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Statistics on suspension make worrying reading


by Simon Doyle


Discipline is so poor at some Northern Ireland secondary schools that a pupil is being suspended every day. Physical assaults, verbal abuse


or simple rule breaking are causing thousands of children to be exclud- ed temporarily each year. While the total number of sus-


pensions across the North is falling annually, discipline appears to be


more of an issue for some schools than others. Between 2004/05 and 2008/09,


some secondary schools issued more suspensions than there are days in the academic year (195), according to Department of Education figures. Many consist- ently resorted to the sanction more than 100 times every year. Oakgrove Integrated College in


Derry issued 327 suspensions in 2005/06 but the number fell below five in 2008/09. The now defunct


Balmoral High School in Belfast had 122 suspensions in 2005/06 when there were just 206 pupils. Castle High School in Belfast,


which has also been shut down, handed out 86 suspensions in 2006/07 when just 129 children were enrolled. The figures refer to the number


of individual suspensions and are therefore higher than the overall number of pupils suspended since some were suspended more than once.


Belfast Boys’ Model School


issued the highest number of suspen- sions over the five years – 831 in total. St Joseph’s in Derry, Carrickfergus College, Holy Cross in Strabane and Oakgrove and St Brigid’s, both also in Derry, all handed out more than 700 over the five years. By looking at the figures, it is


clear that some have more robust disciplinary procedures than others. For example, while swearing at a teacher may result in a child being sent out of the classroom in one


school, it may be grounds for an instant suspension in another. More suspensions were handed


out in schools serving areas of high social deprivation. All-boys schools also issued more than co-ed or all- girls institutions. Boys’ Model principal Jim Keith


said repeat offenders accounted for a large proportion: “Pupils at anoth- er school might commit the same offence but will not be punished. It depends where a school draws the line.”


Librarian of the Year winners unveiled


For the first time ever two profes- sionals have been jointly named as the School Librarian of the Year. Kevin Sheehan from Offerton


School in Stockport and Duncan Wright from Stewart’s Melville College in Edinburgh shared the prestigious award after judges could not decide between them. The results of the competi-


tion, run by the School Library Association, were announced at a ceremony in London last week. At Offerton School, Mr Sheehan


has made his mark not least by packing a large number of extra- curricular clubs into the Learning Centre. These range from the Breakfast Club to activities involv- ing film, Lego, Wii gaming and even a Mango Club. He says he likes pupils to


think of the centre as “a sanctu- ary, not a library” and has cre- ated a glass-bricked reading area where pupils and staff, with shoes removed, can relax and read in peace. Mr Sheehan works with the


“Learn Smart” group of 15 stu- dents with low literacy levels, and also runs a four-week induc- tion programme for year 7s while teaching information literacy skills throughout the school.


In Edinburgh, Mr Wright is


head of department and also an assistant head of house – a rare appointment for a non-teaching member of staff. He runs regular author visits


and induction sessions for new pupils and staff, and famously once turned his library into a “desert island”, complete with sand and a


home-made palm tree, for a ses- sion when teachers spoke to pupils about their favourite desert island books. Mr Wright was inspired as a


teenager by Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch and he says now his biggest buzz is helping students to find the book that will really motivate and inspire them to read.


School offers iPods for all


Far from banning iPods in class, a Middlesex school is positively encouraging its students to use them. Heathfield School, a girls’ inde-


pendent in Pinner, has issued a class of 20 year 8s with an iPod Touch each. The devices have been loaded with educational apps and e-books and the pupils are now using them across the curriculum. The iPods are not simply for fun


St Jude’s Church, Dulwich Road Herne Hill, London SE24 0PB www.markallengroup.com


though. They have been introduced as part of a year-long pilot to see how technology enhances learning at the school. The girls are allowed to take


their iPods home but they cannot download their own apps or music


on them and can only access them in class when teachers give the go- ahead. At the end of the year they will have to hand the devices back and they will then be used by other year groups. “We want the girls to use the


iPods as learning tools,” said Neeta Verma, head of e-learning at Heathfield. “This is very much the way


of the future. I’m sure that using technology like this will really help their learning. The girls are taking the iPods to every lesson and by the end of the year we will evaluate how they have benefited. “One of the advantages is that the girls no longer need to carry


their dictionaries and calculators with them to lessons. If they want to look up something on the internet which the teacher has requested they can find the information with- out going to an ICT room.” An example of using apps


includes the students learning about teeth in their biology lesson. They can use the dentistry app to learn how to label a tooth and then use the information for homework to create a poster on teeth and looking after them. The £4,000 trial has been funded


by the Girls’ Day School Trust, which owns and runs 26 schools in England and Wales, including Heathfield.


Ginette Doyle, chair of the


School Library Association, said: “Two exceptional librarians, work- ing in different ways to bring their libraries into the heart of the school and learning: we could not decide between them.” The runners-up in the award


were Sue Bastone from Licensed Victuallers’ School in Ascot,


Rebecca Jones from Malvern St James School for Girls in Worcestershire, Shiona Lawson from Rothesay Academy on the Isle of Bute in Scotland, and Denise Reed from Hurst Prep School in Sussex. Nominations for the 2011 awards opened last month and entry forms can be downloaded from www.sla.org.uk/slya


Campaign launched to promote mentoring for the vulnerable


Schools are being urged to rec- ognise the benefits of mentoring and befriending services with the launch of the Mentoring and Befriending Foundation’s (MBF) Supporting Life’s Journeys campaign. The charity argues that men-


toring, buddying and befriend- ing schemes are being used successfully in schools to help raise standards and improve behaviour. Research shows that vulner-


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ISSN 1479-7704 What a touch: Heathfield School students who have been issued with iPods for use in lessons 2 SecEd • October 14 2010


able young people who receive mentoring support at an early stage are likely to have better school attendance, achievement and attitudes towards education. The MBF is calling on all


schools that run mentoring and befriending projects to sign up to the campaign online and take part in national research into the views of mentees and those that support them.


The campaign is also compil-


ing case studies and new evidence of the benefits of mentoring. MBF chief executive Steve


Matthews said: “There are more than 3,500 charities and commu- nity groups providing mentoring and befriending services in the country and we want all of them behind the campaign. This means getting involved to raise aware- ness of the benefits locally and to join together to help build a national picture.” The MBF will now embark


on a three-month campaign of activities with events in London, Belfast, Cardiff, Manchester and Birmingham and a rolling pro- gramme of awards, open days and presentations to showcase individual projects. For more information, visit


www.supportinglifesjourneys.org and for more on the MBF, see www.mandbf.org.uk


Honoured: The School


Librarians of the Year are Kevin Sheehan (left) and Duncan Wright (right). They are pictured with author MG Harris


Photo: Philip Paul Photography


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