Ed Balls

  • Sex education gets a cautious welcome

    November 12, 2009
    Jewish education leaders have given a guarded welcome to the government’s announcement of its plans for sex education in schools. Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, unveiled plans to make personal, social, health and economic education compulsory in schools from 2011. Faith schools will have to teach the new curriculum, but “within the tenets of their faith”, said Mr Balls.

  • Balls praises JCoSS ethos

    April 23, 2009
    JCOS-Ed-Balls.jpg
    Schools Secretary Ed Balls said this week that the cross-communal JCoSS secondary school in Barnet will be a beacon for tackling discrimination and prejudice. “This is a very important and significant day,” Mr Balls told the 200 guests at Monday’s ground-breaking ceremony for the £50 million project. “This is a time when we have to redouble our efforts, say discrimination is wrong and stand together, community by community, to root out intolerance and prejudice. That is what this school is about.

  • Ban Kabbalah access to schools, Balls told

    August 14, 2008
    An Orthodox rabbi who has campaigned against a children's organisation run by the Kabbalah Centre has called on the government department responsible for education to "pull the plug" on its access to schools. Rabbi Yitzchak Schochet, minister of Mill Hill United Synagogue, wrote privately to Children, Schools and Families secretary Ed Balls after it was revealed in June that Spirituality For Kids (SFK) - an offshoot of the Kabbalah Centre - had been holding lessons in six schools in the London boroughs of Westminster and Tower Hamlets.

  • Israel rally set to raise the roof

    June 20, 2008
    Thousands of people are expected to turn out for the first UK “Salute to Israel” parades in London and Manchester on June 29. The London parade, which will start at midday on the corner of Berkeley Street and Piccadilly, will culminate in a Trafalgar Square rally at 2pm. Supporters can expect a visual spectacle as they watch marching bands and floats sponsored by companies, including the JC, and communal organisations.  The rally will be compered by LBC radio host Nick Ferrari, with guests including Knesset member Isaac Herzog and Ed Balls MP.

  • Brown praises head

    April 24, 2008
    Tributes from Gordon Brown and Ed Balls to Wolfson Hillel Primary head Sharon Margolis were read out at a retirement lunch for Mrs Margolis, who has left the Southgate school after 15 years. Praising the commitment and vision of Mrs Margolis, Mr Brown wrote that “at Wolfson-Hillel, you have built up a great school”. In his message, Mr Balls, the Education Secretary, noted that “the excellent facilities and reputation the school now enjoys is due to your leadership skills”.

  • Why I exposed school entry flaws

    April 10, 2008
    Faith schools can ask for voluntary donations, but they must not be a condition of admission Jewish schools play a vital role in delivering excellent education for young people in this country. The Jewish community’s commitment to enriching and empowering young minds — shown by the high priority education is given in Jewish homes and its central role in Jewish life — is a model we can all learn from.

  • Ed Balls: Holocaust education is best investment

    October 1, 2009
    Schools Secretary Ed Balls has said the money put into Holocaust education is the “best investment” his department has made. Mr Balls and his wife Yvette Cooper, the Work and Pensions Secretary, were among the 300 guests at the Holocaust Educational Trust dinner in central London. Stressing the enduring importance of Holocaust education, he said young Britons were learning about the Shoah in a “relevant and sophisticated” way.

  • Rabbis in New Faith School Challenge

    August 28, 2008
    LEADING Jewish education figures have reacted with outrage on learning that two Progressive rabbis are to lobby the government to prevent state-funded faith schools using a child's or parent's religion in determining admission.

  • Balls pledges fresh look at school safety

    July 4, 2008
    Ed Balls, the Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has promised to revisit the question of how to help Jewish schools meet security costs amid frustration at the lack of tangible support. Last autumn, the government announced that local councils would be allowed to help with capital expenditure on security, but some councils have said there is no money available.

  • Balls backs primary age Shoah education

    May 29, 2008
    A Holocaust survivor has told Children, Schools and Families Secretary Ed Balls of the importance of educating primary pupils against antisemitism. Joanna Millan met Mr Balls at the UK Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire last Friday where the minister was supporting a forthcoming Holocaust exhibition, The Journey, aimed at primary-age children.

  • Schools hit back at Balls

    April 10, 2008
    Ed Balls, Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, has defended the exposure of schools in breach of the government’s admissions code despite anger among Jewish schools at his decision to name them. Writing in today’s JC, Mr Balls says: “I do not think that keeping all this information a secret would have been possible or the right thing to do in the public interest.”

  • Schools break rules over entry demands

    April 3, 2008
    State-aided Jewish schools have been found to be in breach of the Government’s admissions code by asking parents for inappropriate personal information or requesting donations when their children apply. Several Jewish schools have fallen foul of the code by asking parents on entry forms for details such as their marital status or occupation.
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