The Times: ‘Super-size’ class packs in 67 children

It looks more like a lecture theatre than a primary school classroom. Welcome to Broadclyst Community Primary School in Devon, where year 6 pupils are taught in a class of 67 — sometimes with just one teacher.

A Sunday Times investigation has found that cash-strapped primary schools are packing pupils into giant classes to boost their budgets. A school receives between £3,500 and £5,000 a year for each child. More than 559,000 primary pupils were taught in “super-size classes” averaging more than 30 children last year, compared with 501,000 five years earlier, according to our analysis of official data.

Evening Standard: 'Stormzy effect' helps rise in black students at Cambridge University

The “Stormzy effect” has contributed to more black students being admitted to Cambridge University, the prestigious institution has said.

For the first time, black students made up more than 3 per cent of the undergraduate intake, reflective of wider UK society, according to the university.

It said the rise was due to a number of factors, including the "Stormzy effect".

The grime artist is funding the tuition fees and living costs for two students each year.

The Guardian: Homemade invisible ink earns ninja student an A for half an essay

A Japanese student aced an assignment on ninja culture by making her own invisible ink from soya beans in a stealthy move that impressed her professor.

Eimi Haga, a member of Mie University’s ninja club, submitted an essay about the assassins with a message attached instructing the professor to heat it before reading.

The Times: Friends and early nights help girls stay happy

Seeing friends face to face and getting a good night’s sleep are the best ways for teenage girls to ward off psychological ill health, according to a government report.

The first state-of-the-nation report on children’s mental health found that these two actions were far more important than staying off social media, which had only a small effect on teenage girls’ happiness.

Family, Media ArticleSarah NorrisOctober 10, 2019Lando EducationThe Times, friends, face to face, good night's sleep, teenage girls, femalesComment

The Guardian: Sesame Street takes on opioids crisis as muppet's mother battles addiction

Creators introduce bright-green Karli: ‘Nothing else out there addresses substance abuse for young kids from their perspective’

Sesame Street is taking a new step to help American kids navigate the thornier parts of life in America: the opioids crisis.

Sesame Workshop is exploring the backstory of Karli, a bright green, yellow-haired friend of Elmo’s whose mother is battling addiction.

Sesame Street creators said they turned to the issue of addiction since data shows 5.7m children under the age of 11 live in households with a parent with substance use disorder. America’s opioid crisis has grown steadily worse in recent years. The Department of Health and Human Services reported 10.3 million people misused opioid prescriptions last year, and an average of 130 people die every day from opioid-related drug overdoses.

Family, Media ArticleSarah NorrisOctober 10, 2019Lando EducationSesame Street, Media Article, children TV, children, USA, American kidsComment

Evening Standard: The Progress 1000: London's most influential people 2019 – Education

Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon - Co-founder of STEMettes

Dr Dayo Olukoshi OBE - Executive principal, Brampton Manor
Sally-Anne Huang - Headmistress, James Allen’s Girls’ School
Andrew Ashe - CEO of onebillion
Emma Russo - Science teacher, South Hampstead High School
James Handscombe - Principal, Harris Westminster Sixth Form
Amanda Spielman - Chief inspector, Ofsted
Tim Barber - Head teacher, Hugh Myddelton Primary School
Tara Baig - Head teacher, Miles Coverdale Primary
Emma Stevens - Music teacher, Norbury Manor Business & Enterprise College

Mike Sheridan - Ofsted’s London director
David Benson - Head teacher, Kensington Aldridge Academy

Mouhssin Ismail - Head teacher, Newham Collegiate Sixth Form
Cheryl Giovannoni - Chief executive, Girls’ Day School Trust
Lady Cobham - Director, The 5% Club
Kimberley Hickman - PTA member, Goose Green Primary School
Sir Daniel Moynihan - Chief executive, Harris Federation
Sir Peter Lampl - Founder and chairman, Sutton Trust
Sara Williams - Chair of Pan London Admissions Board
George Lamb - Grow, founder | NEW

Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisOctober 10, 2019Lando Educationeducation, evening standard, progress 1000, influential, LondonComment

Evening Standard: Fatboy Slim plays mashup of Right Here, Right Now and Greta Thunberg's UN speech live at Gateshead show

Fatboy Slim has paid tribute to Greta Thunberg by performing a mashup of her United Nations speech and his song Right Here, Right Now to a crowd in Gateshead.

The mix, filmed by a crowd member, opens with Miss Thunberg’s speech about the climate crisis delivered to world leaders last month over opening bars of the DJ's hit track.

Family, Media ArticleSarah NorrisOctober 9, 2019Lando EducationFatboy Slim, Greta Thunberg, tribute, speech, powerful speech, DJ, How Dare YouComment

The Times : Robot helps pupils to improve their writing

The handwriting of young children improves significantly when they are required to teach robots that seem to be struggling with the same difficulties, scientists say.

Researchers programmed a small humanoid robot to help under-nines to overcome the most common errors, including where parts of the letter appear out of scale and where the letter appears to be rotated at the wrong angle.

Family, Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisOctober 9, 2019Lando Educationrobot, The Times, handwriting, writing, education, learning, schoolComment

The Times: Maths teaser that adds up to better health and wealth

The key to better health, both financial and physical, could involve a mathematical brain teaser.

Psychologists have found that those with higher numeracy skills tend to make better decisions that affect their physical wellbeing as well as their finances.

The Times: Youngsters hooked on internet to get help at NHS clinic

Young people addicted to playing video games or using social media can seek treatment at the first NHS clinic dedicated to internet-related health problems.

The Centre for Internet and Gaming Disorders, based in London, opens for referrals today with the first patients to be seen by specialists in November. Appointments will also be available via Skype, the video calling app, for those unable to travel to the capital.

Family, Media Article, TechnologySarah NorrisOctober 9, 2019Lando EducationNHS, addiction, young people, video games, technologyComment

The Guardian: Turkey says Rebel Girls children's book should be treated like porn

Turkey has ruled that the million-selling book Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls should be partially banned and treated like pornography because it could have a “detrimental influence” on young people.

The book, which has been published in 47 languages, offers a series of inspiring stories about women from history for young children. But in a decision published last week, the Turkish government’s board for the protection of minors from obscene publications said: “Some of the writings in the book will have a detrimental influence on the minds of those under the age of 18.”

Business, Education, Family, Media Article, Reading, ScienceSarah NorrisOctober 8, 2019Lando EducationTurkey, Rebel Girls, books, children's booksComment

The Times: British grammar schools target pupils from China for cash boost

Ten state grammar schools are in talks to be paid to teach thousands of ambitious Chinese teenagers — snatching them away from private schools that charge up to £40,000 a year.

The plans, being developed with officials in China, include 16 and 17-year-olds being taught A-levels for up to six months and given help to apply to British universities, including Oxford and Cambridge, from next September.

Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisOctober 8, 2019Lando Educationgrammar schools, educations, China, teenagersComment

Evening Standard: Every business will rely on AI in five years and most people are worried they’re being left behind

My daughter's school have started to incorporate all things AI into their school curriculum. Interestingly our daughter has moved from wanting to be a vet, towards something in the maths/technology world.

Microsoft believes that every business will be an AI business in the next five years but there are concerns that people don’t fully understand the technology and will be left behind in the AI revolution.

Ahead of Future Decoded, the tech giant’s annual conference at the ExCel Centre in London, it released a new report, named Accelerating Competitive Advantage with AI, covering how businesses across the UK are using the technology.

The report shows that there is more awareness and adoption of AI overall among businesses, with 56 per cent of businesses adopting AI. However, less than a quarter of these organisations (24 per cent) have an AI strategy and 96 per cent of employees surveyed reporting that their bosses are adding AI without consulting them on the technology. This is fuelling anxiety around the technology, as well as concerns over job security.

The Times: Call for summer-born children to have marks adjusted

As a late spring child myself, I completely agree with this. For certain 11+ school exams, month of birth is taken into consideration. I see many summer born children who, in an ideal world, should be allowed to go back a year if requested by their parents.

Education, Languages, Media Article, Higher EducationSarah NorrisOctober 3, 2019Lando Educationsummer-born, children, school, education, exams, The TimesComment

The Times: University cap on private schools ‘will drive brightest pupils abroad’

Capping the number of private school pupils going to university would lead to a brain drain in which bright students would go abroad to study, a leading head teacher has warned.

It could leave universities, which mostly select on academic ability, struggling to fill courses, the annual Headmasters’ and Headmistresses’ Conference (HMC) of 300 leading private schools was told.

The Times - Sheffield Girls’ pupils to learn comedy — so they’ll be taken seriously

Most schools have a class clown, but one headteacher is encouraging more pupils to play the fool.

Stand-up comedy lessons have been introduced at Sheffield Girls’ School to teach sixth-formers how to deal with hecklers and silence and could help girls to cope with job interviews, negotiate at work and give them the confidence to ask for a pay rise.

The comedy club is an alternative to debating societies, developing similar skills among those put off by formal rhetoric and argument.

Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisOctober 1, 2019Lando Educationcomedy, girls, school, education, class clownComment

Guardian: Funding for 80% of schools in England 'worse next year than 2015'

School Cuts coalition warns of real-terms cuts despite government’s cash injection

Four in five state schools in England will be financially worse off next year than they were in 2015 despite promises by Boris Johnson’s government of a multibillion-pound funding boost, according to research by teachers’ unions.

Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisSeptember 30, 2019Lando EducationGuardian, Media Article, schools, education, school cuts, governmentComment

The Times: Private schools scrap Britain’s oldest exam

Common Entrance is to end within two years as public schools take on more primary pupils. Are prep schools doomed?

Family, Education, Media ArticleSarah NorrisSeptember 30, 2019Lando EducationThe Times, common entrance, prep schoolsComment

Evening Standard: Frolo app: a single mum wanted to find other single parents – so she made an app for it

If you want to become an app entrepreneur, a good place to start is by identifying a problem you are personally dealing with and finding a way to use tech to solve it.

For Zoe Desmond, her app, Frolo, came from her experience as a single parent and the loneliness that came along with that. Desmond and her partner separated two years ago, not long after their son Billy had turned one, and she says she found it very isolating.

“I didn’t know any other single parents in my life – none of my friends and family. I began to dread the weekends, I would start to panic about how to get by and fill the days. Then there was the guilt of not being able to be my best self for my son, not wanting to impose on friends and family on their family time,” she tells the Standard.

What she really wanted was to find a community of people who were in a similar situation and would understand. The other platforms and apps out there didn’t offer the right space: the Facebook forums were full of too much negativity and mum apps like Peanut and Mush didn’t have the right search system to find other single parents.

Family, Media ArticleSarah NorrisSeptember 30, 2019Lando Educationsingle parent, family, app, evening standard, FroloComment

Evening Standard - Scream time: More parents calling in professionals to resolve family rows over gadget use

Increasing numbers of parents with young children are seeking help from professional coaches over screen time “battles” with their “addicted” offspring, experts said.

Device use has become the heart of many family rows, with some parents complaining of “triple-screening” — youngsters simultaneously viewing a television, laptop and smartphone.

Coaches say that occupational therapists they work with are worried that children are not learning simple resilience from climbing trees or running around outside, with some starting school unable to hold a pencil properly.

All things Education, Parenting, Fun and Interesting...

LANDO EDucation

Powered by Squarespace