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Six new university technical colleges and 5 new studio schools also approved Eight mainstream schools, a sixth form and an alternative provision school join the 174 schools already open, and the 115 already in the free schools programme pipeline. Once full, all open and approved free schools will provide 150,000 extra school places, with this latest wave providing a boost of about 5,000 places. All of the mainstream schools are in areas facing a shortage of school places. Forty-five per cent will be in the 30% most deprived communities in Britain. The schools have been set up by a range of passionate and talented groups, with 1 common aim - to improve state education provision and choice for parents. Four of the proposals are from parent and community groups, including the Ealing Fields Free School in West London. Seven proposals are from teachers and existing schools, including 2 from the successful Harris Federation. The Eddie Davies Educational Trust in Bolton has been supported by Phil Gartside, chairman of Bolton Wanderers Football Club. Due to the popularity of free schools, the Department for Education has changed the application process to allow parents and other groups 3 opportunities per year to submit proposals compared to just 1 previously. Not only does this provide flexibility to proposers to submit their application at the time that suits them best, it also means the government can consider applications throughout the year. Education Secretary Michael Gove said: I am delighted with the quality of the proposals we have received. Free schools
are driving up education standards across England. They are hugely popular with parents, providing more choice and freedom and, crucially, they are benefiting children from all backgrounds. With almost three-quarters of those inspected so far rated good or outstanding, they are a significant boost to communities poorly served for generations. Like academies, free schools have greater freedom than local-authority-run schools, giving headteachers more power to make decisions that are right for local children. It has allowed schools like the Brighton Bilingual School, with its dual Anglo-Spanish curriculum, and the Free School Norwich, which opens from 8am to 6pm, 51 weeks a year, to open. The government also today announced the approval of 6 university technical college (UTC) and 5 studio school proposals backed by major employers and industrial partners including Network Rail, the National Space Centre and the James Dyson Foundation. There are now 50 UTCs and 46 studio schools open or in development. Once all are open, these UTCs and studio schools will provide more than 45,000 extra places for young people. The free school proposals approved today are: Ealing Fields Free School Harris Federation Free Schools The Eddie Davies Educational Trust School (Bolton) East Birmingham Network (EBN) Free School Didsbury CE Free School The Langley Primary Academy Lodge Park Primary School King Solomon International Business School Maiden Erlegh in East Reading Bolton UTC Greater Peterborough UTC Global Academy UTC Humber UTC Sir Simon Milton UTC
SOS Children brings Wikipedia into the classroom
Warrington UTC Aldridge Centre for Entrepreneurship Studio School (ACE) Atrium Studio School in South Devon Bicester Technology Studio Space Studio West London The STEM Studio School in Bath,
Education vital to stop offending The disturbing findings in the latest MoJ survey of prisoners (Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction Survey – SPCR) come as no surprise to Nacro, and the leading crime reduction charity is calling for greater focus on education to prevent offending and reduce crime. Two-thirds of SPCR prisoners are not in paid employment, nearly half have no qualification and 13 per cent report never having had a job. Nacro knows from experience that providing quality education, skills and work-based opportunities for offenders in critical to reducing offending. Nacro’s Education Principal, Josh Coleman, comments: “These are shocking statistics and highlight how vital it is to intervene early before a would-be offender actually descends into crime. Through our own rehabilitation work in prison and communities, Nacro sees first hand the low levels of educational achievement among offenders. “Nacro is calling for better coordination of services before and after people leave prison. Greater engagement between schools and specialist providers like Nacro is vital so young people on the cusp of trouble can have their educational needs addressed before it’s too late.”
to ensure material is suitable for children and relevant for the classroom. Any inappropriate material, from gratuitous bad language to unnecessary sexual content, is removed, while content key to children’s learning is left untouched.
A child-friendly version of Wikipedia, specially designed for use in the classroom, has been launched by children’s charity SOS Children(‘s Villages) UK. Wikipedia for Schools is a selection of articles from the Wikipedia website organised around core school subjects.
Safe learning for every child Wikipedia for Schools is targeted at secondary-level students. However, the breadth of content - 6,000 articles, 50,000 images and 26 million words - makes it useful to children of all ages. It also contains a range of carefully-selected articles chosen to reflect the interests of children more broadly. Better still, teachers and parents can download it if they wish children to learn away from the dangers of the net.
The internet is a fantastic educational resource, but many parents and teachers are concerned about the numerous hazards young people face when browsing the web. Even Wikipedia can present difficulties at times. Because content is written and edited by users, articles are vulnerable to vandalism. And its encyclopaedic nature means that many articles are on subjects which some parents would consider unsuitable for their children. Occasionally, information is inaccurate, and the sheer volume of content makes it easy to get distracted.
“Wikipedia for Schools brings safe learning within the reach of every child,” says Alistair Barry, acting CEO of SOS Children UK. SOS Children began work on Wikipedia for Schools in 2005, and the new version is the fourth edition of the project. It was originally intended as an offline learning resource for children in developing countries. The project has been immensely successful in countries such as India, Kenya and South Africa, but is also used in schools in the UK, Australia and the US.
SOS Children wanted to overcome this problem. As a global charity providing quality education to over 130,000 children worldwide, SOS Children wanted to turn Wikipedia into a safe environment for school-age children. Articles are checked by staff and volunteers
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