they started school.  The centres provide parents with information and advice about health, education, childcare and employment, particularly in disadvantaged areas.  Researchers describe it as a story of a "fast rollout followed by deep spending cuts" - but they say the centres have brought measurable improvements.  The provision of Sure Start centres "significantly reduced" the incidence of children going to hospital up to the age of 11, says the study, which looked at the impact on health.  The study found that for every one Sure Start centre per thousand children there were 5,000 fewer hospital admissions for 11-year-olds each year.  Christine Farquharson, a research economist at the IFS, said the drop in hospitalisation rates was the result of parenting advice, health education, lessons about keeping children safe and improving children's behaviour.  For younger children, the reductions in hospitalisation were more likely to be for "infection-related" problems, says the study, while for older children it was more likely to be for accidents and injuries.  These "benefits are strongest for children living in disadvantaged areas", says the study, while there was relatively little difference in wealthier areas.  However, levels of childhood obesity were not significantly affected by Sure Start, says the study.  The IFS researchers, funded by the Nuffield Foundation charity, are confident the reductions in hospital admissions can be attributed to access to Sure Start centres, when other social and geographical factors are taken into account.  But the think tank warns Sure Start centres have had declining support.  Spending peaked in 2010 at £1.8bn (in current value) but was cut by two-thirds to £600m by 2017-18 - and about 500 centres closed between 2011 and 2017.  Most of these closures were in better-off areas but 170 were in the poorest 30% of neighbourhoods, says the think tank study.  There are also big differences in levels of local provision, says the study, with decisions about children's centres having been devolved to local authorities - which in turn have faced funding pressures.  Researcher Ms Farquharson said there needed to be more attention paid to what worked - particularly in the run-up to the government's spending review.  "It's crucial that both central government and local authorities use the best evidence," she said, adding that "limited resources are best focused on the poorest areas".  Antoinette Bramble, of the Local Government Association, said such centres were an "incredibly important service" for parents of young children.  But she said many councils could not afford them - and more would be lost.  "It is inevitable that without new investment from government in children's services, councils will face the difficult but unavoidable decision of having to cut or close early help services such as children's centres," she said.  Tracy Brabin, Labour's shadow early years minister, said it was "heart breaking that such a vital service, which helps disadvantaged children the most, has had two-thirds of its funding cut".  A government spokesman said: "Children's centres can play an important role in supporting families.  "Local councils decide how to organise and provide services for families in their areas to meet local needs - whether this is through children's centre buildings or delivering services in different ways, and we continuously reflect on what works best."


bbcuk--2019-06-24--Private school and Oxbridge take top jobs

Private school and Oxbridge 'take top jobs'

A social mobility charity says top professions in the UK are still unduly dominated by people who have gone through private schools and Oxford and Cambridge universities.  The Sutton Trust and Social Mobility Commission analysed the educational background of 5,000 people in top jobs.  It found these influential people were five times more likely to be privately educated than the average population.  The study, Elitist Britain, looked at the schools and universities attended by 5,000 high achievers at the top of business, politics, the media, public organisations, creative industries and sport.  It does not name individuals but concludes that "power rests with a narrow section of the population - the 7% who attend private schools and the 1% who graduate from Oxford and Cambridge".  It might not be a huge surprise that the upper ranks of the judiciary, the diplomatic service, the armed forces and public bodies are stuffed by a disproportionate number of former public-school pupils.  But it might raise an eyebrow that today's pop stars are more likely to have gone to private school than university vice-chancellors - 20% compared with 16%.  For the purposes of this survey, a "pop star" is someone from the UK who has had a top 40 selling album in the past four years.  This echoes warnings that the creative industries, once an express train of social mobility, are increasingly becoming populated by the offspring of wealthy, well connected parents.  But pop stars are out-poshed by international cricketers and national newspaper columnists, defined as those covering news, politics and policy rather than other "lifestyle" writers.  In terms of the overall "power gap", the report says 39% of people in these elite groups were privately educated, compared with 7% of the population.  The battle for the leadership of the Conservative party is between two Oxford graduates - and these figures show that the Oxbridge contingent remains prominent in the areas around politics, the law and opinion-formers in the media.  There are 24% of MPs who are from Oxbridge - but there have been significant changes over the longer-term.  House of Commons figures show that in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher became prime minister, 73% of her Conservative MPs were privately educated - a figure that it is now 45%.  But the Oxbridge influence across the House of Commons remains significant. Among the chairs of select committees, one in three is Oxbridge.  There might also be wider questions about diversity in politics - considering gender and ethnicity as well as where someone went to university.  This report focuses on the dominance of Oxford and Cambridge in public life - but what might get lost in this debate is that the vast majority of the UK's working-age population didn't go to any university at all.  This shows how, in educational terms, this elite 5,000 are very different from the rest of the country.  Their question is not whether to go to university, but which university.  Perhaps the most striking statistic is that 24% of this top group have gone to Oxbridge, while only 19% of the working population have been to any university at all.  It might also suggest why university tuition fees remain such a politically charged question, when almost nine in 10 MPs have been to university themselves,  In the general population, going to a non-selective state school is by far the most typical experience.  But among the elite, the comprehensive school is a minority background, where independent and grammar schools are more usual.  The figure for private school attendance is 7% - but it's worth recognising that this changes through the school years, so that among those taking A-levels or equivalents, about 18% are in private school.  When it comes to showing us the money, this is where the comprehensive students are least represented.  Among those in the UK in the Sunday Times Rich List, there were 34% from independent schools compared with 12% from comprehensives.  The biggest group of all were not educated in the UK at all, including migrants who made their wealth after coming to the country.  The report warns that social mobility is "worryingly low" and Dame Martina Milburn, who chairs the Social Mobility Commission, questions whether "this small elite" should have "such a big say in running the country".  These are the nation's decision-makers - and this report raises the question of whether rulers and the ruled should have such different backgrounds.  It isn't only about politics. It asks whether so many opinion formers and the artists who hold up a mirror to our age should be drawn from such a narrow pool.  The head teachers' leader Geoff Barton said: "State schools work tirelessly to make social justice a reality but the dice are loaded against them in a society where both privilege and disadvantage are perpetuated from one generation to the next."  "The old boys' network and the old school tie still hold back talented and hard-working people from less privileged backgrounds," said Labour's shadow education secretary, Angela Rayner.  But Julie Robinson, chief executive of the Independent Schools Council, warned about assumptions "based on misconceptions or stereotypes" and said many private schools had partnerships with state schools or offered reduced fees for low-income families.  A spokeswoman for the Department for Education said: "For too long professions like law, politics and journalism have been dominated by independently schooled people.  "By making sure that our state schools offer a comparable education to private schools, we will drive down these inequalities."


bbcuk--2019-10-02--Scotland to be first UK country to ban smacking

Scotland is to become the first country in the UK to make it a criminal offence for parents to smack their children.  Parents and carers are currently allowed to use "reasonable" physical force to discipline children.  But the Scottish government has backed moves to give children the same protection from assault as adults.  A ban on all physical punishment is expected to be overwhelmingly backed by the Scottish Parliament in a vote on Thursday afternoon.  In Scots Law, all physical attacks on adults can be treated as assault - but children do not have the same protection.  This is because a person accused of assaulting of a child can claim a defence of "reasonable chastisement" or "justifiable assault" when they have used physical force as a form of discipline on children under the age of 16.  When deciding whether the chastisement was reasonable, the courts take into account factors such as the nature of the punishment, its duration and frequency, the age of the child and the effect - both physical and mental - it had on them.  In practice, this generally means parents are allowed to smack their children on the body - but blows to the head, shaking or the use of an implement are illegal.  All physical punishment in schools and other education settings is already completely banned.  The change to the law was originally proposed by Scottish Greens MSP John Finnie, whose bill has won the support of his own party, as well as the SNP, Labour and Lib Dems - with only the Conservatives opposed.  Opinion polls have suggested a majority of people in Scotland are opposed to a smacking ban - with critics arguing that the current law is sufficient, and that the changes risk criminalising "good" parents.  But most of the responses to a consultation on Mr Finnie's bill were in favour of a ban, and the move has been widely supported by children's charities.  The bill will end the defence of reasonable chastisement, meaning parents could face prosecution for any use of physical punishment on their children.  This will give children have the exact same protection from assault as adults.  The bill uses the same definition of physical punishment, sometimes referred to as corporal punishment, used by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child.  It includes hitting such as smacking, slapping and smacking with a hand or an implement, as well as kicking, shaking or throwing children, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears, forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions, burning, scalding or forced ingestion.  A report published by a group of Scottish children's charities in 2015 found that the physical punishment of children was more common in the UK than in similar countries such as the US, Canada, Italy, Germany and Sweden.  The researchers estimated that between 70% and 80% of parents in the UK have used physical punishment, with children aged between three and seven the most likely to be smacked.  They also found that many parents do not view smacking as a "good thing", but believe that sometimes it is the "only thing that will work".  And they said the use of physical chastisement has declined over the years alongside a shift in public attitudes, with "convincing evidence" that the decline has been steeper in the more than 50 countries around the world that have already banned smacking.  Research examining the views of children on smacking has suggested that it hurts and upsets them, and does not always stop bad behaviour.  A campaign against the ban has been led by the Be Reasonable Scotland group, which argues that the move - while well-intentioned - could do more harm than good.  The group argues that the current law only allows parents to use "very mild discipline" such as a smack on the hand or bottom - which would become a criminal offence in the future.  They say that the "unnecessary" changes will therefore do nothing more to help vulnerable children who are the victims of serious physical abuse, but will cause traumatic interventions in "good" families.  And they have urged the government to instead invest in social work and other services to improve their ability to identify and tackle genuine abuse.  In 1979, Sweden became the first country in the world to ban corporal punishment in the home - with Scotland set to become the 58th to do so.  Parents in England and Wales can currently face criminal charges if they hit a child so hard that it leaves a mark, or causes bruising, swelling, cuts, grazes or scratches.  However Wales is close to an outright ban, with a bill currently working its way through the Welsh assembly that would remove the defence of "reasonable punishment" that has been in force since Victorian times in England and Wales.  There have been calls for England to follow suit, with the Association of Educational Psychologists saying last year that smacking is harmful to children's mental health and should be banned.  Northern Ireland has similar legal provisions to those in England and Wales, while Ireland banned smacking in 2015.


bbcuk--2019-10-03--Sex education Right to remove pupils from class set to end

Sex education: Right to remove pupils from class set to end

Parents are set to lose their right to remove their children from sex and relationship classes under Welsh Government plans.  Education Minister Kirsty Williams said she was also "minded to" abolish the right to remove children from religious education (RE) lessons.  The plan will be put to an eight-week consultation.  In a previous consultation, 89% of respondents backed the right of parents to take children out of the classes.  But Ms Williams said it had always been an "anomaly" that pupils could be withdrawn from certain subjects.  The proposed measure will be brought in along with the new curriculum, which will be introduced in primary schools and the first year of secondary in 2022, before being rolled out up to 16-year-olds in 2026.  The revised approach for relationships and sexuality education (RSE) will be "fully inclusive of all genders and sexualities and meets the needs of LGBTQI+ learners", Ms Williams has previously said.  It will place an emphasis on forming and maintaining healthy, happy and fulfilling relationships, giving pupils a much broader understanding of sexuality.  Ms Williams said all teaching would be developmentally appropriate and parents would be kept informed about what they were learning.  "I am minded to ensure all pupils study RE and RSE in the new curriculum, just as they will study science, maths and languages," she said.  "Children should be provided with access to information that keeps them safe from harm and allows them to navigate the world in which we live…  "It must be easy for parents to engage in dialogue with schools about this and other parts of the curriculum."  Sian Rees, director of the Evangelical Alliance in Wales, said they wanted parents to retain the right to take their children out of RSE lessons.  "We believe that age isn't an indication of maturity and that these conversations are conversations that should perhaps be occurring within the home," she said.  "The [new curriculum] framework as it stands is very vague. We would ask the minister to provide more clarity and explanation as to what exactly she would like teachers to cover."  Abdul-Azim Ahmed, deputy general secretary of the Muslim Council of Wales, said it was important to maintain trust between parents, the state and schools.  "A move that withdraws the right for parents to withdraw their children may undermine that trust," he said.  "[With religious education] there's a well-established curriculum... so removing the right to withdraw there may be less controversial because parents know what's anticipated.  "That's less clear when it comes to relationship and sexuality education where the guidance is still being developed."  On Monday, the Welsh Government's advisers on domestic violence said lessons about sexuality and relationships should be compulsory in schools.  Teaching on issues related to relationships and sex is usually delivered through personal and social education, which is part of the curriculum for seven to 16 year olds.  Younger children are taught about relationships as part of the foundation phase.  All secondary schools are required by law to provide the sex education element to pupils, and primary schools can teach it if they wish.  Jane Cope, a mother of two teenage children from Caerphilly, said: "I don't feel that it should be mandatory that all children should have to attend [sex education], but it should also perhaps be provided to those children in a safer zone with somebody from their own culture that can speak to the children."  Sarah Day, who has three children, said: "I think that part of the curriculum is just as important as maths, science, English, IT. It's part and parcel of how we live our lives.  "It should most definitely stay, it's how the school engages with parents who may have an issue with their child accessing that part of the curriculum."


bbcuk--2019-10-10--Social media has 'little effect on girls' wellbeing'

Getting enough sleep and seeing friends may have a bigger effect on teenage girls' mental wellbeing than social media use, a report suggests.  The finding comes in the government's new State of the Nation report, looking at young people's happiness levels.  Social media use in itself was found not to be strongly linked to girls' mental health unless youngsters were losing sleep or being bullied online.  Bullying had an effect on wellbeing eight times stronger than social media.  Despite continued debate about the impact of social media on young people's wellbeing, the report suggested once other factors were taken into account, there was not a strong link with psychological health.  Spending time with friends and getting enough sleep were "consistent protective factors for positive psychological health across adolescence", the report commissioned by the Department for Education said.  Bullying was the factor most strongly associated with girls' mental wellbeing but this became less important for older girls, it added.  The report concluded: "Social media use had one of the smallest effects of all the factors we examined: getting enough sleep and seeing friends were about three times larger.  "Being bullied, including online bullying, had an association with psychological health about eight times larger than social media use.  "This suggested that when accounting for other factors such as the effect of bullying, physical health and sleep, and the frequency of seeing friends, social media use had only a minimal unique association with psychological health."  Overall, the study suggests the majority of young people are relatively happy with their lives, but there has been a slight increase over the past seven years in the proportion who are not.  Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said: "The pressures young people face today both in and out of school are vastly different to those their parents and grandparents experienced, so we need to listen to what they have to say and act on it."  He added: "It's encouraging that the overwhelming majority of children say they are happy, but we have a responsibility to do better for those that aren't.  "We have given teachers the power to tackle bad behaviour like bullying so that school is a safe place for every child to thrive, but today's report helps shine a light on where to focus these efforts."  In October 2018, then Prime Minister Theresa May committed to publishing a State of the Nation report to integrate the available evidence on the state of children and young people's wellbeing, and to provide an accessible narrative on current evidence to guide discourse and action.  But interest in the national wellbeing of children and young people is not new.  The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has collated measures on the life satisfaction, feelings of worth and general happiness of children and young people since 2012.


bbcuk--2019-11-08--Election 2019: Labour promising 1,000 new children's centres

Labour is promising to open 1,000 new Sure Start children's centres in England.  Party leader Jeremy Corbyn says he would invest £1bn in the early years centres, as part of a package of childcare support.  The Lib Dems will promise subsidised childcare for working families from when children are nine months old.  The Conservatives say they are already "investing record amounts in high-quality childcare".  Childcare providers have expressed scepticism at the lack of funding details and warned of an "electoral arms race" on childcare promises.  On a visit to Leeds with shadow education secretary Angela Rayner, Mr Corbyn will promise to open a new generation of Sure Start centres, which provide health, welfare and education services for pre-school children.  According to a report from the Sutton Trust last year, up to 1,000 have closed in the past decade, with funding pressures being blamed.  Labour says it will "reverse the cuts" in the centres which were originally launched when Tony Blair was prime minister. • Up to a thousand Sure Start centres have closed, says Sutton Trust • Sure Start delivered big benefits but face closure, says IFS • Who is eligible for the free 30 hours of childcare?  An analysis from the Institute of Fiscal Studies earlier this year said Sure Start had made a positive impact, with evidence that the health advice had "significantly reduced" the numbers of children being admitted to hospital.  But the financial think tank said it had been a story of a "fast roll-out followed by deep spending cuts", with spending peaking at £1.8bn in 2010 and then being cut to £600m by 2017-18.  The IFS puts the number of closures at about 500 sites - half the Sutton Trust estimate.  Labour has also restated its commitment to providing 30 hours-a-week of childcare for all two-to-four-year-olds, as part of its overall £4.5bn childcare package.  Ms Rayner said the extra support for early-years education could "transform lives".  Mr Corbyn said opening a Sure Start centre in "every community" would "unlock the potential of every child".  He said: "Parents are struggling to afford the childcare support they need, while many children are going hungry and growing up homeless."  The Liberal Democrats are unveiling their own childcare plans - offering 35 hours a week for all parents of two-to-four-year-olds.  This would be available for working parents from when their children are nine months old.  The Lib Dems say this will be funded by "fair tax changes", which they say means "making sure that big businesses pay their share".  Layla Moran, the Lib Dem education spokeswoman, said it would support families as they "juggle the demands of modern life, working and parenting, by giving them more choice over how they organise their lives and improve social mobility with early-years education".  More on the election • What's the price tag on an election?  At present working parents of three- and four-year-olds in England are entitled to 30 hours' free childcare a week - and the Conservatives say they have increased the funding and quality of childcare provision while in government.  Early Years Minister Nick Gibb said: "Labour's plans to abolish Ofsted would leave these centres without anyone properly checking your children are safe."  Neil Leitch, chief executive of the Early Years Alliance, welcomed Labour's promise for new Sure Start centres.  But he raised concerns about funding the promises - and whether there would be adequate levels of payments for nurseries and childcare providers.  "This is a positive policy for the thousands of parents struggling to afford childcare - but the lack of detail on how it will be funded will strike fear into the hearts of many providers.  "We currently have a funding shortfall in the early years of two-thirds of a billion pounds. That shortfall, which has led to thousands of provider closures, is a direct result of an ongoing electoral arms race between political parties to entice parents with 'free childcare' without thinking through how it will be paid for.  "It has meant that very few parents receive truly 'free' childcare and has ultimately pushed up prices for non-funded hours."


bbcuk--2019-11-26--The rise of children joining high-IQ society Mensa

The number of under-11s joining high-IQ society British Mensa has risen by more than half, from below 200 five years ago to 319 this year.  Overall, the number of children joining has risen from 1,344 to 1,956.  They have to pass a test Mensa says puts them in the top 2% of the population.  And a number of British Asian children have made global headlines after the Indian media has picked up on their success.  Jiya, 11, says: "When I went into the room to do the test... I looked around and everyone was so much older than me.  "When the test came, I did my best and it turned out I did pretty good.  "My friends were really happy for me and they encouraged me a lot and they were like, 'well done'.  "And it was really surprising when they asked for my autograph because I was like, 'I see you every day but oh well.'"  Her mother, Bijal, says: "It's a long two-and-a-half hour test but it is just a two-and-a-half-hour test and if the results come out fair, it'll give a huge boost to your child."  Jiya's father, Jignesh, says: "Education is not the only way to get to the top [in India], you've got a lot of start-ups, you've got sports personalities, like Sachin Tendulkar and Virat Kohli, so times are changing but you could say Asians put a little more emphasis on academic excellence and Mensa is one of the feathers in the cap."  Mensa's gifted child consultant and psychologist, Lyn Kendall, says potential can be spotted when a child starts at their playgroup.  "These children are driven to learn," she says.  "Finding like-minds, meeting with other children as bright as them is absolutely essential for their social development.  "You've got to be able to get on with everyone but as individuals, we tend to get on with people who share our interests."  The Heathland School, in Hounslow, west London, is believed to hold the record for getting the most children into Mensa in one sitting - 56.  One of them, Nauman, 16, has been a member for more than four years.  He says: "My family are really proud. They mention it to almost everyone every chance they get. I had a doctor's appointment recently and my dad even told him. That's how proud he is.  "It could come in useful for my future."  But some of the other Heathland pupils who passed the test at the same time as Nauman have left Mensa because they say it does not do enough for young people  A Mensa spokeswoman said: "We are very aware that the society could do more for its growing younger membership and we are trying to make progress.  "Our gifted child consultant, Lyn Kendall, runs a series of workshops for different age groups, which allow children to stretch their brains and socialise with other bright youngsters and parents.  "There are also many events under the Family Mensa banner, which help families get together for a range of activities.  "Over the past year this has included picnics, a ceilidh, geocaching, a science discovery centre, astronomy, an aerospace museum, castles, pottery and lots more."  The spokeswoman also responded to the former members' accusations Mensa was elitist.  "There are no academic achievements needed, no committee approval and no distinction on any other grounds," she said.  "We do not take into account age, gender, race, religion, social class or any other factor."