THIS WEEK 26 NOV - 2 DEC 2011
SATURDAY
ROOT AND BRANCH APPROACH
Two hundred schools marked the start of National Tree Week, the UK’s largest annual arboreal celebration, by planting thousands of saplings to help meet the national target of planting one million trees by 2015.
SUNDAY
AN ARMY OF UNEMPLOYED
In a newspaper interview, Tory grandee and former deputy prime minister Michael Heseltine bemoaned the level of youth unemployment: “We are paying more people to do nothing than we sent to fight Hitler.”
MONDAY
‘THINK AGAIN’, URGES GOVE
With two days to go, Michael Gove accused unions of “itching for a fight” ahead of Wednesday’s strike over pensions. “I want to appeal directly to teachers ... please, even now, think again,” the education secretary said.
TUESDAY
FRESH SQUEEZE ON PUBLIC SECTOR
In his autumn statement, chancellor George Osborne told Parliament that public sector pay rises will be capped at just 1 per cent for two years after the end of the current freeze in 2013.
WEDNESDAY
TEACHERS JOIN NATIONAL STRIKE
Michael Gove’s plea on Monday fell on deaf ears: ninety per cent of schools in England closed as thousands of teachers joined a national strike against planned Government changes to public sector pensions.
THURSDAY
TALENT-SPOTTING MINISTERS
More than 2,000 delegates at The Schools Network conference in Birmingham listened as Michael Gove (him again) talked about how “every child has talent”. Shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg also spoke.
FRIDAY
REMEMBERING THE HOLOCAUST
A seminar in Bristol organised by the Holocaust Educational Trust will today see teachers given access to academics and authors to help further their understanding of current debates about the Holocaust.
NEXT WEEK 3-9 DECEMBER 2011
SATURDAY
EQUALITY AND WORKPLACE RIGHTS
The NASUWT is to host its annual conference in Birmingham for black and ethnic minority member teachers. The conference’s theme is “Organising for the Future” and it will include sessions on rights in the workplace.
SUNDAY
PAN AM’S WINGS CLIPPED
Once the largest airline in the US, Pan American collapsed 20 years ago today and ended operations when the last ever Pan Am scheduled flight from Bridgetown, Barbados, touched down in Miami.
MONDAY
SPOTLIGHT ON SAFEGUARDING
Children’s minister Tim Loughton will address this year’s Safeguarding London’s Children conference, which will also hear from Barnardo’s chief executive Anne Marie Carrie and Lambeth Council leader Steve Reed.
TUESDAY
SIR TREVOR CHAIRS AWARDS
Former newsreader Sir Trevor McDonald will chair the judging panel for this year’s Philip Lawrence Awards, the community prizes set up in memory of the London headteacher who was murdered in 1995.
WEDNESDAY
TUITION FEES REVEALED
Young people hoping to go to university in 2012 will be told of any changes to their annual tuition fees, which will rise to a maximum of #163;9,000 next year. Up to 28 universities have said they may lower fees.
THURSDAY
BRYSON’S BIG DAY
Travel writer Bill Bryson, who has also written books on the English language and science, turns 60 today. Born in the US, the Notes from a Small Island author and Durham University chancellor now lives in Norfolk.
FRIDAY
PUPILS CHAMPION HUMAN RIGHTS
Ahead of tomorrow’s Human Rights Day, thousands of UK schoolchildren will write letters to governments across the world on behalf of 10 cases being championed by Amnesty International.
