Posts on ‘December 17th, 2008’

Students at one of Britain’s biggest universities have become the first in the country to ban bottled still water from all their bars, cafes and shops, sacrificing annual profits of £32,000.
A referendum at Leeds University has voted overwhelmingly to phase out the product by the end of next year, to allow campus stores to absorb [...]

Kate Green: In a country that is supposedly intent on reducing child poverty and enhancing child wellbeing, it is disgraceful that they do not

More …

As the clock ticks down to midnight, more than 50,000 academics across the UK wait to see how their research rates in comparison with their rivals (sorry, colleagues) in their fields.
They already know how they themselves have been judged by the expert panels of the Research Assessment Exercise 2008 and are basking in the approval [...]

An interesting set of mixed but mostly positive reviews for Arne Duncan, Obama’s choice for education secretary, from Chicago (from Chicago?? Well, obviously the man is corrupt and had to pay Blago to get named to this post!). Duncan is apparently neither in the pocket of the teachers’ unions nor their sworn enemy, which is [...]

The number of child protection services in England considered inadequate at keeping children safe doubles in a year.
More …

Plans to improve services for children with speech and language problems are welcomed by parents and therapists.
More …

A school is celebrating after it was rated as “outstanding” after an Ofsted inspection.
Windsor High School, Halesowen, got top marks in 19 categories. In the remaining six categories it was rated as “good”.
There are 1,376 pupils aged between 11 and 16 at Richmond Street school, which specialises in sport and science.
<p … [visit site to [...]

Private schools have been told to break down the barriers between themselves and local state schools by offering more bursaries, sharing their facilities and doing teacher swaps.
Every private school in the country must comply with new rules set by the Charity Commission or risk losing their tax breaks – worth £100m a year to independent [...]

Lois Osborne still does not know how her son Patrick, 12, performed in his Sats tests this summer.
His school in Wells, Somerset, had to wait until the end of October to get the full results for their key stage 2 tests, having been sent another school’s marks in the meantime.
It asked for four of the [...]

Michael Rosen visits Charles Dickens’s former house, now a museum, in 48 Doughty Street in Bloomsbury, London

More …