Education News

BBC summarises their own research in respect of sexual misconduct at universities.  “A three-month BBC investigation has revealed that fewer than half of UK universities could provide up-to-date sexual misconduct data.  Freedom of Information requests to all 142 public universities showed that they categorise these reports in different ways. Some use sexual misconduct as an umbrella term, while others had more specific labels like rape, sexual assault and harassment. BBC Wales sent all 142 public UK universities FOI requests asking how many reports of sexual misconduct they have had from 2013 to 2023. A total of 42 did not respond, 33 refused and 67 were able to provide only partial data.”

Children starting Year 7 in England and Wales will be notified of their secondary school place.

Increase in fines for parents, in England, for taking children out of school without permission.  The fines are increasing from £60 to £80 (doubling to £160 if not paid within 21 days) and from £120 to £160, with no early payment discount for a second notice issued to the same parent in respect of the same child within any given 3 year period.

BBC reports, 73 children in Bristol have been excluded from schools since the start of the last academic year.  Councillor Kerry Bailes said: “[Children are] being failed by the schools, by the system, funding and the culture crisis. Is it any wonder we’re in a position where kids are killing kids in this city? They’ve been failed massively.”

The Department for Education published guidance, Mobile phones in Schools. It applies to all maintained schools, academies, free schools, non-maintained special schools and independent schools. The guidance requires all schools to introduce a mobile phone policy prohibiting the use of mobile phones throughout the school day (including breaks), with appropriate sanctions for breaches of the policy.

The High Court delivered its judgment in Natasha Abrahart v University of Bristol. This is an important case as it potentially addressed the issue of to what extent a university owes a duty of care to its students. The background is that Natasha Abrahart took her own life on the day she was due to take part in a group presentation at the University of Bristol. The parents’ case against the university was for unlawful discrimination and negligence. The case against the university succeeded, on the grounds the university had breached the Equality Act. The claim in negligence (duty of care) was dismissed. The university appealed to the High Court. That appeal was dismissed and so the parents succeeded.   The university had breached its statutory duties under the Equality Act 2010 by insisting that a student suffering from depression and social anxiety disorder participated in laboratory interviews and conferences as part of a mandatory module of her physics degree. The oral assessments were not a competence standard and the university should have removed or adjusted the requirements of the module. Unfortunately, the High Court did not address the important question of, the extent of any duty of care owed to students by universities, saying it was not necessary to do so.

Welsh government announces increase in university tuition fees for domestic students, raising the tuition fee cap from £9,000 to £9,250, which will bring tuition fee costs into line with the level charged by higher education providers in England. The increase will come into effect in September 2024 and is the first rise in the tuition fee cap, in Wales, since 2011.

Children’s Mental Health Week begins.

After suggestions that universities have been lowering their standards to attract overseas students, Universities UK have issued a statement, identifying a number of actions, which include the statement that Universities UK will update their Admissions Code of Practice, to ensure that stakeholders have confidence “that the systems is fair, transparent and robust.”

IBB Law publishes blog, having analysed and dissected permanent exclusion and suspension data in England, from the academic year 2016/17 through to 2021/22, which were published by the Department for Education (DfE) at the end of 2023. The data threw up a number of notable statistics and trends, highlighting many of the potential issues schools and parents are facing when it comes to dealing with children’s behaviour.   1,200,186 (2%) of all pupils in England were excluded and/or suspended between 2016 and 2022.

The Government announced that disposable vapes will be banned in the UK “as part of ambitious government plans to tackle the rise in youth vaping and protect children’s health.”

Welsh Government publishes “Peer-on-peer sexual harassment in education settings: action plan.” The guidance document is described as an action plan to prevent and respond to peer-on-peer sexual harassment in education settings.

Deadline to apply for primary school admission places in England, to start in September 2024.

Derby City Council has been ordered to pay compensation following delay in implementing an Educational Health Care Plan. A report from the Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman concluded the delay “caused a significant injustice”. The council was ordered to pay £6,000 compensation.

Reported that the pass rate for GCSE maths resits in England had fallen. The examinations, which were taken in November 2023, showed that 22.9% of the maths entries were marked at grade 4, a standard pass, or above, down from 24.9% in 2022 and 26.9% in 2019. In contrast, the pass rate for GCSE English resits rose to 40.3%, which was an improvement on 38% and 32.3% in previous years.

Following an investigation by the Financial Times, which reported the University of York was preparing to approve applications from overseas university students who did not achieve top grades, the university responded. They said the university was taking a “more flexible approach” to recruiting overseas students. The vice chancellor said, “What we’ve done is authorised our academic departments to take a more flexible approach if applicants fall short of the published grades. That’s exactly what we do for our home students every year.

The Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman found Essex County Council to be responsible for delays in undertaking Health Care and Education assessments and implement plans.

The BBC reported that the Ombudsman said, “This fault caused Mrs X an injustice. It not only delayed her right to appeal the school but left her with avoidable uncertainty, over a long period, about what school her son might go to. The delays and uncertainty have also left her with avoidable distress and concern about the impact this has had on Y’s development and social mixing.” Payments were made between £250 and £600 to four families to reflect “continued injustice.”

Deadline to apply for primary school admission places in Wales, to start in September 2024.

Following the inquest into the death of Ruth Perry, Head of Caversham Primary School in Reading, Sir Martyn Oliver, the Chief Inspector of Ofsted (appointed 1 January 2024) said, “Ultimately we have to be about high standards and say to parents ‘these are the standards that are being provided’. But I think we can do that in a way that is far more empathetic.”

Publication of briefing by the House of Commons Library, providing an overview of the current rules and recent reforms to relationships and sex education in English Schools