Education News
In the dock
Hackney young people went up against pupils from schools across London in a mock trial competition at Highbury Magistrates Court.
Students from the Bridge Academy and Skinners’ Company’s School for Girls were pitted against Acland Burghley, Camden, and Lammas School, Leyton, in a hotly contested heat.
The four teams of 12 to 14-year-olds each took turns in prosecuting and defending a specially written case, taking on the roles of lawyers, witnesses, magistrates and court staff.
Real magistrates and legal professionals judged the competition on 7 March. In a hard-fought battle of persuasive skills and legal reasoning, students from Acland Burghley triumphed, and will go on to regional finals in Manchester in June.
Mel Bryant, Deputy Chair of Magistrates at Highbury Corner, said: “All of the schools put in strong performances.” He also singled out the Bridge Academy team, saying:
“Not only was this their first time participating in the mock trials, but the team was composed of Year 8s, while the other teams were Year 9s. We look forward to seeing what they’ll accomplish next year.”
Now in its fifteenth year, the Magistrates’ Court Mock Trial Competition offers young people a hands-on introduction to the legal system, and how law can be relevant to their everyday lives. It also can be used to teach the Citizenship curriculum and offers students a chance to improve their public speaking skills and self-confidence.
Over 300 schools across the country compete each year.
More information
To learn more about the competition, visit: www.citizenshipfoundation.org.uk
Big book for Brook
Children from Brook Community Primary School celebrated World Book Day with illustrator Ian Beck and the Book Monster as part of the Times ‘Books for Schools’ campaign.
The Dalston primary has been collecting tokens published in the paper to exchange for free books since the scheme began in January. On offer are books from well-known children’s writers including Michael Rosen, Charlie Higson, Axel Scheffler, Jacqueline Wilson, Anthony Horowitz, Michael Morpurgo, as well as much-loved classics from C S Lewis and Roald Dahl. Ian Beck is the first author to visit the school as part of the scheme.
The afternoon began with an assembly for infants where Ian Beck read from some of his illustrated classics, including Chicken Licken and Home Before Dark. For junior pupils, he read extracts from his Tom Trueheart series, and talked about his life as an author and illustrator.
After the assemblies, the Times book monster ‘the Blurb’ did a tour of the classrooms and Ian signed copies of his books.
The scheme encourages businesses to ‘adopt’ local schools and collect tokens for them. Financial firm UBS has adopted Brook Primary and employees visited in the afternoon to read with pupils and join in the celebrations.
Teens can use text to save lives
Crimestoppers the independent charity that helps to solve crimes, is urging Hackney teens to use their mobiles to tackle knife crime.
The charity has set up a dedicated anonymous text hotline in 11 areas of England and Wales, which have been identified as knife crime hotspots.
It’s targeting secondary schoolchildren and encouraging them to text information about anyone they know who is carrying a knife. Once the text is sent, it arrives at Crimestoppers through special software, which means it cannot be traced. The information is then passed on to police.
Hannah Daws from Crimestoppers said: “We only need a few key details about the person carrying the knife, like their name, school, year and the area they live in.”
Lord Ashcroft, founder and Chairman of Crimestoppers, added: “The huge popularity of texting, especially amongst young people, has given us a valuable opportunity to engage with school students in a quick and easy way, whilst maintaining their anonymity. A simple text could help save a life in the future.”
The new scheme runs until the end of the month. You can text Crimestoppers on 88551, or call them anonymously on: 0800 555 111.
For more info, visit: www.crimestoppers-uk.org
Creative carers
A new project that gives young carers the chance to get creative has been launched in Hackney.
Arts charity Create has teamed up with Action for Children’s Hackney Young Carers Service (HYCS), and with funding from British Land, developed art:space.
The new project allows carers aged seven to 18 to try their hand at a range of activities. As well as giving young people the opportunity to be creative, the workshops also help to build confidence, have fun and create a support network of young people with similar experiences.
During half term last month, 35 young carers took part in jewellery making and screen printing workshops, culminating in the creation of a communal banner. When asked what the best part of the day had been, Stacey, nine, said:
“Everything!” Vera Beining, from Hackney Young Carers, added: “I feel really inspired by all of the wonderful work that Create has done.”
Create’s Executive Director, Nicky Goulder, said: “Young carers take on a massive responsibility and can easily become isolated from their peers. art:space is enabling them to explore their creativity.”
Create will be returning to HYCS during the Easter holidays for another week of fun.
More information
Call Hackney Young Carers Service on: 020 7254 5554.
Going to the top of the class
A ceremony to mark a significant milestone in the redevelopment of Lauriston school has taken place.
Hackney’s Mayor, Jules Pipe, was among the guests at the topping out ceremony for the E9 school’s new building, which will enable the school to reach its maximum capacity of 420 pupils, plus provide a nursery of up to 50 full-time places, by September 2015.
The school is made predominately from wood and was designed by architects Meadowcroft Griffin, with input from Lauriston pupils. It is being built by an Austrian timber company and will be preformed in their factory, sent to the UK by road and then erected on site.
Lauriston, which was declared a ‘good’ school with an ‘outstanding’ curriculum in its last Ofsted report, secured funding for the new building from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
The current phase of building is due to be completed in August, and the school set to reopen in September. The old building will be demolished and the final section of the new building is on course to be completed by January 2010.
Headteacher, Heather Rockhold, said: “The topping out ceremony was a wonderful chance to share this fantastic design and the progress that has been made on this exciting new development.”
The development is being project managed by TheLearning Trust.
Newshounds on the cyber scent
Students from Cardinal Pole secondary school polished their journalistic skills at a two-day news workshop at the City Learning Centre in Clapton.
Pupils from class 8D worked with professionals from the BBC to learn how news programmes are is made. Taking the issue of personal security as their theme, they covered topics ranging from road safety to cyberbullying and interviewed executives from software giant, Microsoft and children’s charity, Kidscape.
They then used sophisticated editing software to transform their footage into finished news reports.
The students’ teacher, Miss Bletcher, said: “It was a fantastic opportunity for pupils to develop their independent learning skills as they worked together to build professional news reports to a tight deadline.”
The workshops happened on 26 and 27 February, selected newshounds will take part in a further event in March, when they will work in the BBC studios.
More information
The pupils’ reports can be seen online at: www.highwire.org.uk.
Page updated: 15 Jun 2010
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