Daily roundup 15 January: School places, food, and children's centres

The system for creating new school places in England is fragmented and confusing and risks harm to children's education, it has been claimed. The BBC reports that the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) believes a lack of cohesive local planning means new schools are not always opened where there is most need.


One in five teachers has taken food in for their students because they are arriving at school hungry in the morning. The Daily Mail reports that a poll by YouGov found that eight per cent of teachers have even brought money in to give to desperate children, in the belief that they are going hungry due to financial hardship within the family.


Staff working in children's services in Oxfordshire are to be balloted for strike action over proposed cuts. The BBC reports that Oxfordshire County Council plans to close 44 children's centres and seven early intervention centres to save £8m. A final decision on the proposals is set to be made next month.


Youth offending work in Islington is not effective in protecting the public, reducing reoffending and keeping young people safe, an inspection has found. Chief Inspector of Probation Paul Wilson said that despite some improvements within the service, the risk that some children posed to others was often confused with their vulnerability. Meanwhile the relationship between the local authority and the police had led to "confusion of efforts, miscommunication and duplication of some work".


A teenage sex offender has been spared a jail sentence after a judge told him he considered it was important he continued to get treatment. The Dundee Evening Telegraph reports that the young person admitted sexually assaulting two young victims on separate occasions in 2014. A judge imposed a community payback order on him for 19 months, during which time he would have to reside at an education centre and be under supervision.