Parents boycott Sats tests at Bealings primary school

Pic-Lavinia Musolino has opted for her son Enzo, seven, not to take the Sats test
Education(wp/bbc):::

A class of primary school pupils will not sit Sats tests after their parents chose to boycott the exams.

All 15 parents of children in Year 2 at Bealings School near Woodbridge, Suffolk, said "over-testing was ruining the pupils' education".

Heather Chandler, one of the parents, said it was "far too early" for the children, aged six and seven, to be tested.

The school said it did not want to comment.

Chair of governors Rick Gillingham said they would not stand in the parents' way and "over-testing is certainly something we wouldn't go along with".

Ms Chandler said the Sats were unnecessary and a waste of time.

"At that age they should be out playing and investigating the world around them, not being taught to do a test," she said.

"It adds extra pressure they don't really need and takes a lot of teachers' time away from what they should be doing."

Lavinia Musolino, whose seven-year-old son Enzo is in Year 2, said: "It's a really positive way to stand up to the current government and say we don't agree."

The Standards and Testing Agency tests are formal national curriculum exams in primary schools in England, taken by children twice - first in Year 2 and then in Year 6. Pupils are tested in maths and English.

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• Do Sats really matter - and if so, to whom?

Last month, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn announced he would scrap Sats if his party came to power, saying the move would help improve teacher recruitment and retention.

Instead, Labour would introduce alternative assessments which would be based on "the clear principle of understanding the learning needs of every child," he said.

But Schools Minister Nick Gibb said abolishing Sats would be "a retrograde step".

He said it would "keep parents in the dark" by preventing them from knowing how good their child's school was at teaching maths, reading and writing.

The government has already said it wants to phase out Sats for seven-year-old pupils in favour of a new baseline assessment for reception classes.

UK, EU to agree free-trade deal, October 31 Brexit date in doubt - Reuters poll

Political reporter(wp/reuters):::
Britain will eventually leave the European Union and agree a free-trade deal with the bloc, according to the vast majority of economists polled by Reuters who were, however, split on whether the two sides would divorce on Oct. 31.

Prime Minister Theresa May failed to get her Withdrawal Agreement ratified by the British parliament on three attempts so the EU allowed a Brexit delay until the end of October, giving May time to try to convince lawmakers to reach agreement.

When asked if the latest deadline - delayed from March 29 - would be extended, 17 of 33 economists who answered an extra question in the May 3-10 Reuters poll said it would not.

“Failure to come to an agreement runs the risk that the EU will simply lose patience in October and not grant any extension,” said Peter Dixon at Commerzbank.

“We are by no means out of the woods.”

It’s nearly three years since the June 2016 referendum when Britons shocked much of the world and voted to leave the EU but it is still unclear how, when, or even if it will ever quit the club it joined in 1973.

But the median forecast in the latest survey gave the chance of a disorderly Brexit - where no deal is agreed and an outcome Reuters polls have repeatedly said would be harmful to both sides - at 15%, as it was in March and April.

Only one of 50 respondents gave a probability above 50%.

Still, as they have in all Reuters polls since late 2016 most economists said the two sides would settle on a free-trade deal. The second most likely outcome was again Britain as a member of the European Economic Area, paying into the EU budget to maintain access to the EU’s single market.

In third spot was Brexit being cancelled - once more ahead of Britain leaving without an agreement and trading under World Trade Organization rules, which came last.

“All options remain on the table in the UK, including no Brexit, a hard Brexit and even another extension beyond October,” said Kallum Pickering at Berenberg.

WILL THEY, WON’T THEY?

Britain avoided the recession predicted in the event the country decided to leave the EU and the median chance of one in the next year was only 20%, down from 25% given last month. For the next two years, the probability was an unchanged 25%.

However, growth is expected to remain tepid and the world’s fifth largest economy will grow 0.2-0.4% per quarter across the forecast horizon, from here through to the end of 2020, unchanged from last month’s poll.

Inflation, however, is expected to rise and will average 1.9% this year and 2.0% in 2020 and 2021 - matching the Bank of England’s target - the poll found.

Yet the central bank is unlikely to do much with monetary policy. Monetary Policy Committee member Michael Saunders said in an interview published on Thursday the BOE was unlikely to raise interest rates far or fast, even if the economy picks up after a smooth Brexit.

Economists largely agreed with Saunders and medians suggests borrowing costs will rise 25 basis points early next year, taking Bank Rate to 1.00%. That call was on a knife edge, with just over half expecting it to come in the first quarter.

It will be 2021 before another 25 basis points are added, the poll found, and two economists have pencilled in a cut to Bank Rate next year.

“With CPI inflation – which stood at 1.9% in March – yet to reflect higher labour costs, it is not surprising that the MPC is in no rush to raise rates,” said Ruth Gregory at Capital Economics.

William, Kate, Harry and Meghan launch mental health text line

Royal correspondent(wp/bbc):::

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and the Duke and Duchess of Sussex have teamed up to launch a text messaging service for people experiencing a mental health crisis.

William, Kate, Meghan and Harry have backed the initiative, called Shout, with £3m from their Royal Foundation.

The free, anonymous service connects people experiencing a "tough moment" with trained volunteers.

Prince William appealed for more people to work as a volunteer for Shout.

He said they were all "very excited" about the initiative.

"It provides instant support," he added. "You can have a conversation anywhere and anytime - at school, at home, on the bus, anywhere."

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During a 12-month pilot last year, 1,000 volunteers signed up to the initiative run by the charity Mental Health Innovations and 60,000 conversations took place.

"That is 60,000 moments when people who were feeling scared, frightened and alone were able to use their phone to connect with someone who could support them," Prince William said at a launch event at Kensington Palace.

The service aims to help people experiencing problems - from suicidal thoughts to bullying and relationship issues - move from "crisis to calm".

The Duchess of Cambridge said: "For the last few years, I've been focusing much of my work on the importance of prevention in the earliest years of life to help avoid problems in later life.

"But, sadly, for so many, they have already reached a crisis situation."

Kate added that Shout offered crucial support and "the opportunity to turn lives around".

Shout was researched and developed by the Royal Foundation, a charity which the royal couples set up together.

The service operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week and is modelled on the US-based Crisis Text Line, which was launched in August 2013.

The volunteers are supported by clinically trained supervisors. They need to be over 18, complete 25 hours of online training and commit to between two and four hours volunteering each week.

Lorraine Heggessey, the Royal Foundation's chief executive officer, said the "innovative solution" helps tackle "one of today's biggest challenges - the increasing number of people needing mental health support".

The Institute of Global Health Innovation (IGHI) at Imperial College London will also work with the project to identify trends and develop insights into mental health to shape the provision of services.

The royals have already been campaigning around the issue and in 2016 launched their Heads Together campaign to end the stigma around mental health.

Fashion chain Select falls into administration

Business reporter(wp/bbc):::

Fashion chain Select has fallen into administration, putting 1,800 jobs at risk at its 169 stores across the UK.

The firm, which targets women aged 18-45, has been struggling despite having struck a deal in April last year that cut rents at its stores.

Select's administrators said stores would continue to trade while all options for the business were assessed.

A host of High Street retailers have run into trouble recently as spending patterns change.

Select is owned by Turkish entrepreneur Cafer Mahiroğlu, who himself bought it out of administration in 2008.

Last year, the retailer - which has annual sales of £77m - used a process called a company voluntary arrangement (CVA) to negotiate rent cuts of up to 75% from its landlords.

• The M&S stores closing their doors
• What's gone wrong at Philip Green's Topshop empire?

However, business advisory firm Quantuma, which has been appointed as administrators to Select, said "prevailing High Street conditions" meant the turnaround plan the chain had tried had not succeeded.

"We will continue to trade Select whilst we assess all options available to the business, with the aim of achieving the optimum outcome for all stakeholders," said Andrew Andronikou, joint administrator at Quantuma.

"Options include a sale of the business, in addition to entering into discussions with those parties who have already expressed interest in acquiring the business."

Maureen Hinton, global retail research director at market research firm GlobalData, said the chain was in "a difficult place in the market, competing directly with very strong brands such as BooHoo and Primark, as well as the supermarkets".

"It's not a big destination retailer and it's simply not selling enough. There's already over-supply in the market for the demand," she added.

"When you're competing on such low prices then the margins are very tight."

Select's administration is just the latest piece of bad news for the UK's High Streets, which have suffered as consumers increasingly do their shopping online.

Several high-profile names have fallen into administration or used a CVA process, which can be used to close stores and allow for rents to be renegotiated at outlets that remain open.

On Thursday, creditors at struggling department store chain Debenhams backed a CVA plan that will see the closure of 50 stores and rent reductions at other outlets.

Last year, House of Fraser fell into administration before being bought by Mike Ashley's Sports Direct.

In March, fashion chain LK Bennett called in administrators. The chain was bought last month, but 15 of its 36 stores were closed.

Sir Philip Green's Arcadia Group, which owns Topshop and Dorothy Perkins among others, is also reportedly seeking a CVA.

School break times 'cut short to cram in more lessons'

Education(wp/bbc):::

School break times have been getting shorter over the past two decades, as teachers try to pack more lessons into the day, a long-term study suggests.

Infants in England had 45 minutes less break time a week than in 1995, the University College London team found.

Secondary pupils had lost 65 minutes over the same period, they said.

The government said it had given schools the "autonomy" to make decisions about the structure and duration of their school day.

Pupils complained of fun activities being banned, not having enough time to eat their lunch, and missing their breaks due to others' poor behaviour.

Children and young people's social lives seem to have been curtailed as well, with fewer students than in 2006 reporting they had visited a friend's house after school, according to the research.

Playing video games and watching television had overtaken spending time with friends as the most common after school activity, the study found.

The researchers said this finding highlighted how "school is increasingly the main, and in some cases the only, context where young people get to socialise".

Researchers analysed questionnaires completed at 993 primaries and 199 secondaries in 2017 along with separate pupil surveys at 37 schools.

These were compared with surveys in similar schools in 2006 and 1995.

The team said their results gave the impression that breaks were being kept as "tightly managed and as short as possible" and this meant pupils could be missing out on social development.

Lead author Ed Baines, from UCL's Institute of Education, said: "Despite the length of the school day remaining much the same, break times are being squeezed even further, with potential serious implications for children's wellbeing and development.

"Not only are break times an opportunity for children to get physical exercise - an issue of particular concern given the rise in obesity - but they provide valuable time to make friends and to develop important social skills, experiences that are not necessarily learned or taught in formal lessons."

The researchers found what they described as a "virtual elimination" of afternoon breaks, with only 15% of infant pupils and just over half of juniors having one.

In 1995, 13% of secondary schools reported an afternoon break period but in 2017 only 1% said they had one.

Lunch breaks had also been cut down, the team said, with 82% of schools setting aside less than 55 minutes in 2017, compared with 30% in 1995.

Nearly 60% of schools also withheld breaks from children when they or their classmates had been poorly behaved or needed to complete work.

'Well-being'

Head teachers' leader Geoff Barton said there was enormous value in unstructured free time for children to socialise and let off steam but schools had to balance this consideration against all the other demands expected of them.

The Association of School and College Leaders' general secretary said: "The fact is that school timetables are bursting at the seams because of the pressure to deliver a huge amount of learning and to prepare children for high-stakes tests and exams.

"It is therefore no surprise that school break times are shorter than they were 20 years ago.

"This may be regrettable but it is the result of a conscious decision by successive governments to expect more of schools."

A Department for Education spokesman said the government recognised the importance of physical activity in schools "to improve both physical and mental wellbeing".

"We are clear that pupils should be given an appropriate break and we expect school leaders to make sure this happens," he added.

Pre-Brexit rush by factories boosts UK economy in early 2019

Business reporter(wp/reuters):::
Britain’s economy got a sharp one-off boost in the first three months of 2019, official figures showed on Friday, as manufacturers rushed to deliver orders before a Brexit that never came.

Gross domestic product grew at a quarterly rate of 0.5% in the first quarter of 2019 after a sluggish 0.2% in late 2018, in line with expectations from the Bank of England as well as the consensus forecast in a Reuters poll of economists.

Year-on-year GDP growth picked up to an 18-month high of 1.8% in early 2019, up from 1.4% in the last three months of 2018, Britain’s Office for National Statistics said.

Sterling was little changed by the figures, which showed household spending continued to fuel the economy as businesses grappled with Brexit uncertainty.

“The relatively strong growth figures for Q1 may just be a flash in the pan,” said Tej Parikh, an economist at the Institute of Directors.

“Some businesses brought activity forward early this year in preparation for leaving the EU, so higher stocks and earlier orders have artificially bumped up the growth numbers.”

In the event, with just days to go before Britain was due to leave, Prime Minister Theresa May asked the EU for more time to negotiate a deal. Brexit has now been delayed until Oct. 31 unless there is an early agreement.

Finance minister Philip Hammond said the data showed the economy remained robust.

The ONS said factories rushed to complete orders ahead of the original March 29 Brexit deadline, spurring a 2.2% jump in output in the first quarter and marking the sector’s biggest contribution to overall economic growth in nearly 20 years.

Previous private-sector business surveys had shown manufacturers reported building up stocks of goods in case the country left without a transition deal, which they feared could cause chaos at Britain’s borders.

The ONS data showed businesses bought an extra 4.6 billion pounds ($6.0 billion) worth of stocks in the first quarter, the biggest increase since late 2016, which statisticians said added 0.7 percentage points to the first-quarter growth rate.

However, some sectors - such as car dealers, wholesalers and warehouses reported relatively little stockpiling.

Net trade took a record 2.2% off the quarterly rate of GDP growth and Britain’s first-quarter trade deficit hit a record high 18.3 billion pounds, although the severity of the drag reflected imports of gold and vehicles which often cause big swings in the data.

Last week BoE Governor Mark Carney said he expected growth to fall back to 0.2% during the current quarter as the one-off boost from stock-building faded and businesses continued to hold off from investment as economic uncertainty lingers.

However, Friday’s ONS data unexpectedly showed a return to growth for business investment in the first three months of the year, after contracting for every quarter of 2018.

Britain’s economy has slowed since June 2016’s vote to leave the EU, with annual growth rates dropping from more than 2% before the referendum to expand by 1.4% last year.

The euro zone’s economy expanded by 0.4% in the three months to March, rebounding from a patch of sluggish growth in the second half of 2018 caused by global trade tensions and regulatory problems for the auto industry.

In March alone, Britain’s economy unexpectedly contracted by 0.1%, pulled down by a dip in construction and weakness in the services sector that accounts for most economic output, versus expectations for an unchanged reading in a Reuters poll.

Freddie Starr: Tributes paid after comic dies aged 76

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Media News(wp/bbc):::

Tributes have been paid to comedian Freddie Starr who has died aged 76.

The Merseyside-born comic, singer, impressionist and actor was found dead in his home in the Costa Del Sol region of Spain, the Sun said.

Comedian Bobby Davro described him as "the funniest man I have ever seen", while presenter Amanda Holden said he should be "remembered with a smile".

Davro tweeted: "I'm so sad we have lost one of our greatest comedy talents."

• Obituary: Freddie Starr

Britain's Got Talent judge Holden added: "Sad to hear of Freddie Starr passing today. His style may have fallen out of comedy fashion and favour - but it's important to recognise his once huge popularity and fame."

She added: "I hope his legacy is not smalled down and he's remembered with a smile."

Comedian Jim Davidson also tweeted: "Just heard the news. Freddie Starr was the greatest."

Lord Sugar described Starr as a "very funny man".

Fellow Liverpool comedian and TV personality Les Dennis tweeted that Starr was "so exciting to watch live."

"A true clown who could also sing like Elvis," he added. "A total one off. RIP."

Spanish authorities have not confirmed the details of Starr's death and the BBC has not been able to confirm the reports.

Starr rose to prominence in the early 1970s after appearing on the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks. He starred in several other TV programmes in the 90s and famously featured in the Sun's "Freddie Starr ate my hamster" headline in 1986.

Court case

He later lost a defamation claim against an accuser in 2015 who said he groped her when she was 15.

Karin Ward, 56, alleged that the assault took place in 1974 behind the scenes of Jimmy Savile's Clunk Click TV show.

Starr denied the claims and sought damages for alleged slander and libel.

Judge Mr Justice Nicol said the case failed because Ms Ward's testimony was found to be true, and because too much time had lapsed.

'I'm a Celebrity'

Starr began his career as lead singer of the Merseybeat group the Midniters during the 1960s. His TV appearances included The Freddie Starr Show and An Audience with Freddie Starr in the 1990s.

Although he became known for his unpredictable and eccentric comedy routines, he said in his autobiography that the infamous hamster-eating episode did not actually take place.

The story in The Sun had claimed Starr put a hamster in a sandwich and ate it at a friend's home after a performance.

He later took part in ITV's I'm a Celebrity but left the show after being taken to hospital following a suspected allergic reaction.

He suffered from ill health and in 2010 had bypass surgery after a heart attack.

Comic and actor Russ Abbot described Starr as both a "natural funnyman" and "loose comedy cannon".

"You never knew what he would do next. He helped launch my career of course, and for that I will always be grateful".

TV presenter Anne Diamond recalled he was "always difficult and awkward to interview but always worth it".

Jimmy Cricket called Starr one of the UK's "best ever visual comedians and mimics", while Former Allo Allo actress Vicki Michelle added he was a "great comedian".