English schools’ revised sex education curriculum to focus on family

The Evolution of Sex Education

I’m no expert on how sex and relationships education in schools has changed over the years, but stereotypically things have become more liberal of late, with a focus much more on the process and physical repercussions of sex than on moral and societal issues surrounding the subject.

I can’t say that this is absolutely true, because schools can teach things in different ways, with more or less emphasis placed on issues beyond “how sex works”.

However, thanks in part to the way society has changed, particularly over the last decade or so, in its attitudes to sex and its portrayal in the media, the UK government on both sides is now looking at promoting familial and stable relationships.

Yesterday, the standard curriculum for sex education in English schools was updated to place more value on the moral and relational aspects of sex.

Delaying Sex

In an age-appropriate way, children will now be taught that it’s OK to delay having sex, and that they shouldn’t feel pressured by friends or the media into becoming sexually active as the “normal” thing to do.

Stability

Marriage and other stable relationships will be heralded as the “bedrock of family life”, with education on “the challenges and responsibilities of parenthood”.

Bullying and Pressure

Sexually-motivated bullying is sadly becoming more common. Mobile phone technology can be used to send compromising photographs which, apart from being illegal in the eyes of the law, could cause great distress to those victims caught on camera.

Other advice will warn about overtly sexualised imagery now prevalent in most types of media, including television, magazines, advertising and the Internet.

Comment

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls said, “Young people today grow up in a very different world to the one their parents knew as children.

“New technologies and a 24-hour media mean that young people are increasingly exposed to images and content that can make them feel pressure to be sexually active before they are ready and can give them misleading information about relationships and growing up.

“We also want young people to understand the importance of marriage and other stable relationships – these are the bedrock of family life, the best way to bring up children and the kind of relationships we want young people to develop as they get older.”

What do you think of the changes?

Photo credit: Made Underground

Via

Kylie Minogue patrons StudyVox Foundation: bursary support for UK undergraduates

Superstar Kylie Minogue has agreed to become patron of the newly formed StudyVox Foundation, a charity launched today to support British undergraduates seeking help with tuition fees.

Kylie, who has spent time at StudyVox’s headquarters, said, “Studyvox is such a fantastic site for students. It helps them to be connected with one another wherever they may be across the country. I would have loved to have access to this kind of thing when I was studying!”

An initial injection of £16,000 comes from StudyVox, with the first £10k award and three £2,000 awards being presented by Kylie this spring.

Joint CEO of StudyVox, Kevin Martin, commented, “Kylie’s support is a fantastic way of raising the StudyVox Foundation’s profile and getting the word out to students across the UK. Her patronage of The Foundation will add tremendously to its ability to make a difference to the lives of young people.”

The StudyVox Foundation’s aims are to:

• Advance education, and relieve poverty by providing or assisting in the provision of financial or other assistance to poor students;
• Relieve persons who are in need – by reason of youth, ill health, disability, financial hardship or other disadvantage; and
• Advance citizenship by assisting, encouraging or facilitating volunteering by young people to take part in projects, purposes or events that are carried out for the public benefit.

Dolly Parton’s UK Imagination Library delivers its 100,000th book

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library is celebrating the delivery of the 100,000th book through its UK programme.

Four year old Thomas Donkin from Wigtownshire received the very special delivery, which included a personal letter from Dolly herself, from postman Alan McColm this week. In her letter to Thomas Dolly explained: “I love books and the adventures they bring; and it is my hope that children everywhere would be able to enjoy the fun that books offer.”

Children in Wigtown were some of the first in the UK to become part of the Dolly Parton Imagination Library – launched in the UK in December 2007 by the music star to encourage a love of reading in pre-school children. Its roll out in the UK built on the educational programmes resounding success in the US and Canada, where it has now delivered over 22 million books.

Thomas’ father Chris Donkin commented: “It’s a great scheme. We all look forward to the monthly arrival of Thomas’ books from the Imagination Library and share in enjoying the tales they contain. This month’s delivery was of course particularly special as it contained a letter from Dolly herself.”

Children in Wigtown have been receiving books through the scheme, which is part-funded and run by the organisers of the Wigtown Book Festival, since April 2008. Stena Line Wigtown Book Festival event spokeswoman Catherine Campbell said: “We are all absolutely delighted that a child from the Wigtown area received the 100,000th book, especially as it coincides with the start of this year’s annual book festival.”

“The festival runs 25th September to 4th October, with over 180 events taking place including a full children’s programme, so we’ll certainly be taking time to celebrate the book’s arrival.”

Since Dolly launched the library in the UK, the Imagination Library has been adopted by communities across the UK. Dolly Parton explained: It’s my dream that every child has a library of books which their parents can read to them from the moment they are born. I’m really excited that we’ve now shared 100,000 books with kids in the UK.”

Dolly Parton launched the scheme in her home county of Sevier, Tennessee, in 1996. The scheme works by local sponsors paying for children in their community to receive the books. In 2007 Rotherham Council became the first UK authority to join the Imagination Library, which is part of Ms Parton’s umbrella charity, the Dollywood Foundation, with more communities signing up in the past 18 months.

ImaginationLibrary.com

Help your toddler to talk with new national classes from TinyTalk

Hundreds of toddlers across the UK are participating in a new programme created especially for them, ‘TinyTalk Toddlers’. Developed by the team behind the successful TinyTalk Baby Signing Classes, TinyTalk Toddlers focuses on children who are starting to walk and talk with a more physical, interactive experience.

With new themes to explore each week, TinyTalk Toddlers encourages and supports the children’s speech and language understanding and expression through songs, signs, books and musical instruments. It also recognises that toddlers are always on the go so there is a wide range of language development activities, quality books and even a parachute!

“At the TinyTalk Toddler classes we have a lot of fun! Without the children even realising it, we’re also focusing on their understanding and development of speech,” says Katie Mayne, founder of TinyTalk, an ex-primary school teacher and a mother of two. “Signs still play a
valuable supporting role though, as everyone learns to talk (or walk!) at different stages! We also make time for communicational and behavioural ‘etiquette’, so teamwork, conversational turn-taking and that elusive concept of ‘sharing’ are also encouraged…..”

TinyTalk offers baby signing and toddler classes right across the United Kingdom and Ireland and is seeing a significant increase in demand. More and more families are seeking to experience the enormous benefits of early communication and understanding with their little ones. Mayne explains, “Contrary to popular belief, sign language actually encourages spoken
language rather than hindering it. Even tantrums are reduced! Families who attend our classes quickly find out that their babies and toddlers are little chatterboxes, full of so many things to say!”

In the Ministerial Foreword to “Better Communication”, the Government’s action plan to improve services for children and young people with speech, language and communication needs, Ed Balls, MP and Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, and Alan Johnson, MP and former Secretary of State for Health state, “Speech, language and communication are crucial to every child’s ability to access and get the most out of education and life.” They continue, “Creating an environment in which every child develops effective speech, language and communication skills….is a challenge for everyone working with children and young people, from speech and language therapists….to parents.”

So, at a time when serious concerns are being raised about the low level of communication skills of children entering pre-school, the TinyTalk Baby Signing Classes and now TinyTalk Toddlers are top of their class! Through them, thousands of families across the UK have the chance to give their babies and toddlers a strong foundation in communication, for a lifetime of language and learning development.

To join them or for more information about the classes, visit the TinyTalk website or ring 01483 301444.

Bullying Prevention Skills and Techniques for Children

This is a guest post by Mark Lakewood, CEO, a distinguished bullying prevention expert, author, and speaker with over 20 years of clinical experience as a family therapist. He provided clinical and consultation services to school personnel and students on issues of bullying and behavior management. He facilitates the “Standing Up To Bullying” Conference.

Child bullying is a big problem in our schools today. The main difference between child bullying today from the past is the nature of the bullying and the violence that occurs in the aftermath. Cyberbullying is becoming a popular and more destructive form of bullying than traditional bullying. More children today are bringing guns to school to seek revenge on others. Child bullying has been around and will probably remain for years to come.

Unfortunately, we do not have the power to rid the world of bullying. The answer to the issue of child bullying rests within us, especially the victims of bullying. Victims of bullying are never responsible for being bullied. On the contrary, victims of child bullying have the power in themselves to think, behave, and react in ways that limits or eradicates bullying.

As a society, we spend much of our energy identifying and punishing the bully that we fail to spend adequate time empowering the victims of child bullying. We should spend more of our energy on the things that we can control rather than the things that we have limited or no control over.

We need to teach children about the power that they already possess. Let me elaborate on a few issues that parents should teach their children regarding bullying prevention.

Let’s first talk about the characteristics of child bullying.

Typically, bullies and their victims share the same characteristic – low self-esteem. It just depends on whether they internalize or externalize their feelings that will determine if they will become a bully or a victim of bullying. Typically, negative situations and events in the child’s life can trigger low self-esteem. Externalizing feelings can cause some children to become bullies as they attempt to control their environment to compensate for their lack of control in their family.

For instance, if the parents of a child are divorcing and the child is very upset about the divorce, he/she might feel powerless in his/her ability to keep his/her parents together. As a result, the child might take out his/her rage on others for purposes of seeking control to compensate for his/her lack of control over their parents’ impending divorce.

Given the same scenario (parental divorce), some children internalize their feelings by not talking or acting out how they feel. Instead, they become depressed and withdrawn feeling like a failure. Often, they develop a negative image of themselves and their physical appearance. They look at others and the world around them with shaded lens. When a bully validates this child’s feelings about him/herself, this child often reacts negatively to the validation because he/she feels the bully is correct in their interpretation.

Often times, children with high self-esteem do not respond negatively to bullies because they already know that negative personal statements made by the bully are untrue and therefore are unworthy of attention.

As human beings, our behavior, thoughts, and feelings are never dictated or controlled by others, situations, and events unless we allow this to occur. Simply said, others, situations, and events can trigger a reaction based on what we think. For example, if I do not want to go to work today and my car has a flat tire, I might experience happiness because I do not want to go to work. On the other hand given the same event (flat tire), I might want to go to work today to take care of some unfinished business. Because the flat tire might delay or eliminate my chances of getting to work, this situation might cause me anger.

How could the same event in both situations cause two different feelings? It was not the event at all that triggered the feelings. It was what I thought about the event that triggered my feelings. Therefore, manipulating the way we think can alter how we feel.

We have the power to take ownership and control over our thoughts. We however have limited or no control over specific events, situations, and the behavior of others. Sometimes, we attempt to control events, situations, and others but become frustrated when our attempts fail.

Now, how does the paragraph above apply to the issue of bullying prevention?

The main goal of bullies is to get their victims to experience fear, anger, or sadness. Once their victim demonstrates signs of these emotions via the words he/she says, body language, or actions, the bully has complete and total control over him/her.

The bullying will continue until the victim no longer verbally and/or physically displays fear, anger, or sadness in response to the bullying. The bullying will end once the victim responds the opposite of what the bully expects.

How do we get children to react the opposite of what the bully expects?

This is where role-playing comes in handy. Parents should regularly sit down with their children helping them learn to react the opposite of what bullies expect. Often times, this task is much easier when the parent knows what hurtful words or phrases bullies say that makes their children feel fearful, angry, or sad. Using these hurtful words and/or phrases in role-plays will emotionally prepare children when they are approached by bullies.

It is also important to teach children that they have the power to change or affect the agenda of bullies by the words they use. For instance, if a bully calls a child ‘stupid’, the child could defuse the bullying by stating to the bully, “That’s nice”, “How about that”, “Oh, well”, and so forth. The worst thing that the child could do is respond by telling the bully that he/she is stupid or make other negative statements. A negative response will only inflame the situation encouraging further bullying.

In addition, parents should teach and role-play with their children specific forms of body language that differentiates a child with high self-esteem from a child with low self-esteem.

Body language communicates feelings more so than spoken words.

If a child yells at a bully stating that he/she is not bothered by the bully’s behavior, the bully knows that the child is bothered because of the yelling. Lack of eye contact, looking down, slouched posture, lack of hygiene, and low tone of voice can be viewed as symptoms of low self-esteem.

Parents need to teach their children that bullies rarely get angry at them. Bullies are typically angry at themselves and/or events that occurred or are occurring in their own life for which they have limited or no control. Bullies indirectly take out their anger on the ones they could easily control.

Parents should never teach their children to physically fight back when approached by a bully. The problem with fighting back is that children can get themselves into trouble for engaging in physically assaultive behavior.

Think of it this way – bullies rarely throw the first punch. They always entice their victim into throwing the first punch. This way when they are asked who started the fight, the bully could easily and truthfully state that their victim started it. In addition, there are significant legal ramifications that can arise as a result of physically assaultive behavior.

It is important to remember that physical violence typically occurs after a negative verbal interaction. Violence typically is provoked and rarely unprovoked. Therefore to avoid violence, the conflict can and should be defused during the verbal exchange. This is why the words victims say and their body language are so significant and detrimental to the outcome of bullying.

Recent school shootings suggest that the shooters were bullied by their classmates. The bullying subsequently provoked the school violence.

Parents should be cautious when teaching their children to ignore bullies. The problem with ignoring is that the bully knows that his/her behavior is irritating, annoying, and controlling his/her victim. Therefore, the bullying will continue.

Parents should be cautious when teaching their children to report bullying to an adult without first attempting to resolve the conflict on their own. Parents should encourage their children to first attempt to resolve the bullying on their own with the skills taught above. If their children are unsuccessful resolving these issues on their own, they should be encouraged to report the bullying. If their children automatically report the bullying without attempting to defuse the situation on their own, they will be perceived and labeled as a tattle-tale which will encourage the bullying to continue.

Parents need to teach their children the correct definition of the word ‘tattling’. Some children think that reporting child misbehavior to adults is considered tattling. Parents need to teach their children that reporting on others just to see them get into trouble is considered tattling.

A child that reports to his/her parents that his/her brother is picking his nose is considered tattling. Children always need to report to an adult if they were physically, sexually, or verbally harmed by others or if they witnessed others engaging in destructive or illegal behaviors.

It is very easy to feel sympathetic toward victims of child bullying. However, it would be more helpful to the victim if we are more empathic to their needs by empowering them to diffuse bullying on their own. As a result, their ability to defuse the bullying would ultimately raise their level of self-esteem and self-worth.

Author’s Biography

Mark Lakewood, CEO, is a distinguished bullying prevention expert, author, and speaker with over 20 years of clinical experience as a family therapist. He provided clinical and consultation services to school personnel and students on issues of bullying and behavior management. He facilitates the “Standing Up To Bullying” Conference.

Children’s TV celebs announce 2009 TOTAL Green School Awards winner

The winner of this year’s TOTAL Green School Awards has been announced by CBBC presenter Michael Absalom and the BBC’s Really Wild Show presenter Steve Backshall.

Lutley Primary School from Halesowen has won the national competition for schoolchildren which aims to generate interest in the environment and raise awareness of the need for sustainable energy sources.

This year, 341 entries from 17,500 children aged between 7-11 were received.

The wining project was the brainchild of 30 pupils aged between nine and 11 years, who created an oasis in the school grounds. In 2007, the children planted a vegetable garden and they have since harvested and shared the produce with their classmates. After this success, the pupils obtained a grant which was used to build a covered outdoor classroom made from home-made cob bricks (a mixture of clay and straw). The children have also planted trees in the school grounds and created a wildlife garden with a pond and beautiful dragonfly mosaic.

The winners were announced at the national finals held at London Zoo in Regent’s Park.

All students in the winning group receive an all expenses paid Environmental Discovery Course with the YPTE, which comprises a four-night environment adventure exploring the British countryside.

The awards comprise four categories, each allowing group work on environmental topics in a diverse range of subjects including, Art, English, History and Mathematics as well as Science Technology and Geography. From the huge number of entries received, winners for each of the four categories; Totally Active, Totally Clued Up, Totally Creative and Totally Powered Up, were chosen from each of the five regions; Scotland, Wales, Central England, North and South England. The four winners from each region attended a regional final where the national finalists were selected by a panel of judges.

More information on the awards is available at TotalGreenSchoolAwards.org

Parents and kids struggle to communicate about school

A new study shows that kids aren’t keen to share the details of their day at school with parents.

Most parents surveyed by Becta said that they didn’t know as much about their child’s day at school as they’d like to, with nearly half saying that they find it difficult or very difficult to extract information from their child.

On the other side of the coin, about the same proportion of children don’t like to share information with their parents, preferring to keep their school day private.

Professor Tanya Byron compiled the report which investigates the after-school communication challenge and provides guidelines to help parents improve interaction with both children and schools by using technology in addition to more traditional methods.

According to Professor Byron, this inability or unwillingness for parent and child to communicate might have implications which will hamper a child’s progress, creating stress between the parent-child relationship and creating tension between parent and school as the packed school itinerary gets ‘lost in translation’.

The report shows that while more than 90% of children say their parents are interested in their education, the majority of parents are struggling to get involved with their child’s learning, with many finding it difficult to get information on what is actually happening once their child is at school.

Despite packed lesson plans and innovative use of technologies, the research reveals that just 16% of children proactively communicate with their parents about their school day.

Becta’s Next Generation Learning campaign is urging parents to talk to their child’s school to find out how technology is already being used and also discuss ways it can help improve day-to-day communications between them and the school in the future.

Professor Tanya Byron comments, “This report highlights how fundamental positive communication within and after school can help raise attainment and build children’s sense of self worth. By creating a collaborative, three-way dialogue between parents, schools and children; by harnessing the new and exciting technologies that enable seamless communication between school and home; and – most importantly – by engaging children in after school communication that is fun, relaxed, open and well timed, we can all enable them to maximise their academic potential and enjoy their school and further education years.”

More information about this initiative is available at the Next Generation Learning web site.

Music Bugs: Play is the way to improving literacy and numeracy in young children

Helping your child on the way to good reading and numeracy skills is very important, as is play and interaction, so Music Bugs has combined the two.

By setting up locally-run classes for children aged six months to four years of age and entertaining children through music, singing, puppet shows and other activities, it engages the young audience and encourages them to get involved and learn basic skills such as counting, sequencing and pattern matching.

Founder and Managing Director of Music Bugs, Claire Bennett, explained, “A toddler may just think that they are having fun, sitting on mum or dad’s lap and playing with a hand puppet, but they are actually building up an awareness of order, sequencing and patterns which help to develop counting skills and critical thinking. It is often the case that the child is having so much fun, they don’t realise that they are
actually learning and being very clever indeed.”

There’s a growing number of franchises running nationwide, so there’s bound to be something near you. There’s also a lot to be said for encouraging your child to learn through play at home.

Music Bugs

New “sick day” guidelines for children issued by US school nurses

‘Tis the season for coughs and colds and they certainly do the rounds in schools, which is why the National Association of School Nurses has issued some “Sick Day Guidelines” that offer advice on whether to send a child to school or not if they have some kind of cold.

These useful guidelines could be applied in most countries and while there are no absolute rules, they could help to reassure a worried parent that they’re doing the best for their child and the school.

Things to look out for that could mean it’s better to keep a child home from school include:

• having a fever of 100.4ËšF (38ËšC) or greater
• vomiting
• excessive tiredness
• lack of appetite
• productive coughing/sneezing
• headache, body aches, earache
• sore throat

Flu (influenza) in children is serious, and any signs of a high fever, chills, aches, nausea, vomiting, or dry cough should be investigated by a GP straight away.

There’s also advice on minimising the risks of getting a cold in the first place.

The PDF document can be downloaded from the NASN website.

Live web event: Monkeys: Make them your business

Log on with your kids to find out the really wild truth about our monkey relatives and how to actually make them one of the family

Chat date: 21st January
Chat time: 2pm

Throughout time man has had a fascination with monkeys and apes. Children in particular seem mesmerised by their intelligence, playfulness and inquisitiveness. From Curious George to Marcel’s feature role in Friends our love of our closest relative has never waned.

But in some parts of the world many species of monkey are under threat from the destruction of their habitat and exploitation by man. Which is why across the world there are teams of dedicated volunteers working to protect these animals, safeguarding their habitats and working with local communities help to create a better future for people and wildlife.

The Lilongwe Wildlife Centre in Malawi is one of them. Staff at the sanctuary rescue injured monkeys and help them to recuperate before releasing them back into the wild. Supported by Born Free, the sanctuary relies on donations from companies and people to keep their great work going.

Lee Stewart, who heads up the sanctuary at Lilongwe will be joining us live to tell you everything you ever wanted to know about monkeys and introduce you to some of the 40 vervets and baboons at the sanctuary, all with their own incredible stories.

Joining Lee is Heartbeat’s Joe McFadden. Joe, who plays PC Joe Mason in the ITV series, is a long-standing supporter of Born Free. And alongside him will be Bruce Learner of Kellogg’s – who has teamed up with Born Free to give people the opportunity to take part in the amazing Adopt a Monkey scheme. From January to March 2009, people have the chance to directly help these animals and ‘Adopt a Monkey’ by collecting three special packs of Kellogg’s cereal. Each adoption will last six months and will help Born Free rescue and rehabilitate monkeys and return them to the wild.

To learn more about these incredible creatures and how you can help your children understand more about the monkey kingdom, log on to our live WebTV show.

Lee Stewart, Joe McFadden and Bruce Learner join us live online at http://www.webchats.tv/chat/monkeys_make_them_your_business on 21th January at 2pm to discuss how you can learn about how to help save monkeys from your home.

Click here to submit questions before the chat

To find out more about how Kellogg’s is helping Born Free please visit: http://www.kelloggs.co.uk/whatson/adoptamonkey

UK Government to standardise sex and relationships education for 5-16s

British government ministers have admitted that the provision for sex and relationships education in the UK is “patchy”, and has proposed a revamp of the system which will see five-year-olds learning about relationships.

When the BBC polled one-thousand people, it found that two-thirds supported the concept of sex education lessons in schools from the age of 11.

The Department for Children, Schools and Families said that there was “a need to challenge the perception that sex and relationships education happened in a ‘moral vacuum’ in schools and … that parents and schools can and should work together to decide how best topics should be taught.”

Various issues need to be handled sensitively, such as the right for faith-based schools to modify the programme to include their own moral beliefs, while still providing consistent education.

“We are not suggesting that five and six-year-olds should be taught sex,” said minister for schools, Jim Knight. “What we are saying is we need to improve in particular the relationship education, improve the moral framework and moral understanding around which we then talk about sex later on in a child’s education.”

Though a number of organisations and charities have welcomed the news, the head of the Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL), John Dunford, has raised concerns that a centrally-managed policy of personal, social and health education could take away the rights of an individual school to tailor its education programme in a way that best suits its individuals.

“It is part of the ethos of the school, helping to develop the young person in ways that schools deem most appropriate to their circumstances,” he said. “It should not be the subject to further central prescription and certainly not compulsion.”

The way sex education is taught (or not taught) in schools will always be a contentious issue to some, but hopefully the new proposals will ensure at least a minimum standard of education, not simply confined to biology, that can be tailored according to the needs of each individual school.

What do you think?

(Via BBC News)

Majority of parents see video games of benefit to their children, survey finds

Although excessive use may discourage children from physical exercise, a new study suggests that parents can see the benefits of them playing video games.

Though one may be sceptical as the research was commissioned by Sony (the company which makes the PlayStation consoles), it does suggest that children are learning to think strategically by playing them.

• Nearly three-quarters of parents questioned said that their children’s problem-solving skills had improved since they started playing video games;
• Well over three-quarters saw a marked improvement in typing skills from playing PC/online games;
• Seven in ten parents said that their kids play games online with other people either sometimes or all the time;
• Four in five parents said their children played video games in a common area of the house.

The survey, which was conducted on Yahoo!’s “Shine” website, found that around nine out of ten parents spent time playing video games with their children. This sits well with a survey carried out last year by PopCap Games, which showed that casual computer games can help parents and children bond.

“The good news is that parents are involved with and aware of what their kids are playing,” said Sony Online Entertainment’s president, John Smedley. “The even better news is that parents and kids are playing together.”

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