hi voicebox primary
i am a school council and i enjoy my job helping other people my classmates voted for me…
Archive for January, 2008
This blog holds the copy for the Spring 2008 VoiceBox
In Uncategorized on January 29, 2008 at 1:45 pmThe progress of VB can be tracked through Contents which has links to pages with copy.
All copy and images can be accessed by clicking on the pages on the right.
I’ll make a post whenever I add something to the pages.
primary Page 11
In Uncategorized on January 29, 2008 at 10:52 amSchool Council Movie gains Diana Award for Hawbush Primary School
Are you still looking for ideas to tackle bullying in your school? Charlotte, Nina, Iqbal and Elliot, on the school council at Hawbush Primary, were recently awarded the Princess Diana award “in recognition of students who have made a real difference to tackling bullying in their school and communities”.
This is what they did, with the help of the rest of the school council:
• produced a brilliant film in which they starred, concerning bullying in schools that had a definition of bullying and steps to take if someone was being bullied or if someone knew of bullying taking place
• re-wrote the school policy on bullying to make it easier for the younger pupils to understand.
• put up a post box where people could report bullying without leaving their name.
Because of what they did:
• The bullying policy is sent to all parents each year during anti-bullying week as a reminder of the dangers of bullying and of the actions the school takes to combat it
• The video is also used in assemblies as an aid to teaching other children in the school
Excellent work! You can see the video and policy on our website (via the link from the VoiceBox page)
primary Page 5
In Uncategorized on January 29, 2008 at 10:50 amhi voicebox primary
i am a school council and i enjoy my job helping other people my classmates voted for me
i go to botwell house roman catholic primary school and to help me i have a buddy called
sean he is also in my class there each year group. can you put this letter in your magazine please i have read your magazines so far they are cool !!!!!!!!!!!!!
hope to see your next magazine
bye bye!!!!!!
from
abbey
secondary Page 15
In Uncategorized on January 29, 2008 at 10:37 amSport Relief is just around the corner – What’s your school doing?
On Friday 14th March, thousands of you across the country will be putting your Sport Relief Socks on at school and getting involved, using everything that’s good about sport to change lives for the better. There are plenty of things your school council can still do, here are some ideas:
1. Order Sport Relief Socks using the Schools Sock Deposit Scheme. Schools can bulk order Socks at a deposit price and pay the remaining money after their event. A pair costs £2 with at least £1 going to Sport Relief. Visit sportrelief.com/schools.
2. Host a mile-long conga during lunchtime – students can pay to take part.
3. Football with a difference – teachers and students dress up as each other! Students can pay to watch.
4. Learn and perform a new sporty trick, perhaps samba or limbo-dancing. Invite and charge friends and family to watch.
5. Tell everyone at school to watch a brilliant weekend of TV on BBC ONE from 7pm on Friday 14th March.
Comic Relief spends the money you raise to help people living incredibly tough lives in the UK and abroad. If you’re still stuck for ideas then there’s a step by step guide with all the advice, ideas and tools you might need at sportrelief.com/school-councils.
If you have any questions, just email schools@sportrelief.com.
Children are Unbeatable campaign
Rachael Harrington (aged 18) writes: In the UK, hitting other people is illegal. It’s called assault. That is unless the person you hit is a child. In that case it is called ‘reasonable chastisement’, and so long as you don’t leave a mark, it is
still legal. To me, this is nonsensical. Surely everyone should have equal protection in the law? If anything, children need extra protection from assault, not less. “Smacking” means to hurt a child deliberately, and this should not be an acceptable thing to do.
Some parents claim it is their right to hit their children and the state should not intervene. But children are not the property of their parents. Violence against anyone, including anyone in the family, should be illegal and the state should intervene to stop people getting hurt.
There are numerous other reasons why hitting children should be banned. Firstly, adults need to set a good example for young children to follow. The idea that if someone does something you dislike, you hit them, is surely not a message we want children to pick up. The UK is also under international pressure to give children equal protection. For instance, the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child and the European Committtee on Social Rights have both said the UK needs to update its laws. The UK is behind several countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, which have all outlawed corporal punishment. Thirdly, the vague wording of rules over hitting children leaves children open to more serious abuse. One person’s “reasonable punishment” will seem extreme to others. Research has also shown that parents often hit their children harder than they mean to. A complete ban on violence against children removes any ambiguity.
News reports frequently feature statistics on how many parents support smacking. Children’s views are rarely mentioned. This needs to change.
The Children are Unbeatable Alliance is a campaign to make hitting children against the law. They are looking for people, especially children and young people, to get involved in their campaign. If you want to get involved you should contact Children are Unbeatable, on
phone/text: 07504 738 741
email: elinor@childrenareunbeatable.org.uk
website: www.childrenareunbeatable.org.uk/children
secondary Page 12
In Uncategorized on January 29, 2008 at 10:37 amDiscrimination (still too long)
“If the Prime Minister lived my life for a week, he would find that he is constantly victimized just for being a young person. He would find that instead of walking into a shopping centre proud to be a world leader, he would instead be frowned upon by the world as a troublemaker and potential shoplifter. He would find that instead of being go where he wants, when he wants, that he is restricted by signs saying “no more than one child at any time”. At this point he’d think to himself, if that sign said “no more than one gay at any time”, or “no more than one old person at any time”, that it would be against the law.” (Male 17, Lincolnshire).
At a recent seminar about human rights and equality hosted by CRAE (The Children’s Rights Alliance for England), a group of children and young people gave examples of young people being treated unfairly. Age discrimination takes many forms and adults treat young people in ways that just wouldn’t be tolerated by other sectors of society, from being refused an ambulance because an adult wasn’t present when a young person was taken ill late at night, to being banned from a supermarket café if in school uniform, or in shops, simply not being served before adults.
This point was also made by the chair of the Equality and Diversity Forum, Sarah Spencer, who spoke at the same event about what the government should do about discrimination and rights for children. There are two things she felt we should be campaignng for:
Age GFS (goods facilities and services) First, that people of all ages should be protected from age discrimination when buying goods or receiving services – just as they already are protected from discrimination on grounds of their race, disability, gender, religion or belief and sexual orientation.
(the law would allow more favourable treatment, like subsidised public transport, for children and older people).
Planning for the future Secondly, Public bodies like councils should think about the potential impact on children or young person, and consult with them while they are still making plans
What this would mean is that, in planning any future services, each organisation would have to think about the potential impact on children, and to consult children in the process. Then the organisation would have to take that into account before making decisions.
If they had a duty to consider the impact on children in all those areas, and to give children a voice, some services, at least, would become more sensitive to their needs and more effective in addressing them. So that’s a goal really worth campaigning for.
But there was an even more important issue, that of adult’s attitudes to children. A change in the law may help, but this where young people can make a difference, by challenging adult’s attitudes and broadcasting what children and young people are doing every day to make their own lives and those of others better.
School Councils can take a lead on this, by making sure that what they achieve is broadcast far and wide throughout the school community, so every student can take pride in being a young person that has so much to contribute.
++++++++++++++++++ INSET
Conceptions of children
To caricature the current situation, the child moves through Whitehall growing and shrinking like Alice: in the Department of Health she is a small potential victim, at the Treasury and Department of Education a growing but silent unit of investment, but at the Home Office a huge and threatening yob. Of course these are stereotypes; but they resonate, because there is some truth in them.”(Helen Seaford TCS)
++++++++++++++++++
primary page 15
In Uncategorized on January 25, 2008 at 6:25 amSport Relief is just around the corner – What’s your school doing?
On Friday 14th March, thousands of you across the country will be putting your Sport Relief Socks on at school and getting involved, using everything that’s good about sport to change lives for the better. There are plenty of things your school council can still do, here are some ideas:
1. Order Sport Relief Socks using the Schools Sock Deposit Scheme. Schools can bulk order Socks at a deposit price and pay the remaining money after their event. A pair costs £2 with at least £1 going to Sport Relief. Visit sportrelief.com/schools.
2. Host a mile-long conga during lunchtime – students can pay to take part.
3. Football with a difference – teachers and students dress up as each other! Students can pay to watch.
4. Learn and perform a new sporty trick, perhaps samba or limbo-dancing. Invite and charge friends and family to watch.
5. Tell everyone at school to watch a brilliant weekend of TV on BBC ONE from 7pm on Friday 14th March.
Comic Relief spends the money you raise to help people living incredibly tough lives in the UK and abroad. If you’re still stuck for ideas then there’s a step by step guide with all the advice, ideas and tools you might need at sportrelief.com/school-councils.
If you have any questions, just email schools@sportrelief.com.
Children are Unbeatable campaign
Rachael Harrington (aged 18) writes: In the UK, hitting other people is illegal. It’s called assault. That is, unless the person you hit is a child. In that case it is called ‘reasonable punishment’, and as long as you don’t leave a mark, it is still legal. To me, this doesn’t make sense.
Surely everyone should have equal protection in the law? If anything, children need extra protection from violence, not less. “Smacking” means hurting a child on purpose, and this should not be something it is OK to do.
Some parents say that they have a right to hit their children and the state should not intervene. But parents don’t own their children. Violence against anyone, including anyone in the family, should be illegal and the state should intervene to stop people getting hurt.
There are lots of other reasons why hitting children should be banned. Firstly, adults need to set a good example for young children to follow. The idea that if someone does something you don’t like, you hit them, is surely not a message we want children to pick up. Also, the UK is behind lots of other countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Spain, which have all made hitting children illegal. Thirdly, research has shown that parents often hit their children harder than they mean to. A complete ban on violence against children would help protect children from serious abuse.
News reports often include statistics on how many parents support smacking. Children’s opinions are rarely mentioned. This needs to change.
The Children are Unbeatable Alliance is a campaign to make hitting children against the law. They are looking for people, especially children, to get involved in their campaign. If you want to get involved you should contact Children are Unbeatable, on
phone/text: 07504 738 741
email: elinor@childrenareunbeatable.org.uk
website: www.childrenareunbeatable.org.uk/children
Test YT
In Uncategorized on January 23, 2008 at 6:58 pm[kml_flashembed movie="http://www.youtube.com/v/2mUmKrxx7v8" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]
About
In Uncategorized on January 23, 2008 at 10:27 amThis is an example of a WordPress page, you could edit this to put information about yourself or your site so readers know where you are coming from. You can create as many pages like this one or sub-pages as you like and manage all of your content inside of WordPress.
