THIS WEEK
28 JULY - 3 AUGUST 2012
SATURDAY
While you were distracted ...
As everyone basked in the post-bonkers haze of the Olympics opening ceremony, the DfE announced a “minor change” to allow all academies to hire unqualified teachers. “A dereliction of duty,” said the NUT.
SUNDAY
Must try harder
It emerged that Michael Gove may not have enjoyed the opening ceremony as much as the rest of us. His spokesman, however, denied rumours that the education secretary had scored it a piffling four out of 10.
MONDAY
Gold exceeds expectations
Ruta Meilutyte, 15, a pupil at Plymouth College, won gold in the 100m breaststroke. Everyone loves the Lithuanian, especially TES, which interviewed her the week before. “I’m not expecting to win a medal,” she said then.
TUESDAY
Support not censure
Children’s charity Barnardo’s said bad pupil behaviour can sometimes result from undiagnosed special educational needs and asked teachers to consider that children may need support rather than just discipline.
WEDNESDAY
Get out and play
The 25th annual Playday was celebrated with hundreds of events for children around the country. A survey, though, depressingly found that a third of parents were worried about dangers from cars and strangers.
THURSDAY
Heading for a pratfall
Newcastle’s Seven Stories centre is planning a Clowning Around workshop for anyone aged 4 and over wanting to entertain with slapstick fights, trips and falls. It may just wow your head of department in September.
FRIDAY
Grist to the edinburgh mill
The Edinburgh Festival Fringe opens today. Watch out for Mark Grist, the ex-English teacher who became an internet sensation after defeating a teenage grime artist in a rap battle earlier this year.
NEXT WEEK
4-10 AUGUST 2012
SATURDAY
Happy birthday, mr president
Barack Obama is 51 today. But will he take a day off from campaigning? Despite Mitt Romney’s recent gaffe-prone foreign tour, the polls are mighty close, so probably best not.
SUNDAY
Reaching for the skies
If you haven’t got tickets to the 100m final (and let’s face it, you haven’t), try the next best thing - the final of the Bognor Birdman competition, in which entrants launch flying machines off Bognor Regis’ pier.
MONDAY
When london was burning
The anniversary of last year’s riots. Schools were later blamed by an independent report, which - surprise, surprise - castigated primaries that fail to get all children to an appropriate standard in English by Year 6.
TUESDAY
Time trial
For three years, the key stage 2 results have come out on the first Tuesday of August. This year, due to changes to the writing tests, the annual media hand-wringing exercise was postponed until September.
WEDNESDAY
Play a different tune
The Proms continue with Schubert and Strauss. French piano-playing sisters, Katia and Marielle Labeque, will also perform Battlefield Concerto, a piece written for them by Richard Dubugnon.
THURSDAY
A dickens of an achievement
Charles Dickens’ great-great-grandsons, Ian and Gerald Dickens, are due to arrive in Portsmouth after recreating the 75-mile walk from London featured in Nicholas Nickleby for charity.
FRIDAY
Feeling hot, hot, hot (or not)
In 2003, this was the hottest day ever recorded in Britain, with the mercury peaking at a sweltering 38.5C in Brogdale, Kent. It feels like another world. Damp sausage, anyone?
