24th September
Brown Makes It A Legal Requirement To End Child Poverty
Labour's goal of ending child poverty by 2020 is to be made a legal requirement of government, Prime Minister Gordon Brown announced.
In his address to the Labour Party conference in Manchester, Brown told delegates: "I announce my intention to introduce groundbreaking legislation to enshrine in law Labour’s pledge to end child poverty."
Brown said the government had taken action to lift 250,000 children out of poverty this year and that while economic times are hard his party was determined to end child poverty.
The Prime Minister also said he wanted the UK to have one of the best early years services in the world. "I want Britain to take its place among the leading nations in pre-school services and so I pledge here today in Manchester starting in over 30 communities and then over 60 we will stage by stage extend free nurseries places for two year olds for every parents who wants them in every part of the country backed up by high quality affordable childcare for all."
He also promised to speed up the pace of school reform by creating more academy, trust and specialist schools as well as spending more money on the Building Schools for the Future programme.
"I guarantee to parents two fundamental rights because every child should leave primary school able to read, write and count any child who falls behind will not be left behind, but will now have a new guaranteed right to personal catch-up tuition, he said. And because all parents should see their children taught in schools that achieve good results at GCSE, our pledge today is that any parents whose local state school falls below the expected standard will have the right to see that school transformed under wholly new leadership or closed and new school places provided."
Brown also confirmed government plans to help more families get access to the internet. "We will fund over a million extra families to get online, on the way to our ambition of Britain leading the world with more of our people than any other major economy able to access the internet and broadband."
The prime minister used his speech to attack Conservative policies on children’s services. "They want to tell us they now believe in investing in education, but they are committed to slashing 4.5 billion from the schools building programme, axing the educational maintenance allowances that help poorer students stay on and opposing the raising of the education leaving age to 18 and stopping training programmes."
source: Ravi Chandiramani, Children & Young People Now
Pay Remains Low for Childminders
Childminders still earn low pay despite putting in long hours and being better trained, according to a survey of National Childminding Association (NCMA) members.
The poll, which saw OMB Research question 1,000 NCMA members, found almost three-quarters of childminders have undertaken training during the past year and more than half work more than 40 hours a week. Despite this, half of those surveyed had an annual income of less than £7,000.
Liz Bayram, chief executive of the NCMA, said despite the high numbers taking part in training courses, many childminders remained unaware of, or did not have access to, quality improvement schemes such as childminder networks. "Access needs to improve so that every childminder can be on a network if they wish and NCMA will continue to work with government and local authorities in England and Wales to make this a reality," she said.
source: Children & Young People Now
16th September
Government Seeks to Enshrine Sure Start in Law
The Department for Children, Schools and Families has launched a consultation to put the Sure Start children's centre programme into law.
Although most communities now have a children's centre, they do not have a legally defined identity and are just one way in which local authorities can provide early years services.
Children's minister Beverley Hughes said she wanted children's centres to become a statutory part of children's services and to be legally recognised as such.
The proposed legislation would also reflect current good practice.
Hughes said: "I want to ensure that Sure Start children's centres become an established part of the universal services available for young children and their families, and that local authorities and their partners have clear duties to establish and maintain sufficient centres to meet local needs."
There are currently nearly 3,000 children's centres in existence and the government has committed to a centre in every community - 3,500 in total - by 2010.
John Harris, chairman of the Association of Directors of Children's Services, said: "We welcome the move to give children's centres statutory existence so they are no longer seen as a time limited venture, but rather a long-term obligation."
The consultation ends on November 6.
source: Cathy Wallace, Children & Young People Now
15th September
New Resources to get Dads Involved in Early Years
The Pre-school Learning Alliance has launched a series of new resources to help early years workers get fathers involved.
They include a half-day workshop to help get dads involved with their children’s learning, a dedicated web page and a wall planner to highlight the importance of fathers.
The workshop will help early years workers look at why dads find it difficult to get involved with nurseries and pre-schools, and ways to increase their participation.
Tim Kahn, inclusion officer at the alliance, said: “Despite the fact practitioners say they want fathers to be involved in early years settings, nurseries and pre-schools continue to remain predominantly female spaces.
“The alliance has been actively involved in carrying out research and developing effective practice in the important area of engaging with fathers in early years settings.”
The wall planner aims to encourage partnership working with dads and includes photos of fathers with their children and quotes along with success stories from settings which have increased their work with fathers.
source: Cathy Wallace, Children & Young People Now
12th September
Balls Pledges Cash for School Cooking Areas
Children's Secretary Ed Balls has announced 150 million pound to build areas in which to teach cooking in schools.
He also pledged £750,000 to recruit and train 800 new food technology teachers, in preparation for cooking lessons becoming compulsory in secondary schools from 2011.
And the government has published a new free cookbook for all 11-year-olds to help them learn how to cook healthy versions of favourite dishes, such as spaghetti bolognaise and apple crumble. The Real Meals cookbook has been endorsed by celebrity chef Phil Vickery.
Cooking is already compulsory in primary schools and a new food technology curriculum for 11-14 year olds is being introduced this term.
From 2011 food technology, including practical cooking lessons, will be compulsory for all 11-14 year olds.
Balls said: "Too many people accept they cannot cook or simply do not have time for it. We've lost touch with making basic dishes from scratch."
He added: "Schools are only part of the solution and it would be great if young people had the chance to make healthy dishes from basic ingredients at home."
The Real Meals cookbook can be downloaded from www.teachernet.gov.uk/publications.
source: Cathy Wallace, Children & Young People Now
9th September
Free Childcare For Families To Get Back In To Work
Low-income families are to be given free childcare so they can go to training courses and get back in to work.
The £75m three-year programme, announced by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, will help 50,000 families where one parent is working and the second wants to go back in to work.
As well as childcare costs of up to £175 a week per child or £205 in London, the cash will pay for help from the Learning and Skills Council to find and attend training courses.
Workless families will also be entitled to help if they can't get support from other sources.
The programme will start in 67 local authority areas with the highest number of eligible families in January 2009, and will then be rolled out to all local authorities the following September.
Children's minister Beverley Hughes said: "This will help lift families out of poverty by enabling them to gain the skills they need to enter the workplace."
source: Children & Young People Now
2nd September
Help for Training Early Years Staff
Early years providers are to get help planning staff training and development through a new resource from the Children's Workforce Development Council (CWDC)
The Workforce Qualifications Audit Tool will be available to managers in early years settings from January 2009 and will enable them to fulfil the Early Years Foundation Stage requirement to keep accurate records of their employee's qualifications.
Individuals who work independently, including childminders, will also be able to use the tool, which will suggest possible training and qualifications options to users.
Sophie Lowles, project officer for early years at the CWDC, said the audit tool will be especially useful to early years settings that are creating a system of employee records for the first time.
"Where there has previously been no record keeping, this will give settings a template to start. We hope this will refocus people on the training and development of staff," she said.
source: Children & Young People Now