Young Ambassadors travel to Bangladesh for the Send my Friend to School Campaign

April 30, 2015 By Leave a Comment

Photo by Nana Kofi AcquahAs winners of the 2015 ‘Send My Friend to School’ campaign, George Watts and Emily Pembeton from Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr in Cardiff have been given the opportunity to go to Bangladesh last month.

They made the trip as Young Ambassadors for the campaign and were supported by the Global Campaign for Education UK.

A fantastic achievement for any young person, George and Emily travelled to Ghana on a mission with ActionAid and the Global Campaign for Education UK in order to ask important questions about encouraging children into education. On this trip they met with children who were denied the chance of a proper education, shedding light on how this can affect their entire future.

Emily and George managed to see first-hand how a lack of education can lead to a downward spiral, as children are unable to obtain better jobs for themselves, thus trapping them in a cycle of poverty. The Young Ambassadors campaign comes about as a result of the attempts made to promote education and its concept of being a necessity as opposed to a privilege reserved only for the rich and wealthy.

Upon their return, Emily and George were able to share and speak about the issues they had witnessed with teachers at the NUT conference and even to parliamentarians in the House of Commons.

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Parents Worry about Helping with Homework

April 22, 2015 By Leave a Comment

homework

With the school curriculum constantly changing in a bid to improve education for the current generation, it is not surprising that parents can sometimes feel a little swamped by all the changes.

It is becoming increasingly common to see parents expect more from teachers and teaching assistants, while at the same time not feeling confident enough to take an active stance in assisting their own children with learning.

In January this year, insurance company Aviva conducted a study gathered from 2,000 parents that covered how confident parents felt when faced with challenges in their children’s homework. It is important that parents are able to provide advice and helpful hints and tips when assisting children with their homework, but with certain subjects, such as maths and science, they can be left feeling a little stumped at answering some of the questions put to their children by teachers.

Two thirds of parents today admit that they feel they cannot give their children the support they need when it comes to solving homework problems, with four in ten adults admitting to feeling a sense of competition between themselves and other parents. Around 50% of parents admitted to using Google when ‘helping’ their children.

It can be difficult for these parents when they admit to having trouble, and helping children with their homework can drudge up bad memories of their own school times but it is an essential part of the learning progress. So what can be done to improve the confidence of these adults so that they can help their children grow? Let us know your ideas in the comments below!

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Parents will do anything to secure school places

April 17, 2015 By Leave a Comment

IRS 1040 Tax Form Being Filled OutIt has come to light that a growing number of parents throughout Yorkshire are not telling the honest truth when it comes to applying for school places for their children.

In order to get into Yorkshire’s best schools, parents have been stretching the truth when filling out certain forms with regards to their family circumstances and where they live.

This may have come about as a result of the recent rise in demand for school places.

With schools full to bursting and a shortage of professional key stage 1 and key stage 2 teachers, around 11,770 pupils applying for Yorkshire schools did not get into their first choice of Primary or Secondary school; with just under 3,000 applicants offered places from Primaries or Secondaries they didn’t choose.

As a result of these altered school applications, the local councils have had to carry out a number of investigations into fraudulent applications for Yorkshire schools. This only serves to highlight the issues many face when applying for local schools and the desperate need for more teachers on board.

Research has also shown that school catchment areas are more popular when it comes to families looking for a stable family home or at least a place to rent for the time being. When looking for a property it is important for parents to know about local catchment areas and so it is no wonder that properties within the catchment area are more popular.

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Keep the Culture!

April 13, 2015 By Leave a Comment

culture

Teachers and teaching assistants are being placed under an increasing amount of pressure to teach children everything they need to know. The pressure is really on to help them become high functioning and successful adults later in life. However with long hours, large classes and a shortage of both teachers and funding in many cases, it is getting harder and harder for teachers to be able to fulfil this promise to parents.

Culture is extremely important in education; however it can often be cut in favour of more ‘practical subjects ‘such as maths and science. It is crucial to be able to have a healthy balance of all sorts of subjects throughout every child’s education in order to give them enough choice to develop their own skills and interests. A balanced education is also important as it allows children to relax into less ‘stressful’ subjects, or to find their own path as well as learning about the past and gaining important communication skills.

It is for this reason that culture should remain a primary function for many schools. Allowing students time to create their own cultural art pieces, be it a sculpture, a story, a piece of music or something as small as a ‘what they did over the summer’, is a crucial aspect of giving children as much of a chance as they can of having a well-rounded future.

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