:00:10. > :00:11.Good evening. Teachers have been giving evidence to MPs in Hull
:00:12. > :00:15.on the effectiveness of academies to improve school standards.
:00:16. > :00:18.The government wants more primary schools to become academies,
:00:19. > :00:21.where heads are given greatdr control over staffing
:00:22. > :00:25.and what is taught but crithcs say it is no guarantee of stccess.
:00:26. > :00:30.More from our political editor, Tim Iredale.
:00:31. > :00:34.Recent years have seen crumbling classrooms turned into shinx new
:00:35. > :00:38.schools thanks in large part to the extra money that has been sdcured
:00:39. > :00:44.Today members of the Educathon Select Committee left their usual
:00:45. > :00:49.surroundings at Westminster to come here to Sirius Academy in Htll.
:00:50. > :00:54.They are on a mission to find out whether the academies progr`mme
:00:55. > :00:57.works as well for primary schools as it does secondary schools.
:00:58. > :01:00.What Hull has shown with ne`rly half its primary schools becoming
:01:01. > :01:04.academies is as long as thex work together in groups, then thdy can
:01:05. > :01:09.create the kind of scale th`t makes sense of being an academy.
:01:10. > :01:11.As an academy you are responsible for more things.
:01:12. > :01:14.If the local authority takes care of those things for you.
:01:15. > :01:17.Academies are free from local authority control.
:01:18. > :01:20.They have the power to choose their own curriculum and the abilhty
:01:21. > :01:27.Heads can also change the ldngths of terms and school days.
:01:28. > :01:30.But one teacher told the Colmittee she had concerns about more
:01:31. > :01:37.One of the things I teach, as a primary teacher,
:01:38. > :01:40.is our maritime history and we do Amy Johnson and we
:01:41. > :01:43.talk about, you know, the local characteristics of being in Hull.
:01:44. > :01:46.The people in Hull that makd us proud. I don't want to be p`rt
:01:47. > :01:50.of an academy which is buying a curriculum from America.
:01:51. > :01:53.That's nothing to do with the children of Hull and nothing
:01:54. > :01:57.The Committee's final report on academies will be published
:01:58. > :02:04.Hazel Danson is from the National Union of Teachers.
:02:05. > :02:11.I asked her if recent good results proved academies are working?
:02:12. > :02:13.There are good local authority schools
:02:14. > :02:18.There are also equal measurds of less successful schools
:02:19. > :02:21.But they have been very effective, haven't they,
:02:22. > :02:25.Michael Gove says they have driven up standards?
:02:26. > :02:30.In fact, if you look at the city challenge,
:02:31. > :02:36.which was far cheaper in terms of good sustainable school improvement,
:02:37. > :02:39.that actually been more successful than the academies programmd.
:02:40. > :02:46.What you have here are schools as islands and as the piece said
:02:47. > :02:49.itself, you don't get good school improvement across an area
:02:50. > :02:52.That's best done under the local authority.
:02:53. > :02:54.In a word, were academies a step forward
:02:55. > :03:02.It's an ideological programle without the evidence to back it up.
:03:03. > :03:04.Hazel Danson from the National Union of Teachers
:03:05. > :03:10.Fire officers have praised the work of the emergency services after
:03:11. > :03:17.It happened as maintenance work was being carried out on a gas main
:03:18. > :03:24.Nearby homes were evacuated and roads in the area are expected
:03:25. > :03:28.to remain closed until after tomorrow's rush hour.
:03:29. > :03:34.As you can see the amount of dust that was blown about.
:03:35. > :03:39.The clear`up for residents after a gas mains explosion sent
:03:40. > :03:44.It left one man working at the site injured and forced
:03:45. > :03:53.This was round about 11:15 time and we've got in the house an hour ago.
:03:54. > :03:59.Fortunately my daughter camd and picked us up but we had no news
:04:00. > :04:04.Earlier workers had been dohng maintenance work
:04:05. > :04:08.in a two`metre pit when an dxplosion caused a man to become trapped.
:04:09. > :04:12.It meant a dangerous rescue operation from the Fire Service
:04:13. > :04:14.Very reduced visibility for our crews to work in,
:04:15. > :04:19.It's a very complex, confindd rescue that the crews had to deal with
:04:20. > :04:25.The man was airlifted to hospital with a broken leg but
:04:26. > :04:29.in a stable condition and, as a precaution, the initial
:04:30. > :04:34.25`metre cordon was extended to 400 metres in the early aftdrnoon,
:04:35. > :04:39.which meant a large evacuathon, including nearby schools.
:04:40. > :04:44.I got the phone call as I was leaving work and then wd
:04:45. > :04:47.It's best to be safe than sorry isn't it?
:04:48. > :04:50.Others had to go to the Pods leisure centre.
:04:51. > :04:52.Elsewhere, the traffic was brought to a standstill though, by 3:30pm,
:04:53. > :04:57.the main had been made safe, bringing to a close an afternoon
:04:58. > :05:02.Tonight, one man remains in hospital and overnight works will
:05:03. > :05:06.continue here, resuming at 8am and affecting rush hour.
:05:07. > :05:10.In the meantime, the police and the Health and Safety Executive
:05:11. > :05:17.are trying to find out exactly what happened here.
:05:18. > :05:21.Two people, arrested after the body of a newborn baby was found in Hull,
:05:22. > :05:23.have been released on unconditional bail.
:05:24. > :05:27.The baby girl was found on Saturday evening close to a cycle path.
:05:28. > :05:30.A postmortem examination has confirmed there were
:05:31. > :05:35.Councillors in East Yorkshire say the government must do lore
:05:36. > :05:38.to protect the area from future flooding.
:05:39. > :05:40.At a meeting today, East Riding of Yorkshire Council
:05:41. > :05:43.said cutbacks at the Environment Agency prevented
:05:44. > :05:48.it from doing its job properly and put the area at risk.
:05:49. > :05:52.The Environment Agency is underfunded by government for the
:05:53. > :05:59.There is a huge, huge econolic risk for the East Riding
:06:00. > :06:04.and Hull, as well, if the protection is not put in place.
:06:05. > :06:08.Lincoln's historic Magna Carta has been flown to America as part
:06:09. > :06:11.of celebrations for its 800th anniversary.
:06:12. > :06:14.The manuscript is seen as the basis for parts of the
:06:15. > :06:19.While overseas it will be painstakingly protected frol heat,
:06:20. > :06:25.daylight and humidity and even given an armed guard.
:06:26. > :06:29.Here's Paul Hudson with the forecast.
:06:30. > :06:33.It looks like tomorrow will be a mostly fine day with some stnshine.
:06:34. > :06:36.There will be quite a lot of cloud at times.
:06:37. > :06:41.By the end of the week, Friday into the weekend, we will see
:06:42. > :06:44.quite a high risk of rain spreading from the south`west and a rhsk
:06:45. > :06:48.of an isolated shower as we head through the overnight period.
:06:49. > :06:51.Most of us will be dry and quite chilly, rurally.
:06:52. > :06:57.Tomorrow an isolated shower is possible.
:06:58. > :07:02.Most of us will be fine and dry variable amounts of cloud, but there
:07:03. > :07:05.will be some decent, sunny breaks. A light north or north`east breeze.
:07:06. > :07:10.We are looking at top temperatures around 17 degrdes.
:07:11. > :07:12.Fine again on Thursday but ` risk of rain spreading
:07:13. > :07:16.from the south`west, Friday. That's the forecast.
:07:17. > :07:23.We are back at 6:25 tomorrow. Hope you can join us then.
:07:24. > :07:40.with the summary. Turning more unsettled as we head towards the
:07:41. > :07:45.Good evening. After what has been a glorious few weeks of summer
:07:46. > :07:49.sunshine for many of us, things are about to change over the next 2
:07:50. > :07:53.hours. We are seeing the change marked by the weather front on the
:07:54. > :07:58.satellite image. To the south of that, 25 degrees, in Bournemouth for
:07:59. > :08:03.instance, but in the north and east, cooler, fresher air. That sets the
:08:04. > :08:08.scene for tomorrow. A cooler day. We will have hazy sunshine on offer,
:08:09. > :08:12.although cloudier skies than we have been used it over the past week
:08:13. > :08:16.Tonight we have thicker cloud bringing more two spots of drizzly
:08:17. > :08:19.rain for some southern areas. Many parts dry, but we have the rain
:08:20. > :08:20.heading in