Daily roundup 14 July: Drugs; segregation, and exam stress

Middle-class children are being groomed to sell drugs by criminal gangs branching out from cities into rural towns, a report has warned. The Telegraph reports that the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Runaway and Missing Children and Adults found that children as young as eight from "stable and economically better-off" backgrounds are at risk of being exploited by gangs using "county lines" tactics, which facilitate the supply of class A drugs from urban areas to county or coastal towns.


Schools in England that segregate boys from girls will face fresh inspections if education watchdog Ofsted wins a test case over sex discrimination, the Court of Appeal heard on Wednesday. The BBC reports that the schools watchdog is challenging a High Court ruling last year clearing an Islamic mixed-sex faith school of unlawfully segregating the pupils. Birmingham's Al-Hijrah school separates boys and girls from the age of 10.


Suicides among young people surge in the run-up to exam season, a new report has found. The Telegraph reports that a major study by the University of Manchester found that exam stress is sometimes the final straw that prompts a young person to take their own life. Researchers analysing evidence heard at suicide inquests, found that 63 of the 145 (43 per cent) suicide victims examined from 2014/15 were experiencing academic pressure before their death.


A 16-year-old has been arrested as police launched a major investigation into a series of acid attacks that took place in less than 90 minutes in east London on Thursday night. The Guardian reports that one of the victims was said to have suffered "life-changing" injuries during one of the attacks, which were carried out by two male suspects on a moped.


An increasing number of children are not potty trained when they start school, according to a Dorset businesswoman. The BBC reports that Amanda Jenner, who runs The Potty Training Academy in Bournemouth, said more than 30 parents have told her they are delaying their child going to school this September. A survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers found that three quarters of teachers have seen an increase in the number of children who are starting school without being potty trained.