Kent County Council has received more than 170 offers of help to deal with a rise in unaccompanied child asylum seekers arriving in the county. Kent News reports that offers have included accommodation in people's homes, as well as sports equipment, DVDs, children’s toys, foster carers, football coaches and teachers.
The new head of a Birmingham school at the centre of last year's Trojan Horse scandal has pledged to turn the establishment around within a year. The Birmingham Mail reports that the new head Wendy Baxter is focusing on "setting high expectations" for behaviour, and says the Trojan Horse scandal is a "thing in the past".
East Sussex County Council has said it will have to cut £13.2m from its children's services budget over the next three years. The Eastbourne Herald reports that the savings are part of £90m that must be found over the period from the entire authority's budget.
First-born children are up to 20 per cent more likely to develop short-sightedness, according to research from Cardiff University. The Guardian reports that analysis of 90,000 people found that first-born individuals were 10 per cent more likely to have myopia and 20 per cent more likely to have a more severe form of the condition.
Members of the Scottish Parliament have voted unanimously in favour of legislation to ban smoking in cars. The BBC reports that the bill could result in fines of up to £100 for anyone who smokes in a car with a young person.
Rates of self-harm among young people in Lancashire have increased, according to the county's local safeguarding children board. The Lancashire Evening Post reports that the county also has an above-average rate of looked-after children compared with other parts of the country, and a disproportionately high death rate among young people of Asian Pakistani heritage.
