School Survival

The headmaster of an Edinburgh school where pupils have gone back to using fountain pens said they helped to raise academic performance.The writing policy at Mary Erskine and Stewart's Melville Junior School in Edinburgh means children a young as seven are using the pens.Bryan Lewis, the school's head teacher, said the practice helped boost youngsters' […]

"A useless piece of garbage who wouldn't know chemistry if it ran him over...""She spends all our lessons on her mobile texting her boyfriend...""I didn't like her as a teacher... she had a weird smell of vodka to her." (Anonymous posts on ratemyteachers.co.uk)Teachers have always had to put up with personal jibes from kids.Until very […]

England's education secretary is said to be exploring ways to raise the school leaving age to 18.Alan Johnson told political journalists that "staying on" rates must improve.He said it was unacceptable for a 16-year-old to be in employment without getting help with continued schooling or training for qualifications.An aide said later that ways of overcoming […]

All schools in Wales will have a school council allowing pupils' views to be heard, following new legislation.Wales is the first part of the UK to make the councils a compulsory part of school life, after legislation was passed by the Welsh assembly.Many schools already have councils which give their views on a range of […]

A four-year-old is suffering from depression because she cannot attend the same primary school as her nursery friends, according to her doctor.Mollie Murphy from Sunderland struggles to sleep and vomits before lessons, so her parents are keeping her at home.Sunderland Council said Mollie missed out on a place at East Herrington school because of a […]

A SCHOOL headmaster was branded a killjoy yesterday after he ordered pupils to stop HUGGING each other.Steven Kenning told teens to quit embracing because it made them late for lessons.He said hugging could be deemed "inappropriate" and "victims" could be hugged against their will.The barmy rule was posted on the website of Callington Community College, […]

A high school principal received a six-day suspension and a letter of reprimand for giving one of his students a wedgie.Eric Messerli pulled a Park High School senior's soccer jersey over his head and yanked upward on the waistband of the boy's underwear at a soccer game October 5. Other school officials said he was […]

For the first time in a generation, public schools have won broad freedom to teach boys and girls separately, stirring a new debate about equality in the classroom.The Education Department on Tuesday announced rules that will make it easier to create single-sex classes or schools, a plan that's been expected for almost three years.The move […]

Politics has become a game for a group of California college students who have launched an online video game, "Fantasy Congress," in the lead-up to next month's U.S. congressional elections.The game, officially launched on Monday, is a new spin on the popular online fantasy sports games where players chose a team of real-life players and […]

It takes more than a lunch lady to run today's public school cafeterias. It takes a logistics expert.Take Rome's West End Elementary, where two classrooms of students charge into the lunchroom every five minutes, load their trays up with corn dogs, steak nuggets and fresh fruit and pile into cashier Lydia Galego's line.Galego, though, has […]