Daily roundup: School population, child obesity, and extremism
Neil Puffett
Friday, July 18, 2014
Numbers of pupils to top eight million by 2023; London mayor launches drive to tackle child obesity; and school extremism report leaked, all in the news today.
The number of pupils in England's schools is expected to reach its highest level in almost half a century by 2023, government figures predict. The BBC reports that the number of schoolchildren will top eight million in the next nine years, with an estimated 4.6m pupils in state primary schools, nine per cent higher than in 2014. Secondary pupil numbers are expected to rise from 2.7m in 2016 to 3.2m in 2023.
Two London boroughs are to launch major programmes to tackle child obesity through better diets and food education. As part of a scheme backed by Mayor of London Boris Johnson and the Department for Education, Lambeth and Croydon will both receive £600,000 to make changes to the way food is served in schools, hospitals, and on the high street.
A leaked report into extremist infiltration of Birmingham schools has uncovered evidence of "coordinated, deliberate and sustained action to introduce an intolerant and aggressive Islamist ethos into some schools in the city". The Guardian reports that the probe found a "sustained and coordinated agenda to impose upon children in a number of Birmingham schools the segregationist attitudes and practices of a hardline and politicised strain of Sunni Islam".
Meanwhile, the chairman of governors at a Bradford school has hit back after an Ofsted report said pupils were not being protected from the risks of extremism. The BBC reports that Ofsted recommended Carlton Bolling College be placed in special measures. Chairman of governors Faisal Khan said it was one of the few schools in Bradford working with the government's counter-terrorism initiative, Prevent, and denied claims it only met the needs of Muslim students.
Social business Catch22 has been named as one of ten finalists in the UK for the 2014 Google Impact Challenge. The organisation will now be able to pitch for £300,000 to develop a social action phone application that supports young people to gain work skills and make a difference in their community.