NEWS

Building schemes face cuts

by Chris Parr

A clampdown on public sector spending could see billions of pounds cut from the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, which was set up to rebuild or refurbish every secondary school in England. Although the Department for

Education has denied that any decision has yet been taken, the Conservative Party had pledged to re-direct some of the building budget to finance its controversial “free schools” programme, which will allow groups of parents to set up their own schools. The Lib Dems had opposed the

cuts, but it now seems likely that new education secretary, Michael Gove, will push them through. According to Building

Magazine: “It is understood that the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition is to freeze spending on all schools contracts that have not reached preferred bidder stage. “The schools schemes affected

will include six local authority programmes worth £450 million, announced in March, and about £1.5 billion of other deals. An education source said the Conservatives were advising that any deals that had reached preferred bidder were ‘probably safe’ but that there would be ‘some grey areas’.” The six programmes announced in March covered Buckinghamshire,

Lincolnshire, Cornwall, Gateshead, Sutton and Oxfordshire. Paul McAteer, head at Slough

and Eton Church of England Business and Enterprise College, is in the early stages of a BSF submission. “This would scupper it,” he

said. “It is a short-sighted cutback because any strong economy is based upon a first class education system.” Mike Stewart, headteacher of

Westlands School in Torbay, added: “I’m not surprised, but it is not good news for any of us. The impact on the construction industry and on education will be interesting. It has knock-on repercussions, and will hit heavily those that thought it was their turn next.” Chris Keates, general secretary

of the NASUWT, described the news as “not unexpected, but deeply disappointing”. “Schools and parents will be

horrified to realise that money for existing schools is being sacrificed to fund the ideologically-driven policy of ‘free’ schools, which has no proven educational merit,” she said. A spokeswoman for Partnerships

for Schools (PfS), the body responsible for delivering BSF, said: “Ministers will shortly be considering their spending priorities which includes school capital funding. No decisions have been taken on BSF or any other capital programmes.”

Help at hand for deaf pupils

Teachers working with deaf children in Wales are being offered new guidance as school counselling services are extended across the country. The Welsh Assembly government

(WAG) this week announced a new initiative to make all school-based counselling services accessible to deaf pupils. The new guidance was funded by

the WAG as a response to research suggesting that deaf children and young people are 60 per cent more likely to experience mental health problems than other children. The resource, written by the

National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) and the Royal National Institute for Deaf People Cymru, highlighted the fact that growing up deaf in a hearing-orientated world can be challenging, and stressed the need to promote positive emotional wellbeing in deaf pupils. It also offered school counsellors

practical pointers on how to meet varying communication needs and ensure that services are accessible to deaf pupils.

Jayne Dulson, Director of NDCS

Cymru, said: “Living in a hearing- orientated society can present particular emotional challenges for deaf children and young people, and a general lack of deaf awareness can leave young deaf people feeling isolated. “With the appropriate support,

deaf children can grow up to be confident and independent individuals. “This guidance, which seeks

to ensure that school-based counselling services are accessible to deaf pupils, will help them to do so.” Leighton Andrews, Wales’

education minister, said: “By 2011, we want every secondary school in Wales to have high standard counselling services available so pupils can have someone to turn to if they need help or support. “This new guidance will

help ensure that independent, safe, confidential school-based counselling will be available for those deaf young people who may need additional support.”

Win over £2,500 worth of ICT!

There is still time to get your school’s entry in for SecEd’s latest ICT giveaway, which is offering the chance to win £2,600 worth of software and equipment from software publishers Serif. The competition will see one

lucky reader win a 50-user Serif Design Suite site licence for their

school – worth £2,199 – as well as 10 Wacom graphics tablets worth £40 each.

Design Suite

Serif’s Design Suite package contains software programmes which offer a creative solution for ICT across the curriculum. The Design Suite has been praised for its powerful and easy-to-use software for schools, enabling pupils to achieve outstanding work across all subjects. In doing so, they also develop their design

skills to prepare for the competitive workplace. Professional software programs team with teacher resources that guide you through every step – for any schools offering the OCR Nationals in ICT, for example, Serif’s teacher resources are OCR-endorsed. Included in the Design Suite are five software programs covering all areas of the creative curriculum. The lucky winner will also

receive 10 Wacom graphics tablets for their school. Discover new, fascinating ways

of being creative, with the Bamboo One pen tablet. With a brushed silver design, the tablet and digital pen offers students a simple and intuitive way of interacting with a computer, enabling a personal touch to be added to digital photographs,

invitations, birthday cards and emails. Simply plug and play. Bamboo One also presents

a quick way of navigating office applications.

How to win

For your chance to win all of this, simply answer the following question: How many software programs make up the Serif Design Suite?

How to enter

To be in with a chance of winning these prizes, email your answer to the above question, including your name, school and contact details, to Pete Henshaw, the editor of SecEd, on pete.h@ markallengroup.com You can also post entries on a

postcard to SecEd Competitions, St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road, Herne Hill, London, SE24 0PB. The deadline for entries is

May 31. The competition is open to

all UK secondary schools, but is restricted to one entry per school. Normal SecEd terms and

conditions apply. For a copy of these or for further information, email pete.h@markallengroup. com

The winning school will be

drawn at random from the correct entries and announced in SecEd during June. All entries will be passed on to Serif.

Harrow school turns food into power

Power up: The left-overs from lunchtime at Harrow are being used to create energy

A UK independent school has created enough energy to power more than 300,000 lightbulbs by recycling food waste accumulated over the past year. Harrow School in Middlesex

has been working with UK food waste recycler, PDM Group, to turn the dining hall’s off-cuts and plate scrapings into energy. Over the past 12 months, they

managed to recycle almost 50 tonnes of waste from the remains of around 2,500 meals per day, enabling energy to be created as well as diverting the waste from landfill. In the process, up to 10 tonnes of carbon dioxide was saved. By using a macerator to shred

all of the waste, the kitchen staff dispose of it by feeding it into special bins, which are collected each week. Julia Tyler, domestic bursar at

Harrow School, explained: “Food waste recycling isn’t confined to those with massive amounts

of food waste such as retailers and food manufacturers. As we’ve recycled more and more of our waste, organic waste was the last and possibly the biggest challenge. “While we constantly look

at reducing the amount of waste at the outset, PDM has enabled us to make some significant environmental savings and the system has been easy to implement for our kitchen staff – which is always an important consideration as time is in short supply when providing three meals and snacks for more than 800 pupils and 300 staff every day.” Philip Simpson, director of

PDM added: “Harrow School is making excellent progress in reducing and recycling its food waste. We’re delighted to be working with the school and enabling it to make a positive environmental contribution and help the UK’s drive for increased renewable energy sources.”

Charities in line for top award

A service aiming to support the emotional wellbeing of children making the transition from primary to secondary school has been nominated for a Charity Award. The Place2Be has been shortlisted

in the Education and Training category for its Transitional Service, which addresses the emotional, behavioural and social problems young people can experience as they move from primary to secondary. The charity provides children

with one-to-one sessions for 50 minutes each week with volunteers, people who work in schools, or clinical staff who have completed the charity’s training. John Ivens, headteacher,

educational psychologist and The Place2Be clinical advisor, told SecEd: “The Place2Be has a much more acceptable face to it and being in a school, it becomes a natural part of every child’s life in that school.” The Charity Awards 2010 take

place in Grosvenor House Hotel in London on June 10. Sponsored by the Charities Aid Foundation, The Leadership Trust and The Times, the awards judge charities for initiatives that demonstrate outstanding examples of best practice. Should the charity win the

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category, it will be in the running to pick up the Overall Award for Excellence in Charity Management, which is given to the best of the 10 category winners. Daniel Phelan, organiser of the

awards added: “They recognise and reward the fantastic work that takes place within the voluntary sector right across the UK and beyond. It’s so important that we acknowledge the achievements of voluntary organisations because it applauds the people who are least likely to expect any recognition but most likely to deserve it. “By being short-listed, The

Place2Be has already demonstrated that it is amongst the best-managed charities in the UK. I wish everyone involved the best of luck on the night.” Other nominees in the education

category are: People 1st, which developed a professional cookery diploma; The Personal Finance Education Group, which aims to improve financial literacy among youngsters; and Thames Reach, which trains previously homeless people to decorate their new homes. For more information, visit

www.theplace2be.org.uk and www. charityawards.co.uk

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