衡水中学高一级部  

　　特点：只要球队争气、老板给力，钱就不是问题。只要运营得当，可以一直以争冠为目标。

　　解释：大家都知道，大纽约和大洛杉矶的地位不可动摇，也只有这两地各拥有两支球队。其实大洛杉矶人口和经济规模跟大纽约比差距还是挺大的，不过由于洛杉矶很奇葩地没有NFL球队，这种差距实际上拉平了，让湖人拥有跟尼克斯匹敌的经济实力。这是当之无愧的超级大市场球队，如果规则允许，他们也许根本就不在乎奢侈税。另外芝加哥和波士顿城市规模同样不错，同时球队本身的历史辉煌，拥有很多死忠球迷，也归入这一档。

　　第2档：小牛、火箭、76人、奇才、热火、勇士。

　　特点：球队争气的时候只要不太奢侈，挣得足够填坑。可以一直保持强队水准，间歇性冲冠。

　　解释：旧金山湾区、达拉斯、休斯顿、华盛顿、费城、迈阿密这些地方经济发达人口众多，只要球队自己表现争气，保持高投入不成问题，成绩好时交上一两千万奢侈税也不打紧。不过由于受其他运动联盟队伍竞争影响，不会有太高的收入，持续性负担奢侈税的能力不足。

　　第3档：老鹰、猛龙、活塞、太阳、森林狼、掘金

　　特点：交不起奢侈税，能够为自由球员开出还不错的薪水，但是很难组建起豪华的阵容。

　　解释：亚特兰大、多伦多、底特律、菲尼克斯、明尼阿波利斯和丹佛这些地区还能算是大城市，或者是经济不错，但是毕竟比起前面那些要小得多，又需要跟当地的其他种类球队竞争市场，盈利不难，想要保持一定的竞争力也不难，争冠就只能是偶然事件了。

　　第4档：骑士、开拓者、魔术、国王、爵士、马刺

　　特点：这些队伍没有夺冠希望时绝对不会高投入，因为那样一定会亏损。

　　解释：为什么开拓者和国王强悍的表现只能维持短短两三年，爵士、魔术和骑士离总冠军很近时总是功亏一篑，马刺想要夺冠，需要全民皆兵的打法？答案就在这里，这些市场规模就那么大，只有靠表现才能赚到钱维持投入，需要小心翼翼地平衡，而砸钱签下大牌自由球员的可能性几乎是0。好在波特兰、奥兰多、萨克拉门托、圣安东尼奥这些城市没有别的顶级联赛球队，竞争环境还比较宽松。

　　第5档：山猫、步行者、雄鹿、鹈鹕、灰熊、雷霆

　　特点：除非老板个人为篮球事业做贡献了，否则绝对要以控制预算为第一要务，就算是能争冠也不交奢侈税。

　　解释：这个区里居然有两只争冠球队和两只季后赛球队，真心是神奇啊。夏洛特、印第安纳波利斯和密尔沃基城市尚可，但是同城的美洲豹远比山猫强势，小马也比遛马拥趸更多，酿酒人更是经常连成绩也比雄鹿要好。孟菲斯和俄城是NBA球队所在的28座城市中最小的，而且田纳西和曾经是印第安人保留地的俄州也不是发达地区。最惨的还是鹈鹕，为什么他们要改名？是为了在受过飓风和经济危机双重打击的该城争取更多一点观众缘罢了。新奥尔良的人口如今只相当于一战时期的水平（没错，100年前，那时候美国的人口刚刚达到1亿，而如今是3亿），飓风灾后重建还没进行完呢。而且，同城还有个NFL的新奥尔良圣徒，简直是……这个地方真的比夏洛特好吗？

　　综合起来看呢，从盈利能力来看：

　　湖人和尼克斯并列当之无愧第一土豪，而NBA第一穷的帽子非Pelicans莫属啦。

A Phnom Penh secondary school becomes a dance studio for a day.

Hearing impaired youth learn a few steps from the dancers of "Tiny Toones", an organization that normally works to educate street children.

This particular workshop is part of a diverse arts festival held in early August in Phnom Penh.

The dancers learn basic steps and breakdancing techniques. It's the same method Tiny Toones uses to bring children in off the streets -- and then teach them the dangers of HIV, drug use, and other perils of the street life.

Sarom Sarah has been a member of Tiny Toones for six years. He says the organization, which was started by a Cambodian-American named KK, changed his life. "I used to be a gangster, fighting on the streets, but KK advised me and then after about a week of considering, I had decided to change. I called him and asked him where the dancing training place is. Then, I started training with him and he thought I could change.  He helps those people who wanted to change as I did," he said.

Dancing has a way of bringing people together. Yim Mary, who works for an NGO helping the disabled in Kampot province, says art and dancing help her overcome her hearing disability. "I think art is continuing to help me because I can earn some money from it. And it can help me communicate with other people, although I'm deaf. I can communicate by means of body movement or writing," Yim Mary said.

Tiny Toones uses the universal appeal of dancing to reach kids who don't trust many people.

They come for the hip-hop, but they learn English, computers and other skills. The group started when KK, whose given name is Tuy Sobil, arrived in Cambodia in 2004. "We started off with like nine kids, and that's all I wanted to help was nine kids. Now we have 7,000 to 8,000 kids.... Most of these kids think that because they grew up in a poor area, they just see themselves working in factories or karaoke bars. That's all they have in mind. But that's not true. They can become such bigger things than that....

KK hopes more people in Cambodia will become involved in cleaning up the streets.  He says its important to let street kids know that people do care.... and do want them to change.
--Pich Samnang | Phnom Penh 14 October 2010

In a move to be announced later this month, universities will be forced to set out the guaranteed minimum number of lectures, teaching hours, levels of personal support and student accommodation standards.

Vice-chancellors will also be expected to publish "employability statements" setting out students’ chances of getting a graduate job after completing certain courses.

The move is being seen as a trade off for universities that impose far higher tuition fees – ensuring students gain maximum value for their additional investment.

It follows claims that some students are being misled by vague promises made in glossy prospectuses handed out as teenagers apply to different universities.

Last year, students at Bristol University staged a tuition fees rebellion after complaining about reduced teaching hours and attempts to have essays marked by undergraduates.

Some 600 students reading economics and finance signed a complaint arguing that the university had failed to improve its teaching since tuition fees were raised to more than £3,000 in 2006.

David Willetts, the Universities Minister, has warned universities against “relegating the importance of teaching”.

In a recent speech to vice-chancellors, he said: “The balance between teaching and research has gone wrong.

“This is not because universities have suddenly made some terrible mistake. We have strengthened the incentives for everyone to carry out research with no change in the regime for teaching.

“It should be a source of pride for an institution to be an excellent teaching university. That is what most students rightly see as the backbone of their university experience.”

Earlier this year, Mr Willetts appointed an 11-strong group to develop new “student charters” which all universities must produce.

The agreements – updated every year – will set out students’ minimum entitlement to teaching and standards of facilities.

The charters, due to be introduced in autumn next year, are widely seen as an attempt to prepare the ground for a hike in tuition fees.

They will also make it easier for students to lodge complaints about a poor university experience.
--By Graeme Paton,09 Oct 2010

This is the VOA Special English Education Report.

Surveys of American teenagers find that about half of them do not get enough sleep on school nights. They get an average of sixty to ninety minutes less than experts say they need.

One reason for this deficit is biology. Experts say teens are biologically programmed to go to sleep later and wake up later than other age groups. Yet many schools start classes as early as seven in the morning.

As a result, many students go to class feeling like sixteen-year-old Danny. He plays two sports, lacrosse and football. He is an active teen -- except in the morning.

DANNY: "Getting up in the morning is pretty terrible. I'm just very out of it and tired. And then going to school I'm out of it, and through first and second period I can barely stay awake."

Michael Breus is a clinical psychologist with a specialty in sleep disorders.

MICHAEL BREUS: "These aren't a bunch of lazy kids -- although, you know, teenagers can of course be lazy. These are children whose biological rhythms, more times than not, are off."

Teens, he says, need to sleep eight to nine hours or even nine to ten hours a night. He says sleepy teens can experience a form of depression that could have big effects on their general well-being. It can affect not just their ability in the classroom but also on the sports field and on the road.

Michael Breus says any tired driver is dangerous, but especially a teenager with a lack of experience.

So what can schools do about sleepy students? The psychologist says one thing they can do is start classes later in the morning. He points to studies showing that students can improve by a full letter grade in their first- and second-period classes.

Eric Peterson is the head of St. George's School in the northeastern state of Rhode Island. He wanted to see if a thirty-minute delay would make a difference. It did.

He says visits to the health center by tired students decreased by half. Late arrivals to first period fell by a third. And students reported that they were less sleepy during the day.

Eric Peterson knows that changing start times is easier at a small, private boarding school like his. But he is hopeful that other schools will find a way.

ERIC PETERSON: "In the end, schools ought to do what's the right thing for their students, first and foremost."

Patricia Moss, an assistant dean at St. George's School, says students were not the only ones reporting better results.

PATRICIA MOSS: "I can say that, anecdotally, virtually all the teachers noticed immediately much more alertness in class, definitely more positive mood. Kids were happier to be there at eight-thirty than they were at eight."

And that's the VOA Special English Education Report. You can read, listen and comment on our programs at voaspecialenglish.com. We're also on Facebook and Twitter at VOA Learning English. I'm Bob Doughty.

___

Reporting by Julie Taboh, adapted by Lawan Davis

Speaking at a meeting organised by The Daily Telegraph on the fringe of the Conservative party conference in Birmingham, Mr Gove was asked by Telegraph columnist Peter Oborne if he was “thrashed” there.

Mr Gove replied: “Yes I was. In Scotland they tended not to use the cane, they had something called the ‘tawse’, a leather belt.

“I was belted on my hand a couple of times mainly for cheek, insubordination and sheer rudeness towards the staff.”

Pressed as to whether it “did him good”, Mr Gove declined to answer, noting that corporal punishment was banned in state schools in 1986, after after he left school.

He said he was “a cheeky beggar at school and probably needed to be taken in hand”.

He added: “But I don’t think you should hit children myself. There are lots of things that we can look back on with nostalgia. But on the whole we are probably definitely better off not hitting children.”

Mr Gove also lamented declining standards in the classroom, referring concern from the actress Emma Thompson who said last week she was appalled to hear children at her old school saying saying “innit”, “whatever” and “do I look bovvered”.

He said: “Well I am 'bovvered' that our English language, the language that Shakespeare used, is not being passed on to the next generation so that they can use it in all its beauty and clarity.

He said pupils should read the works of Charles Dickens, Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy to improve their written English: “They should be sorts of things that children should be reading. If you want to construct proper sentences, you should read proper authors.”

Mr Gove declined to “single out” which authors currently on the national curriculum which should be dropped by schools.

Later in the hour-long meeting, Mr Gove suggested that he wanted more former army officers should be able to teach in schools to help instil discipline among pupils.

He was keen for more veterans to enter teaching as a “mid-career change”. He said: “I am particularly keen to secure more retired and non-commissioned and warrant officers and army officers, to get them into teaching.

“They have been at the frontline of constructing young men and women in the virtues of self-discipline and I am doing everything I can to get more of them into teaching.”
--By Christopher Hope,05 Oct 2010

Researchers also found that attendance was no better at the schools, despite huge investment in new classrooms, science labs, drama studios and sports facilities.

The disclosure follows a controversial decision by the Coalition to axe the programme which was set up by the former Government to rebuild every secondary school in England within the next 20 years.

The move prompted outrage among teachers, backbench MPs and local councils.

This week, it emerged that three local authorities – Nottingham, Luton and Waltham Forest in London – had launched legal action to reverse the decision.

Waltham Forest Council said attempts to pull funding would have a "catastrophic effect" on pupils.

But the latest study by the National Foundation for Educational Research suggests that benefits attached to new buildings may be overstated.

The small-scale study looked at the attendance and exam results of pupils at 60 BSF schools compared with similar students elsewhere.

Researchers took account of a range of factors including pupils’ background, gender, ethnicity, school type and eligibility for free meals.

“In all cases our models showed that pupils at BSF schools make, on average, less progress than would be expected based on their in-take and past performance,” said the report.

The findings show that these children achieved total a GCSE points score that was, on average, 11 points lower than that achieved by other pupils. This was equivalent to a drop of almost two grades.

The study found no significant difference in absence rates between pupils aged 14 to 16 in rebuilt schools and other state secondaries.

Ben Durbin, one of the report’s authors, said: "There has been a lot of controversy and conjecture about the benefits of new schools and this independent research, based on Government data, provides some hard facts.

"However, this study is based on a relatively limited dataset, and its findings should be considered in this context. We hope to carry out further work looking at more data."

Some 180 schools have been revamped since the programme was launched in 2004.

Axing the scheme in July, the Coalition said 700 new buildings would proceed as planned but plans for another 715 would be scrapped.
--By Graeme Paton,05 Oct 2010

The Sutton Trust commissioned research into how much degree courses would cost if universities did not have to keep fees to the current cap of £3,290 per year.

Removing the cap and creating a free market – allowing universities to charge whatever they wish – is one option being considered by a cross-party review into higher education.

The review, led by the former BP chief executive Lord Browne, is likely to be published in just over a week and will lead to dramatic changes in English higher education as early as next year. The Observer reported on Sunday that Browne will recommend that universities be allowed to keep all the income from tuition fees up to an annual level of £10,000. The current cap is £3,290. He is expected to recommend that they be allowed to cross that threshold if they pay a rising proportion of the additional income into a central fund.

The government says the current system is "not fit for purpose".

The Sutton Trust study analysed how much 20 universities charge undergraduates from outside the European Union, and how much they charge postgraduates from all countries. Universities are allowed to charge whatever they like to these two groups, so a free market already exists.

The researchers found that at several of the most prestigious universities, fees for non-EU undergraduates are at least five times higher than those for UK students. At University College London (UCL), overseas students pay £16,725 a year for a degree in physics, business or computer science, compared to the £3,290 charged to UK students.

The researchers, from the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics, found that the most prestigious institutions charge twice as much as lower-ranked universities. Derby University charges around half what UCL does for a business degree at £8,500, for example.

The same applies to postgraduate fees. While Imperial College London charges £21,550 for a master's in computer science, Derby charges £8,950.

Professor Steve Machin, one of the researchers, said the fees charged to postgraduates and overseas undergraduates "provide an indication of what could happen if the financial charges for undergraduate courses are allowed to vary more than they currently do". Undergraduate fees could "rapidly increase, particularly for those universities with the highest academic reputations and particularly for degree courses, such as business, with the highest returns".

Machin said: "There are obvious concerns that such large variations might deter students from less privileged backgrounds. Certain universities and courses with the highest financial return may become off-limits for less privileged students."

Another option being considered by Browne is to allow universities to admit more students from overseas, but to keep the number of students from the UK the same.

The researchers said that by 2015, this would mean that 10% of all undergraduates studying in England and 50% of postgraduates would be from outside the EU.

Machin warned universities could give greater priority to recruiting international students than to seeking the brightest students from low-income families in the UK. "Part of the solution may be to introduce financial incentives for universities to recruit poorer students," he added.

The National Union of Students (NUS) said the removal of the cap would be "a nightmare for students and their families".

"Top-up fees were tripled four years ago and the public will not tolerate a further hike," Aaron Porter, the NUS president, said. "Fortunately a great many politicians have pledged to oppose higher fees and we will hold them to their promise to prevent the emergence of a damaging and destructive market in fees that would entrench privilege and benefit a narrow elite."

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the lecturers' trade union the University and College Union, said Browne "must look seriously at the idea of taxing big business for the substantial benefits it gains from a plentiful supply of graduates".

But the most prestigious universities said that while they were committed to increasing the proportion of students from low-income families on their campuses, they had to find ways to boost their income.

Wendy Piatt, director general of the prestigious Russell Group of universities, said: "Many universities actually make a loss in recruiting many home students, particularly for expensive science courses, because of underfunding from the government and the fact that we are not allowed to ask graduates to make a higher contribution to those costs.

"The current system is not sustainable, particularly if we are facing further damaging cuts. We simply cannot continue to provide the high quality education that our students need – never mind take on higher numbers of students as the Sutton Trust urges – without asking them to make a larger financial contribution."

A spokesperson for the Department for Business Innovation and Skills said ministers would judge Browne review's proposals "against the need to take into account the impact on student debt, ensure a properly funded university sector, improve the quality of teaching, advance scholarship, increase social mobility and attract a higher proportion of students from disadvantaged backgrounds".
--Jessica Shepherd ,4 October 2010 10.17 BST

Ofqual has launched an inquiry into one of the country's biggest exam boards – the Assessments and Qualifications Alliance (AQA).

Isabel Nisbet, the watchdog's chief executive, said an estimated 600 papers had not been marked properly by the board's markers and added that the matter was "very serious".

Some 150 A-level students are thought to have been given lower marks than they deserved, as well as 290 AS-level and 190 GCSE students.

AQA informed Ofqual and is now contacting all the schools thought to be affected. It has extended the time in which teachers can query a pupil's exam result.

Andrew Hall, AQA's chief executive, said the board was "extremely sorry for any distress caused". He said he was reviewing marking procedures to ensure there was no repeat of the error.

"Errors of this type are extremely rare, but where they are identified it is our policy to ensure they are rectified and candidates are credited with the correct result," he said.

"We want to ensure we support schools and individual students as we communicate the revised marks and grades and answer any questions or concerns they have."

Nisbet said Ofqual would focus on what went wrong and "why it was not spotted sooner".

In June, 584 students joined a Facebook campaign against AQA's English literature A-level exam.

The teenagers said the literature extracts they had to read were too long to be properly analysed in the time they had.

Bianca Khatri, a student who sat the exam, said: "AQA decided to give us 4 extracts that were each at least a page long - students ultimately had 30 minutes reading time over the whole paper, which meant students realistically had 7-8 minutes per extract to analyse each text and look for language devices".

"This meant with the inadequate reading time, students had to leave out crucial information from each extract in order to complete the exam on time," she said.

In January, more than 3,000 students sent furious messages to a Facebook group about an AQA biology A-level exam.

At the time, AQA, said it would take students' worries into account when marking and awarding grades in the subject.

It said it was the first time a new curriculum for the exam had been studied and this could have caused uncertainty over what would be tested.

Pupils described the exam as a "disgrace" and feared it could jeopardise their chances of a university place. The exam bore no relevance to specimen papers, they said.

Hundreds posted messages labelling the paper "awful" and "ridiculous".
--Jessica Shepherd ,4 October 2010 12.58 BST

A total of 5,605 cases of violence were reported at the nation' s elementary, middle and high schools last year, according to the report submitted to Park Young-ah of the ruling Grand National Party by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

The most common form of violence was assault, which accounted for 62.6 percent, or 3,509 cases.

The number of students who committed acts of violence stood at 14,605, and 66 percent, or 9,644, of them were males, the report said. They mostly received light punishments, with as many as 39.2 percent, or 5,731 students, being ordered to fulfill on-campus volunteer services.

Only 15.1 percent, or 2,209 students, were subject to punishment considered to be comparatively heavy, such as taking special classes. A mere 3.1 percent, or 462 students, were restrained from approaching the victims.

In addition, only 7.7 percent of the perpetrators were suspended, while those who were forced to transfer or expelled totaled 6.2 percent and 0.8 percent, respectively, the report said.

"Education for overseas students has been an important bridge for friendly exchange between Chinese people and foreigners. It is also a key window for the world to understand China," Liu said during an event celebrating the 60th anniversary of New China's hosting of overseas students.

China has received some 1.69 million students from 190 countries and regions.

Some 240,000 overseas students are currently studying in China.

Liu encouraged overseas students in China to study hard while cherishing their China experience and promoting friendship and cultural exchange with Chinese people.

Liu urged schools to boost education quality and innovate in teaching to create a sound study environment for overseas students.

Moderate followers of Islam said yesterday that enforcement of the veil was a "dangerous precedent" and that children attending such schools were being "brainwashed".

• Madani Girls' School in east London;

• Jamea Al Kauthar in Lancaster;

• Jameah Girls' Academy in Leicester.

All three are independent, fee-paying, single-sex schools for girls aged 11 to 18. Critics warned that the spectacle of burka-clad pupils entering and leaving the schools at the start and end of the day could damage relations between Muslim and non-Muslim communities.

Ed Husain, co-director of Quilliam, the counter-extremist think-tank, said: "It is absurd that schools are enforcing this outdated ritual – one that which sends out a damaging message that Muslims do not want to fully partake in British society.

"Although it is not the government's job to dictate how its citizens dress, it should nonetheless ensure that such schools are not bankrolled or subsidised by the British taxpayer."

He added: "The enforcing of the niqab on young girls is not a mainstream Islamic practice – either in Britain or in most Muslim-majority countries.

"It is a desert practice which belongs to another century and another world."

Dr Taj Hargey, an imam and chairman of the Muslim Educational Trust of Oxford, said: "This is very disturbing and sets a dangerous precedent.

"It means that Muslim children are being brainwashed into thinking they must segregate and separate themselves from mainstream society.

"The use of taxpayers' money for such institutions should be absolutely opposed. The wearing of the burka or niqab is a tribal custom and these garments are not even mentioned in the Koran."

Philip Hollobone, the Tory MP who has attempted to bring in a Private Members' Bill to ban wearing of the burka in public, also condemned the schools' uniform policies.

"It is very sad in 21st century Britain that three schools are effectively forcing girls as young as 11 to hide their faces," he said.

"How on earth are these young ladies going to grow up as part of a fully integrated society if they are made to regard themselves as objects at such a young age?"

Conservative councillors have accused Labour-controlled Tower Hamlets council of subsidising Madani Girls' School by selling the school its current premises for £320,000 below market value.

In late 2008 the council agreed to sell the Victorian building, previously Grenfell Primary School, to Madani's trustees for £1.33 million even though a valuation at the time said it was worth £1.65 million.

At the time there were plans to turn Madani into a state-funded Muslim school, one of only a handful in Britain.

The sale of the site was presented to councillors as the "next significant step" towards the school obtaining voluntary aided status. These plans have now stalled, according to the council.

Councillors were advised to allow the sale at a loss because the price had been agreed in 2004 when it represented a fair market value.

The deal had been delayed by four years because the school needed to raise funds, but council chiefs wanted to honour the originally-agreed figure.

However, council minutes from December 2008 show that Tim Archer, a Tory councillor, warned that "a council asset was being sold below market value and public money was being used to subsidise the purchase".

He also suggested the school was in breach of the council's inclusiveness policy.

Madani, which has 260 pupils, charges fees of £1,900 a year. Its website states: "All payments should be made in cash. We do not accept cheques."

School uniform rules listed on the website have been deleted but an earlier version, seen by this newspaper, stated: "The present uniform conforms to the Islamic Code of dressing. Outside the school, this comprises of the black Burka and Niqab."

The admission application form warns girls will be "appropriately punished" for failing to wear the correct uniform, and its website adds: "If parents are approached by the Education Department regarding their child's education, they should not disclose any information without discussing it with the committee."

Madani Girls' School, which is a listed as a private limited company and was removed from the Charity Commission's records at the end of last year, was visited by Ofsted in 2008 but the inspectorate's report makes no mention of the strict uniform code.

It rated the school's overall performance as "satisfactory" but noted that "the history curriculum is limited to Islamic history in Key Stage 3". A number of aspects of school life were praised, including pupil behaviour.

Explaining the school's ethos, Madani's website says: "If we oppose the lifestyle of the west then it does not seem sensible that the teachers and the system, which represents that lifestyle, should educate our children."

Jamea Al Kauthar is a £2,500-a-year girls' boarding school, which accommodates 400 pupils in the grounds of Lancaster's former Royal Albert Hospital.

It states on its website: "Black Jubbah [smock-like outer garment] and dopatta [shawl] is compulsory as well as purdah (veil) when leaving and returning to Jamea. Scarves are strictly not permitted."

The website also lists a wide range of banned items, including family photographs, and warns: "Students must not cut their hair, nor remove hair from between their eyebrows. Doing so will lead to suspention (sic)."

Jamea Al Kauthar was rated "outstanding" by Ofsted earlier this year.

In Leicester, Jameah Girls Academy, which charges £1,750 a year for primary-age pupils and £1,850 for secondary, states in its rules: "Uniform, as set out in the pupil/parent handbook, which comprises of headscarf and habaya for all pupils, and niqab for girls attending the secondary years, to be worn during journeys to and from The Academy."

Anastasia de Waal, deputy director of think-tank Civitas, said: "We now have a scenario where schools such as these will be able to apply to become free schools, under the Government's policy, and therefore receive state funding. We need absolute clarity on what the position is going to be on such applications."

None of the schools responded to questions posed by The Sunday Telegraph.

A spokeswoman for Tower Hamlets said of Madani: "The local authority is not currently in talks with the school to enable it to become voluntary aided but we were in talks previously.

"With regards to sale of the site, it was agreed by Cabinet in 2004 to sell the freehold of the property to the Madani Girls School for £1.33m, which represented the market value at that time.

"The sale was delayed due to the need for the school to raise funds. The school managed to secure the money in 2008 where it was agreed at a Cabinet meeting in November 2008 the sale would be honoured at the previously agreed price of £1.33 million as the proposed sale would raise capital to invest in new projects and benefit the community.

"A local authority has the discretion to sell at an 'undervalue' of up to £2,000,000."
--By David Barrett,02 Oct 2010

The school was served with a “notice to improve” and a local education authority English teacher is due to visit the school at a future teaching training day.

Jim Hartley, the school’s head teacher, admitted that there was a problem with “Pompey” slang amongst some teaching staff and that they would be taught how to speak “Queen’s English”.

He said the problem was on a par with other mistakes such as bad spelling “that you would expect teachers to correct”.

“The inspectors said it was the heavy accent, but it was the grammar as well. I don’t think they would have picked up on it if it was just a matter of the accent,” he said.

“This is not denigrating the Pompey accent or dialect – we are all proud of where we come from. I accept however that bad grammar is not acceptable in the classroom which is why we have taken the inspectors’ criticisms constructively.

“We will be bringing in a consultant to work with two of our learning assistants to enable them to use the Queen’s English in the classroom.”

“As a head teacher I need to ensure our children can read and write correctly where needs be. That doesn’t mean to say that we don’t enjoy regional accents. But I welcome Ofsted’s verdict because it has pointed the problem out to us and allowed us to address it and listen more closely to our own accents.”

An Ofsted spokeswoman said: “As part of an Ofsted school inspection, inspectors evaluate the quality of teaching.

“They take into account regional accents and dialects but would expect all those involved in teaching to have a good grasp of grammar both orally and in writing.”
--By Peter Hutchison,03 Oct 2010

Nearly half said behaviour in their current, or most recent school was "inadequate", while only one in five said they would say it was "good" or "outstanding".

Over half said they are deliberately verbally distracted by pupils on a daily basis over their last year of teaching, while nearly a third said pupils refusing to work had been a daily occurrence.

The 2010 Behaviour Survey, conducted by the Teacher Support Network, Parentline Plus and the National Union of Teachers (NUT) found that dealing with unruly pupils is harming teachers' health and leaving many thinking about a career change.

More than a third said they had taken time off work, while two fifths said they had applied for a job in another school. And more than eight in 10 (81.2%) said they had experienced stress, anxiety or depression.

Julian Stanley, Chief Executive of Teacher Support Network said: "We know from the marked increase in the use of our behaviour-related services over the last year, that poor behaviour is at the heart of many of teachers' health and wellbeing issues.

"We are not saying that behaviour is an issue in every classroom, in every school, but we are concerned that poor behaviour is leading some great teachers to leave the profession. Parents and teachers need to work together to create safe, respectful school communities, where teachers, and by extension their children, can reach their full potential."

The survey also reveals that a third of teachers think that powers to search pupils for pornography, cigarettes, drugs, alcohol and other legal highs are "essential" in improving pupil behaviour, with 42 percent saying powers to search for pupils stolen property or other items that could pose a threat to safety were essential.

A study published by the Department for Education earlier this week found that the Labour government's measures to hold parents accountable for a child's unruly behaviour have failed to make an impact in schools.

The DfE announced new proposals in August designed to improve behaviour in schools, including allowing heads and school staff to search pupils for mobile phones, pornography and cigarettes and improving guidance on using force in the classroom.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said: "This is yet another example of why we are handing powers back to teachers and removing red tape so schools can tackle bad behaviour.

"It is simply wrong that teachers feel unable to assert themselves and take control of the classroom. Teachers need to know they are in control, they can deal with out-of-control and disruptive pupils, and this department and the justice system will back them."

The survey questioned 389 people in September.
--Yahoo! News UK (Oct 3rd,2010)

But the report’s authors also found that “anti-modular sentiment was more widespread than anti-modular action” because of the continued support for more regular assessment among students.

Two years ago when A-level was re-launched nationwide, the heads of department at my own school, Portsmouth Grammar, saw an opportunity to make A-levels work for us rather than the other way round.

If we wanted our students to care about the subject and not the qualification we knew we had to create a public-examination-free year between GCSE and A-level.

Students would no longer therefore sit AS modules in Year 12 but would wait until January in Year 13.

We also wanted to encourage more students to complete their fourth subject as an A-level, rather than leaving it dangling at the end of Year 12. The reduction in most subjects from six to four modules made us feel that it here at last was a possibility to develop a broader, and at the same time more mature approach to sixth-form study.

Some students were understandably anxious; they knew they would be competing with students from other schools and colleges who would re-sit AS-level modules more often.

Some worried about applying for competitive university places without AS-level module scores to rely on.

And why should they study four subjects when most universities only showed interest in three?

Parents, however, were supportive and trusted that the school would not wish to jettison a proud track record by turning their children into unsuspecting guinea-pigs.

So how did we get on two years later?

Our students performed well, gaining 83 per cent A* to B with 19 per cent A*s. We enjoyed our best year for Oxbridge results on over two decades and of those leavers going straight to university, 83 per cent gained places at the research-intensive Russell Group and 1994 Group universities.

But the real story is a hidden one.

When we looked at the students’ best three A-levels as a direct comparison with previous years, we found that they matched the school’s previous record of 88 per cent A* to B with a higher value-added score from GCSE than the first record-breaking cohort.

Most significantly, out of a year group of 149 students, 112 completed four subjects at A-level – three times as many as in previous years – and without throwing the co-curricular baby out with the AS-modular bathwater.

Sixth-form participation in sport, drama and trips had grown in the last two years rather than diminished.

We have not been alone in devising an alternative route through A-level.

Many other schools that are members of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference are trying to prevent the educational journey becoming a rat race for university places.

There is, of course, an even broader curriculum model available post-16, one which is based on six subjects rather than four, and entirely linear in its assessment.

It’s called the International Baccalaureate. And where A-level cannot mimic the IB Diploma, however creative a school tries to be, is in its core internationalism.

We launched the IB diploma alongside A-level in 2009 and our first cohort- all of whom are UK-based day pupils- is now in the process of applying to study at university next year.

We will be watching their performance with great interest and with excitement too, after discovering what we have been able to do with A-level this summer.

*James Priory is the headmaster of Portsmouth Grammar School
--By James Priory,01 Oct 2010

More recently, though, with incomes still increasing, social mobility has stalled. The changing composition of the job market may be one reason for this. But I believe there's a more subtle and influential force at work.

Parents who set clear boundaries for their children's behaviour, who love them, bond with them, read to them and teach them essential social skills, are the agents who open the doors of opportunity for them. But the end of the consensus around this style of parenting has had a devastating impact on many children's lives – particularly the poorest.

Four months ago, the Prime Minister asked me to conduct a review on poverty and life chances. Our most shocking finding so far is that we can predict the life outcomes of children by their ability level at the age of five. Hence we are developing an index to measure how successful we are at transforming the abilities of the bottom 30 per cent of children before they actually enter school for the first time.

The campaigns I headed at the Child Poverty Action Group to raise the incomes of the poorest families were obviously important. But I no longer believe that raising those incomes by, say, £50 a week, would halt the route of many poor children to, at best, a life on low pay or, at worst, unemployment. Cash benefits are not irrelevant, but by themselves they won't bring fundamental change to the life chances of the poorest.

So what should a new strategy embrace? The review will not peddle the idea that unless we intervene effectively during the first years of a child's life, all is lost. But the plain fact is that our current programme intended to balance life chances, which is carried out through schools, is not particularly effective.

In response to requests from young people, Manchester Academy is working on ways to include lessons in parenting and life skills.

Part of the trouble with the existing approach is that few young parents are aware of the help available to them. To counter this, I suggested to the Prime Minister that he establish three clear stages to our education system. Replacing early years, a new Foundation Years programme would lead up to the school years, which will, in turn, feed into the further, higher and continuing education years.

The Foundation Years would start when mothers first register as pregnant, and the most vulnerable would receive the most help. After the child reached the age of two, a new partnership would be established as parents seek good child care. The higher the quality of this care, the greater the impact on all children, but particularly the poorest.

The single objective of the programme would be to improve poorer children's life chances. One driver of opportunity could come through the early introduction of the Coalition's "pupil premium" – a cash incentive paid to a school for every underprivileged child it teaches – during the Foundation Years. This premium is likely to lead to better outcomes if it is put to good use before the child has even crossed the school threshold.

Central to the pre-school years will be a reformed network of Children's Centres, where families of under-fives can go for information and support.

The contracts to run Children's Centres should be opened up to competition, to drive down costs, but also to develop more innovative ways of finding and supporting the poorest parents. Here lies the key to profound change: the building of a strong partnership with the parents of the poorest 30 per cent of our children. With this in mind, parents should have more of a say in the running of the centres (which, incidentally, need to become more dad-friendly).

We still have a long way to go. But one research report concluded that we now know as much in theory about parental involvement affecting pupils' achievements as Newton knew about the physics of space travel. By 1650 Newton had laid out the theoretical basis of how to reach the moon. But we had to wait for more than 300 years for the theory to be understood and put into practice.

We cannot afford to wait three years, let alone 300, before we make the reforms to equalise life chances. Applying the knowledge we have about the Foundation Years will open up a new and, I believe, decisive front on the war against poverty and disadvantage.
--By Frank Field,30 Sep 2010

Frank Field is the Labour MP for Birkenhead and currently leads the Independent Review on Poverty and Life Chances

The rise was far higher than the increase in admissions at 11 and 13, the other main entry points to independent senior school, according to data from the Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference.

The organisation, which represents 250 elite fee-paying schools, including Eton, Harrow, St Paul’s and Winchester, said parents were still going to great lengths to fund independent education, despite pressures on family finances in the economic downturn.

The study also suggests that families are prepared to pay a premium for top-quality tuition to get sons and daughters through their A-levels – maximising their chances of getting into good universities.

This summer, pupils from independent schools were three times as likely as those from state comprehensives to gain top A* grades at A-level.

The disclosure follows unprecedented competition for degree places in 2010, with warnings that up to 180,000 people missed out on higher education.

Demand is expected to be just as fierce in coming years amid fears over a freeze in the number of new university places as vice-chancellors are forced to make savings to pay off the national debt.

According to the latest study, the equivilent of 1,185 children were pulled out of HMC schools in the last academic year for financial reasons, but that was almost matched by a rise in the number of new starters.

David Levin, HMC chairman and headmaster of the City of London School, said: “In spite of the uncertain economic climate, parents are prepared to commit themselves, often at great personal financial sacrifice, to high quality education in the independent sector.”

Mr Levin has already unveiled plans to create up to 1,000 free and heavily subsidised places in independent school sixth-forms to enable pupils from deprived backgrounds to study “strategically important” subjects such as science, maths and foreign languages at university.

Speaking before the HMC annual conference in London this week, he said: “I believe we have an indispensable national resource which boys and girls should be tapping into. We have a significant role to play in preparing more children for university.”

The organisation surveyed almost half of HMC members just weeks into the new academic year.

Figures showed that the overall number of pupils in HMC schools this term increased by 0.49 per cent – boosting last year’s total of 197,658 by almost 1,000.

The survey revealed a rise of 6.3 per cent in the number of new pupils admitted at 16, compared with a two per cent increase at 11 and 4.4 per cent at 13.

However, the figures also show some parents are still being forced to pull children out for fee-paying schools because they can no longer afford the fees.

Some 0.6 per cent of pupils were removed from HMC schools “for purely financial reasons” – the same as last year. It was equivalent to 1,185 children at HMC schools and more than 3,000 across the independent sector.
--By Graeme Paton,27 Sep 2010

Under plans expected to be set out next month, universities could be given more power to levy higher fees to make up the shortfall.

A major review of student finance is believed to be considering increasing the cap on tuition fees from £3,290 to £10,000 a year, although the maximum most students are likely to pay would be £7,000.

Lord Browne, the former head of BP, will publish his recommendations in October, before the Government sets out its long-term spending commitments.

It is already feared that higher education budgets could be cut by a third, with universities forced to plug the funding gap through fee rises.

Steve Smith, president of Universities UK, which represents vice-chancellors, told The Sunday Times: “Browne’s [scheme] might work at the sector-wide level, bringing in enough income to replace the loss of Government money, but that doesn’t mean it works for every institution.

“Somewhere like, say, Oxford, might be able to charge £7,000 no problem. Others won’t be able to recoup what the state takes away. A lot of institutions will be in difficulty at that point.”

Research last week by Leicester University suggested that many students would be deterred from higher education altogether if fees for some degrees increased to £7,000 a year.

Almost one-in-seven students would refuse to take degrees in arts and humanities under a substantial fees hike, while more than one-in-10 would be deterred from studying the biological sciences.

It also suggested that students would be less likely to pay higher fees at former polytechnics.

“Fee increases up to £7,000 would produce a ‘flight to quality’, with students increasingly preferring prestigious institutions,” said the Leicester University report. “Newer universities in particular may need to respond to this threat by charging a lower fee than the maximum allowed in order to remain attractive.”
-By Graeme Paton,26 Sep 2010

In one of the biggest single pay-outs, a pupil from Surrey won £29,000 from the local authority after sitting on a radiator and suffering burns.  

A student in Doncaster was handed £2,000 in compensation after being affected by exposure to bright light during a science experiment.

Poole Council paid £33,500 to settle a claim from a pupil who missed the high jump landing mat during a PE lesson.

In some cases, attempts to minimise injuries still failed to prevent successful claims.

Wakefield Council paid out £3,275 after a child was hit in the eye with a “safe” foam javelin, while officials in North Lincolnshire spent £4,500 to settle a claim against a student who was injured after falling off an exercise bike.

Frank Furedi, professor of sociology at Kent University, said the compensation culture was ruining children’s education.

“Some school authorities opportunistically use the threat of litigation as an excuse to avoid the hassle of organising trips and activities,” he said.

“Demanding compensation from schools and other public sector bodies is immoral; it is a demand for you and I and other taxpayers to cough up the cash.

“The Government should ban litigation against the public sector and find other ways of holding individual to account in education and health.”

A survey of 140 out of 150 local education authorities in England revealed almost 400 successful claims were made in the last academic year. Awards are often being inflated by expensive legal fees.

One claim brought against Bexley Council in London ended with a pupil being handed £1,000 for a glue gun burn, while the child’s solicitor gained £7,250. The council also spent £1,650 on its own legal advice.

Drink burns also accounted for a large proportion of the total.

Middlesbrough Council paid £11,000 when a student was scalded by a hot drink knocked off a teacher’s desk, Gloucestershire Council paid £3,700 to a pupil injured by hot tea and Kirklees Council spent £2,000 to settle a claim by a pupil who was burnt by soup.

Other pay-outs included:

• £23,000 awarded to a pupil in Essex who slipped on ice at school.
• £3,000 paid to a child in Warwickshire whose hair caught fire during a lesson.
• £20,000 in compensation made to a Hertfordshire pupil who suffered a broken jaw after being hit in the face with a rounders bat.
• £5,000 awarded to a pupil in Gloucestershire who was accidentally hit in the teeth with a golf club.
• £3,350 paid to a student by Sheffield Council after suffering bruising when a stage collapsed.

John Ransford, chief executive of the Local Government Association, said: “Where people have a legitimate claim for compensation it’s important they are able to get the damages they’re entitled to, and that the organisation involved is able to learn from anything that went wrong.

“There is a real fear that the presence of no-win-no-fee lawyers encourages some people to chance their arm, clogging up the system with spurious claims that cost a substantial amount of taxpayers’ money.

“The money spent investigating and handling compensation claims is valuable funding which could otherwise be spent on front line services to help and support all residents.”
--By Graeme Paton,26 Sep 2010

An official Whitehall analysis shows that areas including London, Bristol, Coventry, Leicester, Luton and Plymouth are facing the biggest squeezes on places.

The projections suggest local authorities need to expand primary school places by between 10 and 20 per cent by 2014 to meet the extra demand.

Four councils in the south east – Slough, Wokingham and the London boroughs of Lewisham and Barking and Dagenham – face the biggest pupil population rises of more than 20 per cent.

The disclosure is made in an internal report by Partnerships for Schools, the Government’s school buildings quango.

Rising demand for primary school places has been put down to a surge in the birthrate combined with an influx of migrants in some areas.

In all, it is believed that an additional 350,000 primary places will be needed over the next four years.

Last night, Government sources claimed Labour had effectively ignored the looming crisis despite repeated warnings by Whitehall officials.

It was claimed that the previous Government lavished billions of pounds of public money on high-profile schemes to reconstruct existing secondary schools – instead of building additional primary school capacity.

The Coalition has already axed Labour’s £55 billion Building Schools for the Future programme which was set to transform England’s secondary schools.

The squeeze on primary places is already biting in some parts of the country, where hundreds of infants are still without reception classes three weeks into the new academic year.

Sarah Teather, the Children’s Minister, said dozens of children did not have places in her north London constituency of Brent.

"It's a problem that's common across London and it's going to get worse,” she said. “It's particularly acute in the primary sector and, of course, as children move through the system, we've got this bulge of children without adequate school places.”

The Whitehall report – obtained by The Daily Telegraph – shows which areas need to build additional primary school places by September 2014.

Seventeen of London’s 33 boroughs must increase primary places by between 10 and 20 per cent, while two face bigger pupil rises of more than a fifth. A further nine are facing smaller increases in pupil numbers of up to five per cent.

Outside the capital, 38 councils face rises, including Coventry, Leicester, Birmingham and Nottingham in the Midlands and large parts of West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.

Cities in the south west, such as Bristol, Plymouth and Exeter, and counties in the south east, such as Surrey, West Sussex and Hertfordshire, are also likely to experience more pressure on places.

Sir Steve Bullock, Mayor of Lewisham, which is facing one of the biggest shortages, said: "The situation in Lewisham is very serious and will continue to be so until we get additional Government funding to provide more primary places.

"We have opened 18 additional classes on time so that every child due to start reception this year has a place. This was only achieved through the hard work and commitment of Lewisham headteachers and governors.

"The birth rate in Lewisham is now around 4,800 a year and if 80 per cent of these children apply for a place in a Lewisham school, we will have 3,840 applications for 3,156 places each year. This is an unacceptable situation.

"The Government needs to understand the urgency for more primary places and this has to be a priority for the Comprehensive Spending Review. We were in discussion with the previous Government before the election but had not been successful by the time the election was called.”
--By Graeme Paton,25 Sep 2010