Penns Primary School in Sutton Coldfield has just been announced winner of the West Midland’s One Million Minutes challenge! Over 2,900 children from primary schools across the county picked up their books in a contest to see which class could read for the most minutes in just one week.

City Year Birmingham is looking for inspirational local young people who want to help tackle educational inequality in their city and improve their own prospects at the same time. Applications for the charity’s next intake have opened, with 60 places available to volunteer full-time for a year from August 2016 in schools across Handsworth, Lozells, Saltley and Small Heath.

An Erdington Primary school is looking for community minded volunteers, groups and businesses to help create an inviting outdoor space for pupils. Brookvale Primary School wants to turn an “uninspiring” outdoor area – including a disused allotment – into a colourful, vibrant learning environment where youngsters can develop both their play and education.

Walsall College is inviting prospective students to come and find out about its range of vocational courses and the careers they lead to at its latest Open Day on Wednesday 25th November, between 4pm and 8pm. Careers are available in everything from plumbing to hairdressing and law to childcare with expert tutors on hand to plot your journey to employment.

The UK will miss out on the chance to capture £40bn of the global space market and an additional 100,000 jobs if Government and industry does not address the problem of restrictive regulations, barriers to investment, the growing skills shortages in engineering and science and fragmented collaboration between stakeholders, according to a new report by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

Two-thirds of businesses (69%) believe that secondary schools are not effective at preparing young people for work, according to a major new UK-wide survey of over 3,500 business and education leaders published last Wednesday by the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC).