Upon arriving at the House of Commons, the queue to get in snaked all the way to Big Ben - sadly silent and largely covered in scaffolding. Not even a journalist of Ferret's stature could bypass the massed ranks of suited middle-aged men waiting to get through parliament security.
Entry was finally gained after 45 minutes, but alas not in time to hear the contributions of group chair Tim Loughton and NCB big cheeses Anna Feuchtwang and Enver Solomon. Luckily children's commissioner for England Anne Longfield and Eddie O'Hara from the British Association for Social Workers gave insightful contributions that made the wait worthwhile.
Enquiries to parliament staff later revealed that the reason for the delay was due to a mass lobby of Westminster organised by pro-EU groups. As one of the chief pro-Brexit tub-thumpers Loughton really should have arranged the APPG launch for a different day!
Cream of the crop will always rise to the top
The government is doing its bit to encourage competition in the education system by introducing a baseline assessment for children when they start school and, at the other end of the sausage factory, introducing a new grade to distinguish those pupils that rise to the very top.
Back in Ferret's school days, an A was the top of the tree, only for ministers to introduce the A* a few years later.
This summer saw the first cohort of pupils assigned a grade 9; to distinguish the wheat from the chaff of A* pupils.
This continual ratcheting up of the top grades at GCSE is, according to Danny Dorling, social thinker and Halford Mackinder professor of geography at Oxford University, the educational equivalent of the Spinal Tap amplifiers being turned up to 11.
"At some point in the future an Education Secretary will introduce a mark of 10, an A***. The next one will institute an 11, and A****," Dorling told the Guardian.
Council's cryptic ads to tackle school absences
A new "hard hitting" campaign launched by East Sussex County Council to tackle unauthorised school absence misses the mark.
The council has created a series of adverts to run on radio, bus stops and social media warning of the detrimental impact that missing school can have on children's education and life prospects, not to mention their parents' wallets.
The adverts include slogans with images like "Don't be a mug", "Be on the ball" and, our personal favourite, "Get a grip". Unfortunately, the hair grip graphic used has a passing resemblance to a set of abandoned headphones rendering the message somewhat meaningless.
Literacy Trust sounds warning over fake news
The world is awash with fake news and stories about fake news. Now the National Literacy Trust has warned that many young people today lack the "critical literacy skills" needed to spot fake news from the real thing.
The trust says that in order to identify fake news children need strong critical literacy skills, such as being able to distinguish between fact and opinion, understand how authors use language to influence a reader and make reasoned arguments.
Its report notes that one in five children believe everything they read online. Politicians and campaigners are so concerned that a parliamentary group has set up a commission on fake news to gauge the scale of the problem.
Ferret is encouraged by this initiative, which will hopefully help children understand the value of trusted news sources. But why limit this to children? Judging by the level of discourse on the BBC's Question Time, the exercise should be offered to the public at large.
North Sea voyage for budding sailors
A group of 12 young people who are members of Ocean Youth Trust South recently crewed a 30-metre yacht across the North Sea. The young people were bringing the Prolific, a 2005-built herring fishing vessel of historic design, from Germany to Ipswich via Amsterdam, last month. Ocean Youth Trust South specialises in giving vulnerable and disadvantaged young people aged 12 to 25 the opportunity to experience life at sea and in the process develop new skills and confidence.
