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Education News

Ed Balls pledges more support for trainee teachers who want to work with severely disabled children
Speaking at the ASCL conference, and in response to Toby Salts recent review, it was announced:
Plans to encourage top graduates, in conjunction with Teach First, to teach severely disabled children in both mainstream and special schools
A new 6 month specialist course for teachers
New arrangements to collect data on specialist teachers to aid management and supply in the future
New training to be developed by the TDA
Toby Salt's review and the Government's response can be viewed here

Further information at the DCSF Press Release

New DCSF funding to the National College of Schools and Childrens Service's will provide Business Managers to help primary schools to make savings
£5M funding will provide 250 Business Managers next year, with a further 250 each year for the next three years
Each Business Manager will work with four or five schools to help them reduce costs, and will operate in each Local Authority
Currently only a third of primary schools have access to Business Managers

DCSF Press Release has further information

6 new Local Authorities join the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme
Buckinghamshire, Cornwall, Gateshead, Lincolnshire, Oxfordshire and Sutton will share £418.3M for their most urgent building and refurbishment projects
BSF now By 2011, BSF investment will support around 200 new schools opening each year
operates in 101 Local Authorities and this latest wave is released ahead of schedule

Details of the schools receiving this funding and further information can be found on the DCSF Press Release

A new team of specially trained coaches are to be appointed to help pupils become more active
"Active Lifestyle Coaches" will receive specialist training to encourage and motivate children to do at least one extra hour of physical activity each week
Coaches are likely to be parents or classroom Assistants who already know the children
It is anticipated that 20,000 children in 1100 schools will benefit from this initiative
Coaches will encourage children to take part in fun activities outside of normal PE, such as break dancing, cheerleading, martial fitness, yoga and free running
Active Lifestyle Coaches join a number of health support programmes; Change4Life, the Pupil Guarantee, Healthy Towns, Free Swimming and Bike4Life

£90M package announced to assist young people in rural areas
Funding will support transport initiatives specifically for areas where children may have difficulties getting to a school or college to study a diploma
The funding will provide for the administration and setup of various schemes, with the greater proportion being allocated to Local Authorities based on the number of 14-18 pupils in their area

New Action Plan has been launched in Scotland to increase the focus on science and engineering
"Science and Engineering 21" puts forward an action plan to ensure that:
Teachers capability and expertise is increased
More access to practical help
Young people receive an increased understanding of real life science and engineering
More learning, training and employment opportunities made available
General public awareness increased
The action plan will be overseen by an advisory group chaired by Professor Anne Glover, Scotland's Chief Scientific Advisor