Daily roundup 28 January: Child refugees, paper rounds, and gender

The UK is to take in more unaccompanied child refugees from Syria and other countries affected by conflict, the government has said. The BBC reports the Home Office is to work alongside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to identify "exceptional cases". The precise number of extra children to be accepted has not been announced.


Europe’s human rights watchdog has suggested children’s paper rounds should be banned. The Telegraph reports that the European Committee of Social Rights said delivering newspapers before school could harm children’s education. They also warned it appears to violate a European treaty on social rights.  ?


Children in Brighton have been asked to define their gender from a list of 23 different terms. The Argus reports that the survey, for pupils aged 13-18, has been sent to every school in Brighton and Hove by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner. It has been criticised by parents for being “unnecessary” and “confusing”.


Deprived children are more than twice as likely to be obese as their non-deprived peers, according to data from Public Health England. The Metro reports that 25 per cent of deprived Year 6 children are obese, compared with 11.5 per cent of those in the least deprived category.


Children as young as three have been disciplined for assaults on school staff in Dundee. The Evening Telegraph reports that there have been 50 verbal or physical attacks on nursery school staff in the last five years.


Girls in same-sex secondary schools outperform those in mixed schools, according to analysis by education website SchoolDash. The Guardian reports that 75 per cent of pupils at single-sex schools achieved five good GCSEs, compared with 55 per cent at mixed schools.