Daily roundup 12 December: Refugees, Edlington case and grammar schools
Emily Bright
Monday, December 12, 2016
Concerns over child refugees going missing; judge grants anonymity to boys in Edlington case; and new grammar schools not boosting social mobility, study finds, all in the news today.
Child refugees arriving in Britain from the Calais "jungle" camp have gone missing, triggering fears that they have become involved in prostitution and slavery. The Express reports that the refugees arrived six weeks ago, and have faced threats and demands for money from their traffickers over social media. Frances Trevena, working at the migrant children's project at the Coram Children's Legal Centre, has predicted that more children may go missing.
A judge has granted indefinite anonymity to two brothers who tortured two young boys in Edlington in 2009. The Telegraph reports that the two boys were originally sentenced to a minimum of five years in custody. At the time of the crime, the defendants were aged 10 and 11, so were granted anonymity until they were at least 18. But it has now been ruled that they should remain anonymous.
New grammar schools would be beneficial only to the wider school population in six areas of England, according to a study by the Education Policy Institute. The BBC reports that researchers found that wider educational levels would be harmed if grammar school places were created in areas where more than half of the top students could access them.
Birmingham City Council runs "a rotten borough beyond redemption" where young people are at risk of radicalisation, Sir Michael Wilshaw has warned. The Daily Mail reports that the chief inspector of schools said the "appalling" children's services and schools in the city had been his greatest cause for concern.
New laws set to be unveiled in Wales will change the way that children with additional learning needs are treated. The BBC reports that if passed, the Additional Learning Needs and Educational Tribunal Bill would come into force by 2019. As part of the bill, a single system will replace statements currently used to address the needs of children and young people up to the age of 25.
Seriously ill children are having to wait up to nine hours for an intensive care bed to become available, while others are being transported miles from their homes for urgent medical treatment, senior paediatricians have warned. The Guardian reports that the Paediatric Intensive Care Society said that in the past two weeks, at least 17 children with acute illnesses requiring intensive care have been transported out of their regions due to a lack of beds.
