Posts in Media Article
The Times: Elite Tokyo school expels masked impostor who posed as his brother

A boy impersonated his brother to attend one of Japan’s most celebrated private schools for several months without staff noticing.

Kaisei Academy in Tokyo, an all-boys school, said it had expelled one of its pupils after discovering that he was passing himself off as his younger sibling and had never passed its rigorous entrance examination.

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The Guardian: Tory MPs back ditching GCSE exams in English school system overhaul

Covid-19 crisis has allowed for a radical rethink of education system, says One Nation group.

The disruption caused by the coronavirus allows for a “radical” rethink of England’s school system, according to a group of Conservative MPs who advocate scrapping GCSEs, delaying the start of formal education and introducing longer school days.

A paper from the One Nation caucus of centrist Conservative MPs is the latest assault on GCSEs, arguing that England is unusual in making teenagers sit two sets of high-stakes exams within the space of three years, and that this is partly responsible for high levels of stress and unhappiness among pupils.

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Evening Standard: Chrissy Teigen is a warrior and will save lives by sharing her devastating miscarriage story

Having had a miscarriage myself and also having family members, including my mother, who have also suffered miscarriages, or in one case - double figure miscarriages, I feel that Chrissy Teigen showing the reality of miscarriage is incredibly important.

My now ex best friend, told me that as my miscarriage had been at 9 weeks, it hadn’t even been a real baby. To add further pain, she refused to see me in the following few days, unless I went across London to meet her, as she was too busy to fit me into her schedule. When I offered to meet her half way, she told me I was obviously too “sick” to leave my home. Her schedule that day - to meet a friend who had to put her horse to sleep that week. My miscarriage meant nothing to her. She’s now a mother herself and I hope has a less icy heart.

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The Guardian: Air pollution particles in young brains linked to Alzheimer's damage

Exclusive: if discovery is confirmed it will have global implications as 90% of people breathe dirty air.

Tiny air pollution particles have been revealed in the brain stems of young people and are intimately associated with molecular damage linked to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.

If the groundbreaking discovery is confirmed by future research, it would have worldwide implications because 90% of the global population live with unsafe air. Medical experts are cautious about the findings and said that while the nanoparticles are a likely cause of the damage, whether this leads to disease later in life remains to be seen.

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The Guardian: Hong Kong primary teacher deregistered 'for talking about independence'

Teacher accused of violating legislation, reportedly discussing freedom of speech with pupils.

A Hong Kong primary school teacher has been deregistered after being accused of using pro-independence materials in class, reportedly to teach students about the concepts of freedom of speech and independence.

The education bureau accused the teacher of a premeditated act in violation of Hong Kong’s Basic Law, its de facto constitution, by having “spread a message about Hong Kong independence”.

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The Guardian: Manchester students organising 'Covid Positive' parties

Dress codes are nothing new to students going out in Manchester – no trainers, no football shirts and, increasingly, no man bags. But one student party this weekend had a special entry requirement: Covid.

According to one fresher at the University of Manchester, the “Covid Positive” party in the university’s Fallowfield campus halls of residence was broken up by security on Saturday. It is just one of the increasing instances of students’ risky behaviour during lockdown restrictions.

“There was a flat party a few days ago which had a policy that you could only get in if you were positive. It was like their health-and-safety measure,” the 18-year-old physics student said.

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Vogue: Meet The London Birdwatching Collective Founded By And For People Of Colour

We just saw a news report about this group of London birdwatchers and loved it. They are an incredibly cool group of people.

Back at the end of June, as the strictest lockdown restrictions in London were beginning to ease, there was one thing, above all others, that Ollie Olanipekun and Nadeem Perera were itching to do: go birdwatching. “So much of the appeal of what we do is the escapism, and we’ve never needed that more than the past six months,” says Olanipekun. As birds (or, at least, birdwatchers) of a feather who bonded online over a mutual passion for this relatively esoteric outdoors activity, it wasn’t just about the chance to return to nature, whip out the binoculars, and tick another rare sighting off their list. It would also mean a tentative step back into the pre-pandemic social lives so many of us have struggled to ease back into. As Perera puts it: “It’s really just the perfect Sunday out.”

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The Times: Afghan bomb victim Shamsea Alizada is nation’s top pupil

Another article about Shamsea Alizada, which makes her achievement even more inspirational.

A coalminer’s daughter whose tutoring centre was bombed by Isis has come top in an Afghan entrance exam.

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TED Talk: the Danger of a Single Story

My daughter was asked to watch novelist Chimamanda Adichie’s TED talk for her geography homework. I was listening to it the background and it made me smile/laugh, quite a lot.

Our lives, our cultures, are composed of many overlapping stories. Novelist Chimamanda Adichie tells the story of how she found her authentic cultural voice -- and warns that if we hear only a single story about another person or country, we risk a critical misunderstanding.

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The Guardian: Schools in England told not to use material from anti-capitalist groups

Idea categorised as ‘extreme political stance’ equivalent to endorsing illegal activity.

The government has ordered schools in England not to use resources from organisations which have expressed a desire to end capitalism.

Department for Education (DfE) guidance issued on Thursday for school leaders and teachers involved in setting the relationship, sex and health curriculum categorised anti-capitalism as an “extreme political stance” and equated it with opposition to freedom of speech, antisemitism and endorsement of illegal activity.

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The Times: Open Letter - Rethinking Assessment: Mutant exam system is failing our children

In this letter, leading educators demand urgent action as they launch a group aiming to overhaul the testing regime in schools.

We were told this summer that it was a “mutant algorithm” that had caused the anguish of the exam fiasco. Covid may have exposed the failings, but in truth, something more profound is going on, and it has been brewing for years: we have a mutant exam system.

Created with good intentions — “to raise standards” — it has mutated into something that neither measures the right things nor is very reliable, and leaves in its wake a trail of stress and unfairness.

Many of those who are involved in the exams merry-go-round are reaching the same conclusion — it’s not fit for purpose and needs to change.

This week a new group— Rethinking Assessment — is being launched to do something about it.

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The Guardian: London maths teacher shortlisted for $1m teaching prize

Dr Jamie Frost’s tuition website went viral during lockdown, helping millions of pupils around the world with their studies.

A London mathematics teacher has been shortlisted for a $1m (£780,000) international teaching prize after his tuition website went global during lockdown, helping millions of pupils in the UK and around the world to continue their maths studies at home.

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The Times: British universities charter jets to fly in Chinese students

A flight carrying hundreds of students to Belfast from Beijing has become the first of several expected to be chartered by British universities to bring a record number of Chinese people into the country to study.

More than 24,000 Chinese students sought admission to British universities this year, up by 23 per cent, of which 8,570 were accepted, a rise of 14 per cent.

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Evening Standard: Could it be time to rent your children's clothes?

My 12 year old recently discovered that you could rent women’s clothes in Selfridges. Not quite sure either of us actually liked any of the clothes on display though.

2020 is the year fashion rental went mainstream. But should childrenswear be next on your list to loan? And is it safe? Chloe Street speaks to My Wardobe Kids' Sadie Mantovani to get the baby gro-down

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The Independent: ‘Young people have an amazing sense of humour, because the world is ridiculous’: How Rocks is revolutionising British cinema

First came ‘Attack the Block’; now two new releases are redrawing how we see young inner-city kids on screen. The directors tell Beth Webb why it’s time to see teenagers differently.

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The Times: School funding ‘unfair to poor white pupils’

Poor white children do significantly worse at school in part because education funding is targeted at larger cities with more ethnically diverse populations, academics have argued.

They accused the Department for Education of making it difficult for experts to analyse underachievement by white pupils because this “did not align” with the government’s focus.

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The Times: Pupils aren’t up to sitting exams next year, say teachers

A survey found that over 50 per cent of teachers with pupils due to take exams next summer felt they were not on track to get the results they should achieve.

Questions surround next year’s GCSE and A-level exams after ministers, unions and private schools raised doubts that they would run as normal.

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The Times: Coronavirus in Scotland: Parents want end to confusion over next year’s exams

Parents are demanding an “unequivocal statement” from John Swinney about the fate of next year’s school exams amid claims that they may be cancelled again due to Covid-19.

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