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Karting championship delivers a photo finish


Talk about a photo-finish. Less than a tenth of a second separated the top two teams at the British Schools Karting Championship this month. In the end three students from


Caterham School in Surrey – Ben Dillon (pictured, right), Alex Jobson and Ivan May-Jones – beat last year’s winners, Altrincham Grammar School for Boys in Cheshire, to clinch the title. Third place went to Ponteland High School in Northumberland, whose team included world champion karter Matthew Graham. Karting is growing in


popularity in schools across the UK. The British Schools Karting Championship was launched in 2007 with 22 teams competing. But this year saw 617 teams and a total of 1,850 students battling it out for first prize in Milton Keynes. “The skills of the teams are


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improving with each year,” said championship director Will Tew. “The championship was started to give young people a chance to


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experience the thrill and excitement of motorsports and excitement is certainly what we got in the final. “It is a great way to give students


who are not interested in football or hockey a chance to reveal hidden talents. Many schools have told us that taking part has built the confidence of the drivers and this has helped them both on the race track and in school too.” The pupils from Caterham


School won a trip to the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking,


Surrey, where they will get the chance to see where the Formula 1 cars raced by Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton are designed and manufactured. For details, visit www.bskc.co.uk


Send your news in to: news@sec-ed.com or call 020 7501 6771


Business giants voice fears over ICT plans


By Dorothy Lepkowska


The gap between the best and worst ICT teaching in school could open up to an unacceptable level if the government continues with its plans to withdraw the subject from the curriculum, business leaders have warned. Representatives from some of


Britain’s largest companies have joined educational experts in condemning proposals to remove the current programmes of study for ICT from this September. Members of the Education and Skills Commission, a group


established by The Corporate IT Forum – a representative body of the largest corporate users of ICT in the UK – fear that the move will lead to some schools providing virtually no computer and technology education at all for two school years, which could result in huge gaps in teaching between the best and worst provision. The concerns are expressed


in the Commission’s response to the Department for Education’s public consultation on proposals to disapply the current ICT curriculum. It is urging the government to keep the current programme of teaching in place


until a new, more challenging computer science-based curriculum is implemented in September 2014. Plans to withdraw the existing


programmes of study were announced by education chief Michael Gove at the BETT Show in January. He said he wanted to give teachers “freedom over what and how to teach”. He also unveiled plans for a new computer science GCSE. John Harris, the Commission


chairman, and head of IT strategy at GlaxoSmithKline, said: “The current ICT curriculum is failing to meet the needs of employers and should be improved as a matter of


urgency. We are very concerned that the absence of a programme of study or attainment targets for any period of time will severely disadvantage large groups of children as a result of significant differences in standards between the schools that put in place good quality replacements and those that do the bare minimum or, in the absence of guidance, nothing at all. “We believe that something is


better than nothing. We already have a major ICT skills crisis.” The Commission is calling for a


new more challenging curriculum but believes the main challenge to achieving this is the absence


of teachers in schools with good graduate-level IT qualifications and the lack of investment in training to ensure that teachers can update their knowledge and skills. It wants teachers to be given


more opportunity to expand their skills through placements with ICT companies, the recruitment of expert ICT teachers pooled across school groups, and more mentoring and coaching schemes between schools and industry. It also suggests that every school should have a properly qualified ICT teacher in place who is provided with high quality teaching support materials.


Minister aims to break into world’s top 20 by 2015


Wales will have a school system in the world’s top-20 by 2015, first minister Carwyn Jones has pledged. Mr Jones told the Welsh


Assembly chamber, the Senedd, that the Welsh government expected to live up to this promise despite the nation’s recent poor rankings in the world education survey, Pisa. He said Wales’s education


minister Leighton Andrews had been “extremely active” in ensuring Wales climbs the world rankings. Challenged as to whether


he believed Wales could make the world top 20 in just three years, Mr Jones said: “Yes, that is our target; in 2015, we expect to fulfil it. “I do not think that anyone


could suggest that the minister for education has sat back. He has been extremely active in ensuring that we have a suitable and strong education system in the years to come. He has said that 2015 is the target and that is the target by which we stand.” The assembly debate followed


an admission from Mr Andrews that he does not expect Wales to show “real improvement” the next time Pisa assessments are carried out in November. Compiled every three years,


Pisa tests teenagers from around 70 countries in maths, reading and science. It is considered one of the best gauges of school performance. In the most recent survey,


taken in 2009, Wales rated lowest of the UK countries. It was ranked 38th for reading, 40th for maths and 30th for the tests for science. The results formed the basis


for a plan designed to lift Welsh education up the international league table, with Mr Andrews first making the 2015 pledge early in 2011. More recently, though, he


stated that, by the time this year’s survey is published, “most of our reforms would not have kicked in with a sufficient degree of time elapsed to make a real improvement”. Dr Philip Dixon, director of


the Association of Teachers and Lecturers Cymru, said the desire to propel Wales into the world’s top-20 by 2015 was “always very ambitious”. He added: “To achieve that, it


would seem necessary to see real progress being made in this year’s tranch of Pisa – or else to leap from our present position would seem a very long distance.” Liberal Democrat leader


Kirsty Williams accused the Welsh government of “getting its excuses in early”. A spokesman for the Welsh


government said: “The minister has been clear that this is a significant challenge. The action plan set out by the minister in February 2011 did not contain quick fixes. It would be unrealistic to expect significant improvements in the 2012 Pisa results; systemic change takes time but has lasting impact and is sustainable.”


Plans to merge six schools on one site unveiled


Ambitious plans to bring six Northern Ireland secondary schools onto a single campus are to be given a public airing at Stormont. A planning application was


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submitted late last year to transform the 140-acre former Lisanelly military site in Omagh into world- class shared educational facilities. It is hoped up to six post-primary


schools will be relocated to the site allowing pupils to share state-of- the-art facilities.


2 The £100 million-plus project is


the first of its kind to be undertaken in Northern Ireland and is a priority in the recently published Programme for Government 2011- 2015. Some schools in the town,


however, are understood to be opposed to the plan and the campus is yet to officially secure a single tenant. An information exhibition is now taking place at Stormont’s


Parliament buildings to offer assembly members an opportunity to view the plans. Members can also discuss issues


with key members of the project design team, including programme director Hazel Jones. She says the campus approach to


education will afford young people access to the widest choice of curriculum. She continued: “This is a unique and exciting project which will provide future generations of


young people from the area with the opportunity to enjoy facilities that they would not otherwise benefit from if their schools were to remain on their current sites or redevelop elsewhere alone.” Northern Ireland education


minister John O'Dowd is supportive of the scheme. He added: “The development will enable schools to retain their individual status while collaborating to provide the children and young people in the


area with the best facilities and curriculum choice. “While the current financial


climate is challenging, I and my department are dedicated to ensuring progress is continued towards the first shared campus here in the North. “I would urge everyone to get


involved in ensuring that Omagh and the surrounding areas have the world class education community they deserve.”


SecEd • April 19 2012


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