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Support: Paralympic star Ellie Simmonds and Olympic medallist Jason Gardner at the UK School Games


Young athletes from across the country showed nerves of steel this week as records tumbled at the UK School Games. The four-day event took place


in Sheffield when 1,600 students competed across 12 sports, includ- ing hockey, swimming, gymnas- tics, badminton and volleyball. The games were officially


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


opened by double Paralympic gold medal-winning swimmer Ellie Simmonds last Thursday (September 1) and seven different locations were used across the city. Among the highlights were


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Jess Applegate, 15, from Ormiston Venture Academy in Norfolk who broke the multi-disability 50-metre freestyle world record with a time of 28.9 seconds. Kelvin Tairou, 16, from


Forest Gate Community School in London continued the record- breaking theme as he smashed the championship record in the 100 metres. Elsewhere, Wales’s Angel Romaeo, 14, from Fitzalan High School in Cardiff, bagged three medals in the gymnastics,


first of all taking gold in the girls all-around event before winning in the beam and floor event as well as taking silver in the asym- metric bars. She told SecEd: “I worked


really hard and it’s just great to win. I’ve been here before but this time was better because I just hit my routines as well as I can do and did really well in all my individual finals too – I am really proud of myself.” The students competed in


regional teams and elsewhere, England South and England Central won the boys’ and girls’ volleyball respectively while Wales won the rugby sevens competition and England Central won the wheelchair basketball. Ms Simmonds, who competed


in the first ever UK School Games in 2006, said: “It was great to come back to the event where I began my career and see the next generation of sporting stars as they begin their journeys.” For more information, visit www.ukschoolgames.com


Dearly missed: Frank Bunting, left, has died after losing his battle with cancer


Tributes pour in for devoted union man


by Simon Doyle


The loss of a devoted union repre- sentative of teachers is being felt across Northern Ireland’s entire education sector. Frank Bunting, 61, died late last


month after an inspirational battle with stomach cancer. The former head of one of


the largest teaching unions in the North, he had only retired from his post in the Irish National Teachers’


Organsiation (INTO) at the end of May. During his 20 years as northern


secretary he championed the cause of the North’s teachers. His con- tribution brought about significant improvements for both classroom staff and school pupils. While the INTO represents staff


mostly in Catholic schools, Mr Bunting was instrumental in nego- tiating closer links with the Ulster Teachers’ Union whose members are mostly in Protestant schools.


Pupils star at School Games


He was a powerful advocate for


teachers, a frequent campaigner for teachers’ rights and his work was widely recognised and admired. In addition to helping INTO


members in disciplinary and griev- ance processes, Mr Bunting assist- ed members of other unions, who felt they were not getting repre- sentation. Mr Bunting was born in the


Falls Road area of west Belfast and was educated at St Finian’s Primary School, St Mary’s Christian


Brothers Grammar School, and Queen’s University. He worked briefly as a second-


ary school teacher in west Belfast in the 1970s before moving to work for the Irish Congress of Trades Unions (ICTU) as education officer. After leaving the ICTU following 15 years, he joined the INTO as northern secretary. Northern Ireland’s education


minister John O’Dowd was among those paying tribute. He said: “It was with great sad-


ness I learned of the death of Frank Bunting. Throughout his career in the union movement he cared pas- sionately about the rights of teach- ers and school staff. “Frank’s loss will be felt by


those right across the education sec- tor, but it will be felt most keenly by those closest to him.” His cousin and fellow trade


union leader, Peter Bunting, stressed the fact that Frank was non-sectarian and whose ambition was an inclu- sive society in Northern Ireland.


School leavers ‘need earlier support’


Scottish pupils need earlier support from youth workers to boost their chances of finding jobs or securing courses once they leave, a Labour politician has said. Lothians MSP Kezia Dugdale


has called for specialist careers and training support to be made more widely available to 13 and 14-year- olds, rather than just before the end of their schooling. Earlier this year, Edinburgh was


ranked last out of Scotland’s 32 councils for school leavers entering education, training or employment, with Glasgow and Dundee also far- ing badly. An average of one pupil in six


in the Scottish capital had no “posi- tive destination” after school, and more than a quarter of pupils in five particular schools became unem- ployed. “It’s far too late when they are 16 and they go and get one session


of careers advice which tells them they should become a mechanic,” Ms Dugdale told a newspaper. “It’s no good waiting until they


are failing their Standard Grades. We need to get in there much ear- lier, when they are 13 or 14, find out what they are good at – give them the confidence to know what they are good at.” Jim Murphy, director of youth


sector organisation Rathbone, said schools were keen to engage with the kind of services it provided but resources were increasingly stretched. The 16+ Learning Choices


framework, introduced last year as a key part of Curriculum for Excellence, works best with early implementation, he told SecEd. Activity Agreements, which


started as a pilot in 10 authori- ties two years ago to help vulner- able young people learn in a social


enterprise, community or voluntary organisation, also had a vital role to play, he said. “The trouble is, it had £6.3 mil-


lion funding for 10 councils but when it was rolled out to all 32 authorities, that went down to £4 million. So it’s constantly the challenge of doing more with less,” Mr Murphy said. “Help needs to be there when


kids are making their choices. Every parent wants what’s best for their children and they might think that means college or university, but in some cases that’s not going to be realistic and we need to start work- ing with them around what can be achieved.” Edinburgh’s education leader


Marilyne MacLaren said the coun- cil ran a range of programmes offer- ing pupils support from businesses and organisations. “We’re confident this work is making an impact.”


Local authority set for shake up


Two education commissioners are to take responsibility for all of the education functions of a local author- ity said to be failing its children. Earlier this year, Welsh school


inspectorate Estyn found Blaenau Gwent’s performance and prospects for improvement to be “unsatisfac- tory”. Estyn’s highly critical report


found children in the area “do not make good progress” and that standards “are well below what is expected”. It also found “systemic” failures


in management. Wales’s education minister


Leighton Andrews said at the time it was clear “urgent action” was required to improve standards and that he had no choice but to inter- vene and put the local authority into special measures.


2 The new commissioners will


oversee and direct the work of a taskforce – already in position within the local authority – which will be responsible for “directing and lead- ing the improvements needed in Blaenau Gwent, monitoring progress and providing accountability”. The Welsh government said this


week: “Blaenau Gwent’s education functions ‘previously exercised by its executive will now be vested in the education commissioners’.” The commissioners are Bethan


Guilfoyle, a former headteacher of Treorchy Comprehensive, and Isobel Garner, formerly chief exec- utive of Wrexham. Two advisory education com-


missioners have also been appoint- ed. They are Nerys Evans, a former Assembly member, and Alan Evans, from Cardiff University.


Mr Andrews added: “Blaenau


Gwent has failed to provide their learners and schools with the qual- ity of services they are entitled to. “It’s now time to take positive


action, Blaenau Gwent is in a seri- ous position and it is abundantly clear that urgent action is required to turn this around.” Blaenau Gwent Council said it


welcomed the introduction of edu- cation commissioners to “support the local authority in improving outcomes for all learners”. In a statement, the authority


said the news had come just weeks after the council’s action plan – put together with support from Neath Port Talbot Council – to improve its education services was accepted by Estyn, and described as “a good starting point for the authority to make progress”.


SecEd • September 8 2011


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