THIS WEEK
10-16 MARCH 2012
SATURDAY
Caught in the web
A survey found that 54 per cent of children would turn to Google if they had a general knowledge query, compared with 3 per cent who would ask their teacher. It’s that internet that’s to blame. Something must be done.
SUNDAY
M8ROn, I IZ SIc
The government, fresh from transforming the entire landscape of education, turned its gaze on health in schools. The practices of school nurses must be updated, ministers said, including being available to pupils by text.
MONDAY
Joining the club
The world of HE was befuddled when the Russell Group of elite universities admitted four more institutions. Most people would have assumed that Durham, Exeter, York and Queen Mary, London, were already members.
TUESDAY
Virgin qualification
According to a Department for Education study, if you achieve the EBac in Year 11, you are more likely to be a virgin at 19 than you are if you didn’t. It may seem empirically obvious, but now it’s statistically true too.
WEDNESDAY
Third date with michelle
Pupils at Elizabeth Garrett Anderson School in North London - 12 of whom flew to DC to coincide with the Obama-Cameron love-in - met with the First Lady for the third time in as many years. It must seem quotidian.
THURSDAY
Running out of esteem
The THE World Reputation Rankings found, surprise surprise, that the university with the best reputation is Harvard. Oxford was sixth and Cambridge was third, with the overall British effort falling slightly.
FRIDAY
Pupil premium bypasses care
Only half of the professionals working with children in care are fully informed about the pupil premium, and as such many children are not benefiting from the cash, according to a report for the Who Cares? Trust.
NEXT WEEK - 17-23 MARCH 2012
SATURDAY
Six of the best
St Patrick’s Day will be marked by the arrival of the Irish rugby team in Twickenham to play England. Perhaps more important, however, will be the Six Nations being settled in Cardiff with Wales vs France.
SUNDAY
Oxfam campaigns for mothers
Timed to coincide with Mother’s Day, Oxfam will launch its Birth Rights campaign, aiming to focus Western minds on how many mums-to-be die during pregnancy or childbirth in the developing world.
MONDAY
Bad news for prus
The spotlight will be on excluded children and PRUs as, following last week’s report by behaviour tsar Charlie Taylor on alternative provision, the children’s commissioner publishes a similarly damning document.
TUESDAY
Robes and reads
The Spring Equinox. Not only a day for New Age chaps and chapettes to dust down their robes and crystals, but also the traditional occasion of World Storytelling Day. So go on, get reading. Or chanting.
WEDNESDAY
Budget day blues
Budget day. Deep breaths, everyone. How much trouble is Blighty in? Expect more doom and gloom, more taxes for the super rich (no one in education need worry) and more talk of public sector cuts.
THURSDAY
A choice story
The publication of the 2012 admissions statistics, after National Offer Day earlier this month. A news story will emerge for the national press to ignore: a large majority of pupils go to their first choice of school.
FRIDAY
Sweating for charity
Ready, steady ... let’s have FUN! It’s BBC Sport Relief! The week-long festival of charitable fundraising aimed at getting children and adults to participate in exercise is presumably one for the PE department.
