Meridian Schools News

Tens of thousands of 11-year-olds start a week of tests today to show what they've learned in primary school. This year there's a controversial new exam in grammar and punctuation which pupils sit for the first time tomorrow.

Our correspondent Christine Alsford put Fred and Sangeeta to the test!

• Education
• schools
• Exams

More parents in Kent have been fined for keeping their children off school than anywhere else in the country. Latest truancy figures reveal that 3,455 penalty notices were issued in the county last year. Tom Savvides talks to Headteacher Nigel Utton and Sean Tipton from ABTA.

• Education
• truancy
• Schools

Ofsted has released a report into the quality of education at some schools in Portsmouth. Ofsted inspectors visited the city last month to find out why it had a disproportionate number of under-performing classes.

• Education
• Portsmouth
• Schools

National Audit Office head Amyas Morse said:

The Department has ambitious objectives to provide school places, and to enable parents to have some choice of school for their children.

However, despite increases in places and funding over the last two years, it faces a real challenge, with 256,000 places still required by 2014/15. Furthermore, there are indications of strain on school places.

The Department needs a better understanding of costs to improve value for money, as well as a better understanding of the impact its funding contribution is having on the ground.

• Education
• Schools
• National Audit Office

The National Audit Office report suggests that the heightened demand for primary school places is partly down to a rising birth rate - the rise in the number of children born in England between 2001 and 2011 was the biggest 10-year increase since the 1950s.

Between 2006/07 and 2011/12, the number of four-year-olds starting reception classes rose by 16%, it says.

It warns that by September 2014, an estimated extra 256,000 primary and secondary school places will be needed to meet the demand. Of these, 240,000 are required in primary schools, with more than a third (37%) needed in London alone.

These extra places are still needed despite a net increase of almost 81,500 places which were created between 2010 and May 2012, and the DfE increasing the amount of funding it gives to local councils to provide spaces.

How many places will be required in the future is uncertain, the NAO says, but it is expected that more will be needed beyond next year.

• Education
• Schools
• National Audit Office

Tens of thousands of extra school places will be needed by next year amid a continuing surge in demand, the spending watchdog warned today.

Despite more than 80,000 extra primary spaces being created in the last two years, there are still signs of a real strain on school places, according to a new report by the National Audit Office (NAO).

It says that the Government is pumping billions of pounds into establishing more places, but suggests that the Department for Education (DfE) still needs a better understanding of the costs, and the impact its funding is having in local areas.

• Education
• Schools
• National Audit Office

Leaving school or college is a daunting prospect for some students, particularly as youth unemployment is rising. A careers fair was inundated with students wanting to find out about jobs apprenticeships and further education. Tom Savvides reports from Detling, near Maidstone.

• Education
• Jobs
• Apprenticeships

League tables published today reveal that some of the Government's flagship academies are among the worst performing schools in the region. Kent's grammars are doing well but the overall performance of Sussex schools is below par.

David Johns reports, talking to head teachers Cassie Ellins at Marlowe Academy, Julie Derrick at Invicta Grammar, and Jules White at Tanbridge House.

• Education
• Kent
• East Sussex

The big freeze kept its grip on the South - for a fourth day today. At airports, flights were grounded - and many train services struggled to cope. Thousands of children had an extra day off - as schools in the region remained closed.

Almost 500 schools stayed shut today. Buckinghamshire was worst affected with 177 schools closed. Sussex saw almost 160 shut. 84 remained closed in Hampshire, and almost 50 across Oxfordshire. Many more schools were partially closed or opened later in the day.

In some cases, parents were asked to bring shovels to help clear paths. But some headteachers and local councils have been criticised for keeping so many schools closed. Chris Maughan reports.

• UK
• snow
• Schools

For thousands of school children today's snow meant the weekend came early.

Across the Meridian region more than 1500 schools were closed today. More than 220 in Oxfordshire.

Almost 390 across Hampshire. More than 200 in Dorset and all of schools on the Isle of Wight.

But many councils have been criticised for closing schools when they could have remained open. Divya Kohli has our report.

• UK
• Snow
• schools