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6 | NEWS


PHYSICS BOOST FROM PRIVATE SCHOOLS


An initiative backed by the Ernest Cook Trust, offering independent sector support to state schools hit by a shortage of physics teachers, is expanding due to growing demand. Physics S3 is a charity which aims to assist physics teaching in state secondary schools by using recently retired physics teachers from independent schools to train and support non-specialist and newly qualified teachers. So far the project has worked with 17 schools in the south of England and is now extending its free-of-charge service to the Midlands, aiming to reach 50 state schools in the next two years. The charity has also launched a website (www.physics-S3.org.uk) with around 200 illustrated GCSE-related experiments for teachers, pupils and technicians.


‘ANY QUESTIONS?’ AT BLUNDELL’S


SEN kids victimised online


Children with special educational needs and disabilities have spoken out about cyber-bullying and concealing disability online. Guidance for teachers and professionals released by the Anti-Bullying Alliance, part of leading children’s charity the National Children’s Bureau, provides a unique insight into the internet use of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and reveals evidence of cyber-bullying and experiences of discriminatory behaviour. The findings – collected through qualitative focus groups with children and young people with disabilities, learning difficulties, mental health issues, emotional and/ or behavioural difficulties – revealed that many young people with SEND had experienced cyber-bullying, had not been taught how to use the internet or stay safe online, were using the internet to create an anonymous persona to mask their disability, or were actively avoiding the internet. Participants revealed that the cyber-


bullying they experienced was often an extension of face-to-face bullying and that it often went unchallenged: “You used to be able to go in to school, get your head down, and have different friends outside of school...


ABOVE: "Real life follows you home... [you're] not even safe in your bedroom"


You could separate it... Now you can’t.” “Real life follows you home… [you’re] not even safe in your bedroom.” In addition, many young people said


they were often not believed when they told someone about cyber-bullying, or experienced a lack of support and appropriate responses. Many felt that adults lacked the skills to deal with the situation and were often told that the best strategy to deal with cyber-bullying was


Children urged to practice handwriting


Pupils at Blundell’s gained an insight into the world of radio when BBC R4’s ‘Any Questions?’ was broadcast live from the school. More than 400 people atended the event at the Devon school. They watched as the panel – Secretary of State for Scotland Alistair Carmichael, Conservative backbench MP Nadhim Zahawi, New Statesman columnist Laurie Penny and Labour backbench MP Frank Field – debated questions on topics of the day. Ten sixth formers, most of whom are studying politics, mixed with panel members and chair Jonathan Dimbleby at a reception after the broadcast.


With leters, diaries, poetry and memoirs playing such a crucial part in keeping the memory of World War I alive, this year’s National Stationery Week (31 Mar-6 April) is emphasising more than ever the importance of the writen word, and schools across Britain are being urged to pick up their pens and practise their handwriting. As 2014 marks the centenary of the outbreak of the Great War, the third annual National Stationery Week campaign will be dedicated to encouraging youngsters to write to one another, rekindling the notion that receiving a handwriten leter is as uplifting an experience today as it was 100 years ago. Organiser Chris Leonard-Morgan


ABOVE: Writing a letter can lift the spirits


said: “With the nation sending millions of emails and even more texts every single day, receiving a handwriten note is becoming a rare treat, and one that


Image © SXC: len-k-a


Image © SXC: mokra


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