Energy Performance Certificates for buildings in England and Wales have, to date, been focused on the sale of homes, but they are now required for other buildings including schools.

James Dyson says he has abandoned his attempt to build a multi-million pound school of design in Bath.

Half of England's schools which control who they admit have been breaking the law on admissions, a survey suggests.

Schools in England are to be held to account on a wide range of measures of pupil well-being.

Grammar schools take relatively fewer bright, poor pupils than schools that do not select by ability, a study says.

Almost two-thirds of the early waves of school rebuilding projects in England are behind schedule, figures obtained by the Conservatives show.

A shortage of governors means 40,000 unfilled places on bodies overseeing schools in England, a study suggests.

St. Johns School in Southwark, has become an environmental award winner making other schools green with envy! St Johns has scooped a bin full of prizes and plenty of the green stuff to go with it, courtesy of new London Mayor Boris Johnson.

Values picked up by children and young people from social networking sites like Facebook may be replacing the traditional role that parents play.

A new service has been spreading across primary schools in London helping mums with kids to find work that fits around their family life. But why are schools supporting this new ‘school gates recruitment'? 

This year's GCSE statistics for England show another slight rise in the proportion of pupils getting five good GCSEs including maths and English.

More sport is being played in England's schools and ministers say this is due to a move away from an anti-competitive sport culture of the 1980s and 1990s.

Efforts to encourage more teachers to consider headship are paying off, a survey suggests.

The Scout Association is to start offering its members sexual health and relationships advice.

Primary schools in England spend too much time "rehearsing tests", says the man asked by the government to review the primary curriculum.

There has been an increase of 7,000 in the number of primary age pupils in England identified as "persistent absentees", the latest figures show.

A controversial scheme under which secondary schools in England with exam results below a minimum level face closure is to be extended to primaries.

Children in England are to have lessons in how to manage their finances, under a new £11.5m government scheme.

The first 20,000 youngsters to benefit from plans to ensure all of England's school-age children have computer access at home have been earmarked.

The Youth Citizenship Commission is asking people their views on whether the voting age should be lowered to 16.  This is part of its work to consider ways of getting more young people involved in the political process. 

When Kapital Cleaning was faced with stripping and re-sealing the floors of several Merseyside schools after many months of grime, Director Lee Prescott turned to the BETCO Hard as Nails system to help him meet the time schedule and budget.

Thanks to celebrity chefs such as Jamie Oliver, school kitchens are continuously in the media spotlight.  Local Education Authorities are under increasing pressure to provide wholesome, healthy meals every day and help prevent children from obesity and related illnesses in their future lives.

An innovative, environment-sensitive primary school at Port Glasgow, Inverclyde, enjoys 24-hour protection through a comprehensive future proof electronic fire and security installation from leading provider Secom plc.

LCC, the Southern based contract cleaning and support services company, has won another major contract for its college and education portfolio - the Great Yarmouth College campus.

There really is no choice in the matter. Any student who fails his/her Functional Skills exams fails the new Diplomas.  From 2010 they will be an essential element of GCSE maths, English and ICT. 

Mapei's TOPCEM fast drying screed, was recently used to provide the substrate on all floor areas in the new sixth form boarding house at Merchiston Castle School in Edinburgh. TOPCEM is a normal setting, shrinkage-controlled binder for screeds, which, thanks to its rapid drying properties, hardens within 24 hours and is completely dry, whatever the thickness, within 4 days. 

Teachers seeking fresh ideas for days out and short breaks will find details from a huge variety of attractions, destinations and tour operators at Excursions 2009, the UK's premier one-day group travel show at Alexandra Palace, North London on Saturday, 17 January (10.30am-4pm).

Sarnafil's single ply roofing system has been selected to complete the dynamic roof design at the Thomas Deacon Academy in Peterborough by main contractor Laing O'Rourke. Roofing contractor Fenland Flat Roofing (FFR) was commissioned to install the multifaceted steel diagrid concourse roof's membrane.

Stick a webcam in the homes of most 16 year olds as they prepare for their GCSEs and you will find them doing exactly what their parents did 30 years ago when they were at school - reading through their books with the radio or TV on. As a method of doing revision the approach is worse than useless.

The latest innovation for the Yorkon off-site building system is a new high performance floor option for high traffic areas, such as school and university buildings.

Rednock School, Gloucestershire has joined a national campaign to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Relief by collecting used ink cartridges. They receive free lined collecting boxes to be filled with used ink and toner cartridges, both from the school and those brought in by pupils.

The THRASS synthetic phonics programme is widely accepted as having the potential to more than double the normal rate of progress for reading and spelling in English, and soon it will also be possible to use synthetic phonics to teach deaf children through a new Cued Speech version of the groundbreaking THRASS Phoneme Machine software.

The D+T with ICT Education show will return to Hall 10 at Birmingham, NEC with interesting new features, informative talks, hands-on workshops and hundreds of the most cutting edge products for a wide range of design & technology subjects.

The Design and Technology with ICT Education Show will stage the finale of the 2008 National Student Woodworking Competition on Friday 21st November.  Winning students will be at the exhibition to receive their prizes from sponsors Fitchett & Woollacott, a supplier of sustainably-sourced timber to schools and colleges.

Visit booth A52 to see the latest laser cutting and marking technology from specialist laser supplier Laserite.

Tina McIntosh is head teacher at Witherslack Hall, a 38 week residential and day special school in Cumbria which caters for boys aged between 11 and 19 with complex learning needs and challenging behaviour.

To kick-off its new ‘Tools for Schools' initiative, OKI Printing Solutions and famous international wildlife charity, the Born Free Foundation, have launched a photography competition to give secondary school pupils across the UK the opportunity to win the trip of a lifetime to the Shamwari Game Reserve in South Africa. 

The education sector is undergoing a period of rapid transformation; partly due to developments in technology, with communication systems becoming an increasingly vital part of the running of educational institutions. However, there are also new challenges emerging, namely, increasing financial pressure, new government initiatives and growing international competition in what is swiftly becoming a globalised market. In order to keep pace with the demands of this rapidly changing marketplace, the education sector is looking to newer uses of technology such as SMS to deliver efficiencies, reduce costs and improve the standard of education offered.

A new desk system for schools

Akhter Computers plc, who has supplied PCs to schools for three decades, recently launched their first IT desks. The Desk8 system was designed in the UK, to help schools keep their PCs secure. The move into desks is in response to a need that schools have for a value for money IT desk system that is robust, flexible and secure; with tidy cable management. Desk8 has been received with some enthusiasm by schools.     

ITWorx, a global leader in e-learning solutions based on the Microsoft Learning Gateway (MLG), launched its newest version of Education CatalystTM for schools and higher-education.

Frog, the UK's learning platform of choice, is in the driving seat this month with the launch of a new website and portal, http://www.f1inprimary.com/, designed for the pioneering F1 in Schools project.  Already a highly successful global educational programme for secondary schools, the not-for-profit company has decided to pilot the programme for primary schools in a bid to engage even more students in this exciting learning environment.

Four years have already passed since TV chef Jamie Oliver highlighted the deplorable diets of many children in the UK, both at home and at school. Since that time, great strides have been made to improve standards in schools - but there is still some way to go. New government nutritional guidelines have been introduced and are already in place in the nation's primary schools. Secondary and special schools have until next year to reach the standards - not only in their kitchens, but also in vending machines.

As far as vending in schools is concerned, N&W's Sfera P is something of a teacher's pet. Few machines are as robust as this one, which has been reinforced to handle the rough and tumble meted out by schoolchildren!

A new range of cleaning and renovating products for the education and catering sector has been developed by FTW. Results from trials of Paul's Restorer have been so impressive that it could prolong the life of older equipment and save thousands of pounds in replacement costs, as well as saving day-to-day cleaning time and costs.

Forbo Flooring Systems has launched  its new acoustic project vinyl collection, offering the most comprehensive collection of its kind in the world. This outstanding collection can help achieve a complete acoustic flooring solution for any  commercial interior with impact sound reduction ranging from 15 to 19 dB.

Kendata Peripherals has expanded its portfolio of Scantron products with the addition of the iNSIGHT 4 scanner, which offers a powerful combination of OMR (optical mark reading) technology and image capture capability.

Playing outdoors is widely recognised as beneficial for a child's development. In response to this, timber building specialist Cabinco has designed a 5m Octagonal timber shelter with seating.  This attractive shelter is proving popular with schools not only as an outdoor classroom but also as a sheltered play area and parents waiting area.

Renowned for its folding tables found in schools around the UK, Gopak has now brought its expertise to the classroom in the form of three ultra-practical storage trolleys. These brightly coloured units help the teacher get the room tidy and keep the class in order.

When Critical Thinking Met English Literature is a new book by Belinda Hakes, a sixth form teacher in Hull. In this new title she records her own discovery that the teaching of Critical Thinking can be facilitated by the study of English Literature; and the learning of English Literature enhanced by applying the skills of Critical Thinking.  Two originally polarised subjects come together to unlock not just what a text means but how it means it.

This book is an accessible guide and a powerful tool for teachers to include in their 21st century toolkit.

It clearly and simply demonstrates how to use audio to create cheap, fast and effective resources with a long shelf-life but which can also be changed simply and quickly if required.