Daily roundup 12 January: School inspections, youth services, and student debt

Ofsted’s national director for schools has admitted that the inspectorate has failed to ensure that its school inspections are reliable. The BBC reports that, in response to a blog criticising the inspection process, Sean Harford agreed that reliability is an issue and admitted that Ofsted does not ensure “directly that different inspectors in the school on the same day would give the same judgment”.


A Unison member has warned that plans to cut Haringey’s youth services by £2.1m could lead to disorder reminiscent of the 2011 Tottenham riots. The Haringey Independent reports that Sean Fox thinks that the plans would only serve to stigmatise more young people, rather than support them.


Figures sourced by former universities minister John Denham have revealed that paying for student debt will cost the country billions of pounds annually over the next 30 years. Finance experts have warned the costly “loan now, pay later” funding system is equal to the funding challenges facing schools and authorities over public finance initiatives, the Independent on Sunday reports. Last year, an independent Higher Education Commission report warned the system is “unsustainable”.


A nursery in East London has been handed a welfare notice after an Ofsted inspection unveiled serious safety concerns, including children being left unsupervised and the use of dangerous equipment. The East London and West Essex Guardian Series reports that Magic Roundabout Day Nursery in Walthamstow – rated “inadequate” by the inspectorate – must now address the issues highlighted during the inspection.