Government Spending Review

When the new government came to power, they assured the country that the schools will not suffer from the budget cuts. It has now been confirmed that direct funding for schools is to be protected and that they will be due to receive a 0.1% increase in budget in real terms each year.  This will increase the education budget from £35 Billion to £39 billion, which will hopefully result in a better quality of education for the students aged 4-16.

It has been announced that although schools will be protected from budget cuts, students aged 16+ will face the worst effects of the cuts.  The Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which provided students from lower-income households with a weekly sum of money to encourage them to stay in education, is facing becoming scrapped.  Universities are also facing a 40% decrease in their teaching budgets, which may result in a lower quality of teaching occuring, as well as their research budget becoming frozen.

University tuition fees due to double

Lord Browne has announced that the current university fee system is due to be altered to benefit universities.  This would see the current cap on tuition fees become lifted, allowing universities to choose the fees they charge their students.  Most univerisites are due to increase their fees from £3,290 a year to a possible £7,000.  The more prestigious universities, such as the University of Cambridge and the University of Oxford, are also planning to increase their fees to an even higher rate of between £10,000 and £12,000.  This plan is aiming to help increase the universities income so that they could provide  better teaching and research resources for the students.

These new plans may deter many students from attending university as they fear that they cannot afford to attend or they do not think that they will be able to repay the £30,000 of debt they will have at the end of their degrees.  It may also result in fewer students leaving their family home for university, so that they can attend university, whilst not having to pay for accommodation and may also be able to have a part-time job.

1/6 Primary School pupils are "behind in basics"

It has been revealed that 1/6 of students in Year 6 are not achieving the target of 2 national curriculum levels higher than their Year 2 SATS results in both Maths and English.  This is resulting in these students struggling greatly when they make their transistion to Secondary schools.

These basic reading, writing and numeracy skills need to be targeted at an early age, so that once these foundations have been understood, students can expand on these skills (hopefully by at least 2 national curriculum levels) by the time they leave Primary school.

To ensure an easy transition to Secondary school, try to make sure that your child understands the basics required for Year 6 pupils. If they are struggling, why not sign them up to our after-school or Saturday classes for more help?

Wrongly marked exam papers

One of the major examination boards, AQA, has announced that up to 650 exam papers (ranging from GCSE to AS and A2 level) have been wrongly marked.  Many of these papers had not been fully marked, so students which potentially could have received A*-C grades, were obtaining much lower qualifications, due to AQA's error.  AQA has promised to treat all candidates fairly and they should receive the marks that they deserve.

Although AQA are trying their best to resolve this issue, this mishap has resulted in many students not obtaining their place at their chosen university.  If you had any unusual results in any AQA examinations you've taken, AQA have extended their results inquiry deadline to help resolve this issue.

Pupils at school in Wandsworth have done as well or better in French exams than French children

Over the last four years, students at a school in Wandsworth have had their school week divided so that half of the week they were taught in French and the other half they were taught in English.  This is due to a partnership with a school inFrance who is also trialling this idea.  The students who started at the age of four, are now eight and have completed the French national tests for this age group.  Results have shown that the students taught in England have received results higher that the students in France, which proves their great understanding of the language.  These results could be used as part of a future model for other schools to allow students to learn languages from a much earlier age.

Education secretary to scrap "no touch" rules

Michale Gove, the Education Secretary on the cabinet, is hoping to abandon Labour's "no touch" rules to allow teachers to obtain more authority in the classroom.  This does not mean that the teachers will be able to hit the children, but it does give the teachers the ability to separate two students causing trouble, or to console a student who is a victim to bullying. Teachers will also be allowed to search students for banned objects at school, such as weapons or drugs. There has been an opposing view on this concept which claim that this will breach human rights and child protection laws.  What is your view on this idea?