Daily roundup 10 December: Children in care, inspections, and child wellbeing

The attainment gap at key stage one between children in care and their non-looked after peers has not narrowed since 2010, Department for Education data shows. However, the statistics on outcomes for looked-after children up to March 2014 show improvements in education performance at key stages one and two, and a slight narrowing of the attainment gap at key stage two from 2012 levels. The data shows exclusions have fallen, as have levels of substance misuse and offending by looked-after children.  


Ofsted has launched a consultation on a new inspection framework for adoption support agencies. The framework, which comes into effect from April 2015, proposes changes to the criteria used to assess whether services are good and outstanding, and will ensure that a judgment of "inadequate" in any area will always limit the overall effectiveness judgment to "inadequate". The consultation is open until 22 January.


The International Positive Education Network has launched a campaign calling for radical changes to the education system that put children’s happiness and wellbeing at the centre. The Manifesto for Positive Education outlines the organisation’s vision for a new education system that places equal value on academic skills and character strengths.


Caroline Selkirk has started as the new chief executive of the British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF). Selkirk takes over from Barbara Hutchinson, who was made interim chief executive in May following the departure of Srabani Sen after just six months in the post. Selkirk, whose appointment was announced in September, joins BAAF from NHS Tayside, where she had been deputy chief executive since 2011.


A police officer has been sacked after admitting a string of child sex offences. The BBC reports that Nick Lidstone was dismissed from Cambridgeshire Police last week after pleading guilty to 13 charges, including sexual assault and taking indecent images of a child, during a hearing at Norwich Crown Court last month.


Five workers at a nursery in East Ham are to be made redundant this week after the setting lost funding to deliver free childcare places for disadvantaged two-year-olds. The Newham Recorder reports that New Birth Day Nursery has had its funding for the scheme stopped after Ofsted downgraded the setting from “good” to “requires improvement”. The nursery is now set to lose 18 two-year-olds.