Increasing numbers of school children are suffering from bad backs because of ill-fitting chairs, a report says.

The laws that ensure teachers get appropriately sized chairs and desks do not apply to pupils, who can sit for long spells on uncomfortable furniture.

Instead pupils’ furniture is chosen because it is the cheapest available, says a report by former English education secretary Charles Clarke.

Many school chairs were designed for the bodies of children of the 1960s.

Also, children are spending an increasing amount of time in front of computers in schools.

Mr Clarke’s report for the British Educational Suppliers Association on what is needed to improve the future education system said: "Sitting for extended periods on chairs that are of inappropriate size and that lack ergonomic design, and at desks or tables whose height relative to the chair is incorrect and will be uncomfortable.

"The Back Pain Association is convinced that schools are a significant source of back problems."

It said schools had paid little attention to buying ergonomic furniture for children, with the main consideration being the "lowest unit price".

Research dating back to the 1990s suggests the size measurement on which most children’s furniture was based on the average size of children in the 1960s, when they tended to be shorter.

However, sizes have been updated by manufacturers and the report urged ministers to ensure the greater use of adjustable furniture in the new schools that are being built under England’s school rebuilding programme.

‘Astronomical cost’

It did however acknowledge that it would not be practical for schools to fill their classrooms with resized products.

Mr Clarke’s report said: "Our children are likely to be spending thousands of hours of their school lives on chairs and at desks and tables where their posture is poor and the potential for damage to backs is great."

Back pain is one of the most common reasons for absence from work and its treatment by the National Health Service, cost to employers and the public purse is "astronomical", it added.

The report also called for computer technology to play a "full and seamless part" in supporting pupils’ personalised learning.

The Conservatives revealed figures showing 1,500 suspensions of children aged four and under in the past year.

In response, heads’ leader Mick Brookes says it reflects teachers’ fears that they could lose their jobs if they intervene to stop violent pupils.

As such teachers are using suspension powers instead, says Mr Brookes.

Teachers were worried by a culture of litigation and the fear of unjust accusations, said Mr Brookes, and as such they opted to use procedures to exclude violent toddlers.

‘Shocking’

"The culture we have in our schools now means that every time they lay hands on a child to restrain them from hurting themselves or others, they put their jobs on the line," said Mr Brookes, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers.

"You would be surprised by the vehement language and the violence that comes in with very young children these days, it’s quite shocking," Mr Brookes told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

The figures obtained by the Conservatives showed 580 fixed-term exclusions of five-year-olds, 300 of children aged four and 120 of those aged three, for attacking another pupil, data shows.

There has been a steady rise in temporary exclusions at primary schools, while permanent exclusions have fallen.

Primary school permanent exclusions - published in June - were down to 980 compared with 1,540 in 1997.

There were 45,730 fixed term exclusions (suspensions) in 2006/7, compared with 43,720 in 2004/5 and 41,300 the year before.

This is the first year that the government has given a breakdown of the reasons for suspensions among various ages of primary school children.

The data shows there were 890 exclusions of five-year-olds for assaulting an adult, along with 420 of four-year-olds and 140 of three-year-olds.

In total, there were more than 4,000 fixed-period exclusions handed to children aged five and under.

The figure for those aged four and under is 1,540, the majority of whom were four (1,140).

The exclusions relate to a very small proportion of the primary school population.

Disruptive

For example, in the case of children aged four who were suspended, if it is assumed the figure of 1,140 relates to individual children, it represents about 0.2% of the pupils in that age group in England’s schools.

The data showed that there were 10 suspensions of five-year-olds for bullying, and a further 20 for sexual misconduct.

But there were 1,000 suspensions of under-fives for persistent disruptive behaviour.

The statistics were obtained through a parliamentary question by shadow schools secretary Michael Gove.

"Teachers need the powers to maintain order in the classroom and clamp down on bad behaviour before it escalates into violence," said Mr Gove.

"Ministers have eroded teachers’ ability to keep order by restricting their powers to deal with disruptive and violent children."

The government insists schools do have the power to take action against children behaving badly - and that this data shows they are doing so.

Heads’ powers

A DCSF spokesman said: "It is very difficult to see what argument is actually being presented here. Of course heads have the power to permanently exclude pupils where necessary but we are also helping schools to turn around poor behaviour before it reaches this stage

"Violence in the classroom, at any age, is not acceptable and teachers have the power to take appropriate action against young children involved in such acts - and these figures show that they are doing that.

"It’s important to remember though that behaviour in the vast majority of schools is good most of the time and a recent survey of teachers showed that around nine in 10 felt that behaviour in their school was satisfactory or better."

Pupils should be kept in school grounds during lunch breaks to stop them eating unhealthy take-away food, the Schools Secretary Ed Balls has said.

Mr Balls says there is little point in banning junk food inside school, if pupils then eat it outside school.

This will not be a compulsory requirement, but Mr Balls says he will back heads trying to impose a policy of not allowing pupils out during the day.

He also wants councils to limit the number of take-aways near schools.

Mr Balls is set to address the Healthy Eating in Schools Conference in London - where he will claim that "the corner has been turned" on improving the quality of school meals.

Unhealthy eating

Since the Jamie Oliver-inspired campaign to improve school food, there has been a series of initiatives, costing £650m, designed to raise the nutritional content and appeal of school meals.

But Mr Balls will tell the conference that attention needs to be paid to what children are eating outside school.

"There is no point in banning junk food and raising the quality of lunches in schools, if teenagers can simply go to eat unhealthy food from neighbouring take-aways," says Mr Balls.

As such, he says he supports "stay-on site" policies, in which pupils are not allowed to leave school premises during the day - stopping them from eating in local fast-food shops.

This will help to tackle an "ingrained culture of unhealthy eating", he says.

Mr Balls also backs local authority efforts to limit access to fast food - such as imposing a ban on take-aways within 400 metres of secondary school gates.

A survey of secondary school pupil eating habits published this summer found that 80% of pupils bought food from local shops.

The research by the Nutrition Policy Unit of London Metropolitan University found that two in five pupils never used the school canteen.

An important factor in eating habits was the speed and convenience of getting food from local take-aways, rather than queuing and overcrowding in school canteens, found researchers.

Rather than the quality or cost of school food being the determining factors, it was often the lack of comfort in the school canteen that influenced pupils.

The study found that local shops were more entrepreneurial about meeting this demand - offering cut-price child-size portions and getting in extra staff so that children could be served quickly.

However, this meant that children were ignoring healthy food in school and buying food and drink with high levels of fat and sugar.

A survey from the NHS Information Centre earlier this year found that one in three 11-year-olds is overweight or obese.

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.

More than 6% of secondary pupils also missed more than a fifth of lessons.

The total declined by 14,800 but in seven local authorities more than one in 10 were persistently absent.

There was a slight decline in overall absenteeism, from 6.44% to 6.26%, prompted by a fall in authorised absences such as family holidays.

The Department for Schools, Children and Families figures, showing children missing school in autumn term 2007 and spring 2008 in England, record that almost 10 million half-day sessions were missed in unauthorised absences.

But the rate of unauthorised absences remained unchanged at 0.97% of all half-day sessions.

The absenteeism rate for primary schools rose to 0.56% of all sessions, up from 0.52% last year.

Regional differences

This more detailed breakdown of absenteeism shows the impact of pupils who are persistently missing on the overall figures - defined as those who miss more than 20% of school sessions.

They accounted for more than half of unauthorised absences.

There was a 7,000 increase in the number of primary pupils classified as persistent absentees to 81,530, representing 2.4% of enrolments.

In secondary school there were 191,240, which was 6.4% of the total.

The government figures reveal areas of the country which have a much greater problem with such persistent absenteeism.

In Hull, 12.9% of secondary pupils are classified as persistently absent, 12.3% in Manchester and 10.1% in Southampton.

At the other end of the scale, in Redbridge only 4% were persistently absent and 4.3% in Barnet.

However the classification for "persistent absentee" also includes those who have been given permission to miss school, such as those with illnesses.

Elsewhere in the UK absenteeism is generally higher than in England.

‘Toughest nut’

A spokesperson for the DCSF says: “Persistent absence in secondary schools remains the toughest nut to crack - with just 6% of children accounting for 77% of unauthorised absence.

"Today’s statistics show that there were around 15,000 less persistent absentees in secondary schools and we have cut persistent absence by 20% in the 436 schools with the highest numbers of persistent absentees."

The figures for overall absenteeism include both those playing truant and those "authorised" to be away.

The most common reasons for missing school were illness and family holidays - with 86% of such family trips being approved by the school.

Academies, usually based in deprived areas, continue to have above-average absenteeism rates, currently 8.55% on average - down from 9.52% for the same period last year.

The complete annual figures will not be available until February - but the projected annual absenteeism rate for primary and secondary schools is 6.26%.

"The vast majority of children have no unauthorised absence at all. The fact is that weak excuses no longer wash with schools - overall absence is going down because schools are taking on the persistent absentees," says Children’s Minister Baroness Morgan.

The Conservatives’ Schools Spokesman Nick Gibb said the figures were a "stubborn reminder that the government’s multi-million pound strategy to tackle truancy has not succeeded".

"Most alarming of all is the significant increase in the number of persistent absentees in primary schools which has risen by over 10% since last year. It is the poorest pupils that are worst affected. Almost half of these children repeatedly skipping school are eligible for free school meals."

Lessons about personal, social and health matters including sex and relationships will be compulsory in all England’s schools from ages five to 16.

But the government is setting up a review of how best to achieve this, saying there are "complicated issues".

Schools Minister Jim Knight said this would factor in the ethos of schools, pupils’ needs and parents’ values.

A BBC poll of more than 1,000 people found two thirds would support sex lessons from the age of 11.

Reviews of education about sex and relationships and about drugs and alcohol were ordered after ministers said teaching was "patchy".

What they have not yet given is the detail of what compulsory personal, social and health education (PSHE) will involve, to allow local flexibility.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said the review of sex lessons had identified "a need to challenge the perception that sex and relationships education happened in a ‘moral vacuum’ in schools and says that parents and schools can and should work together to decide how best topics should be taught."

It said updated guidance would also be produced covering the content of the PSHE curriculum, based on the existing non-statutory programme.

Lessons should be "age appropriate". In primary schools, Sir Jim Rose would look at how PSHE should best be delivered as part of his ongoing review of the curriculum.

Some nurseries in England and Wales are serving processed foods, sugary drinks and foods high in additives, salt and fat, a survey has indicated.

It found foods such as crisps, chips and biscuits - banned or restricted in schools - appeared on nursery menus.

The Soil Association campaign group and organic food company Organix surveyed 487 nursery workers and 1,773 parents.

The Westminster government questioned the reliability of their findings and said meals must, by law, be healthy.

The survey suggested the average amount spent on food in the nurseries was £1 a day per child.

But 3% of them were found to be spending as little as 25p a day.

One fifth of the nurseries in question did not inform parents what food was being served during the day.

Oil-rich fish such as salmon, trout, mackerel or sardines were only served in 8% of them.

Of the parents surveyed, 21% described the food at their nursery as poor or mediocre.

Regulation

The Soil Association and Organix are calling on the government for tighter regulation of pre-school food provision.

But England’s Department for Children, Schools and Families said the education watchdog for England, Ofsted, had rated the majority of early years providers as good or outstanding in relation to providing a healthy diet.

"We would question whether a self-selecting online survey provides more reliable findings than Ofsted about the quality of food and drink," a spokesman said.

"We agree it is important that all childcare settings support parents in helping young children develop healthy habits.

"That is why it is a legal requirement in all childcare settings, including childminders, nurseries and day care, that where children are provided with meals, snacks or drinks, these must be healthy, balanced and nutritious.

"It is also a legal requirement that fresh drinking water must be available at all times, that children should be encouraged to try healthy food, that messages about healthier food choices are reinforced and that children are involved in the preparation of food."

‘Indefensible’

Soil Association policy director Peter Melchett said the quality of food given to children in nurseries had been overlooked.

"Children under five are at their most vulnerable. It is then they really need healthy food.

"This report sets out what nurseries, parents, and the government must do to make sure every child gets the healthy food they need for a healthy start in life."

The founder of organic food company Organix, Lizzie Vann, said: "The state of food in too many nurseries is indefensible.

"The government must take responsibility for food in nurseries as they have in primary and secondary schools, and substantial changes must be made urgently. Our children deserve nothing less."

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

National Challenge affects secondaries where fewer than 30% of pupils get five good GCSEs including English and maths.

The "floor target" for primaries will involve the percentage of 11 year olds achieving the level expected for their age in both English and maths "Sats".

A head teachers’ leader said thousands of schools could miss the target.

A spokesman for England’s Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) said: "We have always made it a key priority to improve all schools.

"We believe that it’s right to insist on certain minimum standards in the system, because that’s what parents want.

"Our role has been, and will continue to be, one of stretch and support for schools."

Warning

The DCSF is careful now to stress that it does not regard schools in its National Challenge as "failing".

But the label has dogged the scheme because Prime Minister Gordon Brown said when he launched it a year ago: "We can no longer tolerate failure."

More than 630 secondary schools were below the 30% floor target as of last year. Following this year’s GCSE results, 230 of those are said to have moved above it.

Now senior managers in primary schools are being warned that they are next to face such thresholds.

Ministers have yet to announce what the floor target will be, but the head of education at the National Union of Teachers, John Bangs, is among those who think it is likely to be 65% of pupils attaining both English and maths at Level 4.

He said if ministers used the same "steamroller" approach as they had with secondary schools - in particular, ignoring Ofsted reports praising some of them - it would greatly antagonise not only teachers but parents.

"I think they really are going to get their fingers burnt," he said.

"The floor target is just patently ‘one size fits all’ and therefore unfair to schools in challenging circumstances."

‘Complete mess’

The general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, Mick Brookes, also said he hoped the DCSF had learnt from "the complete mess" it had made of the announcement of the secondary scheme.

He said he thought ministers must be looking very carefully at the numbers, in determining the floor target, because they were in danger of pointing out that schools were not performing very well after 11 years of Labour government.

"If thousands - and it could be thousands, in primary - are going to be labelled as ‘failing’, if you like, then that does say something about the success of the government," Mr Brookes said.

Surrey County Council - one of the highest performing authorities in England - has a floor target for 2009 of at least 65%.

It says that, on the basis of their 2007 results, 39 schools - a fifth of the total - did not meet this threshold.

If that scenario was repeated nationally, more than 3,000 primary schools would be in the frame.

In the 2008 primary school performance tables - not now due out until next March because of the marking fiasco - the government is to publish a new indicator showing the percentage of pupils achieving Level 4 or above in both English and maths.

The DCSF’s key target from the Treasury is to increase the proportion achieving Level 4 in both English and maths to 78% by 2011.

The national average in 2007 was 71%. This year’s average has not yet been published.

By Gary Eason
BBC News website education editor

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Education Minister Caitríona Ruane has called for action to end the dispute at Movilla High School.

The school has been closed to pupils until further notice due to an ongoing strike by some teachers.

NAS/UWT members are protesting over having pay docked because they refused to teach a pupil who they say assaulted a teacher at the Newtownards school.

However, the South Eastern Education Board supported the school’s governors decision not to expel the child.

Speaking in the assembly on Tuesday Ms Ruane said that negotiation was the only way forward.

"We need to see this issue resolved. Whether it be by the offer of the children’s commissioner to mediate, the auspices of the Labour Relations Agency, or local dialogue," she said.

"I would also ask that the privacy of the pupil and their family be respected by all involved."

Strikers have said their morale is high and that they have received plenty of support.

"We’ve have a very good response from the general public and other teachers generally," said the union’s Fred Brown.

Another union, the Association of Teachers and Lecturers has balloted its 10 members about refusing to teach the pupil in question.

In a statement, the SEELB described the incident as having been "appropriately and proportionately dealt with" by the board of governors.

About 540 pupils at the school in Newtownards arrived for class on Monday, but were sent home.

The board had told the protesting teachers they would not be paid, even if they were teaching other classes normally.

The restoration of that pay is now the only barrier to talks at the Labour Relations Agency.

The union wants guarantees the pay will be restored, the board wants no pre-conditions. The union has described this approach as "confrontational".

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.

Nine out of 10 children now do at least two hours of PE and sport a week, according to figures being released.

In 2002, an estimated one quarter of pupils were doing that much sport.

The figures are also expected to show a rise in schools’ competitive sport, which ministers hope will form a permanent legacy of the 2012 Olympics.

Statistics from the School Sport Survey for 2007-08 will be released later on 16 October.

They are based on a survey of 21,631 schools and 6.2m pupils.

They will show that the government has met its 2008 target of 85% of pupils taking part in at least two hours of sport every week in school and in after-school clubs and matches.

A total of 90% are now said to do this much sport through their schools, up from 86% last year.

Teenagers

Among primary schools, the figures suggest a rise in participation from 52% in 2004-05 to 96% this year.

Participation is highest among pupils aged from five to 13 (90% do two hours or more a week).

Teenagers in their GCSE years do less sport. Among Year 10s (14- and 15-year-olds), 71% do two hours of school sport and among Year 11s that drops to 66%.

Last year’s School Sports Survey put the proportion of pupils taking part in inter-school competitive sport at 40%, a rise of 18% since 2003-04.

PE is compulsory under the national curriculum in England.

The government’s PE strategy, launched in 2002, aims to boost sport for young people through a variety of schemes, including more training for teachers and "School sport partnership", where 450 partnerships have been set up linking specialist sports colleges with secondary, primary and special schools.

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said: "We have made massive progress in the last few years and laid a firm foundation for a permanent 2012 Olympic legacy. It’s a testament to the fantastic, hard work of the Youth Sport Trust, schools and sports clubs.

"Ignore the half-pint full critics who carp nothing has changed. School sport was a national embarrassment a decade ago. Sport had all but withered and died in many schools; thousands of playing fields had been sold off; there was negligible investment; and an ingrained anti-competitive culture.

"School and youth sport has now never been as well funded; there is a permanent infrastructure and support in place; and more children doing PE and sport than ever before. Children don’t want to be wrapped in cotton wool - they want to compete at their own level, in the sports they want.

"We now need to raise our game to persuade more children to make the right choices and exercise outside school - children exercising more sport in the holidays and after school so all children can do at least five hours a week."

UK picture

As education is a devolved matter in the UK, policies on school sport vary across the nations.

In Northern Ireland, the assembly government recommends two hours of PE for secondary school pupils.

At primary level, last year a new sports programme was launched for primary schools where coaches from the Gaelic Athletic Association and the Irish Football Association go into schools to work with children aged four to eight.

The Scottish Government also expects pupils to have two hours of sport at school.

A spokesman said: "Guidelines under Curriculum for Excellence, Scotland’s new approach to learning and teaching, explicitly reflect our expectation that schools work towards providing two hours of good quality PE for each child every week and explore other ways of promoting a wide range of physical activities and sport.

"Furthermore, since 2004, £12m per year has been invested in the Active School programme, which is delivering a range of physical activities in and around the school day, helping increase participation in sport."

In Wales, the Assembly Government is working in partnership with the Sports Council for Wales to improve standards in PE and the range of sports offered.

A spokesman said a key element of this was the establishment of partnerships between clusters of schools to make "best use of facilities and expertise - with a target of two hours curriculum time each week for all pupils".

It was planned that by 2010 all schools would be involved with such partnerships, he said.