Online child sexual abuse at record high levels

  • A report by the Internet Watch Foundation found that children as young as three and six-years-old are victims of self-generated child sexual abuse.
  • This is when perpetrators groom and coerce children into creating images and videos of themselves which the offender records and shares on the web.
  • The IWF reports a 374% increase in this type of crime over the past two years, with some victims being groomed for weeks and others exploited within minutes.
  • You can read the full story on ITV’s website.

Children as young as 10 subjected to full strip searches by Met Police

  • Figures show that children between the ages of 10 and 12 have undergone full strip searches by the Metropolitan police.
  • Nearly 600 under-18s have been subject to strip searches where intimate parts were exposed between 2018 and 2020.
  • The figures were obtained amid the controversy over the case of Child Q, a 15-year-old black schoolgirl, who was strip-searched without an appropriate adult present.
  • You can read the full story on the Evening Standard‘s website.

Ofsted will step up early-years focus to address lockdown impact

  • Schools watchdog Ofsted is to increase its focus on early-years education as part of its new five-year strategy.
  • This aims to address the impact of the pandemic on young children in England, in communication and language skills.
  • Ofsted intends to increase training for early-years inspection workforce and increase support for early-years providers.
  • The full Ofsted strategy 2022 to 2027 can be found here.
  • You can read the full story on The Guardian’s website.

School leader retention rates in England declining

  • Department for Education (DfE) data has shown that the number of school leaders under 50 who quit within five years of being appointed has increased.
  • More than 1 in 3 secondary school leaders in England and 1 in 4 primary school leaders left their position.
  • The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) warns that leadership supply for schools is “teetering on the brink” and has accused the DfE of not acting.
  • You can read the full story on The Guardian’s website.