Grammar schools in England are being given the chance to create thousands of new places in a trimmed-down selective school expansion programme. The BBC reports that expanded wholly selective schools will have to set out plans to admit disadvantaged pupils, perhaps by lowering the entrance requirements. It comes after Theresa May's scheme for a new wave of grammars was abandoned due to lack of parliamentary support. Plans for new faith schools have also been announced.
The number of under-18s held in custody has increased by 56 in the space of a month, government figures show. Statistics published by the Ministry of Justice show that in March there were a total of 926 under-18s in the youth secure estate, compared with 870 the previous month.
Cafcass received a total of 1,110 applications for children to be taken into care last month. The figure represents a 6.2 per cent increase compared with April 2017, but is down on April 2016, when there were 1,225 care applications.
Andrew Fletcher has been announced as the new chief executive for the UK children's palliative care charity Together for Short Lives. Fletcher will step into his new role on 25 June 2018 replacing Barbara Gelb, who is retiring. Fletcher has been chief executive of Longfield, a provider of community hospice care in Gloucestershire, since June 2015. Prior to joining Longfield, he was director of external affairs at Together for Short Lives.
