Daily roundup 20 April: Emotional problems, Welsh consultation, and CSE

Schoolgirls are more susceptible to emotional problems as they get older, research has found. The BBC reports that a study in the Journal of Adolescent Mental Health analysed questionnaires completed by 1,600 pupils aged 11-13 in 2009 and compared them with similar surveys conducted five years later. By 2014 there was a seven per cent spike in girls reporting emotional issues while boys' answers remained fairly stable.


Wales’s new children’s commissioner has ordered a large-scale consultation with children and young people across the country to find out how life could be improved for them. Professor Sally Holland says she’s concerned that some groups of children are hidden from view and wants to work with children and young people to set her priorities in her new role.


The number of children suspected of being at risk of sexual exploitation in Barnet has risen dramatically. Barnet Today reports that just 14 referrals by schools, the police, the NHS and voluntary groups were made to Barnet’s multi-agency safeguarding hub between August 2013 and March 2014. This increased to 129 referrals for the period from April 2014 to January 2015.


Nearly 200 cases of suspected child sexual exploitation cases have been reported in Doncaster in the space of 14 months, it has emerged. The Sheffield Star reports that between 1 January 2014 and 28 February 2015 Doncaster Council received 197 referrals relating to sexual exploitation.


Nearly two thirds of children in care in Buckinghamshire have been placed with foster families outside the county, it has emerged. The Bucks Free Press reports that just 43 of the 224 children cared for by the council still live within the county boundaries. Of those living outside Buckinghamshire, five have been placed into care in Lancashire, while others are being looked after by foster families as far afield as Devon, Tyne and Wear and Pembrokeshire.


A government-funded literacy intervention project is proving successful in helping struggling young learners to close the gap on their peers. The Sound Check programme, devised by Dyslexia Action, the British Dyslexia Association, and Springboard for Children, has resulted in 98 per cent of children who re-sat literacy tests improving their scores, and 72 per cent achieving the threshold level.