Daily Roundup 21 November: School inspections, birth rates, and pupil selection

Muslim campaigners have condemned "discriminatory" plans for school inspectors to question girls who wear the hijab in primary school. The BBC reports that head of Ofsted Amanda Spielman said pupils would be asked why they wear the headscarf, which "could be interpreted as sexualisation of young girls".


The rate at which babies are being born in the UK has fallen to its lowest level for a decade. The Independent reports that there were 774,835 live births in the UK in 2016, the lowest rate since 748,563 live births in 2006 and down from a peak of 812,970 births in 2012, data from the Office for National Statistics show.


The Church of England (CofE) has been accused of "mis-selling" how its schools select pupils. A report by the Accord Coalition has revealed that the CofE is failing to encourage its state schools to be inclusive of all children, irrespective of religion or belief.


Babies as young as six months old may have an understanding that certain words and concepts are related to each other, say scientists. The Guardian reports that the study found that babies who were more regularly exposed to adults talking to them about items in their vicinity did better at identifying a picture of an object.


The Department for Education improvement notice issued to Leicester City Council's children's services in March 2015 has been withdrawn. The decision follows publication of an inspection report by Ofsted in September that rated the department as "requires improvement".


The Youth Justice Board (YJB) will publish a new strategic plan next year to reflect recent changes to its functions as part of the government's reforms to youth justice. Writing in the board's annual report, published recently, YJB chief executive Colin Allars said the new plan will "reflect our renewed role".