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News
News update: November 2008
I have just
completed a book entitled Brain Breaks, Starter Activities
and Fillers which is full of practical activities to use
with groups of students. Another new item is a set of Brain
posters which look at how to look after the brain, the
brain’s hydration, the brain and oxygen and brain food.
Continuum will be publishing my new book ‘Meeting the Needs
of Disaffected Students with Social, Emotional and
Behavioural Difficulties’ at the beginning of 2009.
Since the
last newsletter I have been working in Newcastle,
Birmingham, Keswick, Glasgow, Southend, London, Caernarfon,
Carmarthen and Kent. I have delivered training sessions to
college lecturers, teachers, cover supervisors, learning
mentors, teaching assistants, SENCOs and HMIs. I have grown
accustomed to motorway travel and service stations on some
very long journeys. I have also experienced several hotel
fire alarms – the last one being at 1.30am in a city centre
hotel in Birmingham and involved a long walk down from the 8th
floor to the Emergency Meeting Point.
In this
month’s newsletter there are articles on Anti-Bullying week
and some survey news from the Office for National Statistics
and Ofsted. I also mention an online service that provides
excellent materials to use with learners where they can
reflect on their behaviour.
Anti-Bullying
Week 17th-21st November 2008
The theme
this year is Celebrating Diversity, Being Different
Belonging Together. Kidscape is running a Kidscape Kids Bake
to coincide with the week. Goodies are cooked and sold and
the proceeds go to the charity. It will help everyone
remember that a combination of different ingredients –
different people in a school, different ingredients in the
cake - can make something wonderful. It is intended to
promote that idea and prompt a more tolerant atmosphere
which will lead to less bullying.
www.kidscape.org.uk .The Anti-bullying Alliance (www.anti-bullyingalliance.org.uk)
a part of the National Children’s Bureau is running the
week. One suggestion they make is a Wear Blue Friday. Lots
of ideas can be found on the Anti-Bullying Alliance website.
The majority of
youngsters are happy – but many worry about bullying, drinks
and drugs.
The annual
Tellus 3 survey of 150 000 10-15 year olds published by
Ofsted found that bullying was still a problem, and that
smoking, drinking and drugs remain concerns. The survey
involved 3114 schools in 145 local authorities. Some of the
findings were:
·
39%
had been bullied at school and for 25% it had been declared
a significant problem.
·
1 in
3 14 year olds get drunk regularly.
·
1 in
10 12 year olds get drunk regularly.
·
6%
had used cannabis in the previous month.
·
3 %
had used hard drugs such as cocaine, LSD, ecstasy and
heroin.
·
2%
had been abusing glues and solvents.
·
26%
of 10 year olds and also 14 year olds feel unsafe in their
local areas.
·
8%
are unhappy with their lives.
·
32%
of 15 year olds said their bodies were a source of worry.
However the
survey finds much that is positive in their lives. The
majority of children (69%) said they are happy and almost
all (95%) said they have one or more good friends.
Emotional
Disorders and Problem Behaviours Arising from Broken Homes
The Office
for National Statistics (ONS), in a report funded by the
Department for Health (2008) (A survey of the emotional
development and wellbeing of children and young people,
http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/article.asp?id=2063)
suggests that children suffer badly from parental break-up
with children in such situations more than four and a half
times more likely to develop an emotional disorder than
those whose parents stay together. They were also three
times more likely to display a conduct disorder. Factors
that protect and help students recover from emotional and
behavioural problems include ‘social capital’ factors such
as networks of family and friends, clubs, groups as well as
neighbourhood safety which was also linked to wellbeing.
Conduct File
I sometimes
mention products that I believe are of great use to staff
working with challenging learners. The Conduct File gives
staff a tool to use with such learners and it helps those
learner to reflect on their behaviour and how to avoid
certain situations in the future. David Allaway, when
writing about the product says:
‘For years,
Behaviour UK has provided both primary & secondary schools
with the Interactive Conduct File software, designed to help
pupils think through their behaviour through the use of
dramatised clips and interactive questions. Great for
detention, one-to-one support or to reinforce the school's
codes of conduct.
In an
exciting, new development there is now a fully online
version which will enable regular updates, new clips and
topics to be delivered over the internet throughout the
school year. If you visit:
www.behaviouronline.com
you will be able to sample both the printable and the
interactive topics available. When you subscribe online you
get immediate access to all the materials.
Thousands
of schools, PRUs and behaviour support units throughout the
UK have been using Conduct File with their pupils. They tell
us that because of the dramatised clips of typical behaviour
incidents, their pupils are able to see how they themselves
have been behaving and are more able to think about the
effects of their actions and the consequences for themselves
and for others. Just go to www.behaviouronline.com
for all the details and samples.
Click on either image to enlarge.
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