Reports of a slowing economy and a shrinking graduate job market are damaging university leavers' confidence in finding work. According to Deloitte, the business advisory firm, students have hit a "wall of fear" in the belief that the harsh market is creating too much competition.

Football star-turned-actor Eric Cantona and the legendary film director Ken Loach tonight paid a special visit and gave an exclusive question-and-answer session to young people in East London.

Capita Symonds has completed work on the first stage of The Play Pathfinder - an innovative new playground scheme which is being developed by Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council with funding from the Department of Children's, Schools and Families (DCSF).

Online reporting has come a step closer for primary schools with the arrival of specially prepared toolkits for head teachers. The information packs, compiled by Becta, the government's technology agency, have been sent to all primary schools in England and are designed to offer guidance and help for schools wanting to set up or develop their existing online reporting systems.

Responding to Teachers TV statistics showing that over 40 percent of teachers have experienced stress-related illnesses, Teacher Support Network Chief Executive, Julian Stanley, said: "These statistics are in line with our own findings in 2008, which showed that 87 per cent of teachers had experienced stress in the last two years. Of those who identified problems at work as the cause, 78 percent said this was due to excessive workload with 43 per cent citing the rapid pace of change.

The School Food Trust has launched a guide to help special schools prepare for the new nutrient-based standards for school food, which come into force in September. A booklet and CD entitled ‘Eat Better, Do Better: A practical guide to adopting a Whole School Approach to food in special schools' will be sent to all special schools in England today offering advice in achieving and maintaining a positive healthy eating culture for the whole school community.

A Cardiff head teacher says she was absolutely delighted when a group of construction trainees offered to build her pupils a new play house after their old one was damaged in the wind.

UK teachers are being stifled in their classroom creativity by outdated restrictions on IT usage according to new research released today by social media education company, Magic Studio (www.magicstudio.co.uk).

Feeding nearly 400 hungry children is no easy task, but in term time Winchester House Boarding School serves meals to pupils three times a day, every day of the week. A two-stop movemanSKG dumb waiter moves food and beverages from the kitchen to upper level dining rooms.

The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, last night awarded London businesses including universities such as the London School of Economics, the University of East London and King's College among others for collectively saving almost 120,000 tonnes of CO2 through their exceptional efforts to cut carbon emissions at the first annual Green500 & Better Buildings Partnership Awards, held at the Chelsea Football Club.

More than half of language teachers in the UK are frequently using technology-based tools to support their lessons, with 85 per cent opting for computer-based languagelearning programs that can be integrated into classroom teaching, according to a survey by Rosetta Stone (UK) Ltd.

New research has revealed that our test driven education system has created a nation of crammers. Research from the Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA), which surveyed over 1,900 adults in the UK, has found that nearly one third of us (32 per cent) use short-term cramming and memorising of facts to prepare for exams. This figure rises to nearly half (48 per cent) among 16 to 24 year olds.

Microwave detectors from CP Electronics have been used to control the lighting in the refurbishment of one of the campus buildings at Exeter University. The project involved the use of CP's MWS1 and MWS3 microwave detectors to provide dimming, daylight dimming, energy savings, absence and presence detection in open plan offices, corridors and cellular offices to improve energy efficiency. The building that has undergone the refurbishment is a nine storey structure and the top three floors have been completely refurbished whilst minor works have been carried out on levels two, five and six.

Foremans Relocatable Building Systems is looking to expand its stocks of pre-owned modular buildings to meet the demand for its services, and will buy, remove and recycle quality single or multi-storey modular accommodation that is surplus to requirements.

A London primary school extension was given the green light by including a Sarnafil SarnaVert living roof. Holy Trinity Church of England School's proposed extension to its Cadogan Gardens site was subject to stringent conservation area planning issues. Planners and local residents were keen to ensure the new nursery extension was sympathetic to its surroundings.

For Iver Village Junior School in Buckinghamshire, Gopak's unique Ultralight Staging System has provided the perfect flexible stage for their large annual show.

Dr. Oetker is growing its UK foodservice business with a range of bakery mixes that are the perfect healthier alternative for creating tasty menu choices, sure to tempt students back in to the school dinner queue.

Palintest Ltd. has launched its new website, making it easier than ever to access detailed information on its range of market-leading analysis technology. Localised versions for the UK, USA, China, Australia and Asia Pacific regions are now fully live and ready for visitors, with French, Spanish and German language sites online soon.

Pilton Community College is a specialist language school serving 1400 pupils in the North Devon town of Barnstaple. During a recent major refurbishment, the school had some very specific requirements for new flooring in the corridors, which included safety underfoot, attractive appearance, ease of maintenance and good lifecycle costs. Tarkett's Safetred Spectrum fulfilled all these key requirements making it the ideal solution, and around 1000m2 was subsequently installed.

BRE Global has published generic Green Guide ratings for vinyl floorcoverings (www.thegreenguide.org.uk).

Award-winning off-site specialist and Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon, has launched a new web resource for architects and contractors to encourage greater design flexibility and architectural variety in modular construction.

During term time children are in school during the peak UV hours five days a week.  In order to protect children from the harmful effects of the sun, Northwood Preparatory School appointed Broadview, a leading manufacturer and supplier of awnings and blinds in the UK, to provide an environment that enables pupils and staff to stay safe in the sun.

Victor Manufacturing is promoting its Flexiline counters, part of the Jamaican range of foodservice units.

Julian's School in south-west London ran a ‘Healthy Week Programme' to focus on the emotional and physical health of it's children. The school, working in conjunction with Calm Revive (www.calm-revive.com), a leading professional wellbeing company, ran the programme in June 2009, providing 27 workshops for 240 children, 60 parents and carers and 30 teachers over the course of three days.

James Dentith, Grounds Manager and Head of the Commercial Horticulture Unit at Reaseheath College, has taken delivery of a package of grounds care equipment from Burrows (GM), Ransomes Jacobsen's local dealer for the region. Ransomes Jacobsen is a Textron Inc (NYSE: TXT) company.

Today, Becta has launched a new Procurement Framework for educational ICT Consultancy Services which will provide the education sector with quick, easy and efficient access to high quality consultancy services from trusted suppliers.

Trust recommends that a dairy food is available daily on lunchtime menus and where possible, these should be lower fat varieties. As the dairy experts, Pritchitts has developed a range of nutritious flavoured milk drinks that appeal to children of all ages. 

Plays are written to be seen and heard, but for many schools and individuals theatre trips can be difficult to organise and expensive and that's assuming the play you want to see is being performed within travelling distance.

Teaching has been cited in the press as a "recession-proof" career, compared to banking or work in the leisure industry. But the economic downturn has affected UK teachers in a number of ways both direct and indirect, Education Today has found.

Fully-featured and affordable, the NP500WS and NP600S portable projectors deliver a short throw distance solution for the education sector. Bright enough for use in large rooms, these models can be connected to the network for remote monitoring and control.

One area of school supply that has been growing rapidly in recent years is that of curriculum software. This can be anything from software that constitutes a teaching tool to what has been termed a "lesson in a box".

It is almost 20 years since the first interactive whiteboard was introduced into the teaching environment. Anybody who used one of those early boards would recognise the technology as largely unchanged. But with many schools and colleges now planning their second generation of teaching technology, alternatives to the whiteboard and projector combination are of increasing interest.

About ACS International Schools

ACS International Schools serve international and local communities via three campuses in Greater London: Cobham, Egham and Hillingdon. The schools are co-educational, and offer day and boarding education to pupils aged 2-18.

Claro Software is an innovative software company that develops and licenses "assistive software"; using leading edge speech and imaging technology, and adaptive techniques to make the computer easier to use.

The diverse range of English language skills among pupils in today's classrooms presents a challenge to many teachers who are trying to teach the same curriculum to everyone.

A new prepaid card for the education sector, launched by multi award winning Prepaid Card and digital payments company White Eagle effectively acts as a ‘Pay As You Go' bank account for students.

A fascinating project is underway at CABE (Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment) - a guide is being created for teaching using buildings and places. The project, called (appropriately enough) Engaging Places, was developed after extensive consultation with teachers. They told the Department for Culture, Media & Sport (DCMS) that there was a need for something to help them get the most from this incredibly rich, huge, and free, resource.

Gulliver's Dinosaur and Farm Park is the ideal venue for school trips. Aimed at children aged 2-13, Dinosaur and Farm Park is situated next to Gulliver's Land theme park, Milton Keynes. Farm Park provides children with a fascinating insight into farming and where food comes from, as they are invited to feed animals, plant seeds, dig up vegetables and see crops grow.

Louis Tussaud's Waxworks in Blackpool is extending an invitation to all teachers and teaching support staff to experience the Waxworks and its new education package absolutely free with their own families throughout the holidays.

Community Partnership Solutions (CPS) works in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The company helps businesses and organisations to embrace responsibility for the impact of their activities - on the environment, consumers, employees, stakeholders and all other members of the public. A majority of the strategies we develop actively encourage clients to be involved and engage with young people. As Director of CPS I passionately believe that such corporate engagement provides crucial life skills, inspiration and education for young people. In addition by equipping young people with the right information, they in turn can become community ambassadors on behalf of my clients echoing their core values.

Leading manufacturer of standalone entry control systems Codelocks, has supplied high quality electronic locks for the refurbishment of The Watermill Theatre in Newbury.

The Fire Protection Association, the UK's national fire safety organisation, have produced a new training programme providing expert guidance in maintaining fire safety in schools.

Chubb has installed a new integrated TCP/IP compliant security system, interfaced with the TCP/IP local area network, at Wakefield College's recently opened Skills Xchange campus, substantially reducing the capital cost and minimising the disruption that may have resulted from a standard installation.