Daily roundup 22 October: Historic abuse, sex education, and school bullying

The head of the government’s historic child abuse inquiry is facing demands to step down after admitting hosting dinner parties with a former minister Leon Britten, who is under scrutiny for his role in an alleged establishment cover-up. The Independent reports that Fiona Woolf has admitted to hosting three dinner events for Lord and Lady Brittan and dined twice at their home since 2008. Meanwhile, the BBC reports that a judicial review that questions Woolf's appointment has been made.


Compulsory sex education should be introduced to schools to tackle trends such as sexting, charity leaders have told MPs. The Times reports that they told the education select committee that all teenagers should have mandatory sex education to protect them from rape, exploitation, domestic violence, arranged marriage and female genital mutilation.


Clever children are being held back at school and leading miserable lives due to bullying from classmates for being ‘swots’ and ‘geeks’, a charity has warned. The Daily Mail reports that Potential Plus UK, wants schools to do more to tackle the issue, claiming that many talented youngsters are coasting at school or even causing trouble in an effort to fit in with their peers and avoid jibes.


A cover-up led to Ofsted escaping blame for its part in the Baby P scandal, according to a BBC documentary to air tonight. Baby P: The Untold Story hears from an unidentified Ofsted inspector who claims assessment documentation of Haringey's children's services department "disappeared". Ofsted said it "has always been entirely open" about the "change between Haringey's provisional annual performance assessment grade and the judgment finally given in 2008".


A Conservative MP has called for schools to stop teaching sex education. Philip Davies, MP for Shipley, said the classes had failed and instead parents should be responsible for teaching their children about sex and relationships. He made the comments as a Bill was introduced to the Commons calling for lessons about sex and relationships to become compulsory, reports ITV News.


Teachers in England are being asked to examine how they spend their working day, in an attempt to stop a "runaway train of bureaucracy". Launching the workload challenge for teachers, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said teachers must be liberated from "burdensome workloads" and be freed to spend more time in the classroom, the BBC reports.