Schools impelled to promote positive images of gay families

Schools are being urged to clampdown on homophobic bullying and promote positive images of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people in lessons.

The call came from campaign group Speak Out after a survey of 750 teachers in the Greater Manchester area revealed that 87 per cent had heard or seen homophobic abuse in their school.

The Greater Manchester Prevalence of Homophobia Report 2012, carried out by the National Union of Teachers and sponsored by Speak Out, found that half of teachers see or hear homophobic abuse on a weekly basis.

Nearly all those surveyed (97 per cent) want to see schools clampdown on homophobia, but only 77 per cent said their school was doing so. A similar proportion (72 per cent) called for specific training to deal with homophobia in their classroom.

The survey also revealed that 14 per cent of teachers were subjected to homophobic abuse during the last school year.

A spokeswoman for Speak Out said:

Ombudsman criticises Haringey council over support for boy with SEN

The Local Government Ombudsman has ordered Haringey council to apologise to a boy with learning difficulties after it took more than a year to issue him with a statement of special educational needs (SEN).

The ombudsman ruled that the delay amounted to maladministration causing injustice and ordered the council to review its SEN assessment procedures.

The 2001 SEN Code of Practice says councils must deal with a request for a statement within 26 weeks.

But the ombudsman Jane Martin found a raft of delays at multiple stages in the boy

Uniformed youth work scheme launches in London, Birmingham and Manchester

The first eight youth groups to benefit from the government

Ofsted: Disabled children slipping through child protection net

Ofsted is urging councils and LSCBs to improve child protection support for disabled children after research revealed the needs of many are being missed

Local authorities are failing to identify the child protection needs of disabled children, according to a report published by Ofsted.

The report, which looked at the effectiveness of child protection work for disabled children in 173 cases across 12 local authorities, found too many disabled children are at risk of slipping through the child protection net.

In some cases, inspectors found parents were neglecting their children, but the impact on the child had not been clearly recognised by children’s services. As a result, the focus on the child was lost.

Missed concerns

Serious concerns regarding the neglect of a young person with autism, for example, were only uncovered after an investigation into the alleged abuse of a sibling, even though the young person and the family were receiving support for the child

Social workers secure Facebook victory over ‘vile’ hate site

Complaints by social workers led Facebook to ban a ‘vile and offensive’ web page that published social workers’ names and photographs online alongside Nazi imagery.

The Facebook page, called UK Social Workers Exposed, featured Nazi symbolism