Twenty-seven Birmingham schools - which have been classed as ‘failing’ according to the government’s GCSE targets and given just 50 days to improve or face closure by the government - should treat IT as their highest priority if they want to stand a chance of turning things around.

Education chiefs are making a pioneering Cambridgeshire college their first stop on a national tour to learn lessons on how to run schools of the future.

Sawtry Community College will receive an award as it plays host to the Future Visions Tour which will see bigwigs and policy makers from the world of education and the Government descend on the rural school from all parts of the UK. They will attend a series of workshops which showcase the school’s achievement in using Information Technology (IT) to set new standards in the delivery of community learning.

It is physically impossible to pick up a newspaper at the moment without reading the words ‘credit crunch’ in the headlines.

I’m no economist but with food and fuel prices increasing, it’s becoming evident that people are pulling in their belts and counting the pennies much more carefully.

After a summer of bliss, reality has kicked back in with a vengeance.

September has ushered in the return of the school run and the UK’s roads have gone back to their natural state of gridlock as droves of parents drop their children off at the school gates. I’m not going to berate the school run as it’s a sad fact of modern life.