News Round-up 30th December

  • Labour sets sights on universal pre-school childcare

Labour is to pursue the policy of universal childcare for all pre-school children in the run-up to the General Election, the Shadow Childcare Minister Lucy Powell has told the Guardian. She also praised Manchester City Council’s early intervention scheme on a visit to the city.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/dec/30/labour-free-universal-childcare-miliband

  • ‘Things have got worse for a lot of children in poverty’

Children’s Commissioner for England Maggie Atkinson outlines her priorities for next year in an interview with the Independent. She said: “In 2014 we want to continue with the things we’ve been working on so hard this year – so we’ll continue the threads of what happens to young people when they’re not protected from sexual abuse and violence. We are continuing to work with schools and others on what successful schooling looks like; we’re working very hard on children in the care system – some of whom will have been put there because of extremes of abuse and violence – and that they’re properly served and listened to.”

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/maggie-atkinson-things-have-got-worse-for–a-lot-of-children-in-poverty-9027616.html

  • Schools overload pupils with homework

Schools often give children too much homework and primary age pupils should have no more than an hour a week, according to Bernadette Hunter, President of the National Association of Head Teachers.

http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/education/schools/article3959718.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2013_12_27

  • Teachers threaten more strikes as talks stumble

Schools face the threat of a renewed strike action by teachers in the new year as attempts to solve a dispute over pay, pensions and workload continue, warned the National Union of Teachers.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/teachers-threaten-more-strikes-as-talks-with-michael-gove-stumble-9026340.html