Daily roundup: Childcare ratios, sex education and videogames

A childminder has written to childcare minister Elizabeth Truss, asking her to stop sending standard replies to letters raising concerns over the government’s proposed childcare reforms. Sarah Neville, a childminder representing the online childminder network Childminding Forum, wrote: “I would like to respectfully ask that the Department for Education and Ms Truss stop sending out standard letters thanking me for my concern and asking me to read More Great Childcare to find out more about the government’s plans for the future of early years. I can assure you that I read the More Great Childcare plan in great depth while writing the analysis document which I sent you.” The letter also said the Childminding Forum’s petition against changes to child-to-staff ratios in early years settings had been signed by 33,845 people to date.

More than 100 youth and education leaders have raised concerns about proposed changes to sex education in a letter to The Times. “The science proposals omit any reference to genitalia, puberty or sexual health,” the letter said. “We believe that these proposals will not help schools to ‘create an honest and open culture around sex and relationships', as set out in the new Framework for Sexual Health Improvement.”

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether children are being unfairly pressured into paying for content in ‘free’ smartphone, tablet and web games, reports Sky News. Cavendish Elithorn, senior director for goods and consumer, said: “We are concerned that children and their parents could be subject to unfair pressure to purchase when they are playing games they thought were free, but which can actually run up substantial costs.”

Labour has claimed that school buildings in England are crumbling due to a lack of money for repairs, reports the BBC. The party said figures from 89 local authorities suggest a repair backlog of £3.5bn and that the government’s capital allocation for schools in 2013/14 would cover less than a quarter of the bill. The Department for Education called the claim nonsense.

Professor Roger Boyle, the former national director for heart disease, has told the BBC that he would not want his daughter treated at Leeds General Infirmary’s child cardiac unit. Heart operations at the unit resumed this week after being suspended after incomplete data suggested its mortality rates were twice the national average. Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust said its mortality rates were comparable to all other units.

And finally, a teachers' union has warned that changes to the National Curriculum will “severely inhibit the autonomy and professional judgment” of teachers. Russell Hobby, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) questioned the government’s sincerity in suggesting the reformed system would give teachers more autonomy. “There is an unwelcome and overbearing degree of prescription which will prove counterproductive” he said.