What’s been happening in the news this week?
- Neyland Community School in Pembrokeshire, west Wales will close its gates at 12.15pm rather than 3.20pm on Fridays starting in September. They argue that Friday afternoon lessons are pointless since children lack “attention and focus” to learn after a full week of classes. The school claims families will be able to spend more quality time together.
- Ofsted say that thousands of children are attending unregistered schools that leave them at risk of harm. Inspectors have found open sewers, rat traps, exposed electrical wires and modular units used as classrooms.
- 12,500 children will be sent to primary schools that were “inadequate” or “require improvement” for 10 years when they get school offers.
- A survey by the National Education Union finds half of school staff say child poverty and low income is having a significant effect on students’ ability to learn.
- According to the Department for Education (DfE) more than one in ten pupils (10.8 per cent) aged between four and 11 are now taught in classes of 31 or more – the largest proportion since 2007.
- Risedale Sports and Community College, in Catterick, North Yorkshire, has stopped all exclusions. The headteacher says he does not want to give up on pupils, despite its performance falling as a result.
- Read about the teacher who lives in the back of a van and check out his blog here too.
- Over two-thirds (69%) of secondary school heads have had to cut teaching staff to save money, according to new polling published by the Sutton Trust today.
- Four in five teachers have been victims of bullying in the past year, the NASUWT teaching union said, after the results from the poll of nearly 2,000 teachers were revealed.
- A new Canadian study of more than 2,400 families suggests that among preschoolers, spending two hours or more of screen time per day is linked to clinically significant behavioural problems.
Increased screen-time in pre-school is associated with worse inattention problems.