Edward Leigh MP, Chairman of the Committee of Public Accounts, said: “The extent to which children in this country are obese is alarming. More alarming still is evidence that, unless we act, the proportion of children who are obese will increase sharply. Halting the growth of childhood obesity means changing how children and their families behave and that requires many parts of government acting together. This is tricky territory.

More than three-quarters of people believe bright children would do better if taught separately, a poll suggests. More than 1,000 people were surveyed for a report by right-wing think tank, the Centre for Policy Studies. It found almost as many (73%) thought streaming or a selective system would also help academically weaker children.

Every child in England should have a "learning guide" to see that they benefit from new, personalised education, an expert group has said. Pupils should learn how to be better learners, aided by their teachers and parents and perhaps "active retired" people, the Gilbert Review urged.

The government is considering replacing the national tests children in England take at 11 and 14 with shorter but more frequent assessments. Proposals for consultation will suggest tests be taken when teachers feel individual pupils are ready.

England's exams regulator is advising ministers to scrap their plans for a compulsory computer test for teenagers. The aim is for all 14-year-olds to do the online test in ICT (information and communication technology) from 2008. It is currently being piloted widely.

There are wide variations in the quality of education in English primary schools, a major study has found. Teaching and behaviour was worse in schools with pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds, researchers said.

England's school tests and exam league tables are to be changed radically as part of a drive to put more focus on individual pupils' progress. Ministers accept the recommendation of an expert review that children should be tested when they are ready rather than at fixed ages.

Children who fall behind in maths or English could be offered one-to-one tuition to help get them back on track. Struggling pupils in the later years of primary and early years of secondary school will get extra help outside school hours from qualified teachers.

Former Education Secretary Ruth Kelly has defended her decision to send her son, who has "substantial learning difficulties", to a private school.

New rules to ensure greater fairness in how schools in England select their pupils have been published by the Department for Education and Skills. The new admissions code, which applies to primary and secondary schools, bans them from assessing parents' work, financial, marital or social status.

An experimental project to provide fast-tracked, intensively trained head teachers for tough inner-city schools is to be expanded. Prime Minister Tony Blair and Education Secretary Alan Johnson announced a wider role for the Future Leaders scheme at a Downing Street seminar.

The number of teachers in England taking early retirement is rising year on year, government figures show. Last year, 9,680 teachers in the state sector retired before they reached 60, compared to 6,740 five years earlier.

Five hundred secondary schools in England did not meet the government's minimum target for GCSE attainment, the annual performance tables show. Ministers unapologetically "raised the bar", saying the benchmark of five good grades must include English and maths.

Young people will be required to stay in school, training or workplace training until the age of 18. The Department for Education and Skills has confirmed plans to raise the school leaving age in England by 2013.

A third of children leave primary school in England unable to use full stops and capital letters properly, examiners have suggested. They are unable to demarcate sentences with basic punctuation marks, analysis by exams watchdog the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority reveals.

A £10m package of measures to boost singing and music education in primary schools in England is to be announced. The extra cash will allow choir schools to work in partnership with other local schools and fund a national singing campaign.

Schools could be led by business and community leaders, a report for the government is expected to suggest. Ministers should look at removing barriers to such appointments, although only teachers should be in charge of teaching and learning, it will say. The study, by PricewaterhouseCoopers, comes as heads complain teachers are put off applying for the top job by bureaucracy and a lack of rewards.

Half of young adults who dropped out of school aged 16 regretted their decision later, a survey suggests. A third of the 1,110 adults surveyed, who left school after GCSEs, said they realised going back into education was the only route to a better job.

Lessons must be learned from the early mistakes in a £45bn school rebuilding programme, the government has said. The flagship project to rebuild or refurbish all of England's secondary schools by 2020 has been hit by delays and a lack of expertise.

Compiled by a government think-tank headed by the former head of John Major’s policy unit – Lord Norman Blackwell – the report is scathing about the success of comprehensive schooling over the last 40 years, claiming there has been reduced educational standards and increased social inequality.

Can the presence of the opposite sex motivate pupils to impress classmates through working harder, or is it just a distraction – particularly for boys – causing them to show off and behave disruptively?

New playground equipment has dramatically improved pupil behaviour at a West Yorkshire school. Since Playforce, the premier provider of school playground equipment, installed a variety of obstacles at England Lane Junior and Infant School in Knottingley, playtime has become funtime for pupils and teachers.

A major commitment has been made by a global leader involved in the design and manufacture of cardiovascular and resistance training equipment, as they establish SportsArt Fitness UK to expand product sales and provide dedicated servicing facilities to the UK fitness and physical education sectors.

Representing a 3.5 per cent increase in attendees from BETT 2006, 29,774 (subject to ABC audit) educators visited BETT 2007, the world’s largest technology in education event. Before the end of BETT, 98 per cent of exhibition floor space, including 100 per cent of floor space in the Special Needs Zone, had been rebooked for the following year.

The National Archives is celebrating its success at the recent e-Government National Awards, announced on 17 January at the Savoy in London. The National Archives was presented with the award for Central e-Government excellence: Take-up and usage growth.

The j2e.com, a powerful online document processor, suitable for KS1-4 word processing, simple desktop publishing and other classroom activities from the BETT-Award1 winning creators of Textease® - Danny Young and Geoff Titmuss.

Pupils can now collect data for analysis in Geography lessons on handheld computers (Personal Digital Assistants or PDAs) with the Advisory Unit’s new Aegis Recorder program. The Recorder can be used with or without a Geographic Positioning System (GPS) to assist KS3, GCSE and A-Level students to easily collect and display data accurately.

Djanogly City Academy has installed a new breed of integrated pupil management system by linking its CMIS Management Information System (MIS) with the latest cashless catering and access control system provided by M H Systems in partnership with Toshiba.

Interactive whiteboards have arguably brought about one of the biggest changes in the way we teach in recent years. Since 2004, the government has spent £50m encouraging schools to go interactive, and now almost every school in the country has at least one interactive whiteboard.

Halifax based FrogTrade Ltd had a very busy BETT Show with an incredible amount of interest shown from schools, colleges and government officials. FrogTrade have developed the FrogTeacher digital learning platform which enables schools and colleges to maximise teaching and learning opportunities.

ADEPTIAS Limited designs IT integrated adaptive desks with patent-pending innovations for access, adaptability and security. IT integrated desks have become a part of the established wisdom of school furniture requirements. Their benefits are also recognised throughout the public sector.

Finding the right hardware for your school or college can be just as much of a headache as finding your way through the maze of new software constantly coming to market. From wireless networked devices to sophisticated all-in-one machines that can print, copy, scan and fax – and even translate documents – how do you decide which is right for you?

Screwfix Direct has been helping educational establishments to make more of their building improvement and maintenance budgets for over 30 years. Providing free next day delivery within mainland UK on thousands of high quality refurbishment, maintenance and cleaning products, the company also promises low trade prices.

The Government’s City Academies and Building Schools for the Future programmes have brought construction and the condition of UK school buildings to the top of the education sector’s agenda in recent years, with plans to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in England over the next 10-15 years.

Homewood School - the largest secondary school in Kent, UK - has implemented Aruba's wireless LAN infrastructure throughout its campus, which has completely changed the way it delivers its curriculum. The school now offers an innovative mobile computing environment whereby students and teachers have mobile access to the school's online resources.

Blue Diamond’s SmartOne toilet roll dispenser provides maximum efficiency combined with sleek design and hygienic dispensing. These fully lockable dispensers are made from tough plastic for security and strength.

Gopak, designer, manufacturer and supplier of lightweight tables and seating solutions for the education sector, has again come top of the class with its latest new addition – the Swivel Poly Chair.

Imagine two school pupils of identical background and academic ability. Each attends a school which delivers the same quality of teaching and the same level of care. The only difference is that one school is built in the standard way – with windows on one side of each room – while the other has no side windows at all but instead has a series of skylights in the roof.

Portakabin subsidiary, Yorkon – winner of the Innovator of the Year award – has achieved another industry first by becoming the first off-site construction specialist to introduce a new and advanced software system to carry out a detailed environmental assessment of every new Yorkon building.

Established for over 15 years we are based in Shipley West Yorkshire. Spacekraft was primarily established to develop and manufacture a full range of sensory products that provide genuine solutions for carers and teachers and hospitals confronting the challenges which face special needs people.

The YOU CAN series takes teachers straight to the heart of the problem and then straight to a solution. These books provide strategies for developing a thinking ethos in your class in an easy to use, at-a-glance format with a quick reference problem related index.

In this practical guide Barbara Prashnig shares her experience of using learning styles in a wide range of settings around the world and demonstrates how to apply personalized learning in real and varied contexts: