Staff, students, parents, and governors at Childwall Sports and Science Academy have been celebrating after they were awarded the coveted National Association for Able Children in Education (NACE) Challenge Award. The award was given in recognition of school-wide commitment to high-quality provision for more able learners, within the context of challenge for all. Childwall Academy is the first school in Liverpool to achieve the award, which only 2% of UK schools hold. NACE CEO, Rob Lightfoot, said: “Childwall Academy has worked successfully to attain the NACE Challenge Award. The school has sh ..read more

An Edge Hill University PhD researcher who lost her brother to suicide is pursuing her passion to improve mental health support by working with experts around the world. Nina Smith’s brother Will died two weeks before she started her Masters degree in mental health at Edge Hill. The 35-year-old mum of two harnessed her lived experience of grief and threw herself into her studies. Determined to inform policy and practice on suicide prevention, and find strategies to help schools improve their support, Nina successfully applied for a Churchill Fellowship which supports individuals to follow thei ..read more

The Children and Young People’s Mental Health Coalition (CYPMHC) and the Centre for Mental Health have called for a new approach to tackle absenteeism in schools by supporting children’s mental health. Currently, one in five children are persistently absent from school, which means they are missing 10% or more of school time. In 2022-2023, 150,000 children were severely absent, meaning they were missing over 50% of possible sessions. CYPMHC and the Centre for Mental Health said in their new report, that while mental health has a huge impact on children and young people, with one in five childr ..read more

Over one third of 11-year-olds and more than half of 13-year-olds in England have drank alcohol, according to a new report published today (25 April) by the World Health Organisation (WHO). The report, ‘A focus on adolescent substance use in Europe, central Asia and Canada’, showed that 11-year-old and 13-year-old English children have the highest rate of alcohol consumption. The data also found that 13 and 15-year-old girls drank more than their male counterparts. 280,000 children from 44 countries were surveyed to look at substance consumption amongst adolescents. At age 13, the report foun ..read more

A secondary school in Accrington has been shortlisted in the Northern Cultural Education Awards 2024 for its commitment to innovation and leadership in education. The Hollins’ ‘Cohesion through Creativity’ Initiative have been selected as finalists in the Innovation and Leadership in Education Award category. The Northern Cultural Education Awards 2024, hosted by charity Curious Minds, aims to shine a light on the best practice, innovation and activism in the field of creative and cultural education, wherever it is happening across the North of England. Before this year, only those in the Nort ..read more

School and setting leaders should focus on embedding new teaching and learning strategies well, including ‘de-implementing’ approaches that have served their purpose or proven to be ineffective, according to an updated report.  The Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance report published today focuses on how to maximise the impact of new approaches on staff practice and pupil learning.  The latest edition of A School’s Guide to Implementation, produced in collaboration with expert teachers and leading academics and based on a new review of the evidence, outlines how schoo ..read more

From September, up to £6000 will be available for teachers working in key STEM and technical subjects such as maths, construction and engineering, as well as early years education, the Department for Education (DfE) has announced. The expansion of the Levelling Up premium payment scheme to those working in further education and to a wider range of subjects for the first time will support young people to progress skills that will help grow our economy the government said.  It will also double the existing Levelling Up premium payments to school teachers of maths, physics, chemistry and com ..read more

A new report from the National Audit Office (NAO) has warned of the ‘significant uncertainties’ the government’s upcoming childcare entitlements may pose. According to the report, while the Department for Education is on track to meet its April 2024 milestone for childcare, the department sees the likelihood of meeting its September 2024 and 2025 milestones as amber/red -problematic’. Since the start of April, eligible working parents of 2-year-olds can access 15 hours of childcare support. This will be expanded in September 2024 to eligible working parents of children from 9 months to three y ..read more

Year 13 students from St John Bosco Arts College, Croxteth, recently visited Shrewsbury Prison to explore the inner workings of the UK prison system and how it works as part of their criminology studies. The visit allowed the 22 criminology students to gain first-hand experience inside a prison and explore the potential successes and failures of the prison system. Students were guided around the prison by a former prison guard, who shared what prison life looked like and what his job involved before Shrewsbury Prison was decommissioned in March 2013. The 200-year-old prison, opened in 1793, is ..read more

Knowsley Safari and Mersey Gateway Environmental Trust are inviting wildlife lovers, of all ages and abilities, to a free family-friendly BioBlitz, taking place at Spike Island in Widnes, on Saturday 27 April from 11am – 2pm.  The BioBlitz event forms part of the City Nature Challenge, an annual, global community science competition to document urban biodiversity. There is no requirement to book and the fun event will see participants become ‘nature detectives’ during an interactive team effort to spot as many creatures as possible in and around the Mersey Estuary, from bug ..read more