Should schools ban packed lunches? We ask school cooks, pupils and their parents

Owen Brown, from Sheffield. Father of Erinn (5) and Temzin (3)
It would concern me if dinners were compulsory. My daughter enjoys the flexibility of having a mixture of dinners and packed lunches. If she doesn't like what's on the menu then she'll take a sandwich instead. My son, who hasn't yet started school, is a much fussier eater. I'd worry that he just wouldn't eat what's on offer.

Mukhtar Karim, from Amersham. Father of Mohammad (12), Mariam (9), Zainab (5)
School dinners are useful but they're not something I feel should be enforced. My son eats dinners where halal meat is available. If there isn't any on the menu then he's pushed on to the vegetarian as a matter of course, which may mean that he doesn't enjoy his lunch.

Leanne Winter, from Devon. Mother of Charlie (11) and Theo (7)
I don't think it's a good idea. My children go to a very small school where meals are made off-site and delivered to school. This means they're very limited in space and what they can achieve. Instead, they have packed lunches – these are incredibly varied and healthy.

Karen Francis, cook at the School Dinner Company, which provides food to schools in North Somerset
It's a great idea but it's just not practical. Many of our local schools don't have kitchens because these were converted into extra classrooms 10 or so years ago. Enforcing school dinners would mean children had healthier diets. Whether or not it is possible will depend on funding.

Corinne Du Preez, cook at Kings Court First School in south-east London
It's a brilliant idea, before working in a state school I worked in an independent school where there was no option to bring in a packed lunch. It worked really well because all children were eating healthy nutritious foods. It's concerning to see the types of food children bring in packed lunches.

Jane Trestain, cook at Padstow School in Cornwall
I don't know whether all parents would want their children to have cooked dinners. It all boils down to cost, otherwise I imagine more would sign up. We've had great feedback about our school dinners and the children are involved in picking the menu.

Rebecca Anstey, aged six. Pupil at Holy Trinity Infant School, Nottinghamshire
I only have school meals on a Wednesday but I like them more [than packed lunches] because they are very delicious. My favourite meal is roast beef. They serve lots of vegetables and I like all of them. I have broccoli and tuna with my pasta. We have a pudding as well, it is usually apple crumble.

Fred Drabble, aged 11. Pupil at Deptford Green School in south-east London
Every day of my life at primary school I had an identical packed lunch of hummus and carrot sandwiches because I hated the school meals. It was nice, but got so, so boring, I almost went crazy. Now I'm at secondary school the meals are delicious I have school dinners, so do all my friends.

Ella Green, aged 16, has just graduated from Kesteven and Sleaford High School, Lincolnshire
At secondary school I had a mix of school dinners and packed lunches and I enjoyed the flexibility. If you wanted to pick something at home you could, or if you knew there was something on the menu that you wanted you could opt for that.

Amy Fleming, aged 18, has just graduated from St Julie's High School
I'm not sure that making dinners compulsory is a good idea. It would depend on the variety that's provided. It could cause problems for younger children who are a bit fussier about what they eat – though, equally it might be a good way to encourage children to have what's on offer and try new foods.

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'Malala is my idol': UN speech brings British pupils to tears

Malala Yousafzai at the UN with Gordon Brown, whose wife, Sarah, addressed British pupils on Malala Day. Photograph: Rick Bajornas/UN Photo/PA

The audience of school children, teachers and education advocates had been restless as the men in suits at the UN paid tribute to Malala Yousafzai on the big screen. But as the small girl draped in a bright pink shawl stood on the raised box and began to address her audience, there was total stillness.

Malala may have been several thousand miles away in New York, but at the Southbank Centre in London it was as if she were in the room. Tears were brushed away and spontaneous applause rippled through the room as she continued her historic speech. In the moments after it finished, as the applause died away, a group of pupils from the Sarah Bonnell girls' school in Stratford reacted as if they had had an audience with a rock star. "She is just my idol, I look up to her so much," said 13-year-old Arlina Hysenaj. "It's like she doesn't even know what revenge is, she just believes right can win."

Earlier, Sarah Brown had addressed the event – hosted by children's charity Plan UK, A World at School and the Southbank Centre – pre-empting Malala's own comment that terrorists were most afraid of education.

"This is what we have to ask ourselves: why are the Taliban so scared of a girl carrying a book?" Brown asked.

"Malala, in her quiet and persistent way, is choosing to keep up her voice, energy and campaigning for the right for every boy and girl to go to school. We all have our role to play in that."

Brown – whose husband, the former prime minister Gordon Brown, had earlier praised Malala at the event in New York – congratulated the Pakistani government for passing a law making primary school education mandatory.

She urged the government to increase the amount dedicated to schooling, currently set at just 2% of government spending.

"It's a big challenge. We are trying to get 57 million children around the world into school, but we have one brave girl who is standing up tall for it, and we are all standing with her."

Tanya Barron, the chief executive of Plan UK, said the movement set in motion by Malala was making a real difference. "We want to use that energy Malala has been generating fed in a loop to girls all around the world," she said. "She is the most fabulous beacon and is a rallying symbol for all of us, but it is not just about her: it's about the right of every child to get an education."

To the children in the room, Malala had already achieved so much. "I think she was so brave to risk her life just to go to school, to be honest. I'm not sure I would do that," said eight-year-old Felix Wanendeya, from Edmund Waller primary in New Cross. Amirah Dubbuisson, 10, added: "Not a lot of people would stand up and go against what everyone was saying. She is an inspiration."

Asked how the speech had made her feel, Ayesha Mangerah, 13, from Sarah Bonnell school, gave a big smile. "Brilliant," she said. "If she can do that, we can do anything."

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Ofsted apologises to parents of girls abused by male pupils at special school

Ofsted's offices in London. One of its reports on Stanbridge Earls singled out safeguarding at the school for praise. Photograph: Martin Argles for the Guardian

Ofsted has apologised to the parents of girls who were sexually abused by male pupils at a residential special school in Hampshire, and sacked inspection staff involved in three consecutive inspections of the school which an internal review has admitted contained judgments that were "not safe".

Inspections of Stanbridge Earls school for children with special educational needs were carried out in June 2011, January 2012 and May 2012. The third report picked out safeguarding at the school for special praise.

The regulator's internal review, however, concluded that there were "weaknesses in Ofsted's systems, structures, processes and practices which gave rise to the risk that safeguarding issues might not be fully addressed … In the case of Stanbridge Earls during the period in question, this risk materialised."

As a result of complaints by parents of female pupils regarding Ofsted's failure to protect their children from continuing abuse, the regulator has promised to completely overhaul the way inspections are managed so that serious safeguarding and child protection concerns are better understood, more swiftly reacted to and investigated with rigour.

From January next year, eight new Ofsted regions will be created to allow "a detailed understanding of provision in localities to be built up and intelligence to be gathered and used to best effect". An Ofsted-wide safeguarding group to review the way inspectors respond to serious allegations of abuse has already been set up. It is chaired by an independent social work professional with expertise in child protection and safeguarding "to ensure appropriate challenge and learning".

Although it is already mandatory for inspectors to familiarise themselves with any concerns that have been logged about an institution before arriving for an inspection, Ofsted also says it has improved existing technology so that staff can more easily access a full record of those concerns.

In addition, all school and social care inspectors will receive extra training in safeguarding and disability. And a detailed action plan to improve the way that Ofsted deals with reports of safeguarding concerns must be fully operational within 12 months.

Parents of pupils abused at the school have welcomed the changes, but say that they do not go far enough.

"We made it clear to Ofsted when we met that we wanted it to be mandatory for anyone with a professional responsibility for children to report allegations or suspicions of abuse," said the mother of Miss C, one of the girls who suffered repeated sexual assaults.

"That would mean that if you don't report abuse that you know is happening, or that you have a good idea is going on, then you would know you were acting illegally. You would know you could be prosecuted for breaking the law. It makes a teacher's duty very clear, and protects people who might be terrified of blowing the whistle on colleagues. If any member of staff at Stanbridge Earls had reported what they had suspected was going on sooner to the local authority for independent investigation, then my daughter and other people's daughters might never have gone through the horrendous trauma they experienced there, and which they are still suffering from."

Campaigners for a mandatory reporting law say that existing statutory guidance on when to report abuse in schools has repeatedly proved inadequate, and many thousands of children have suffered months and sometimes years of sexual abuse as a result.

Though the secretary of state for education, Michael Gove, has so far resisted calls for mandatory reporting, the Guardian has learned that his department will be holding a meeting of senior staff at the end of August to discuss what lessons should be learned from the comprehensive failures of all available safeguarding measures at Stanbridge Earls.

This will include the training and knowledge of Department for Education staff, the way the department handles complaints, communication between Ofsted and the department, and methods other than inspection evidence and reports for tracking a school's safeguarding history.

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All primary pupils should have free school meals, report recommends

The cost of introducing free meals for all primary school children would be substantial, the report says. Photograph: Christopher Thomond

The government should introduce free school meals for all primary school pupils, starting with the most deprived areas, a report for the government on school nutrition has recommended.

Extending free school meals beyond the poorest pupils will cost around ￡1bn but the education secretary, Michael Gove, is understood to be supportive of the move in principle.

"We believe there is enough evidence, both from abroad and from English schools, to justify the partial introduction of universal free school meals," the report's authors, Henry Dimbleby and John Vincent, conclude.

The report says: "We understand that the considerable cost and the need to involve other departments make it a big ask. But we are pleased that the secretary of state agrees with us in principle and we would urge schools and councils to consider funding universal free school meals themselves."

The report notes that the cost would be "substantial", at an average of ￡1.76 for nearly 3 million children who do not receive free school meals now, adding up to ￡912m a year.

The plan – drawn up by Vincent and Dimbleby, the founders of the food company Leon – aims to tackle the poor public image of school meals and recommends that packed lunches be banned.

"Many parents mistakenly imagine that a packed lunch is the healthiest option. In fact, it is far easier to get the necessary nutrients into a cooked meal – even one of mediocre quality. Only 1% of packed lunches meet the nutritional standards that currently apply to school food," the authors write.

The report also recommends that nutritional standards be introduced for all schools – at present they do not apply to academies and free schools.

"We have worked with the Medical Research Council and our own expert panel to develop a set of simpler food standards, which we believe will be easier to implement and enforce. If the new standards are agreed to be effective from a practical and nutritional standpoint, the secretary of state has agreed to make them mandatory across all types of school," the authors write.

At present, the majority of pupils – 57% – take a packed lunch or buy food outside school. Currently school meals cost ￡140m in school subsidies and their provision in England will only break even if average take-up rises above 50%.

Alongside the meals plan, the Ofsted chief, Sir Michael Wilshaw, is to announce that "behaviour and culture in the dining hall" and the way schools promote healthy lifestyles will be considered during inspections.

Ofsted will consider how lunchtime and the dining space contribute to good behaviour and the culture in the schools. Inspectors will be told to spend time in lunch halls during their visits.

"We expect this to have a significant impact, because we know that headteachers and their teams often read Ofsted guidance as a way of maintaining readiness to be inspected," the report says.

The government has agreed to measure progress nationally by food quality, take-up of free school meals, morale of the catering staff, the number of children able to "cook savoury dishes" and the number of schools winning awards for their food.

The report's authors say they visited and ate at 50 schools around the country while preparing their report.

Chef Jamie Oliver, who started a national debate around school meals centring on Turkey Twizzlers, is said to support the latest report and will take part in publicising its findings.

The report suggests a range of measures for headteachers to use to increase take-up of school meals. Children could be barred from leaving school premises at break time, preventing them from buying unhealthy food, such as takeaways. But schools should also make their meals more exciting and ensure unhealthy snacks are not served during mid-morning breaks.

The plan also recommends subsidising school lunches for children in the first term of primary and secondary school or providing discounts for parents with several children.

It suggests introducing cashless payments to reduce long queues and prevent children who receive free school meals from being stigmatised. Teachers are also urged to eat with pupils in the dining hall.

Cooking should be part of the curriculum until children are 14, and schools could also offer lessons to parents and their children after school.

The plans include ￡11.8m from the Department for Education to help increase the take-up of meals, and ￡3.15m to provide healthy breakfasts for children who arrive at school hungry.

Two London boroughs will be chosen to take part in pilot schemes to demonstrate how better school food can improve health and educational performance.

The plan comes after Gove was accused by Oliver of imperilling children's health and educational prospects by letting the rapidly growing number of academies and free schools opt out of standards.

Almost a fifth of UK children are obese by the time they leave primary school. The situation is even worse in London, with almost a quarter of children starting primary school and over a third of year 6 children overweight or obese.

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School dinners: pupils given a taste of quality

Lunch at the Reach Academy, where a teacher sits at each table. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

For anyone with distasteful memories of school lunches from the 1980s and 1990s, sitting down to lunch with the pupils and staff at the Reach academy in Feltham, west London, is eating in a different era.

For one thing, the food tastes great: everything is freshly prepared on the premises, overseen by chefs who talk to students and share their favourite recipes with parents. Banished from the menu are the chips-with-pizza staples, delivered in a van and heated up to long queues of children, served alongside over-boiled vegetables and the grim inevitability of instant mashed potatoes.

In their place are Moroccan lamb tagines and roasted vegetables, Thai curries and salade nicoise, with strawberry trifle or watermelon for dessert. And all for ￡2 a day. The school has also taken the unusual step of stopping parents from sending packed lunches to school.

Lunchtime at Reach Academy in Feltham. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

"We've had almost no pushback. Parents have been very happy," said Ed Vainker, the headteacher. "I think when they hear that I eat the food, that all the staff eat the food, and that we all sit together and socialise and get to know each other as individuals, they are happy to proceed."

It's a policy that some, including restaurateurs John Vincent and Henry Dimbleby, who have conducted a government-commissioned review of school lunches, would like to see go nationwide. Making school lunches compulsory means more money is available for a school to spend on them, improving the quality of the ingredients while lowering the unit cost. It also stops parents from packing unhealthy snacks such as crisps or sweets.

The quality of the school's food has been praised by, among others, the London mayor, Boris Johnson, who said after visiting: "This is the best school dinner I've ever had." It's a model of the revolution in school food that Jamie Oliver hoped to start, and that Vincent and Dimbleby hope to encourage.

Staff at the Reach, a free school that opened in September last year, say lunch isn't just about food; it's an important part of the school's ethos. "Lunch is a focal point of the day here, where children can share their ideas and their jokes," said Lydia Gibbs, the school's lead reception teacher.

Meals at Reach were praised by Boris Johnson as 'the best school dinner I've ever had'. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

That's true for the staff as well, with a teacher sitting at each table and eating the same food as the children, on hand to help the five-year-olds struggling with knives and forks, and gently encourage others to at least try the green beans and salads.

For the teachers, being present for lunch every day means giving up the peace and quiet of the staff room. "That's a commitment that we are prepared to make," said Jayne Watkinson, a reception teacher.

At Reach, unlike many other schools, lunch is served at the table – meaning there are no long queues of bored and hungry children clutching trays. The pupils sit in small groups, with the older children able to dish up their own food.

"Lunch at my last school wasn't a fun time, with lots of queueing. Here, lunch is calm," said Nicky McLachlan, the school's progression leader, responsible for charting the pupils' progress.

Making school lunches compulsory means more money is available to spend on them. Photograph: Sarah Lee for the Guardian

Even on a warm summer's day, with the playground beckoning, the reception class children cheerfully chatted about dinosaurs and the state of Iraq while eating jelly for dessert before tidying up and waiting to be let out. The fact that they were in no rush to leave the table suggests they enjoy it. "Everyone sits down together and everyone eats together. We all start at the same time," said Gibbs.

For some of the pupils, that in itself was a novelty, including those from homes without a table to dine on, or in some cases a family to eat with.

"For a lot of the children, it was very different for them," said Gibbs. "You can see a big change from the start of the year."

With only two classes to feed at the moment, Reach Academy has an easier time than older and bigger schools. But Reach will eventually be an "all-through" school from nursery to sixth form, with 860 pupils. Vainker is adamant that school lunches will remain a priority.

"Some schools make a lot of money out of their school lunches, or school caterers do," said Vainker. "We're much more interested in the experience and the quality of the food than we are in potentially making ￡70,000 out of lunch for children over the year. We think it is much more important, much more value, to have excellent food and have a really positive lunchtime experience."

Jenny Tschiesche, a nutritionist and the author of Not Just Sandwiches – five ways to improve your child's lunchbox, says that packed lunches don't deserve the obloquy they have attracted, and that many parents want the choice, especially those who have children with allergies or food intolerances. The ideal school lunchbox should contain six elements: carbohydrates, protein, calcium, fruit, vegetables and a drink.

Here is Tschiesche's recommendation for a fast, easy to acquire and nutritiously balanced lunchbox:

‧ Pasta salad with vegetables and meat

‧ Pot of low-sugar yoghurt

‧ Fresh fruit

‧ Drink of water or milk

‧ Dried fruit or trail mix rather than cereal bars

‧ Fruit juice or a fruit smoothie could be substituted for fresh fruit

‧ Other alternatives include hummus and cut-up carrot batons

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Packed lunches: pupils face ban in new school food plans

The plan recommends subsidising school lunches for children in the first term of primary and secondary school. Photograph: foodfolio/Alamy

Packed lunches could be banned and pupils barred from leaving school during breaks to buy junk food under a government plan to increase the take-up of school meals, which is to be announced on Friday.

The plan, drawn up by John Vincent and Henry Dimbleby, the founders of the food company Leon, aims to tackle the poor public image of school meals.

The report, which suggests a link between nutrition and academic performance, highlights that parents currently spend almost ￡1bn on packed lunches but only 1% of them meet nutritional standards. In contrast, scientific studies show most school meals are a healthier option.

The report suggests a range of measures for headteachers to increase take-up of school meals. They include banning unhealthy packed lunches full of sugary drinks, crisps and sweets, or even a total ban on all packed lunches.

Children could also be barred from leaving school premises at break time, preventing them from buying unhealthy food, such as takeaways. But schools should also make their meals more exciting and ensure unhealthy snacks are not served during mid-morning breaks.

The plan also recommends subsidising school lunches for children in the first term of primary and secondary school or discounts for parents with several children.

It also suggests introducing cashless payments to reduce long queues and prevent children who receive free school meals from being stigmatised. Teachers are also recommended to eat with pupils in the dining hall.

Cooking should also be part of the curriculum until children are 14, and schools could also offer lessons to parents and their children after school.

The plans include ￡11.8m from the Department for Education to help increase the take-up of meals, and ￡3.15m to provide healthy breakfasts for children who arrive at school hungry.

Two London boroughs will be chosen as pilot schemes to demonstrate how better school food can improve health and educational performance.

The plan comes after Michael Gove, the education secretary, was accused by the Labour-appointed TV chef Jamie Oliver of imperilling children's health and educational prospects by letting the rapidly growing number of academies and free schools opt out of the standards.

Almost a fifth of UK children are obese by the time they leave primary school. The situation is even worse in London, with almost a quarter of children starting primary school and over a third of year six children overweight or obese.

At present, the majority of pupils – 57% – take a packed lunch or buy food outside school. Currently school meals cost ￡140m in school subsidies and their provision in England will only break even if average take-up rises above 50%.

Separately, the Department of Health is due to publish its consultation on plain-packaged cigarettes. The department closed the consultation in August, and campaigners in favour of it were not expecting imminent legislation.

A bill to introduce such packaging, supported by the public health minister Anna Sourby did not feature in the Queen's speech, as ministers said more time was needed to study the impact of the ban introduced in Australia.

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Lib Dems reject David Cameron's plan to lure overseas pupils to UK

David Cameron wrote to universities minister David Willetts last week with details of his proposed polices. Photograph: Rex Features

A radical proposal by David Cameron to offer places at academies and free schools to overseas pupils as part of a "new education export strategy" to repair damage done by the government's student visa restrictions will be fiercely resisted by Liberal Democrats, narrowing its chances of becoming official policy.

A Lib Dem source said they would try to quash several of the policies floated by the prime minister in a letter to universities and science minister David Willetts dated 1 July.

In particular, the Lib Dems said they would fight any attempt to sell state school places at a time when rapid population growth is triggering a national shortage of primary and secondary school places.

The letter from Cameron – first published by the Times – pushes for policies to "pitch our offer to international students more persuasively" and market the UK as a destination for fee-paying overseas students after a sharp fall in applications to the higher and further education sectors.

After telling Willetts to work with the Department for Education (DfE) in "increasing the place of schools" in the export strategy, Cameron's letter continues: "This is meant to be a long-term strategy and while the academies/free schools programme should focus on consolidating domestic progress over the next couple of years, we should look at export potential too.

" This should include consideration of allowing international students to access places at academies."

That would set state schools in competition with the independent sector – which derives an increasing share of its income from overseas pupils – just as the DfE is fostering co-operation between the two.

It could also anger parents after the National Audit Office forecast a need for 250,000 extra primary school places by 2014. Stephen Twigg, the shadow education secretary, said the letter raised the prospect of overseas pupils bypassing admissions procedures faced by local families at popular schools.

"Parents will have serious questions for the prime minister about opening up schools to overseas pupils. With a shortfall of hundreds of thousands of places he should make sure that schools provide enough places for our own children," Twigg said.

Neither the DfE nor No 10 would comment.

The proposals also include making it easier for postgraduates to get UK citizenship after completing their studies, and an attempt to promote the advanced courses offered by Britain's elite military academies.

"Options could include, for example, giving PhD students in [science, technology, engineering and maths] subjects only a three-year wait before they can apply for citizenship rather than the normal five years," Willetts was told.

Willetts was also advised to exploit the advanced military skills taught by the UK armed forces. "The Defence Academy is a great institution and we should think how to maximise the offer from it," the letter said.

Some Defence Academy courses are open to civilians. One example is the fulltime MSc in explosives ordnance engineering, costing up to ￡25,000. It includes an optional module named "Explosives for nuclear weapons".

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Letters: Michael Wilshaw's remedy won't help poor pupils

The focus on the poor attainment of low-income pupils in the suburbs is long overdue (Ofsted chief calls for troubleshooters in schools failing poor children, 20 June). But the remedy suggested by Sir Michael Wilshaw will do nothing to assist those children. On the face of it, the suggestion that a school would lose its status of "outstanding" if it was failing its poorest children is an attractive one. However, we believe this will simply lead to an increase in the practice of "easing out" low-income children. The perception of Harrow is that of a wealthy borough with excellent schools and few social problems. The reality is that it's among the most ethnically and culturally diverse areas in the country, with both settled and new migrant communities. Harrow Law Centre regularly represents children from low-income families who are "eased" out of the borough's best schools.
Pamela Fitzpatrick
Director, Harrow Law Centre

‧?Sir Michael Wilshaw wants to parachute superteachers into schools to help the poorest children. I suggest he looks at how many poor children are "taught" by teachers' assistants as a cheap option in many schools. Some of the "poor, unseen" children in our secondary schools?can go for days without coming into contact with a properly qualified teacher or even an unqualified graduate. Seemingly, in these days of academic rigour, qualified teachers can't be wasted on the less able. They need to be focused on the targets thrown up by league tables in schools serving children?in poor areas.
Rosina Purnell
Essex

‧?Michael Wilshaw needs to have the courage to speak out against a government that ignores the importance of inequality in the educational performance of children. He cannot go on blaming teachers and schools en masse for failing to raise attainment when it is government policy that is causing the problem.
Richard Stainer
Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk

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Mega-States: an analysis of the performance of pupils in the five most populated States in the Nation

Description: California, Florida, Illinois, New York and Texas register nearly 40% students of schools public s of the nation. The importance of these mega-States goes beyond the size of their population. They have more than half of the nation now serve English language learners (ELL), as well as some of the largest concentrations of children from families with low incomes. As policy makers and educators look the nation s demographic changes and explore ways of bridging the achievement gap, the progress of the education of the children in these States are interesting well beyond their national borders. That s why the National Center for statistics education and the National Commission for the evaluation focused this special report on academic performance in the five largest States.

Mega-States are generally not higher than the nation, but they have made gains over time. The most recent NAEP results reveal certain achievements and challenges in the mega-States. They include the following: California scored lower than the nation in reading, mathematics and science.Florida scored higher than the nation in reading grades 4, but lower in grade 8 Mathematics and science.Illinois scored higher than the nation in the 8th grade reading, but lower in science.New York scored higher than the nation in reading of grade 4, but lower in mathematics in grade and 8th grade mathematics and science.Texas scored higher than the nation in 8th grade Math and science and lowest in reading.

The report includes more information about the performance of different groups of students in these assessments and focuses on earnings over time. In many cases, students in the mega-States have made significant gains or compete with the nation in the percentage of students at level competent realization.

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Poor sex education leaves pupils prey to exploitation say school inspectors

Too often lessons in secondary schools concentrate on the "mechanics" of reproduction instead of the importance of healthy relationships, says education standards watchdog Ofsted.

In addition, primary schools place too much emphasis on friendships without preparing their pupils for the physical and emotional challenges of puberty,

"Lack of high quality, age-appropriate sex and relationships education in more than one third of schools is a concern as it may leave children and young people vulnerable to inappropriate sexual behaviours and sexual exploitation," the report concluded.

"This is because they have not been taught the appropriate language or developed the confidence to describe unwanted behaviours or know where to go for help."

In just over half the schools surveyed, pupils had received lessons about staying safe but lacked skills such as the ability to stand up for themselves in difficult situations,? In addition, whilst they were told about security settings which operated on social media, they either did not know how to use them or could not be bothered to,

Lessons also skirted over the issue of pornography and its influence on pupils' effective understanding of healthy sexual relationships, the report added.

"The failure to include discussion of pornography is concerning," it said, "as research shows that children as young as nine are increasingly accessing pornographic internet sites and Childline counsellors have confirmed an increase to more than 50 calls a month from teenagers upset by pornography."

The findings emerge from a survey of PSHE (personal, social, health and economic education) lessons in 50 schools and an online survey of 178 pupils about their attitude to them.? The report was entitled "Not yet good enough".

Researchers also found that - while pupils were given adequate warnings about the dangers of drug misuse and smoking - too little information was given on the physical and social damage that could be caused by alcohol abuse.

One of the main problems, it added, was that "too many teachers lacked expertise in teaching sensitive and controversial issues which resulted in some topics - such as sexuality, mental health and domestic violence being omitted from the curriculum". In 42 per cent of primary schools and 38 per cent of secondary schools, teaching standards needed improving.

When pupils themselves were asked what issues should be covered in PSHE education, 37 per cent said they wanted them to deal with bereavement, 33 per cent opted for coping with stress and just over three in ten (31 per cent) wanted to learn more about eating disorders such as anorexia - with more girls (40 per cent) opting for the latter than boys (25 per cent).

On teaching about discrimination, it emerged most pupils had been taught about racism and sexism but not other forms of discrimination.? This had resulted in their failure to appreciate the impact of other forms of derogatory language - "particularly homophobic and disablist comments".

On economic wellbeing and financial capability, the majority of secondary schools were "strong" in delivering the topic but pupils wanted to learn more about economic wellbeing.? One girl aged 15 said she wanted to learn about "the different types of tax and national insurance and council tax and all stuff like that - didn't teach about housing benefit or any stuff you need when you leave school".

Ofsted's comments come just weeks after teachers' leaders called for the dangers of pornography to be emphasised in sex education lessons.

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers passed a resolution warning that - without them - pornography would be seen as the norm by many young people.

A spokesman for the Department for Education said:? “The quality of PSHE teaching is not good enough.”? The Government, he added, was funding the PSHE Association to develop the curriculum and improve the way it is taught, saying: “The best people to fix this problem are teachers on the ground – not politicians in Whitehall.”

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Private schools turn to foreign pupils as recession bites

The annual census of the Independent Schools Council shows the number of foreign students has risen by 1.4 per to 25, 912 while the number of home-grown students has stagnated.

The figures also show a growing number of independent schools - in total 29 - have set up overseas campuses which educate a further 19,000 foreign students - swelling their coffers and helping pay for more bursaries to help pupils from poor backgrounds.

The rise comes mainly from Russia, China and Nigeria - up 27.4 per cent, 5.4 per cent and 16.3 per cent respectively. By far the largest number of students come from Hong Kong (5,732) and China ((3,891)

In the meantime, a like-with-like comparison of the 1,204 schools that completed the census in both years reveals a 0.3 per cent overall drop in pupil numbers to 503, 132.? However, overall pupil numbers have risen to 508, 601 as some larger schools have joined the organisation in the past year.

The drop is most marked in secondary schools and sixth forms (down 0.8 per cent and 1.2 per cent respectively - whereas prep school numbers are rising (up 0.6 per cent).? The ISC said this reflected a drop in the age cohort at secondary school level and an increase in those of primary school age.

Regionally, recruitment in London is improving (by 1.1 per cent) -whereas it is tailing off elsewhere (0.6 per cent down).? The biggest drop is in Wales (2.7 per cent).

Barnaby Lenon, chairman of the ISC and former headmaster of Harrow, acknowledged the drive to improve recruitment internationally was “partly to provide a source of revenue for UK schools in order to hold down fee increases and fund bursaries”.

The Census also discloses that fee rises were the lowest for almost 20 years at 3.9 per cent with schools recognising parents are struggling as a result of the recession.

Growing numbers of independent school pupils are also seeking university places abroad following the rise in UK fees levels, it adds, with 38 per cent of schools reporting increases in those seeking to leave these shores to study.? Only nine per cent reported a drop in demand for overseas university places.

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Michael Gove attacks 'infantilisation' of school curriculum which encourages pupils to compare Nazis to Mr Men

In one history exercise, 15 and 16-year-olds studying for the IGCSE were told they should liken members of the Third Reich such as Hitler to Mr Men characters.

In another lesson plan for primary school pupils, it was suggested that children studying the Middle Ages should look at King John’s depiction as a cowardly lion in Disney’s Robin Hood film.

“If that proved too taxing then they are asked to organise a fashion parade or make plasticine models (to help them learn history),” he told a conference of independent school heads organised by Brighton College.

“It would be bad enough if this approach were restricted to primary schools but even at GCSE level this infantilisation continues.”

Mr Gove was speaking against the background of growing opposition to his plans to reform the national curriculum with 100 academics signing a letter to The Independent claiming his plans for a more traditional emphasis would involve youngsters having to learn “too much too young”.

He said that – during the debate – “precious little attention is being given to what has actually gone wrong in too many of our classrooms”.

“One set of history teaching resources aimed at year 11 (15 to 16-year-olds) suggests spending time depicting the rise of Hitler as a ‘Mr Men’ story,” he added.

Mr Gove said he doubted whether Roger Hargreaves, the author of the Mr Men series, had ever contemplated inventing characters like “Mr Anti-Semitic Dictator” or “Mr Dutch Communist Scapegoat”.

However, Russell Tarr, who devised the lesson plan on the website activehistory.co.uk, accused Mr Gove of “academic snobbery” – saying the pupils only did the Mr Men exercise after completing a six week course on the Rise of Hitler which included a 1,000-word in-depth essay.

Mr Tarr, who teaches at the International School in Toulouse, France, added: “I’m not trying to give pupils history lite.? I’m trying to get them interested.”

In his speech, Mr Gove also hit out at the “low expectations” of exam boards – particularly over GCSE English where very few pupils studied pre 20th century novels or plays. He said he was “surprised how relatively low expectations have been set in our existing national examinations”.

He dropped the broadest hint that he would be introducing further prescription in the English curriculum by insisting that secondary school pupils should study pre 19th century authors – such as Charles Dickens and Jane Austen.

Mr Gove praised the work of inner city primary schools like Thomas Jones in west London where pupils were reading “A Christmas Carol” and “Oliver Twist” by the age of 11 – whereas in Edexcel English Literature not a single student had opted to study a pre-20th century novel or play.

He quoted other figures which showed that – of the 280,000 pupils who had taken the AQA exam board English exam – less than one per cent had studied pre 20th century novels whereas 190,000 had opted for John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men.

He said that – in deciding upon the national curriculum – he had to “weigh carefully” the submissions he had received from “gifted and idealistic young teachers that we are not being rigorous enough and we should be specifying more content”.

He added he would much prefer a child of his to be reading George Eliot’s Middlemarch than Stephenie Meyer’s vampire series Twilight.

“Too many children are only too happy to lose themselves in Stephenie Meyer,” he added.? “There is a great tradition of English, a canon of transcendent works and Breaking Dawn is not one of them.”

He said that illiteracy amongst pupils was “one of the scandals of our time”.

Of primary schools like Thomas Jones, he added: “This level of ambition set and received by teachers without any directions by Government or its agencies is all the more impressive when you consider how relatively low expectations have been set in our existing national examinations.”

Earlier, former Labour Schools Minister Andrew Adonis predicted the virtual demise of the independent sector over the next two decades as more and more private schools schools opted to join the state sector as academies or free schools.? So far 15 have opted to become state schools – the latest recruit being one of the founders of the Headmasters and Headmistresses Conference, Liverpool College. The HMC represents 250 of the country’s most elite private schools.

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'Reservoirs of disease': Private school pupils 'at much greater risk' of getting measles than those in state sector, says leading doctor John Ashton

Professor John Ashton said Britain's 600,000 privately-educated children were at much greater risk of infection than those in the state sector.

Prof Ashton, who represents the UK's public health doctors, said a mix of large numbers of middle-class children who were not vaccinated against measles following the Wakefield scare in the 1990s, along with pupils from overseas with unknown health records, meant schools could become "reservoirs of disease", the Daily Telegraph said.

He said the risk was similar to that from groups such as gypsies and travellers, who have previously spread the disease.

Prof Ashton, who will soon become president of the Faculty of Public Health, said: "You've got a lot of middle-class, well-off parents, large numbers of whom did not have their children immunised because of the Wakefield scare - which was a very middle-class phenomenon.

"Layered on top of that you have got a lot of children from abroad, especially from the Far East, from countries such as Hong Kong and China, and there are few checks being done to establish their immunisation records."

He said private schools were a "law unto themselves", and warned both pupils and the wider population were being put at risk from infectious diseases because the schools do not have proper policies to protect children and are bad at keeping adequate medical records of pupils from abroad.

Prof Ashton said: "The danger is that you have a population that can potentially become a reservoir of infection.

"Normally when you are talking about subsections of the population that are at particular risk of disease outbreaks, such as measles, you are talking about groups like gypsies and travellers.

"But actually children in private schools, and in particular boarding schools, are one of the categories most at risk."

He urged independent schools to check immunisation records of overseas pupils as a matter of urgency, and advised them to "engage with" families who refused to vaccinate their children.

Dr David Elliman, an immunisation specialist from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said he believed there was a high chance that an outbreak of measles would occur at an independent school, saying health officials were braced for such a crisis, the Telegraph said.

Prof Ashton's warning comes as health chiefs launched a major in-school vaccination drive across three counties neighbouring a region battling a measles epidemic.

Thousands of unprotected children are being targeted as part of an exhaustive four week programme to stop the disease spreading in South Wales.

The number of measles sufferers in the greater Swansea area looks certain to pass the 1,000 mark over the weekend.

Four local hospitals will host drop-in vaccination clinics today, for the fourth consecutive Saturday.

Vital vaccination sessions will also continue in a number of Swansea and Neath and Port Talbot schools next week.

A parallel programme is now being rolled out across three counties to the west of Swansea.

It comes as a major ￡20 million vaccination programme was announced in England targeting one million unprotected children and teenagers.

PA

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End 'toxic' exams and test pupils on subjects they like, says report

The report for Demos by James Park, founder of the charity Antidote which campaigns for a focus on "emotional literacy", says the current system of testing every pupil in the same way is damaging their interests. It argues that tests in a variety of subjects should be available so parents and teachers can select the subject the child is most interested in for testing at 11, while still assessing literacy and numeracy.

"People become good at things – whether doing long division, writing elegant sentences … or competing in basketball – because they practise them persistently and purposefully," it says, "…to practise them, they have to see the point."

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