18/01/2017 South East Today

Minister's exit Strang. Join me now on BBC Two.

Today's main headlines in the south-east:

Crisis talks are held after a teacher was the victim

of an alleged serious assault by a pupil at a Kent school.

Southern Rail promises a full timetable next week as Aslef

suspends strike action and talks are said to be constructive.

And we started today with the lows of minus seven degrees and another

bitterly cold night to come. Crisis talks have been taking place

tonight after a teacher was allegedly assaulted by a pupil

at a Kent school. Teachers had been considering strike

action over concerns that the student at St Gregory's

Catholic School in Tunbridge Wells Following the talks

the National Union of Teachers say they feel progress has been made

with the school and that industrial action is no longer

an immediate prospect. The incident happened before

Christmas, when students were described as being

in high spirits. The child was suspended

but is now back at school, Parents today backed concerns

raised by the teachers. I can understand that the teachers

want to ballot to strike I think the child should be

expelled or bring the parent in to sort out

the situation. In a letter to parents, the school

said please be assured that the school

has followed procedures They say they have been working

closely with the union A recent survey found four in ten

teachers have experienced Last year, the Government scrapped

the no-touch rules that stop teachers removing

disruptive pupils from class, The head ought to weigh up

all the factors. Is a particular one-off

strong incident? And there are very tight

rules, because government is trying to get the number

of permanent exclusions down. People I've spoken to here in

Southborough say we should all feel safe when we go to work,

and that includes teachers. You shouldn't feel, you know,

unsafe in your workplace. That should never be a scenario that

should ever have to happen, that the teacher should feel

they are in a position When you know that something has

happened and there is a pupil that could then cause problems again,

it probably needs to be stamped out because then

every other pupil sees it Talks between the trust and union

finished this evening. Chrissie's here now, how much do

we know about what exactly happened? Well, we know it was serious enough

for the teacher to have to seek medical attention. As you have

heard, following the talks earlier this evening, the NUT say they have

made progress and are not looking at immediate industrial action. They

say they are trying to put in place a plan other pupil can remain at the

school and they plan to discuss that with the teachers, but tonight, the

trust really wants to reiterate that they are fully committed to the

safety of both the teachers and the pupils the school.

Hard-hit Southern Rail passengers have been promised the return

It comes after Aslef, the train drivers' union,

suspended three days of strikes next week, as well as an overtime ban,

to allow fresh peace talks to take place.

Southern says it will run more than 70% of its trains next Monday

when RMT Union action is taking place - that's 10% more

of its normal timetable than operated on previous strike days.

And routes which were previously suspended -

including Eastbourne to Hastings and Lewes to Haywards Heath -

Could the talks going on behind these walls finally bring an end

Southern's bold announcement that services will return

to pre-industrial action levels next week suggest the train company's

confident, something even the Prime Minister reflected today.

I hope that those sitting around the table are going to ensure

that we can see an agreement reached which enables passengers to actually

get on with their lives, get on with their jobs and not

suffer the misery that was brought about by the strike

After months of disruption from overtime bans, increased staff

sickness days and all-out strikes, yesterday, Aslef, the train drivers'

union, announced it was suspending action while talks took place.

The hope this time at the TUC that they'll get somewhere.

That's why Aslef has called for these high-level discussions,

because we need to get this resolved and as people have been saying,

it's about time the railway started providing the service

And these talks appear to be the cue for Southern

This isn't just people going out for a day,

these are people trying to get to work.

We have got young people trying to get university,

because there is no university in the constituency.

People trying to get a hospital appointments.

So really crucial journeys became an all-day experience at times

and people will be very pleased that the train services back.

How confident are Southern's passengers that all will be

If they are saying that they are going to do something about it,

then I'm fairly confident because they seem to have been

pretty strongly no up to now, so I would say 76%.

Because it's been going on for so long, I just don't have

From staff and passengers to management and ministers,

there'll be a lot of fingers crossed over the next few days.

This news must come as a great relief for commuters down there?

Yes, Polly, that's because the people here are finally getting

their trains back after putting up with replacement buses full such a

long time. This evening, the latest on those talks between Aslef, the

train drivers' union and Southern have been described as constructive

and will resume tomorrow but tonight, the local MP here says

despite the progress, she plans to hold an adjournment debate on Friday

because the normal southern rail service is still inadequate, she

says. A further 532 homes have

been given planning permission tonight as part

of the Ebbsfleet Up to 1,500 new jobs will also

be created on the site of an old cement works,

as well as food and drink outlets along the Thames

and pedestrian and cycle routes. 15,000 homes are set to be built

over 15 years to create the Garden City around the site

of Ebbsfleet International Station. Hastings is to receive

a share of ?12 million as part of the Government's

new "research schools" initiative. It's been chosen as a so-called

"opportunity area" that will improve the quality of teaching in deprived

parts of England. The Education Secretary says

it will build better relationships between schools,

colleges and careers services. Eurotunel today unveiled its latest

security initiative - a fleet of drones -

which combined with 570 CCTV cameras and miles of fencing have

created what it calls Both the British and

French governments have The company says there were 21,000

break-in attempts last year. But despite this, no

services were halted. In addition to the new measures,

Eurotunnel has committed to spending 20 million euros each

year on security. A fancy video and a fanfare praising

French and British co-operation has That was the view of one French

official at the launch of new security measures

in Coquelles today. The boss of the Channel Tunnel says

cutting edge technology has made We have electronic fences,

infrared barriers, cameras, and we can do, either day or night,

full control of the general. and we can do, either day or night,

full control of the terminal. I witnessed the final days

of the migrant camp known as the Jungle last year,

but will the heightened security at Eurotunnel stop services

being disrupted in the future? I would say the measures

we have taken place, the figures we now see

of intrustions into the site has reflected the tremendous work

that's gone on between governments and with the Eurotunnel to put

in infrastructure measures The new security centre,

with its drones and 570 cameras, It's unclear how much of that was

paid by the British Government. But one MP in Kent says a secure

Eurotunnel site in Calais It's all about making

the route secure. We want a very strong message to go

out, don't try and make your way towards Calais or Coquelles

with the hope of coming into the country without papers

because the border is secure. and that is not

a route into the UK. And the French authorities

agree the migrant camp has been dismantled,

they say the threat is still there. we'll have the national

weather in a moment. First, here's the forecast

for the south-east with Rachel. Good evening. Well, it has been a

crisp, cold, winters day. Lots of sunshine and as we go through

tonight, clearer skies mean once again temperatures plummet. Not

quite as chilly as last night, we saw loads of -7 but tonight, in

countryside sports, temperatures likely to drop to -24 minus three.

So we get a frosty start to Thursday. -- -2 or minus three. For

us in the south-east corner, a good deal of sunshine, a bit more cloud

than we have been seen of late so by the afternoon, temperatures a little

less cold, today we had highs of two or three degrees, tomorrow more like

five or six. The wind is no from a north-easterly direction but still

very light as we go into Friday. Again, less cold for the most part,

temperatures just about hovering above freezing in towns and cities,

so a cold start to the day for Friday. More cloud around and still

that area of high pressure, it will be trite and settled, temperatures

creeping up, highs of eight or 9 degrees and towards the weekend,

holding on to the area of high pressure, settled picture and

staying dry. Here is the outlook in the south-east.

next few days, no great changes over the next few days, more sunshine on

the way. Despite high-pressure sitting across

the country so only slow changes in the weather, we have had a variety

of different