Parents have complained that an online survey for England's education watchdog asked pupils to give their postcodes, potentially exposing them to danger.

The National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations says it supports parents who are asking Ofsted to remove data on their children.

RE teachers must provide children with a more sophisticated understanding of the subject in a post-11 September world, Ofsted says.

After a five-year inspection of RE classes which began in the year of the attacks on the US, Ofsted says rote learning of RE is no longer adequate.

Primary schools in England are being sent DVDs and booklets on how best to teach children to read.

The Letters and Sounds packs follow a report on reading by former director of inspection Jim Rose, which advocated a method known as "synthetic phonics".

A classroom teachers' union is challenging the practice of pupils sitting on job interview panels.

The NASUWT said the "student voice" was important but this failed to respect teachers' professionalism.

General secretary Chris Keates said the union had even come across pupils being trained to observe lessons.

A number of primary schools in England are to become specialists - in the way that most secondaries are now - as part of a pilot scheme from next term.

The pilot will involve 34 schools in clusters in different parts of England.

Can you teach someone to be the next Henry Ford or Richard Branson? Is business enterprise in your genes or can it be taught in the classroom?

The government clearly believes that enterprise should be on the school curriculum. In the recent Budget, Gordon Brown announced a further £180m over three years to continue funding for enterprise education in the UK.

A deprived London borough has turned down an offer from an American investment bank which wanted to build and run a state school.

Goldman Sachs offered to invest £2m in a scheme for a city academy sixth form in Tower Hamlets.

Extended schools, where pupils can attend breakfast clubs and after-school activities, are said to improve GCSE results more quickly than the average.

The government says this endorses its plan for all England's schools to provide extended services by 2010.

A third of teachers say their school's design prevents them from teaching effectively, an online survey found.

Some 87% of the 530 teachers in England who responded said school environments influenced pupils' behaviour.

A college is losing more than half of its teaching staff in a dispute over new contracts and workloads.

Academics' union the UCU says 97 out of 179 teaching staff at Harlow College, Essex, have decided to take redundancy, after five days of strikes.

England's secondary schools are going to be rated on the proportion of pupils getting two science GCSEs at grade C or above, in this year's league tables.

The new measure will sit alongside the one showing how many got five good GCSEs, including English and maths.

Alfred McAlpine – IT Services showcased the technology behind the ‘Learning space of the future’ at Bradford College’s ‘Festival of Futures’ in Bradford on 29 June 2007.

Bradford College is at the forefront of education, embarking on a new programme of technology, learning, and working changes to allow its students to adopt advanced learning techniques and prepare them for their careers.

The Government should establish an independent body to monitor school performance, recommends a report commissioned by the Sutton Trust.

The proposal comes in a review of the UK’s record in education under Tony Blair compared with other countries during the last 10 years.

While the findings suggest a gradual improvement in school results, the report concludes that it is hard to say whether there has been any real progress because “monitoring is under government control and government has a vested interest in the outcomes”.

The London Teaching Pool Ltd (TLTP), an REC approved and DFES Approved Recruitment Agency, today announces the launch of its new money back into Education Initiative - 80 per cent of its annual net profit will be given back to the education community from September 2007. Schools that recruit teachers via TLTP will automatically qualify for the ‘Money Back’ scheme, receiving a one off payment at the end of the school year based on usage.

A garden promoting the importance of learning outside the classroom has been launched at Hampton Court by the Schools Minister Jim Knight.

The £250,000 governmentfunded Growing Schools Garden project has involved 500 young people from more than 30 schools.

Gordon Brown has placed his former adviser Ed Balls in charge of a newly reformed department focusing on children, families and schools.

There will be another new department responsible for innovations, science, universities and skills, led by former Home Office minister John Denham.

The UK’s national safety charity, the Suzy Lamplugh Trust, has launched a multimedia personal safety resource programme/pack for primary schools. Called Teach Safety, the pack is designed to enable teachers to teach children about personal safety and to enable children to recognise and confidently manage unsafe situations.

Failing GCSE maths is one of the most frustrating and annoying events that can befall teenagers. For as they quickly find, a lack of GCSE maths at grade C or above means that life in terms of A levels, university entrance and jobs suddenly gets a lot harder.

Cubicle Express by Armitage Venesta, can be ordered by phone, fax or email and delivered to site within 48 hours. This makes it an ideal and economic choice for school washrooms where time is a critical factor. The range has been designed to include a lower cubicle height door.

Xoolon Sports & Fitness Academy, revolutionary sports portal that helps improve primary and secondary schoolchildren’s sporting prowess is now live following successful pilots.

PE staff use Xoolon to pinpoint pupils’ mental & physical strengths, identify suitable sports, high flyers & those who need more nurturing, and better focus teaching efforts.

Valpak Ltd, the UK’s leading compliance scheme, is once again co-ordinating the UK’s entry to the Youth Eco- Parliament 2007-08. In May 2008, Valpak will be taking a delegation of young people to represent the UK at the third Youth Eco-Parliament in Prague.

Climate change – is a subject close to all our hearts and constantly in the news. We all try to do our bit and to teach our children by example to do the same. Now some schools have taken up the challenge to go greener, not only because of the energy saving benefits but because many of the lessons that can be learnt in the process are relevant in other areas of a child’s education, whether it be reading meters in maths or learning about solar power in science classes.

A pioneering environmental initiative by Lotus Professional is set to help local authorities improve their green credentials by creating a zero ‘paper-footprint’ from their selection of washroom paper products.

The first initiative of its kind in the industry in the UK, ‘Smile’ will enable the public sector to be even more proactive on recycling and the environment.

The Haileybury Youth Trust (HYT) is helping to pioneer a new technology which will revolutionise the building of schools and houses in Africa and have a significant impact on climate change.

The HYT has embarked on a project in Uganda, promoting a construction technology called an interlocking stabilised soil block (ISSB) that has the potential to change the way houses and schools are built across the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, while preserving the region's fragile environment.

Energy isn't just on the curriculum in physics classes. It's a hot topic in educational management too, as lower energy costs and better working conditions grow in importance.

Never more so than for the warewash area, where many dishwashers generate steam and heat every time they are operated. School managers are watching huge amounts of money disappear in energy costs, while they worry about what's left to spend on food ingredients.

SICO Europe, the original British manufacturer of table seating units, has recently launched a special laminate for its tables. The new top is designed to address the issue of climate change and ways in which we can all be more environmentally friendly and help prevent global warming.

The strength, performance and durability of EcoTherm PUR (Polyurethane) insulation board made it an ideal solution when a Dorset school needed to replace two areas of roof.

The school in Lyme Regis recently completed a major building programme to provide new facilities and teaching areas. Some of the older parts of the school however were starting to show their age.

Good refrigeration equipment is essential in the drive to produce fresh and nutritious school meals. With more fresh food being prepared, safe food storage is critical and therefore investing in kitchen equipment is an important decision.

This month the government’s teaching advisers, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) have called upon schools to scrap the traditional timetable in favour of month-long projects on subjects such as ‘global warming’. A more creative approach to teaching will make lessons more interesting and cut down on truancy, argues the report – but is this further evidence of dumbing down and a return to ‘trendy teaching’ or a sensible way to make learning more interesting?

We’re delighted to bring you a sample of STAEDTLER’s famous 309 handwriting pen this month. Many of you will already be familiar with this popular pen as it’s been a firm favourite in our schools for years now.

Specifically designed to encourage good handwriting skills, the pen is loaded with the following features and benefits:

Market-leaders of scholastic products Helix have now produced an innovative range of Sharpeners with the ultimate safety feature.

For years, teachers and parents have been concerned at the number of instances where students have been able to simply unscrew the blade from screwdrivers presenting a significant health hazard. For Back-to-School 2007, new Sharpeners from Helix will incorporate a patented antitamper screw that prevents students from removing blades, providing reassurance to teachers.

Faber Blinds has supplied and fitted radio-controlled black-out blinds in a new multipurpose performing arts studio at Edgbaston School near Birmingham.

Leading stationery brand, BIC®, is set to build on its 2006 Back to School success, with the launch of its fantastic Back to School range for 2007.

This year, BIC has developed a new vibrant range aimed at the teens market. By focusing on trend and colour, BIC has created products that will grab the attention of teenagers, and are backed with the reliability of the BIC brand.

Mitsubishi Electric’s Visual Information Systems division, a leading manufacturer of innovative, high quality display solutions has announced the introduction of a new deinstall / reinstall warranty for both the education and public sector on the XL9U standard and Orange XL9U ultra portable projector.

The challenge

Long gone are the days when a blackboard was the most technologically advanced tool in the classroom. In today’s educational environment, students and teachers require information quickly and efficiently, and ICT is becoming increasingly important to modern learning. Moreover, in a sector where every penny counts, being able to maximise resources and reduce expenditure is vital.

In an ideal world teachers would have all the latest equipment for the classroom at their fingertips – but in reality there is always a limited budget. Many schools adopt an “if it ain’t broken don’t replace it” approach with technology, which is understandable considering the financial squeeze that most schools face. However, many teachers are taking matters into their own hands and successfully raising money to purchase the desired resources by campaigning to their PTA, LEA and even Parliament!

When Labour was elected to govern in May 1997, the Prime Minister, Tony Blair set out his manifesto for office by stating that “Education, education, education,” was the top priority. Following Mr Blair’s recent departure from number ten Downing Street, debate has already started, chronicling the highs and lows of his tenure regarding this pledge - tuition fees, grades, number of teachers and investment being the hot topics. But undoubtedly during this decade in office, schools, colleges and universities have experienced a major revolution in the use of information technology.

New research commissioned by NEC Computers, investigating ICT provision within the education sector1, has revealed that despite the majority of ICT decision-makers (82%) in the sector claiming to have sufficient knowledge of the Government’s policies on reducing energy use and carbon emissions, an alarming number of respondents (62%) were unaware of the environmental benefits offered by new thin client technology.

Northgate Information Solutions is delighted to announce its appointment by the Miller Consortium, preferred bidder on the Leicester Building Schools for the Future (BSF) project, as its Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Supply Chain Partner.

Corpora’s Tokopen eCopy 2 Way Connector enables businesses to manage and retrieve documents through MFDs.

Corpora is launching the world’s first two way connector that enables organisations to use multi functional devices (MFDs) to scan, index, store and now - for the first time - retrieve and print off documents across their business.

A new technically advanced roof dome makes SolaLighting’s market leading Solatube Daylighting System the brightest prospect yet in homes, offices, factories, hospitals, schools and many other applications. The new dome features a patented Raybender® 3000 Fresnel lens system with integral LightTracker™ reflector. Together these features can capture up to double the amount of daylight than any other system.

Playworld Systems’ new range of Ball Courts are proving immensely popular around the country with both local authorities and housing developers. The ball courts are multi-use game areas (MUGAs), where five-a-side, basketball, netball and tennis can be played.

Barco, a leading developer of professional display solutions, proudly launches the latest addition to its line of network-centric projection systems. The iCon NH-12 combines the best of three-chip DLP technology and a 12,000 lumens light output, with the newest durability-enhancing chassis and Windows desktop integration.

Whitecroft Lighting has supplied a range of fittings to the new, £18 million state-ofthe- art Stroud College in Gloucestershire. Throughout the building, a key criteria for the lighting was that it should provide a comfortable and pleasant working environment for students and staff alike. Whitecroft was chosen for the project for its ability to supply ‘fit for purpose’ luminaires for every area of the college, in addition to a full design service.

FS Carpets has increased its New Prairie tile range to 18 colours. New Prairie is a high quality 100% nylon loop pile carpet tile, a combination of a low pile height and a high pile weight ensuring a robust performance in heavy traffic areas.

Café Bar (UK) Ltd, whilst known for its extensive roast and ground and soluble hot drinks offering, is also a major supplier of healthy cold drinks systems. Outspan orange and grapefruit and Cape apple and tropical drinks in both concentrate and natural juice format are the refreshing cold drinks addition to the Café Bar portfolio.

Linda Briffett of interior surfaces specialists Altro looks at the ways that design is being used in school toilets to tackle bullying

I read with interest the article in the May edition of Education Today suggesting the use of unisex toilets to tackle bullies. Of course, school toilets are all too often places chosen by undesirables to hang out to misbehave. The thought of unisex toilets takes some getting used to, but there is a lot to be said for the idea of shared washrooms.