Survivors recall school bus crash

13 July 2011 Last updated at 15:00 GMT Kieran Goulding and Chloe Walker were on their way home from school Young survivors of a bus crash in Cumbria, which claimed the lives of two teenagers, have recalled the horror of the collision.

Keswick School pupils Chloe Walker, 16 and Kieran Goulding, 15, died when their bus was hit by a car driven by former teacher Patrick Short, 68.

Mr Short, whose Honda Civic car was on the wrong side of the road, also died.

An inquest into the deaths last May, heard from fellow pupils who described the carnage of the crash scene.

The coach was taking pupils from Keswick School home towards Cockermouth and Whitehaven and was nearly full when the crash happened on the A66 near Keswick.

The inquest heard in a statement from a 13-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, that pupils at the back of the bus had discussed whether they should open the skylight on the hot, sunny afternoon and Kieran got out of his seat.

He said: "Chloe went to try and grab Kieran's hand, but then the bus crashed.

"She did not get to him and ended up dying and so did Kieran."

The two youngsters were later discovered trapped under the bus.

The two teenagers and Mr Short were killed instantly in the crash

Other pupil statements were also read out at the hearing at Cleator Moor Civic Hall.

A 14-year-old girl told how she was trapped by a fallen metal beam and had to be pulled out of the wreckage by firefighters.

She said: "People were trying to get me out and were saying 'don't die, don't die'. I said 'I'm not dying, I'm just resting my eyes'."

She suffered a broken collarbone and severe muscle damage to her shoulder which she will not have full use of again.

Giving evidence, a 13-year-old boy told how he thought the Honda Civic was travelling faster than the speed limit when he saw it through the windscreen.

He said the vehicle suddenly swerved from the opposite carriageway and straight on to the front of the bus which overturned and hit a tree.

Earlier the inquest was told tests showed Mr Short's Type 2 diabetes condition was "highly unlikely" to have played a part in the crash.

The hearing continues.

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School build programme scrapped

13 July 2011 Last updated at 14:30 GMT Councils are now being asked to meet 50% of the costs of the projects The Welsh Government's national school building programme, 21st Century Schools, will not go ahead as planned.

Councils have been told to go back to the drawing board and re-submit plans for new schools, as well as to contribute significantly more funds.

Many school building and improvement projects are likely to be scrapped or delayed.

Education Minister Leighton Andrews told assembly members: "The environment has changed."

Each local authority submitted plans to transform their school stock, to the Welsh Government.

Councils were to contribute 30% of the costs of each project, with the remainder being paid by the Welsh Government.

However, BBC Wales revealed in December that a shortfall of hundreds of millions of pounds was expected.

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Authorities must be given the opportunity to review the timing and content of their planned investments so as to take the hard decisions early...”

End Quote Leighton Andrews Education Minister It came after a previous Welsh Government promise to ensure every school building was "fit for purpose" by 2010 was not met.

Local authorities have now been asked to review and re-submit their plans.

They will now be asked to contribute 50% of the projects' costs.

In a written statement to assembly members, Mr Andrews said: "There has been a sharp reduction in capital funding imposed on the Welsh Government - taken together a reduction of 40% will occur across the current funding period.

"Against that background, the board and the Welsh Government consider that authorities must be given the opportunity to review the timing and content of their planned investments so as to take the hard decisions early that will ensure funding goes to the delivery of excellence in education not the maintenance of buildings."

BBC Wales has obtained figures from 18 of Wales' 22 local authorities which show that they intended to build schools worth ?1.255bn between now and 2015.

Over 15 years, 16 authorities planned to spend ?3.953bn.

It is likely that a significant number of school building and improvement projects will now be scrapped, says BBC Wales education correspondent Ciaran Jenkins.

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Charge over school hammer attack

8 July 2011 Last updated at 09:18 GMT Council officials said no children witnessed the incident A man has been charged after a woman was left badly injured in a hammer attack outside the Tyneside primary school where she worked.

Police said the 21-year-old victim was found in the car park of Burradon Primary School in North Tyneside at lunchtime on Thursday.

North Tyneside Council said no pupils at the school witnessed the incident.

Police said a 23-year-old man was arrested near the scene and later charged with wounding with intent.

The woman, understood to be a supply teacher, was released from hospital after treatment to injuries which are not thought to be life-threatening.

No-one else was hurt in the incident.

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Unions criticise school trip plan

2 July 2011 Last updated at 19:24 GMT Ministers say there is too much bureaucracy involved in organising school trips Teaching unions have criticised plans to make school trips easier to organise amid government fears about the over-zealous application of safety laws.

The Department for Education is publishing new guidance to help schools ditch "unnecessary paperwork", and has cut 150 pages of guidelines to eight.

But the National Union of Teachers (NUT) said it feared reducing best practice could lead to more accidents.

Education Secretary Michael Gove said it was a "more common sense" approach.

Amanda Brown, of the NUT, said: "What we wouldn't want to do is to see a reduction of guidance which could lead to a lot more accidents.

'Myths'

"What we want is advice which is very clear and straightforward but long enough to cover enough of the detail so that people do feel secure."

The NASUWT teachers' union said cutting back guidance could reduce parents' confidence and make teachers more nervous about school trips because it provided a safeguard.

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The dilution of guidance for schools is likely to reduce rather than increase the number of educational visits”

End Quote Chris Keates NASUWT teachers' union "The decision to scrap over 140 pages of guidance is potentially reckless and could increase litigation against schools and teachers," said general secretary Chris Keates.

"There is no evidence demonstrating the need for the previous guidance to be abandoned, and no educational reason for doing so.

"Schools and teachers organise educational visits when it is clear that there is an opportunity to enhance and enrich pupils' learning and when they assure themselves that children will be safe.

'Crazy situation'

"The dilution of guidance for schools is likely to reduce rather than increase the number of educational visits."

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) said it hoped the new guidelines would dispel legal "myths".

Chairman Judith Hackitt told the BBC it was "time to out those who hide behind red tape and procedures and often blame us and health and safety as the reason why they can't do these things".

She said guidelines had ended up being overly bureaucratic because of a fear of civil litigation, cost-cutting and because it was an easy way to avoid work that was regarded as more difficult.

Teachers were intelligent people and should be trusted to use their common sense, she added.

Ministers said school trips could broaden children's horizons but fear of prosecution was too often used as an excuse not to organise them.

In the past five years only two cases had been brought against schools for breaches of health and safety law on a visit, they said.

Employment minister Chris Grayling said: "We've got a crazy situation at the moment where, very often, headteachers and teachers think that actually the rules are such that it's not a good idea to plan school trips.

"There's too much bureaucracy, too many health and safety rules and a risk of prosecution if something goes wrong," he told the BBC.

"There is no reason - and never was - why children should be prevented from going on school trips by over-enthusiastic misinterpretation of rules," he said.

A Labour Party spokesman said health and safety rules needed to be applied sensibly.

The new guidelines clarify that written parental consent is not needed for each activity and encourage schools to use a new one-off consent form signed once when a child starts at a school.

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