Ofsted boss says school inspections will continue
- Despite unions calling for a pause in inspections after head teacher Ruth Perry took her life while waiting for an Ofsted report, Ofsted’s boss says that they will continue.
- Chief inspector of Ofsted, Amanda Spielman has said that stopping school inspections in England would be against “children’s best interests.”
- She insists that “any changes to the current system would have to meet the needs both of parents and of government.”
- President of the National Association of head Teachers Paul Gosling has called for the grading system to be removed.
- He suggests that they replace it with a list of what a school does well and what needs improving.
- For more on this story, please visit the BBC News website.
Food banks supported 800,000 UK children in 2021-22
- New data shows that families, including 800,000 children, had to use food banks to feed themselves following the first year of the pandemic.
- It is thought these levels will have risen rapidly since the removal of the £20-a-week uplift to universal credit in October 2021 and the current cost of living crisis.
- A fifth of the UK population was in relative poverty in 2021-22, including 4.2 million children.
- 6% suffered from food insecurity and 33% of these food-insecure households said they had used food banks in the last 12 months.
- The Resolution Foundation said that data has shown that government measures had protected household income during the pandemic.
- However, the ongoing cost of living crisis has impacted household incomes and child poverty rates were likely to have risen as a consequence.
- For more on this story, please visit the Guardian’s website.
Self-harm hospital admissions up 22% for children aged 8-17
- Self-harm hospital admissions have jumped by 22% in one year for eight- to 17-year-olds in the UK.
- This leaves the eight to 17 age group as the largest for self-harm admissions.
- Charities have said early access to support is vital however, high thresholds and long waiting lists mean that young people are ending up in hospital.
- The government has said they are investing £2.3 billion a year in NHS mental health services.
- For more, go to the BBC website.
Police investigating ‘sexual assault’ at scandal-hit children’s hospital as watchdog threatens closure
- Police are investigating allegations of sexual assault against a child patient at a private mental health hospital group.
- This is the second time a report has been made about a former Huntercombe Group Hospital.
- The Ivetsy Bank Mental Health Hospital’s rating changed last week from, requires improvement to inadequate with concerns being raised about “sexual safety” incidents.
- Watchdog has made threats to close hospitals due to failures by hospital leaders to make care improvements.
- A spokesperson for NHS England stated, “Action plans are in place to ensure improvements are made and these will be regularly monitored and reviewed, with further action being explored if progress is not made.”
- For the full story, please visit the Independent website.
