Daily roundup 16 April: School places, childcare, and smoking

More than half a million families will discover today which primary schools their children will attend, amid growing pressure on places in some parts of England. The BBC reports that as many as one in six children could miss out on their first choice of school in some areas. Pressure on places is particularly prominent in outer London boroughs and cities such as Leicester, Nottingham, Reading, Bristol and Peterborough.


Labour would introduce a new legal right to allow working grandparents to take time off to help care for their grandchildren. The party’s deputy leader Harriet Harman, in an interview with the Daily Mail, said grandparents would be allowed to take up to four weeks off per year unpaid in order to help with childcare. She said the policy, to be unveiled in Labour’s women’s manifesto, would require a change in the law and would help millions of families.


Primary school children in Wales are more likely to have tried e-cigarettes than tobacco, a study has found. The Western Mail reports that research carried out by Cardiff University found six per cent of primary school children aged 10 and 11 had used e-cigarettes at least once compared with two per cent for the tobacco equivalent.


Police have issued a warning to parents over a new “potentially deadly” craze called "sleeper". ITV News reports that the prank involves a child having their nose and mouth held shut by another child until they black out from lack of oxygen. A child in Manchester was taken to hospital after being a victim of the prank.


The National Union of Students has launched a "payback time" campaign calling for people to vote against MPs who broke their 2010 election promise over tuition fees. The BBC reports that the organisation has created posters with the slogan "liar, liar" aimed at MPs who U-turned over their pledge to oppose fee increases for universities in England.


Parents are set to be consulted on how to cut a further £500,000 from the budget for children’s centres in Waltham Forest. In September 2014, the council’s cabinet agreed to cut £1m from centres between 2015 and 2017, following a restructuring of services. Half the savings have already been earmarked for this financial year by cutting office management costs, but a further £500,000 must be cut in 2016/17, the Guardian reports.