Daily roundup 9 January: Academies criticism, DCS appointment, and youth custody

Labour leader, Ed Miliband has criticised the flagship academies programme introduced by Tony Blair, stating Whitehall “cannot run thousands of schools”. He told party activists no child is being helped by “the alphabet soup of different kinds of schools”, reports the Telegraph.


Julian Wooster has been appointed as the director of children’s services in Somerset. Currently the director of children’s and adults services in Portsmouth, Wooster will take up his position in the spring, the BBC reports. Wooster has been appointed three months after former director Peter Lewis left the post.


Numbers of under-18s in custody have risen slightly, with 1,055 young people in custody in November 2014, compared with 1,044 the previous month. The Ministry of Justice statistics show that the figure for November is down 174 on the same month in 2013.


West Dunbartonshire Council in Scotland could save a quarter of a million pounds a year by serving cold school meals part of the week. In an effort to cut costs, the council plans to give children limited choice on hot meals and offer sandwiches with fruit on one day a week, according to the Times.


The number of children being sent to school without having breakfast has increased over the last year, a poll of teachers has revealed. The Metro reports that nearly 900 primary and secondary school teachers have noticed an increase in the number of pupils missing breakfast, with just two per cent seeing a decrease. Teachers believe parents are unable to provide breakfast because they are looking for full time work.