The Ferret: Youth work misses austerity opportunity

Speaking to this esteemed organ, Kenrick said while austerity had been a "driver for reforms" in some sectors, there had been a "lost decade for youth work".

"It is a shame that youth work has been so slow to reform," he added. "We didn't have the leadership we needed in youth work at a critical point - we had a bit of abrogation of responsibility during those times."

However, Kenrick says he is optimistic about the future: "There's signs of youth work getting its act together. The Centre for Youth Impact is in a place to do some fresh thinking for the sector with a particular focus on outcomes, and there are some new chief executives [of youth organisations] so we're at quite an interesting point."

That should get a debate going!

Lack of centre evidence linked to Gove decision

There may be a new minister responsible for childcare at the Department for Education, but it seems the government remains steadfastly sceptical about the value of children's centres.

In response to a recent parliamentary question about the impact that closures of Liverpool children's centres has had on pupil attainment, children's minister Nadhim Zahawi said it was impossible to measure.

Zahawi added: "Due to the wide range of services that affect educational outcomes for young children, it is not possible to draw a causal link between children's centre services and a child's educational attainment."

Of course, the minister is right to say that it is hard to draw a direct link between children's centres provision, or the lack of it, and attainment. If only the 2010 coalition government had not scrapped research on this issue the evidence might now exist.

That's right, the original National Centre for Social Research evaluation of children's centres planned to assess the impact on children up age seven. Unfortunately, this part of the evaluation was scrapped by Michael Gove, shortly into his tenure as Education Secretary.

Working nought to five is a way to boost reading

Councillor David Mellen, early years portfolio holder at Nottingham City Council, has spent the first few months of the year finding an array of places to read to primary-age and pre-school children.

Not content with just reading to school pupils, councillor Mellen also visited children in hospital and those taking a trip on a canal boat.

Councillor Mellen set himself a challenge to read to at least 2,018 children across Nottingham City to highlight the importance of reading with young children. He smashed his target and read to 2,780 children, raising £4,000 for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library in the process - a charity that delivers a free book every month to children from birth until the age of five.

Schools minister declines to face times tables test

This month, the Department for Education is to start trialing a new times table test for eight- and nine-year-olds. It is designed to teach children in such a way that they know their times tables up to 12 off by heart.

Schools minister Nick Gibb did a round of TV interviews to launch the initiative earlier in the year. But he refused to show off his own times tables prowess. Asked on Good Morning Britain what eight times nine is, Gibb refused to answer. "I'm not going to get into this, I've learned through bitter experience never to answer these kinds of questions on live television," he said.

Surely Gibb could have guessed what was coming and done some revision - it's not like it's the first time government ministers have had their spelling or maths tested. Ferret can recall when then Labour schools minister Stephen Byers answered 54 to the conundrum of: what is seven times eight?

Perhaps the most infamous televised gaffe was by former US vice-president Dan Quayle when, in 1992, during a school visit he "corrected" a pupil's spelling of the word potato by adding an "e" on the end. In his biography, Quayle wrote that it was a "defining moment of the worst imaginable kind".

Bye bye Judith, Judith bye bye

On her final commute to work before retirement, Judith Hay (pictured centre), North Yorkshire's assistant director for children and families, was greeted by the Bay City Rollers' Bye Bye Baby being played over the Tannoy of Newcastle railway station. Hay was presented with flowers by the station manager before boarding a first class carriage on the TransPennine train and treated to cake and orange juice with a bottle of Prosecco thrown in for later. A social worker for 36 years, Hay took up the North Yorkshire post eight years ago, and commutes daily from her hometown Newcastle. The sendoff was organised by some of Hay's fellow commuters.