Schools to face admissions duty

Council-maintained schools in England will be forced to admit looked-after children at any time during the academic year after the government last week introduced new clauses to the Education and Inspections Bill.

The additions give councils the power to direct any admissions authority of a maintained school to take a looked-after child, even if the school is full.

The bill now moves forward to its report stage and will be debated in the House of Commons on 23 and 24 May.

Meanwhile, children in care in Stoke-on-Trent achieved the best GCSE results of England’s lookedafter children in 2005, with a quarter gaining five passes at grades A* to C.

Worcestershire came second, with 24 per cent of children in its care achieving five passes at grades A* to C, followed by Tower Hamlets, in London, with 23 per cent.

But only one in 10 looked-after children reached the same standard in England, compared with 56 per  cent of children overall.

Offending rates among children in care were lowest in London boroughs.

No looked-after children in Ealing, and just 3 per cent in Lewisham, Croydon and Hillingdon were convicted or cautioned.