Using round-the-clock footage of an Atlantic Puffin colony, an innovative new education project will enable primary school children to watch the story of the birds as they breed and raise their puffling chicks on a tiny island situated just off the coast of Alderney in the Channel Islands.

Rugby League World Cup 2013 is challenging schools across England, Wales, Ireland and France to harness the power of this autumn’s tournament and engage, educate and inspire young people.

The RLWC2013 Education Programme is available completely free of charge to all schools and is simple to implement.

The Association of Educational Psychologists (AEP) has expressed concern that new guidance published by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) could result in children’s behaviour being treated as a medical issue, potentially limiting access to a range of appropriate support and services.

England’s education reforms will have little quantifiable impact on education quality unless the Government makes significant reforms to increase school autonomy and competition, and lifts the ban on for-profit schools, says the author of a new book on market reform of education.

The National Children’s Bureau (NCB) has responded to the recently released UNICEF ‘Child well-being in rich countries’ Report Card 11. The report is a follow-up to Report Card 7, which in 2007 placed the UK at the bottom of 21 developed countries for overall child well being. The newest report examines the latest available overview of child well being in 29 of the world’s most advance economies, putting the UK in 16th position, below Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Portugal.

Girls and young women are being asked to write about their major concerns and the issues that could prevent them achieving their potential - which may result in action to improve the lives of millions.

The influential National Women’s Council (NCW) is holding a national competition asking women under 30: If you could influence Government to take some action to improve the lives of women, what would it be?

A new educational App by Comics in the Classroom to teach teens and tweens about the heroes, heroines and major events of history has been launched.

Comics in the Classroom is the first learning tool of its kind designed for the iPad and intended to be used both inside and outside of the classroom. Unlike other educational Apps, it allows users to learn independently, apply their knowledge and demonstrate their understanding whilst keeping them engaged with stunning comic book visuals. 

UK industry giants Cummins Turbo Technologies, MITIE and others are joining forces to address the major shortage of highly skilled engineers which is impacting on sector growth and productivity.

The engineering employers have committed to training the next generation of engineering talent within their existing workforce by supporting the new government-backed Higher Apprenticeship in Engineering Environmental Technologies which has been launched at the Institution of Engineering and Technology in London, and will be available from June 2013.

Reading College, the Thames Valley’s leading Further and Higher Education College, has launched The Social Digital Apprenticeship. This apprenticeship has been launched as a result of an exclusive partnership between the Digital Youth Academy, Reading College and Oxford & Cherwell Valley College.

Dassault Systèmes has partnered with Ash Green Secondary School, Coventry, as part of a community involvement initiative that delivers learning experiences based on the company's most advanced 3DEXPERIENCE technology.

Orchestrated by Prince Charles' Business in the Community (BITC) the 2-year initial partnership will see Dassault Systèmes engage with the school in a range of curriculum based activities using the same technology as 150,000 of the world’s most innovative companies.

Infant schools are amongst the groups being encouraged to teach young people fun, simple road safety lessons and promote road safety to parents by running a Beep Beep! Day this spring. It's a chance to get across life-saving messages to students, parents and the wider community using free resources from Brake, the road safety charity, to help save little lives.

Anyone working with children aged two to seven can host a Beep Beep! Day on a day of their choice, as part of this UK-wide initiative from Brake and Churchill Car Insurance.

NFER, the independent provider of research, assessment and information services for education, training and children’s services, has officially released its new tests in reading and mathematics for pupils in years 3, 4 and 5. The tests are now available for use in classrooms this academic year.

The tests have been developed in response to calls from schools for an up-to-date alternative to existing optional assessments.

North Lanarkshire Council has selected LiveCode for teaching computer science across all 24 high schools in the region. Scotland's new Curriculum for Excellence requires students to be able to design and use software tools and the cross-platform development environment was selected to meet this requirement. Deployment will take place in 2013 and will result in more than 25% of all high schools in Scotland adopting LiveCode for computer science education.

In line with initiatives to enhance students’ knowledge of the world of personal finance, former private banker, now author and educator, Vivi Friedgut, has warned that university is not the time to sugar coat financial education.

Students have seen many changes over the last several years. The cost of living has increased and tuition fees have risen to £9,000 a year in some parts of the country. Unsurprisingly, more and more students are leaving university laden with debt.

Team up with leading furniture manufacturer Gopak this Red Nose Day and help to beat the record-breaking £74 million raised by Comic Relief 2011. Gopak has promised to donate £15.00 for every red Early Years Daisy Table sold before the big day on 15th March 2013.

Help to raise money for good causes all over the world by purchasing a red Early Years Daisy Table, quoting “Education Today” when ordering. Stylish and practical, the table will not only help your nursery or pre-school to stand out from the crowd but will provide much-needed funds for charities both home and abroad.

Hundreds of children from across Newcastle are being provided with a nutritious breakfast and a fun, physical fitness session courtesy of YHN and the Greggs Foundation.

The YHN sponsored breakfast clubs, which provide primary school children with a choice of food options, as well as the chance to get involved with lots of extra-curricular activities, help students kick-start their day.

A new way for education providers to audit, track and monitor their IT assets simply and easily using a PC, tablet or smartphone has been launched at Bett 2013.

Using the free iSchoolAudit App available for download from the App Store, users can quickly create a detailed and accurate ‘cloud’ database of IT and high value equipment. All logged items are assigned an asset label, which features a QR code with a unique reference number, allowing them to be easily identified.

Sight and Sound Technology, a UK provider of hardware and software for the blind, visually impaired and those with learning and reading difficulties, have begun a training programme with 37 schools on the Isle of Man.

Training will take place in clusters of 5 primary schools and 1 high school, with an aim of training teachers how to use every feature and function of the Kurzweil 3000 computer software for Mac and PC.

A rugby-themed education programme designed to teach Year 4 students basic numeracy skills is receiving the support of a number of international rugby stars, including former England player Mark Cueto.

Over 25,000 children in England will experience the MBNA ‘Tackling Numbers’ sports educational campaign which launched its 2012/2013 programme at the City of Salford Stadium in Manchester, home to Premiership Rugby’s Sale Sharks.

Only 13% of students think university is worth £9000 per year. Nearly half say it is not worth the money 'under any circumstances' and only 1 in 8 think it represents 'value for money'. Furthermore, between 2009 and 2012, the number considering university dropped from 78% to 57%, as those seeking work grew by 100% from 15% to 30%.

These figures come from Career Academies UK, a business-led charity that helps young people bridge the gap between school and work by giving them access to real experience of the working world.

Organisers of the London International Youth Forum (LIYSF) have announced the ‘Young Yorkshire Scholar’ contest to offer the region’s brightest science hopefuls the chance to win a place on the world-leading event’s 2013 programme.

LIYSF – which celebrates its 55th year in 2013 – is a cutting-edge, residential programme that attracts student scientists aged between the ages of 17-21 from all over the globe. Each year in July, the brightest science students from the UK and 50 other countries come together in London for an action packed programme like no other.

Each year, more than 1,300 schools in the UK suffer fires large enough to be attended by Local Authority fire and rescue services. Fifty-six per cent of these are classed as non-accidental. According to government estimates (DCLG), the average cost of school fires between 2000 and 2004 was £58 million per year.

With statistics like these, and a legal requirement for all schools and colleges to carry out fire risk assessments, having a designated fire safety manager who will be responsible for ensuring assessments are undertaken, as well as fire emergency plans is vital.

In a recent survey of FE staff, nearly three quarters of respondents said that their institutions had launched, or were planning to introduce, their own smartphone app.

In the survey, carried out by Capita at the Association of Colleges’ Annual Conference in November 2012, almost half of the delegates who responded (46%) said that their institution already had a smartphone app and more than a quarter (26.9%) said that mobile technology was being introduced within the next 2 years.

The education charity FILMCLUB – supported by The National Association for Primary Education and Scholastic Book Clubs – has launched a ‘Book To Film and Back Again’ film season and teaching guide aimed at engaging more primary aged children with reading in and outside the classroom.

Created to tie in with National Storytelling Week ( week beginning January 28th) this free guide features ten of the very best film adaptations of much-loved children's books – ranging from the classic ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ by L. Frank Baum to the action-packed ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ by C.S Lewis - accompanied by discussion points and activities to inspire even the most reluctant readers. The guide can be downloaded from the website (www.filmclub.org) and FILMCLUB members can order the films in it for FREE and, from January 28th, can purchase the books from Scholastic Book Clubs at a 25% discount. They can also take part in competitions and an inspiring week of live, ‘storytelling’ themed live webcasts with filmmakers.