Christians in Education will be taking a break over Easter. The next KNOWLEDGE update will be on Friday 10 April.
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. 1 Peter 1:3
Last weekend saw the first day of spring. In celebration, the Met Office compiled ten interesting and sometimes bizarre facts about spring that you probably didn’t know. Read more
The Trojan Horse affair in Birmingham schools last year has left an indelible mark on the education system and the ensuing debate on the need for schools to uphold British values has infused parties’ proposals for education. This is despite a final report into the affair by the House of Commons education committee which concluded that apart from one incident, no evidence of extremism or radicalisation was found in any of the schools involved and there was ‘no evidence of a sustained plot’. So what do different political parties intend to do about the issue? Read more
One evening, in a Mongolian restaurant, Terry Pratchett and two friends came up with the idea of a popular science book based on Discworld. They all felt that this would be an attractive way to explain science to non-specialists, and that this was a worthwhile thing to do. So here are five examples of what Discworld can teach us about science. Read more
It has come to light that many local authorities are opting to freeze their rates for the next financial year, which starts on 6 April, while others are increasing their rates by nominal amounts. In some cases, local authorities are dropping their rates. In effect, this means that early years providers are facing a real-term cut in funding to deliver three and four-year-old places in 2015/16, amid increases to business and running costs. Read more Blog
With education policy set to play an important part in the May general election campaign, debates around the future direction of the school system will take place against the backdrop of fast-paced reforms made during the coalition’s time in office. It’s suggested that there are four key issues which are likely to face scrutiny when it comes to schools policy. They were selected by an economist – would they be your four top concerns? Read more
In the past few years, a major innovation in education has been the growth of the academy chains – charities who run strings of state schools. But, so far, there have only been sporadic attempts to benchmark how good the new providers are, especially when compared to local authorities. Happily, the government is now trying – and their first analysis shows some important results. In fact, new research by the Department for Education has cast a little doubt on this policy. Read more
A Home Affairs Select Committee report heavily criticises schools and the police for failing to alert parents that their children are at risk of fleeing Britain to join Isis forces. They call for a drive to win the hearts and minds of susceptible teenagers, warning that without urgent action many more could follow the 600 Britons already believed to have gone to Syria. Read more
As Parliament is prorogued and its business goes on hold, the DfE has had an end of school year feel about it this week. A new action plan to tackle mental health stigma in schools was announced. The childcare investment readiness fund was updated – organisations can now register their interest in social investment. More volunteers are to be recruited to develop school games. An online resource containing a central list of post-16 courses was launched, to provide up-to-date and reliable information for young people, schools and parents. £25m has been earmarked to help life changing children’s services, including Barnardo’s, Mind and the Diana Fund. A £1m fund was announced to help schools recruit high calibre governors. £5m has been given to schools to work with local nurseries and a further £2m was given to organisations to combat homophobic bullying. This includes Educate and Celebrate, the charity providing the CHIPS programme which has attracted parental complaint. No funding was given to combat bullying of other protected characteristics under the Equality Act, including race, disability or religion/belief.