In the last month, the Cambridge Primary Review was published. It is the biggest report on primary schools for over 40 years, weighing in at over 600 pages and based on over 1,000 submissions from 14 authors, the findings from 28 surveys, 66 research consultants and an advisory committee. It concludes that if children start school too young it could put them off education for life. It suggests that the UK follow the continental model, which often sees children start school at six years of age. Just days after the Review was published, the government announced its plans to ensure that all children have a place at Primary school aged 4. But who is right? Should children be allowed more time to develop through play - or should they get on and learn? We welcome your views - do take part in our poll on the website.

An innovative maths teacher has taken to the web with four short films for the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA) to explain how to solve modern maths conundrums, while showing the exciting reality of modern maths teaching.

Matt Parker has devised a set of calculations that he hopes will ease some of the dilemmas of modern life, and save people money into the bargain. The TDA is using the films to encourage more of the right kinds of people to consider teaching maths.

In response to the announcement of forthcoming government security guidance for further education colleges, College and University Support Network Julian Stanley said: "The protection of the wellbeing of both staff and pupils in further education is of paramount importance.

"Although national guidance may be helpful to some colleges, it is more important that each institution develops its own policies that reflect their individual circumstances. A college that has a large number of night classes, for example, will need to take into consideration the particular safety concerns of staff and students staying on site after nightfall.

A new essential resource from the National Strategies offers important guidance for headteachers, school senior leaders and leading teachers to unlock the potential and foster the development of able gifted and talented learners who are, or are at risk of underachieving. Gifted and Talented education: Guidance on addressing underachievement - planning a wholeschool approach is the final booklet in the current series of five titles and builds on the previous publications by:

• offering a definition of underachievement in the context of gifted and talented education
• suggesting a model for planning whole-school provision within the context of personalisation
• providing examples of some effective strategies for recognising and addressing underachievement drawn from current practice in schools
• signposting further relevant materials and resources.

Did you enter the learning and skills sector in a teaching role prior to September 2007? Are you an experienced teacher, tutor or trainer within the sector who does not hold an accepted teaching qualification? Do you want to gain professional standing without undertaking a formal teaching qualification? If you answer yes to the above questions then the GPRLS scheme could be for you.

In the year which it celebrates its 40th anniversary, Chetham's School of Music in Manchester entered a new era as enabling works for its £36m new school building started this month.

The new building will be located in the heart of the Medieval Quarter of Manchester between Victoria Station, the Manchester Evening News Arena and Chetham's. Providing state-of-the-art music and academic facilities for the 290 students at the School, the development will also include a vibrant outreach centre alongside two performance spaces one of which will be a full orchestral auditorium with 400 seats.

The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, Ed Balls, has issued the following guidance regarding swine flu and children and young people with health conditions:

The Chief Medical Officer (CMO) has advised that swine flu continues to be a largely mild illness, and the Health Service has responded in a proportionate and timely fashion to the threat. There is no sign yet of any major change in the pattern or severity of the illness. On that basis, the CMO has confirmed that our advice to schools of 26 August remains our best advice: individual school closures are now of limited benefit in stopping the spread of the disease. However, it is essential that adults or children with flu-like symptoms should stay away until they are free of those symptoms.

Safety Media are delighted to announce a new E-Learning course has been added to its extensive training library.

The Child Protection Interactive Flash course has been developed for use within schools and colleges or for any work that involves interaction with children and young people.

Safety Media are delighted to announce a new E-Learning course has been added to its extensive training library.

The Child Protection Interactive Flash course has been developed for use within schools and colleges or for any work that involves interaction with children and young people.

The University of Northampton's School of Education has won a tender to lead a new national initiative across sixteen local authorities to train around 1000 primary school teachers as Mathematics Specialists over the next three years.

The Primary Mathematics Specialist Programme is a new professional development programme created as a result of a recommendation in the ‘Independent Review of Mathematics Teaching in Early Years Settings and Primary Schools' (June 2008), that every primary school should have access to a Mathematics Specialist Teacher by 2019.

Over 806,000* youngsters aged 4-16 in England are set to learn vital lessons about food through 'growing their own' thanks to a brand new resource for schools, produced by the UK's leading organic growing charity as part of its work with the Food for Life Partnership.

In the next two years, The Food Growing Manual, written by Garden Organic and funded by the Big Lottery, will help 3,600 schools and just under a million pupils, expand their gardening activities into growing food. The newly devised, free resource for infant, primary and secondary schools forms a major part of a project already transforming school food culture - the Food for Life Partnership (FFLP).

Ray Barker, Director of the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) considers how ICT equipment and policy should be changing to deal with ‘green issues'

The British Government became the first in the world to announce plans to slash the carbon footprint of computer systems. But, how does ICT add to the problem of greenhouse gases?

A leader in vinyl safety flooring, Gerflor offers solutions for a diversity of sectors including education, sport and industry. The company's Tarasafe range comprises eight products, which provide the highest levels of underfoot slip resistance, hygiene, performance and aesthetics, while its Taradouche shower system is a complete and safe solution for the shower room.

Tarasafe's dense construction and deep inlay of carborundum particles provides permanent slip resistance, making it HSE compliant and ensuring a group T (K5) wear rating with suitability for heavy traffic commercial use. Sanosol® anti-bacterial and fungicidal treatment is incorporated in all products and some have the added benefit of SparClean® surface treatment for extreme resistance to soiling and staining.

The Audit Commission believes that schools can save £400 million a year by being more efficient.

One company has responded by developing a low-tech student-centred approach which is delivering remarkable results.

An example of this is a biology lesson which focuses on the body's internal organs. Traditional schools have a skeleton at the front of the class for students to come out and place organs in what they think is the correct place.

When Hampshire Museum Service needed a better way of cutting sheet materials, Sagetech Industries' Koolkut KK12 rose to the challenge.

The Museum Service restores artefacts and builds display and interactive installations for sites across the county. Materials include MDF, plywood and acrylics, until recently cut on a table saw or with a circular saw on a workbench.

What could be easier than cleaning a school or college? At the end of the day everyone goes home and the cleaners can get on with their job. Wrong!

When there are students/pupils in a building there is a mess and anyone living with children, especially teenagers will confirm this. You can never get a building spotless during term time but with good time management and work scheduling you can achieve a high standard most of the time. We clean a many schools and colleges, state and independent, for all age groups. No two are the same but all have one common problem - pupils.

The new CRATUS range of education trolleys from Cube Products & Services Ltd enhances its Trolley-Selector portfolio. The CRATUS range is specifically designed for preparation and staff only areas, maintenance facilities and equipment storage areas. Consisting of Apparatus Trolleys, Table Trolleys, Mat Trolleys and Caretaker Trucks, the core range of trolleys has been designed specifically to meet the current rigorous demands required. Trolleys are available in a range of sizes and capacities designed to meet each individual's requirement.

Riegens Lighting has launched a simple to use online service to assist organisations calculate potential savings on their energy bills through upgrading their lighting. The system which is focussed towards the end user, is simple to use and provides quick and easy calculations on the savings that can be achieved. Riegens is also offering advice on how to take advantage of government (Carbon Trust) loans and incentives. The Carbon Trust will be lending up to £100m towards funding of such projects over the next two years, and the loans will be structured to enable projects to proceed with no capital outlay by the borrower.

When you consider that the typical young person spends in excess of 12,000 hours at school between the ages of 5-16, it is not difficult to see how making educational establishments a pleasant place to be is important. Not only this, in a survey by the Teacher Support Network and British Council for School Environments, 87 per cent of respondents agreed that a school's environment affects pupil behaviour, yet only 12 per cent considered that existing schools were designed effectively.

Sustainability is a major consideration for specifiers choosing building materials and is mirrored in the product development strategies of many manufacturers, including Kemper, the UK's leading producer of liquid-applied waterproofing.

The company has announced that its Kemperol 2K-PUR product - the only solvent-free liquid waterproofing in the UK - now uses resin with an 80% renewable component sourced from castor oil. For specifiers looking for products with a low environmental footprint, this gives the option of zero solvents, a largely renewable composition... and yet no sacrifice in performance or economy. Used with Kemperol fleece - which itself has a 25% recycled content - it has a 20-year warranty and an (ETAG) "expected working life" of at least 25 years.

Contract interiors specialist Gradus has supplied and fitted a comprehensive wall protection system at a new state-of-the art special school in Wigan, helping to create a safe, easy-to-maintain and colourful learning environment.

Throughout the school's corridors, Gradus installed stainless steel corner guards and Sanparrel rubrails in a variety of co-ordinating colours. Gradus also installed a Sanparrel PVC-u sheet system in the school's sports hall to create an attractive environment and provide additional protection for these vulnerable wall surfaces.

IGLOOS Washrooms are pleased to announce that they have recently developed their existing cubicle system ranges to include a collection suitable for the education sector.

These include pre-school, primary and secondary and have been designed as a result of extensive research into the common difficulties associated with school toilets. The preschool range can incorporate age appropriate learning aids such as shapes, colours, alphabet letters, words and sums.

The popularity of Samuel Heath's Perko Powermatic® controlled, concealed door closer within the education sector has continued to grow with its use has been in the development of a new music school at Godolphin and Latymer, an independent girls' school in West London.

Perko Powermatic's® success in educational buildings stems from the increasing awareness amongst professionals responsible for the management and development of buildings of the many benefits that the door closer's technical performance and concealment delivers.

A variety of inlaid designs to represent lessons including maths, science, geography and art feature in flooring supplied by commercial flooring specialists Polyflor Ltd, installed in classrooms throughout Abacus School, Wickford, Essex.

A combination of slip-resistant, stylish timber effect Polysafe Wood FX sheet vinyl safety flooring and Polyflor XL PU heavy duty sheet vinyl has been fitted in classrooms throughout the school.

When construction company Morgan Ashurst won the competitive contract to build Rimrose Hope CE Primary School in Seaforth & Litherland, Bootle, for Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council, it was on the grounds that the development would be as sustainable as possible, from the foundations to the classroom furniture. When it came to painting the school's corridors and classrooms, the firm specified Ecosure Matt by Dulux Trade - part of the Ecosure range, which delivers on both sustainability and performance.

University College London (UCL) has previously had a number of areas fitted with Bushboard Washrooms' cubicles and Ready Plumbed Modules (RPM). Impressed with what had previously been installed, Gregg Higgs, UCL's Maintenance Surveyor specified Bushboard Washroom's Quadro System and RPM with hinged lockable panels for easy access, for further areas within the University. He commented: "After seeing other washroom projects around the UCL site I decided to specify RPM for the Physics Building. The Bushboard RPM system has been a real success. The units were delivered pre-tested and ready to install making the washroom installation much faster than traditional timber frame and panelling systems and the neatly concealed pipework results in a smart, professional and flush finish."

Temporary structures specialist, Neptunus has provided Cranfield University, in Bedfordshire, with a sports facility while its existing centre is undergoing a complete redevelopment.

To make way for a larger sports facility, the University's existing buildings had to be taken down, but in order for indoor sporting activities to continue, an interim solution was required.

Twyford Bathrooms has launched the only truly rimless WC for schools, The Sola School Rimless WC.

The Sola School Rimless WC has no hidden channels, no covered rim, no box section and no tubes making it far easier to clean and fully hygienic, a major area of concern in school bathrooms. The WC flushes on 4 litres of water, meeting BREEAM specifications.

Calypso Soft Drinks has introduced a variety of new school product variants and campaigns to boost its highly successful ‘school approved' drinks portfolio.

Richard Cooke, Sales & Marketing Director comments "We have spent a lot of energy on developing refreshing, healthy drinks for children with a higher juice content, which are school compliant. Our main schools campaign has been with our Aquajuice 67 ‘Surf Anywhere' campaign which brings surf sports to children, particularly those in inner cities who would not generally get the chance to try surf sports.

Bunzl Lockhart Catering Equipment returned to Wembley in September to hold their second Product Innovation Day of the year. The decision to hold a second day follows on from the success of the first held in April, which saw the event generate a substantial amount of new business.

The Product Innovation Day showcased the very latest in catering equipment innovation, as well as cooking demonstrations by the Rational SCC and Frima Vario cooking centre. Bunzl customers were introduced to the brand new product launch of Basalt porcelain that looks and feels like real slate and the brand new lightweight banqueting crockery ‘Profile' by Churchill.

Today's school meal providers face an ever-wider array of challenges, from increasing uptake of meals and snacks to ensuring that menus are nutritionally balanced according to School Food Trust recommendations. Yet the fundamental task remains the same - to provide interesting, wholesome meals, each and every day, that pupils will choose and enjoy.

It's an increasingly tall order, and school caterers need all the practical help they can get. Mars Foodservice were amongst the first suppliers to recognise the support required and, after a comprehensive programme to match their products to the new nutritional guidelines, now offer a range of sauces perfectly suited to the demands of school catering.

Hamonds High School in West Norfolk is relishing its return to calm and order thanks to STI (Europe) and its innovative Stopper product which has completely eradicated the school's problem of false fire alarms.

Hamonds is a 750-pupil mixed high school and had been suffering malicious fire alarm activations on an increasingly regular basis, including three in a single day. It was a major issue which needed addressing as quickly and as effectively as possible. Leigh Sharpe, School Support Manager at Hamonds, was given the task of sourcing a solution, one which would provide a long term method of combating the extensive disruption to classes, staff and pupils that the false alarms were inevitably causing through persistent evacuations of the building.

A complete package of responsibly sourced roofing solutions from market leaders Alumasc, has been chosen for a new BREEAM Assessed school in Sunderland, as part of a Low Carbon Schools initiative.

Hetton Lyons Primary School was keen to work with Alumasc for their ability to provide an environmentally sound product package and unrivalled technical support.

The new Felpham Children and Family Centre on the site of the Bishop Tufnell School in Bognor Regis, West Sussex has been completed on time and on budget using Terrapin's offsite building technology. The ‘C' shaped building by architects Felce & Guy posed no problem for Terrapin's versatile panelbased Unitrex system, which combines design flexibility with the quality, value and speed associated with offsite construction. Purpose-designed Unitrex elements for the 180m2 building were factory fabricated by Terrapin whilst groundworks were being completed and then delivered to site in ‘flat pack' panelised units for rapid erection.

With the Olympics arriving in 2012 and local authorities looking to promote sports and recreational activities, Trimo UK Ltd, a division of one of Europe's leading manufacturers of steel construction materials and cladding solutions has developed a range of Modular Sports Buildings.

Benefiting from reduced building time, low maintenance, and possessing the highest fire and sustainability certificates, Trimo's Modular Sports facilities are an innovative and cost-effective solution unique to the UK market.

Torquay Girls' Grammar School in Devon required a cost-effective ventilation system that fully satisfied recent Government legislation on heating and ventilation within school buildings. In most cases, the capital and lifetime costs of air conditioning systems make them an unlikely specification for education establishments, so specifier Paul Walters, from Scott Wilson Consulting, chose Jaga Heating's oXygen system for the School. "Firstly we needed a system that was fit for purpose and one that would comply with both Building Bulletins 101 and 93.

Smith's Wood Sports College is part of Solihull's £74m Building Schools for the Future programme. The 1100-place college has been fitted out with a range of Rockfon ceiling systems to meet specific performance criteria.

Martin Oubridge, Project Manager for BAM Construction, who were responsible for the design and build, commented: "We had a lot of performance criteria for this project, which included meeting specific acoustic requirements, alongside overall life cycle costs and price. The design included a large amount of exposed concrete for thermal mass to assist with the building's BREEAM rating. Rockfon tiles were very adaptable to this type of construction, being available in a range of module sizes, with the facility to install both vertically and horizontally within a grid system and were easy to cut and handle on site."

Schools face a number of unique challenges: insufficient budgets, teacher shortages, student performance assessments and technology-driven lessons are just a few. A solution to these problems could be simpler than you ever thought. Amazingly, it could come down to the right kind of furniture!

This is the belief of Jonathan Hindle, Group Managing Director at KI. "Furniture is a crucial component in creating a quality learning environment," he says. "Seating should be comfortable and durable and work surfaces ought to be able to accommodate specific tasks including note-taking, laptop computer use and conducting experiments. Beyond these functional aspects, the image portrayed correlates to student perception of teachers' performance expectations - an attractive, highly functional, quality environment tells them you expect excellence."

The British storage and filing specialist Railex Systems has recently upgraded its definitive and user-friendly web site which will serve as the optimum guide to space saving with style.

The elegant site at www.railexsystems.co.uk takes you through the most comprehensive range in the UK, commencing with the famous Mobile format, and then through colourful DesignLine, clever Doublestore, Essex Vertical Tambour (VT) cabinets, specialist Medical units, Large Format - plan chests if you like -, and Polypropylene Pockets: all complemented by details of the Railex London Showroom and the management team, as well as the selection of pertinent case studies and factory services for contracted production.

The Smart Top Screen Desk was designed following a growing requirement in the education market for elements of security to be added to a standard PC workstation.

It provides an innovative, patented mechanism, which allows the user to securely lock away the PC screen, keyboard and mouse into the desk when not in use, leaving a clear worktop space when the computer is not needed, for paper based studies. So it is dual-purpose, space saving and secure.

From Gopak, the leader in the manufacture and design of folding furniture, comes the number one folding table for school canteens - the Contour Table.

The combination of foldable legs and a wipe-clean laminated top makes the Contour Table the simple, common-sense choice for any school. Whether the children are eating school dinners or packed lunches, the hygienic tables can be set up in minutes, ready for them to dine.

SportsArt Fitness UK is no stranger to the educational sector and has many years experience in working closely with schools, colleges and universities to identifying and develop fitness opportunities. As part of an international fitness equipment manufacturing group, SportsArt has designed sporting facilities, supplying a range of cardio and strength training equipment that can be purchased, rented or utilised in the development of ‘dual-use' commercially managed operations that are self financing.

Access to technologically-advanced real-time body composition analysis is helping a Tyne and Wear school increase fitness participation, and improve attendance and examination results, as it accurately identifies the physical needs of students that may otherwise go undetected.

Monkseaton High School is one of the first schools to use the InBody Analyser, a body composition tool that provides whole body statistics which go beyond standard height and weight. Using this data, the school has developed a range of programs and interventions to help reshape behaviour towards exercise and nutrition, for a holistic approach to the welfare of its students and the wider community.

UK schools face a familiar challenge every year: how do they get the most out of limited resources? And this challenge is never greater than when investing in IT solutions.

So, when schools ask: "How can I finance my new printer?", vendors increasingly need to look at offering flexible payment options such as a ‘pay as you go' model, where schools just pay for the printing that they use, or finance packages which allow them to spread costs over an extended period.

How much of your life is lived "virtually"? Do you shop in your favourite stores online, socialise on networking sites and read paperless newspapers on screen? If so, you are among the majority who use the internet to give their lives greater flexibility.

Although we have become used to booking our holidays or doing our banking online - the thought of using the internet to get closer to our children's education is a new one. Most students are familiar with working in cyberspace already - as the majority of schools now have a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) - sometimes called a Flexible Learning Environment - meaning they can access their timetables, homework and lesson notes online.

A Nottingham-based company has struck a major deal to have its laptop storage and charging product supplied to schools throughout China as part of an initiative being run by global computer giant Dell.

Under the deal, Monarch Education Furniture's LapCabby will become a key component of the Dell Connected Classroom. The solution, which helps teachers prepare students for work in an everchanging digital world, also includes Dell's Latitude 2100 netbook, the Latitude XT tablet, interactive whiteboards, classroom management software and video conferencing.

Like many schools, Rosebank Primary in Nairn, Scottish Highlands, recognised the potential of interactive technologies to transform teaching and learning. However, the school also acknowledged that critical to the effective use of technologies in the classroom is teacher training. That's why when implementing Promethean ActivBoards and accompanying software, the school chose to establish a comprehensive training programme.

Virtually all pupils and teachers would agree with a definition of ‘good' acoustics that meant ‘best speech-intelligibility within the classroom'. Good understanding of speech must be the key ambition within any classroom. Soundfield systems have been designed to achieve this.

Unfortunately, for architects, engineers and builders, the meaning can be different. They would define ‘good' acoustics as the prevention of noise transfer between rooms and floors, or the reduction of reverberation to reduce echo and distortion.

MindGenius is a powerful mind mapping software application that helps teachers, pupils and students in schools to organise information, collect ideas and explore their coursework at home and in the classroom, more effectively. The new version, MindGenius 3 provides improved functionality around analysis, task management, brainstorming, exporting and presentations.

Dustin Newport, a director for MindGenius says: "The ethos for MindGenius has always been about facilitating the journey from unstructured data capture through to analysis, actions, and ultimately - results! We have made this journey much easier through a visually appealing interface, that will be very familiar and easy-to-use for those used to mainstream computing applications."

Becta has recently awarded a contract to Insight Direct (UK) to provide assistive technologies on all its Home Access packages when the scheme goes national later this year. Home Access is a government programme managed by Becta. It aims to ensure that more children in state-maintained education in England have access to technology at home to support learning. To ensure that all learners are catered for, regardless of their needs, the packages available will come preloaded with a suite of assistive technology software. This has benefits not only for learners, but for their families too.

Konica Minolta Business Solutions (UK) Ltd has launched the bizhub C452, the latest addition to the highly successful bizhub colour multifunctional range. The bizhub C452 has a 45 prints per minute output speed in black-and-white or colour. Designed for intensive workgroup use, the bizhub C452 has an impressive array of high-productivity features.

Using Konica Minolta's bizhub Emperon print controller, the bizhub C452 offers network print, copy and high-speed network scanning as standard with optional fax functionality. The powerful Emperon controller also includes the advanced ‘MyTab' printer driver tab, enabling users to choose their favourite printing functions and post them on a single or ‘home' tab for maximum ease of use. ‘MyTab' recently received the prestigious ‘Outstanding Achievement Award' from Buyers Lab Inc.

Now in a third edition, Abracadabra Viola and Cello have a fresh, contemporary new look and are the perfect books for pupil and teacher.

With tunes you know and want to play, carefully graded in 20 learning steps, these new editions of the popular tutors also include duets, trios and teacher's parts. Clear fingering and bowing diagrams and concise theory explanations help to teach the fundamentals of the instrument, and each new technical aspect is reinforced by several pieces using that particular technique.