A story made the papers last month, of a girl who dropped out of school aged 16 and went on to have four children. Nothing remarkable there, one may think, except that 14 years later, she has received an offer to study medicine at Cambridge and expects to get four straight As at A level in order to take up her place.

Bad behaviour in schools came under the spotlight again last month, as the teaching conferences got underway, and the final instalment of Sir Alan Steer's government-commissioned study into school discipline was published. Although many factors were cited as contributing to children's poor conduct, from celebrities' sex lives to TVs in bedrooms, it was parents who came in for most criticism.

Once again the schools inspectorate Ofsted has come under fire, as it is revealed that about 150 secondary head teachers and deputies were sacked last year. Half of staff were axed from their jobs after concerns raised about their performance by local authorities or school inspections.