News
Bullying 'a culture of silence'
'Fewer pupils' take school meals
Children 'must learn life skills'
'Seven in 10' bullied at school
One in ten parents not reading to children
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Bullying 'a culture of silence'
Many young people witness bullying at school but do not tell an adult, a survey suggests. The Anti-Bullying Alliance said more than half of seven to 18-year-olds polled had seen another young person being bullied during the past year.
The survey of 1,143 pupils in Britain found 38% did not attempt to get help and 14% did not want to be a "snitch".
Sir Alan Steer, the government's expert on classroom behaviour, said standing-by encouraged the bullies.
In an article for the BBC News website, Sir Alan, head of Seven Kings High School, Essex, said schools must take all steps possible to root out bullying.
"We know that bullying can cause intense damage, both psychological and physical, to children and young people," said Sir Alan.
"Yet if we are to succeed in preventing bullying, it is vital for schools to promote a culture where it is not tolerated, and where children and young people feel able to speak out when they witness it."
The Anti-Bullying Alliance, which commissioned the survey, said the "culture of silence" must be broken.
Children aged seven to 10 were more likely to fear being bullied themselves (24%), while 22% of 11 to14-year-olds were afraid of being called a "snitch".
Fifteen to 18-year-olds tended to think that bullying was none of their business (24%).
The survey also suggests girls were more ready to ask for help to stop bullying than boys, with 66% of female respondents saying they had asked for help in preventing bullying, compared with 55% of boys.
"It's great news that the majority of children and young people who witnessed bullying felt able to ask for help, but as our poll shows, we need to do much more to break the culture of silence in which bullying can thrive," said Gill Frances, manager of the Anti-Bullying Alliance.
"Our findings suggest that while many schools have excellent anti-bullying policies, we need to ensure that everyone in the school community - staff and parents as well as children and young people - understands what those policies are and how to act upon them," she said.
"We want children and young people to have the confidence to get help whenever and wherever they see bullying - and we want the adults in their lives to take action to tackle bullying and prevent it from happening again."
Source www.bbc.co.uk/news
The poll comes ahead of anti-bullying week - coordinated by the Anti-Bullying Alliance and supported by the Department for Education and Skills - which starts next Monday. The focus this year is on the bystander.
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'Fewer pupils' take school meals
Moves to improve the quality of meals in English secondary schools have resulted in fewer pupils taking them this term, a BBC News survey suggests. Fifty-nine local authorities responded, of which 35 (59%) said the number of pupils eating dinners had gone down.
Of those, 71% agreed Jamie Oliver's healthy meals campaign was a reason.
However, the School Food Trust - set up by the government in 2005 to improve school food - predicted that the downturn would be temporary.
Chief executive Judy Hargadon said: "We expected there to be a bit of a downturn; children are going to have to get used to eating more healthy food at school and it takes a while for them to get used to that.
"Some schools have however proved that it can be done and that children really enjoy eating healthy food, so our job is to help people get through this dip."
Of the 59 authorities that responded to the survey, six had more pupils taking meals, eight reported no change and 10 said the changes were not applicable.
Half said a factor in the decline was the restrictions imposed on vending machines, while some said the prolonged warm weather had had an effect.
Overall the decline was just 5.8%, though individual areas had seen decreases of as much as 30%.
Declining pupil take-up of school meals has also been reported in Scotland and Wales, following drives there to improve the quality.
Children's Minister Parmjit Dhanda said the government was committed to the change.
"I'm not saying that there aren't issues, because there are. But it's still early days," he said.
"We're investing for the long term here. We're putting in money, something like £477m right up to the year 2011 and that's pretty unprecedented.
"There hasn't been a subsidy for school meals since the 1960s and we're focused on this because we think it's the right thing to do."
Irene Carroll, national chair of the Local Authority Caterers Association, said a key problem was that children were not being given healthy food by their parents.
"Jamie hung his programme on school meals. It was a shame because school meals weren't the real problem," she said.
"It's what they are eating out of school that is the problem. We have got to really work hard educating the children on why they should be eating this."
Mrs Carroll added that another issue affecting school dinner take up was shorter lunch breaks which give pupils no time to eat full meals.
"Lunch time periods now are so short," she said.
"Ideally we would look to give them a plated meal and pudding. But they have got 30 minutes and in many cases they've got 25 minutes.
"And the only child getting 25 minutes to eat is the first one in the queue."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news
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Children 'must learn life skills'
Children's personal skills are increasingly likely to influence their future earning potential, not just exam results, a think-tank suggests. Failure to teach key skills such as communication is widening the gap between rich and poor, says the Institute for Public Policy Research.
It recommends a longer school day so pupils can learn these "soft" skills at after-class arts and sports clubs. Parents who fail to send their children to clubs should face fines, it says.
The IPPR report is based on surveys with people born in 1958 and 1970.
It found personal and social skills had become 33 times more important in determining earnings over the two generations.
"There have always been class divides in education," IPPR director Nick Pearce said.
"But in the post-war period there were no social class gaps in how children were socialised into developing personal and social skills.
"Now there is a personal skills class divide, and it is contributing in the decrease in social mobility.
"Adolescence is also being stretched at both ends, with children becoming 'teenagers' earlier and 'adults' later."
The IPPR report said social skills could be improved at extra-curricular activities such as the scouts, cadets, martial arts, drama clubs and sports.
The report also called for an "appropriate age limit" be set on TV, newspapers and mobile phone advertising targeted at primary school children.
It added there should be a ban on the promotions ahead of consultation on the issue.
A Department for Education and Skills spokesperson said the report raised important issues.
"It is important not to lose perspective and think all teenagers are in crisis - they are not.
"The vast majority of teenagers are achieving more and enjoying more prosperous lives than ever before, as the report acknowledges."
"Youth Matters, our reform of services for young people, has focus on teenagers whose life chances are undermined by disadvantage, support for families in difficulty, and giving all teenagers the skills to seize greater opportunities."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news
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'Seven in 10' bullied at school
Seven out of 10 children have been bullied at school, a survey of thousands of pupils, parents and teachers suggests. Of the 4,772 children who responded to the survey, 69% reported being bullied, with name-calling the major issue.
Among parents, 44% of those who had complained to a school felt their concerns were not taken seriously. Teachers told the survey by charity Bullying Online that they needed more training to deal with the problem.
Of the 323 teachers who took part, only 40% were confident they had all the skills they needed to address instances of bullying. And 78% thought there should be more in-school training.
More than 71% of parents said their child had been physically hurt by a bully and 30% of those needed to see a doctor. And 60% said their children had taken time off school because they were being bullied.
Pupils said bullying took place around the school, notably the playground (30%), the classroom (25%), corridors (21%), the lunch queue (14%) and the toilets (7%).
"We reply to thousands of e-mails a year, so we knew the problem was a big one, but even so we were shocked by what we found out," said its director Liz Carnell.
"This is a scandalous situation and it needs tough measures to sort it out.
"If assaults were happening in the workplace, the attackers would be prosecuted but in many cases the bullies are getting off scot-free without any punishment at all."
A spokesperson for England's Department for Education and Skills said: "Bullying of any kind should not be tolerated.
"It is not part of growing up and it doesn't make anyone stronger - on the contrary, it simply alienates people and undermines their confidence.
"We have ensured that heads have the powers they need to prevent and tackle bullying, with guidance and support to help prevent it happening in the first place."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news
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One in ten parents not reading to children
One in 10 parents of UK primary school pupils never reads to their children, according to a survey.
Once children start school, only one-third of parents read every day, the poll of 1,500 parents suggests.
The average time spent reading was 10 to 15 minutes and over a quarter of those surveyed admitted to skipping pages to speed up the bedtime story.
The survey was carried out by charity Booktrust and publishers Pearson as part of a scheme to encourage reading. Parents in Yorkshire (49%) were most likely never to read to their children, followed by parents in Norfolk and Suffolk (43%).
But 41% of parents living in London read to their children every day, 35% of parents in Scotland did the same and 32% of parents in north-east England.
One in seven fathers never shares a book with their primary school-age children, the survey suggests.
Now Pearson and the Booktrust are giving out a free illustrated story to more than 250,000 pupils across the UK in an attempt to encourage parents and carers to read with their children.
They will also receive a guidance booklet on the benefits of shared reading, as part of the "Booktime" initiative.
Director of Booktrust Chris Meade said: "Booktrust exists to help readers of all ages and cultures to discover and enjoy reading.
"I'm sure Booktime will encourage families to make more time for reading together, and impact on the number of children who stay hooked on books as they grow up."
Marjorie Scardino, chief executive of Pearson, said: "We hope this will help teachers and parents kick-start a love of reading, which has to be one of the best starts you can give a child in life."
Education Secretary Alan Johnson added his support to the scheme.
"Getting more children interested in reading is something that is close to my heart. Being able to read well is the foundation of anyone's education," he said.
"But what's also important is the joy that reading can bring both children and adults throughout their lives."
Source: www.bbc.co.uk/news
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