Daily roundup: school testing, hungry children and education services

“Incessant testing” and school performance targets risk damaging the quality of childhood, says a group of 200 leading academics and authors. Led by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy, they wrote a letter to The Times calling for Education Secretary Michael Gove to suspend his school reforms. The letter, published today, coincides with Gove’s speech at the Conservative party conference this afternoon.

The number of children going to school without eating breakfast is increasing, according to a Daily Mirror poll. Carried out in conjunction with the National Union of Teachers (NUT) and the Child Poverty Action Group, the study found that 85 per cent of teachers are seeing more children come to school hungry. Around 83 per cent of teachers also said that they are seeing an increase in the number of children unable to afford school trips.

The Welsh government is due to make a decision on a report calling for up to a third of local authority education services in Wales to be cut. The BBC reports that the 22 council education services are “bracing themselves” for an imminent decision. Robert Hill, former adviser to Tony Blair, made the recommendation for the cuts and said new "slim-line elected local authorities” could run the services.