Daily roundup January 16: Faith schools, Poppi Worthington, and tax-free childcare

New faith schools will no longer have to reserve half of their places for pupils from a different religious background. The Sun reports that Damian Hinds, the new Education Secretary, who spoke out against the quota as a backbencher in 2014, is set to scrap it after his appointment last week. Axing the 50 per cent cap on pupils of the same religion had been an election pledge by Theresa May.


A "fit and active, robust little girl" suffocated after being sexually abused by her father, a coroner has ruled. The Guardian reports that Poppi Worthington died just over five years ago at her home in Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria, after spending part of the night in bed with her father, Paul Worthington. David Roberts, the senior coroner for Cumbria, ruled on Monday that the 13-month-old had been sexually assaulted by her father just before her death, after a postmortem found suspicious injuries.


The government's tax-free childcare scheme has opened to parents whose youngest child is under nine, or who turns nine today. HM Revenue and Customs said the scheme will open to all remaining eligible families with children under 12 on 14 February 2018.


Young people are at "serious risk of harm" at a care home for children with emotional and behavioural difficulties, Ofsted has warned. The BBC reports that Ballard House, in Lowestoft, has been rated inadequate after an Ofsted inspection last month. Children at the PCT Care Services Ltd-run home were not safeguarded from the risk of sexual exploitation, said Ofsted.


A woman who was abused and raped as a child is not capable of caring for her toddler daughter, a family court judge has ruled. The Independent reports that Judge Jessica Pemberton said the woman, now in her early 20s, had not been given the "foundation" to enable her to look after a child. The judge said the state had not intervened adequately to protect the woman from "serious harm and neglect" when she was a child and her upbringing had a "huge impact" on her capabilities as a parent.


An emergency inspection has found that a Croydon special school is failing to safeguard vulnerable children following "serious allegations". The Croydon Advertiser reports that the independent school for young students with behavioural and emotional difficulties was found by Ofsted inspectors to leave pupils "in the ether". Educational Excellence and Wellbeing, based in South Croydon, was inspected as a matter of urgency in response to "serious allegations of a child protection nature at the school".


The owner of an unregistered school that had "no running water" and leaflets titled Islam and terrorism? has been banned from teaching. The BBC reports that Naveed Hussain, 39, the owner of Bordesley Independent School, was handed a prohibition order preventing him from working as a teacher. The school was criticised by inspectors over child safety and the quality of its education.