Daily roundup: healthy eating, teacher strikes and reading ability
Derren Hayes
Friday, July 12, 2013
Packed lunches for school pupils could be banned by the government; teachers' unions announce series of autumn strike dates; and huge gap between the reading ability of children from deprived and wealthy homes, all in the news today.
Packed lunches could be banned and pupils barred from leaving school during breaks to buy junk food under a government plan to increase the take-up of school meals. The Guardian reports that the plan will suggest there is a link between nutrition and academic performance, and highlight that studies show most school meals are a healthier option than packed lunches.
Members of the NASUWT and NUT teaching unions have announced a series of one-day strikes planned for the autumn academic term. Rolling strikes will take place on dates to be decided in late September and mid-October, while a national "all-out" strike is planned before Christmas. Union leaders say the industrial action has been called in response to Education Secretary Michael Gove's "relentless attack on the teaching profession".
The brightest boys from poor homes in England and Scotland are at least two-and-a-half years behind in reading compared with those from the richest homes, a study suggests. Research for the Sutton Trust educational charity analysed scores for 15-year-olds in Pisa tests carried out for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. It found that children's reading skills as a whole is heavily linked to their socio-economic background.
The government has backed down over plan as to introduce standard packaging for cigarettes and tobacco products. Ministers say the plan, which was consulted on last year, is to be shelved temporarily until evidence from other countries of its effectiveness in reducing smoking emerges. The plan would have seen all internal and external branding on packets banned, and standardised text and colours introduced, the BBC reports.
A safeguarding training course developed by the NSPCC and the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health for use with clinicians is to be offered to specialist paediatric dentists. The Safeguarding Children: recognition and response in child protection one-day course will help dentists identify children at risk of abuse or neglect and how to respond effectively.
And finally, Bracknell Forest Council has banned a lolly-pop man from high-fiving school children because it put children's safety at risk by slowing down traffic. Roger Green, a lolly-pop man for Sandy Lane Primary School in Bracknell, Berkshire told the Daily Mail: "I put a sign up for a couple of days saying that due to a complaint I could no longer high-five children."
