Discord over fees for music tuition

Scotland on Sunday

Growing numbers of pupils studying music in schools are being charged for instrument lessons by cash-strapped councils, figures show. A number of local authorities are now making parents pay for tuition as part of their studies towards Standard grade and Higher music.

Seaside town torn apart by plan to build school

Sunday Herald

The seaside town of Portobello has become the front line in a battle of values between green-space activists and parents. Arguments over a new high school on Portobello Park lie at the heart of a bitter six-year face- off between park-protectors, Portobello Park Action Group (PPAG), and Portobello For a New School (PFANS). PFANS members have accused PPAG of Nimbyism and masquerading as environmental activists.

School of Rock sir is suspended

Daily Record

A real-life School of Rock teacher has been suspended over claims he spent six years giving lessons without proper qualifications. Billy Russell was hugely popular among pupils at Livingston’s Inveralmond Community High. But he was removed from his position as music teacher when bosses discovered an error.

Child refugees `living in deep poverty’

The Guardian

More than 10,000 children of asylum seekers are being forced to live “far below the poverty line” because benefit payments are “shockingly low”, according to a Children’s Society report. In a bleak assessment of how the welfare system treats asylum seekers, the charity says that in some cases recipients only get “half of what a comparable family would receive in income support”.

`Worst time to stop teaching religion’

daily mail

The Archbishop of Canterbury has warned about the dangers of “downgrading” religious education in secondary schools. In his Easter Sermon, Dr Rowan Williams (pictured) told the congregation at Canterbury Cathedral that apparent hostility towards faith among the young had been exaggerated and that many took religion seriously.