Daily roundup 11 May: Care applications, SRE, and GCSE results

The number of applications for children to be taken into care dropped to the lowest level for more than a year. Latest Cafcass statistics show that there were a total of 1,029 care applications in April 2017, 16 per cent fewer than April 2016, and the lowest level since September 2015. Cafcass has stressed, however, that there were fewer working days available in April 2017 compared with April 2016 due to the way bank holidays fell.


Two sexual health charities have joined forces to identify best practice examples of sex and relationships education (SRE) in schools. Brook and FPA said they want to source the best examples of schools-based SRE throughout the UK and present them to policymakers and practitioners to help shape the new curriculum.


There has been an improvement in the GCSE results of children growing up in care. The BBC reports that latest figures show 23 per cent of looked-after children in Wales achieved the equivalent of five good grade GCSEs in English or Welsh and in maths in 2016 - up from 17 per cent the year before. Last year, the Welsh Government embarked on a three-year plan to raise ambition and attainment for children in care.


A funding shortfall in council support for vulnerable children in England will be worse than expected, it has been claimed. The BBC reports that the Local Government Association has calculated that the shortfall in children's services budgets will reach £2bn by 2020, £100m more than was suggested by its previous analysis last October, which had put it at £1.9bn.


Fathers with a calm demeanour who actively engage with their babies can have a positive impact on their offspring's intelligence, according to new research. The Independent reports that researchers at Imperial College London found that more father-child interaction can boost a child's abilities later in life.