We told you earlier about the reaction on the BBC Look East Facebook page, external to a Southend mother's decision to turn down a prize awarded to her son for his good attendance.

Image source, Rachel Wright

Southend Borough Council , externalhas responded to Rachel Wright's stance to decline the award from the unnamed school, saying it was a "difficult situation".

James Courtenay, executive councillor for children and learning, said in a statement: "With school attendance so crucial to a child’s education and the clear link to attainment, it is easy to see why schools reward attendance in this way.

"However, I can also understand Mrs Wright’s view, who makes some interesting and eloquent points in her blog.

"It is a difficult situation for schools but ultimately it is a matter for individual schools to decide on."

The mother-of-three felt it was inappropriate to accept the prize as her son Jonah, 10, was being "rewarded for luck", while her eldest son suffers from cerebral palsy.

She hasn't named his school as she said it's common practice - and triggered a debate about the issue on her blog.

A Southend mother's decision to reject a prize for school attendance has caused a bit of a stir on Facebook, external.

Image source, Rachel Wright

The prize was given to Rachel Wright's son Jonah,10, but was not accepted as she doesn't believe children should be "rewarded for luck", underlined by the fact his brother Sam suffers from cerebral palsy.

The writer has blogged about her concerns and said she told her 10-year-old: "You will not get a reward for not being sick."

On Facebook, Kim Guest, external wrote on the BBC Look East Facebook page: "In 10 years as a school headteacher, I never gave an attendance award for this very reason."

While Paul Howell, external said at his child's school there is "an attendance pyramid with pictures of the children and they move them up and down depending on attendance. I think that's just insulting, embarrassing and demeaning."

Others said their sick children had been penalised by missing out on school trips, while some people shared concerns over bugs and viruses being spread by children who are too afraid to miss school.

However, Ricardo Hicks, external disagreed over Mrs Wright's stance and said: "School attendance is vital. Any teacher on here suggesting otherwise needs a career change."

A man is due in court later, charged with the murder of a Stanford-le-Hope man at a petrol station on the M25.

It's reported the victim, named locally as Quhey Saunders, 20, was attacked with a shovel at Cobham Services in Surrey last Monday.

Simon Baker, 22, from Redhill, will appear at the Old Bailey via videolink.

A 10-year-old boy was grabbed by a stranger in Grays yesterday morning, police have said, external.

Image source, Google

The man was said to have targeted him in Bradleigh Avenue at about 08:30.

He's then said to have let the boy go and fled towards Palmers Avenue.

Volunteers have transformed the garden of a firefighter who was forced to retire when he was diagnosed with a terminal illness.

Darren Black, 50, from Tollesbury, Essex, served with the fire brigade for almost 20 years before medics diagnosed him with motor neurone disease.

His garden was redesigned by 80 people to make it more wheelchair-friendly.

Organiser Sara Carter said it was the "best day ever".

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

A family from Essex are searching for a kidney for their daughter from outside the family as both parents have already donated one to two of their children.

Parents Joanne and Mark Wishick, from Leigh-on-Sea, are believed to be the first in the UK to have each given kidneys to their children, who were born with chronic kidney failure.

In 2005, Mr Wishick donated his to their then two-year-old son Oliver, but 19-year-old Ella's kidney, donated by Mrs Wishick in 2012, is failing.

She needs a replacement but, failing that, the family are also raising money for an extension to their home to build a sterile room where she can have dialysis.

Joanne Wishick said: “Ella currently shares a bedroom with her younger sister Rosie who is 16 but Ella needs her own sterilised room to house a dialysis machine while we are looking for a potential donor.

"She now has to accept that she has to go on dialysis ASAP before her kidney loses anymore function, as it's only working 15%.

“We are appealing to anyone who would be willing to donate their kidney so she's not stuck on dialysis for a long time. If this is something you would consider doing and would like to be tested for please let me know. I have never had any problems myself from donating my kidney, we don't actually need two!"

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Officers are "very concerned" about two vulnerable brothers who've gone missing from the Harlow and Thundersley areas and are thought to be together.

Image source, Essex Police

Kye Smith, 15, hasn't been seen in a month after being reported missing on 6 June, while Justin, 13, disappeared on Saturday.

Officers said they've exhausted all their means of inquiry and are now asking for the public's help to find them.

Lucy Martin
BBC Weather

It's set to be a hot, dry and sunny day with highs of 25C (77F) expected.

Want to know more? Here's my full weather report...

Katy Lewis
BBC Local Live

Good morning and welcome back to Local Live across Essex.

We'll be here until 18:00 with the latest news, sport, weather and travel from across the county.

The full weather forecast will be with you shortly - and it's set to be a scorcher.

Rachel Wright rejects her son's award because he should not be "rewarded for luck".

Former Tilbury Football Club player Kevin Malthouse was stabbed to death on Saturday morning.

Zoe Applegate
BBC News

That's it from the Local Live team today - but, of course, we will update this feed with any breaking news overnight.

Take a scroll down the timeline to see the stories that have been hitting the headlines across the county today.

We will be back at our keyboards from 08:00 tomorrow - join us then.

Have a good evening.

A neighbour has been talking about the moment he rushed to try to help an amateur footballer who was stabbed to death in a residential street.

Kevin Malthouse, 24, was attacked in Blackshots Lane, Grays, in the early hours of Saturday.

The man, who gave his first name as Tibor, said he was woken up by loud voices before going outside to investigate.

"One of them was on the floor... I took a towel to the guys and they tried to stop the bleeding but it was too quick," he said.

"Everyone was shocked and panicked. He was too young to lose his life. I never wish anyone to see something like this.

"I called the police and another lady was calling the ambulance. We did all that we could do."

Flowers - including moving tributes from Mr Malthouse's parents and wife - have been laid near the spot where he died.

A man, 18, charged with his murder, is due in court tomorrow.

A controlled explosion has been carried out in Southend this afternoon after a bomb was discovered in the sand.

The blast was carried out in the sea by a military bomb disposal squad from Portsmouth at about 13:00, said a spokeswoman from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, external.

The 46cm-long rusting cone-shaped bomb was found by a member of the public on Sunday afternoon while the tide was out and was believed to have been lodged in the sand for "quite some time".

The coastguard and police cordoned off the beach and closed part of the road along Western Esplanade until the explosion could be carried out.

The M11 at Bishop's Stortford on the Essex-Hertfordshire border has reopened, after a crash involving five vehicles.

It was shut between junctions seven and eight earlier, while the air ambulance landed.

Ambulance driver Faye Parson also cannot recall whether the siren was on, a court hears.

An "experienced" ambulance driver whose vehicle hit and killed a pedestrian on a marked crossing while she responded to an emergency call could not remember if her siren was on, a court has heard.

Faye Parson, 41, denies causing the death of 77-year-old dentist Michael Daly by careless driving.

Her ambulance had its blue lights on and was responding to an urgent call when she pulled into the wrong lane to overtake a queue of traffic as she approached a pedestrian crossing.

Peter Clement, prosecuting at Chelmsford Crown Court, said the traffic lights were on red as Mr Daly crossed the A414 Main Road in the village of Danbury, Essex on his way home from his dental surgery on 4 February 2016.

The speed limit was 30mph and the ambulance was recorded at 29mph immediately before the collision.

The passenger-side wing mirror of the ambulance hit Mr Daly and he was flung into a black van in queuing traffic, the court heard.

He suffered severe brain injuries and was taken to St George's Hospital in Tooting, London by air ambulance.

His life support machine was switched off four months later after he contracted MRSA and suffered a cardiac arrest.

Mrs Parson, of Church Street in Braintree, told police she could not remember if her siren was on, Mr Clement said.

A data processor fitted to the ambulance confirmed its blue lights were on and its siren was armed for use, but it did not record whether the siren was used.

The case continues.

Police investigating a break-in at Aveley Town football club have revealed they're looking to trace three teenage boys.

Image source, Google

Forty footballs, a defibrillator and an electronic scoreboard were stolen from their ground on Mill Road back in May.

Damage - costing a five figure sum - was also caused to the changing rooms, stands and toilets.

Two men have been arrested over a fatal crash in Stanford-Le-Hope.

Two women died and another, aged 84, is in a critical condition in hospital after their car was involved in a collision with a van on Lower Dunton Road yesterday afternoon.

A 23-year-old man, from Tilbury, and a 22-year-old man, from Basildon, have been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving, driving while unfit through drink or drugs and attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Janet Harnden
BBC Radio Norfolk

Fifteen cases of female genital mutilation, external (FGM) have been identified in Norfolk.

Image source, Getty Images

Across the eastern region*, 90 cases were identified by the NHS and nationally the study reveals nearly 5,500 new cases in the past year.

FGM is the removal of external female genitalia, including the clitoris, and was made illegal in the UK in 1985 with the law strengthened in 2003 to prevent girls travelling from the UK to undergo operations abroad.

Most of the cases are to be found among people of African origin.

The condition was identified by midwives and medical staff.

In all bar 57 cases, the women and children had their operations abroad.

*Eastern region in this instance is Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Essex.