Daily roundup 19 April: Exploitation, breastfeeding, and vocabulary

A total of £600,000 will be awarded to voluntary organisations designed to help victims and survivors of child sexual exploitation in the UK, Home Secretary Amber Rudd has announced. The money will go towards a national helpline for victims and bespoke therapy to help child victims with learning disabilities share and recover from their experiences of abuse. Rudd also said a number of Commonwealth countries will receive a share of £2m for projects to teach children and young people how to protect themselves while online and put the infrastructure in place to prevent child sexual exploitation.


A survey of almost 800 health visitors found that in the past two years 28 per cent said their ability to support breastfeeding mothers had decreased, and the same proportion were not confident that other members of their teams, nursery nurses or peer supporters would be able to support mothers when they could not. The Institute for Health Visiting, which conducted the research, said families need joined-up and integrated breastfeeding support services.


Four out of 10 pupils in their first year of secondary school have such a limited vocabulary that it is affecting their learning, a study has found. The BBC reports that many teachers from the 800 secondaries involved in the Oxford University Press research said the problem is worsening. They said the "word gap" was due to too little reading for pleasure among children.


Cuts in support services for schools make children more vulnerable to gang violence, the person named world's best teacher has warned. The Independent reports that Andria Zafirakou, a woman who won the $1m (£700,000) Global Teacher Prize last month, has said that less access to counsellors, mentors and police make it harder for pupils to escape crime. The arts and textiles teacher, who works at Alperton Community School in Wembley, north London has called for more funding for pastoral provision in schools.