NEWS


Half of students see physical violence on school sports field


by Pete Henshaw


More than half of children have witnessed physical violence on the school sports field, research has found. Surveys commissioned by the


MCC and the Chance to Shine grass-roots cricket campaign also found that two thirds of parents and pupils have seen verbal bullying in school sport. The survey of 1,250 children,


aged eight to 16, found that seven in 10 see verbal abuse during school matches and over half said they had been victim of teasing, taunts and threats on the sports field. Also, 55 per cent have seen physical violence, with a quarter


saying that they have seen a team- mate being deliberately tripped, kicked or pushed over. At the same time, a survey


of more than 1,000 parents of children aged eight to 16 found that a majority see varying forms of mental intimidation when watching their children play sport, including teasing, swearing, taunts and verbal threats. A fifth said that their child is


reluctant to take part in sport as a result, while one in 10 said that their child had given up at least one sport entirely. Chance to Shine is a grass-roots


cricket development programme which aims to establish regular coaching and competitive opportunities in a third of state


Mia, 14, writes her first novel in 50 days


Writers like JK Rowling, Anthony Horowitz and Patrick Ness had better watch out. A year 9 pupil at an Oxford school has stunned her teachers, family and friends by writing her very first novel in just 50 days. Mia Foley Doyle, 14, a student


at Oxford Spires Academy, began her book after hearing about the National Novel Writing Month competition. Held every November, it challenges writers to produce 50,000 words in a month. Mia, pictured, hit the target


in just 25 days but her book still was not finished so she kept writing until she was happy with it. She sometimes stayed up till 4am but managed to keep up with her schoolwork throughout and completed the 113,000-word book 50 days after embarking on the project. Her achievement only became


known when a teaching assistant at school asked if anyone had done anything “cool” recently. To everyone’s surprise Mia revealed she had just written a science- fiction novel. “I used to tell myself stories


to get myself to sleep,” Mia told SecEd.


“This one was a bit different


and I liked the idea, so I decided to start writing. I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it and wrote it on my laptop at home after doing my homework. It took quite a lot of determination but when I’d finished it I gave it to my mum for Christmas. She’d thought I was ill, because I kept falling asleep in the day, but she was happy afterwards when she knew why.” Titled The Rebel Forces, Mia’s


story is set 900 years in the future. The Earth is sparsely populated and steals people from other planets to sustain it, prompting wars between them. Helped by the school’s writer-


in-residence, Kate Clanchy, Mia now hopes to publish The Rebel Forces as an e-book. She is also considering a sequel. Sue Croft, principal of Oxford


Spires Academy, has read the first chapter of Mia’s book and described it as “excellent”. She added: “It’s very


sophisticated, both in terms of the idea and also the quality of language and sophistication of vocabulary and writing. We knew she was gifted in English but this was a real revelation.”


schools by 2015 – reaching two million primary and secondary children. The programme has teamed up


with MCC – the owners of Lord’s cricket ground and guardian of the game’s laws – to launch the Spirit of Cricket scheme. The aim is to deliver assemblies


and lessons in good sportsmanship to around half a million children in 4,000 state schools. Wasim Khan, chief executive


of Chance to Shine, said: “It is worrying to hear that this kind of psychological warfare is being waged on our school playing fields. “We are teaching children from


a young age to play competitively, but to respect the opposition as well as their team-mates. We need


to stamp out this bullying in school sport.” According to the research,


three-fifths of children feel unable to tell anyone about the bullying, saying they were “too scared” or that there was “no point”. The survey also found that the


cities where children were most likely to report mental intimidation on the sports field were Belfast, Birmingham, Cardiff and Liverpool. The research also found that 16


per cent of children admit getting their own back on the bully. For more information on


the Spirit of Cricket scheme, visit www.lords.org/soc and for more on Chance to Shine, see www.chancetoshine.org


Wales aims to boost science results with £1.5m investment


Two interactive science centres in Wales are to receive more than £1.5 million funding in a bid to help schools boost examination results. Cardiff-based Techniquest


and Techniquest Glyndwr, based in Wrexham, provide a range of educational services through interactive exhibits and learning materials available at a number of sites in Wales. The Welsh government says


the new funding will allow both centres to deliver programmes covering the full spectrum of the


curriculum – from Foundation phase to 14 to 19 learning. Techniquest Glyndwr,


which will receive £349,400, is developing a new project for key stage 3 pupils aimed at boosting Wales’s performance in Pisa tests. Wales’s teenagers came 40th in


maths and 30th in science in the 2009 international Pisa survey. Now the Wrexham centre


will provide two full days of STEM activities for more able and talented pupils in each of the secondary schools in the counties of Wrexham and Flintshire. This


will help almost 1,900 pupils in 21 schools. Another programme, which


will focus on employer-related activities for 14 to 16-year-olds, will involve 30 schools and up to 1,500 pupils. It will feature an industry-


linked workshop, followed by a visit to a workplace, where the students will witness professionals in action, with the aim of raising awareness of STEM careers and promoting take-up of STEM subjects at post-16 level. Cardiff’s Techniquest is to


receive just over £1.3 million to develop an updated range of science theatre programmes for primary schools. Wales education minister,


Leighton Andrews, said: “One of the key aims of our Science for Wales strategy is to foster a passion for the STEM subjects from an early age. By stimulating pupils’ interest early, we can ensure that more of our young people go on to excel in this area and consider science, maths, technology or engineering as the basis for future careers.”


Secondary students who take speed and ecstasy are prone to depression


Secondary school students who use speed and ecstasy are prone to depression, research has suggested. A Canadian study involving


3,880 teenagers aged 15 and 16 found that 11.6 per cent admitted to taking speed, while eight per cent said they had taken ecstasy. The teens were all from disadvantaged areas of Quebec and


Project to help save water wins top prize for pupils


An ingenious domestic plumbing system that stores and purifies water for re-use. That was the idea five students


from an east London school came up with when they were challenged to design an innovative solution to a problem concerning water. The pupils from Cumberland


School in Newham devised a system that captures water from a range of household sources, including baths, sinks and even steam from showers. Their design also incorporated UV light for purification and hydroelectric


4


fans for power generation. The idea impressed the judges of The Big Science Challenge so much that they were declared the UK winners of the competition. The Big Science Challenge,


organised by the British Council and Rolls-Royce, aims to inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers. An international competition,


it was open to schools in the UK, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The students from Cumberland


School – Petros Akin-Nibosun, Yousef El-Tawil, Trieu Ho, Tobi Olaitan and Ishrat Jahan – were presented with their winning certificates at a special ceremony at the Royal Institution of Great Britain in London last month. As part of their prize they won


a five-day educational visit to the United Arab Emirates. John Bradshaw, headteacher of


Cumberland School, said: “It was a real challenge for our winning students to find a solution to water shortage but we are proud of the commitment, passion and enthusiasm they showed.”


Water winners: The Cumberland School team collects their award from Ruth Cocks, regional education manager for schools, Middle East and North Africa at the British Council (far left), and Nicola Swaney, education manager at Rolls-Royce (second left)


SecEd • April 26 2012


their mental health was tracked between 2003 and 2008. The authors of the study, which


has been published in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, said that the popularity of meth/amphetamine (speed) and MDMA (ecstasy) has spread from clubbers to the general population, including secondary school-aged


children, with both drugs often taken at the same time. The research found that those


who used either drug were between 60 and 70 per cent more likely to show “heightened depressive symptoms”. They added that those who used both drugs were almost twice as likely to have these symptoms.


The study calls for further


research into the issue. It states: “Our results provide, to the best of our knowledge, the first compelling evidence that recreational (ecstasy) and (speed) use places typically developing secondary school students at greater risk of experiencing depressive symptoms.”


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