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More state school students were admitted to Cambridge last year, despite the introduction of an elite A* grade to identify the brightest candidates.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

The university was among only a handful of institutions to use the new A-level grade to identify the most able students applying for degree courses in autumn 2010. Most universities, including Oxford, ruled out employing the A* amid fears that it was too hard to predict and could lead to a sharp rise in the number of teenagers admitted from private schools who were more likely to achieve the elite grade.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

(Isa)bella and Jacob most popular baby names in U.S. (but top trending names take lead from Teen Mom)

By Tamara Abraham
Last updated at 7:52 AM on 6th May 2011

The Twilight love triangle between Bella, Edward and Jacob has had teenagers gripped over the past few years. Now, it appears, the influence of the book and movie franchise has spilled over into baby names.According to the Social Security Administration, Isabella and Jacob were the most popular baby names in the U.S. last year.The third name in the trio, Edward, played on the big screen by Robert Pattinson, only ranked at 136. Also in the top ten were classic choices, such as Sophia, Emma and Olivia for girls, and Ethan, Michael and Alexander for boys.

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Climbing trees is a bear necessity for these animals – and here mum is teaching her cubs how it should be done.

By Ted Thornhill
Last updated at 11:04 PM on 5th May 2011

The Kamchatka Brown Bears’ adventurous manoeuvres took place at Hagenbeck Zoo in Hamburg and begin with mum physically pushing one of her offspring up the trunk.

She then decides to show them how it’s done and makes an attempt to reach the top herself. The lesson came about after the creatures tried to snare a crow that fluttered into their enclosure. Reports suggest the bird escaped safe and sound.

Source: DAILYMAIL>> Read full article and comment

Like one in five women, MANDY APPLEYARD has missed out on motherhood. Here, with unsparing honesty, she lays bare her regrets

By Mandy Appleyard
Last updated at 11:50 AM on 5th May 2011

The world’s worst party was in full swing, and there I was, standing in a roomful of 40 people wishing I were anywhere but there. The music was bad, the food worse, and all the guests were married with children and engaged in conversation about family life. Since I am neither married nor a mother, I had little to offer the conversation. ‘So, I hear you’re a career woman.’ What sounded like an accusation was being made by a corpulent guest I’d never met before – a plain woman in beige who looked like she badly needed a holiday. I replied that yes, I was a journalist. ‘Don’t take this the wrong way,’ she continued, ‘but I can’t understand why a woman would ever choose work over family life. It must be such a lonely life without children. What’s the reason to get up every day? I don’t want to sound rude, but you must become so selfish when you’ve only yourself to think of.’

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A man has been jailed for biting off the head of a snake in front of his two sons.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 11:59 AM on 4th May 2011

Barry Laverick was at the home of his partner Victoria West and their sons, aged 12 and two, when he bit the head off the 50cm-long pet corn snake. Teesside Crown Court heard that Laverick had been drinking when he went into Ms West’s home, Coulby Newham, North Yorkshire, on April 6. The 41-year-old told his partner that she would not be able to move her snake or the family dog in a planned house move, adding: ‘That dog’s only going if it’s stuffed.’ He became increasingly aggressive and called the family to the foot of the stairs where he held the snake. Prosecuting, Jacqui Edwards, said that Laverick threatened to bite the snake’s head off. She said: ‘His 12-year-old son was screaming for him not to do it, but the appellant bit the snake’s head from the body and the two-year-old started to scream.

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The drugs which killed 15-year-old Isobel Reilly-Jones at an unsupervised party were found in an unlocked cupboard in the bedroom of university lecturer Brian Dodgeon, an inquest heard today.

10:36AM BST 04 May 2011

Issy died following the party in Notting Hill on April 22 after going into cardiac arrest after reportedly taking drugs. She was one of a group of four teenagers who found the drugs in the bedroom of academic Brian Dodgeon and his partner Angela Hadjipateras, who had left the youngsters to themselves in order to visit friends in Hastings. The news comes as Mr Dodgeon, 60, a research fellow at the University of London’s renowned Centre for Longitudinal Studies, broke both legs after jumping off the North Circular Road in an apparent suicide attempt.

Source: TELEGRAPH>> Read full article and comment

More boys than girls feel confident expressing their views in class and social situations, a survey of eight- to 16-year-olds in the UK has found.

4 May 2011 Last updated at 11:11 GMT

Of 6,000 children surveyed, 69% of boys said they were “very confident” or “confident” speaking in front of classmates, compared with 57% of girls.

The Communication Trust and National Literacy Trust carried out the survey. The National Literacy Trust’s director said stereotypes of inarticulate male teenagers were “outdated”. More boys than girls also said they felt confident “saying no to friends” (70% to 62%), “talking to new people” (67% to 62%), “explaining your point of view” (78% to 74%), “asking when you don’t understand something” (75% to 69%) and “talking with teachers (81% to 78%).The only areas where more girls felt more confident were “talking to people online” (85% to 82%) and “listening to other people’s opinions” (93% to 89%).

Source: BBC NEWS

Two teachers have been sacked and two teaching assistants disciplined after allegations of pupil “manhandling” at a Wrexham primary school.

4 May 2011 Last updated at 11:47 GMT

Action was taken after alleged incidents were filmed on CCTV at Hafod-y-Wern Community School in Caia Park. Four people were immediately suspended, and two were later dismissed following a three-month investigation. The dismissals were confirmed by the chair of governors Emlyn R Jones. Wrexham council declined to comment.

Source: BBC NEWS >> Read full article and comment

Teenagers are being warned about the dangers of listening to loud music for long periods of time.

2 May 2011 Last updated at 13:41 GM

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) will meet year 12 pupils at St Cyres School, Penarth, in the Vale of Glamorgan, on Wednesday. It is one of several events being staged by the charity around Wales to raise awareness about hearing loss. The RNID said there were 480,000 people in Wales who were deaf or hard of hearing.Events marking Deaf Awareness Week will also be held in Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham, Welshpool, Powys, and Dolgellau, Gwynedd.

Source: BBC NEWS

Thousands of parents living near Japan’s stricken Fukushima Daiichi power plant have condemned a government decision to lift radiation limits for schools in the area by 20 times, saying the move is based on incomplete science and could put children in danger.

By David McNeill in Fukushima City

The decision, which has also prompted the resignation of a government adviser, has been condemned as political expediency. Toshiso Kosako, the adviser who resigned on Friday, denounced the Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, for his “whack-a-mole” policies on the crisis. A tearful Mr Kosako said: “The government has belittled laws and taken decisions only for the present moment.” He said new guidelines raising the acceptable annual radiation exposure in Fukushima Prefecture’s elementary schools from one to 20 millisieverts “are inconsistent with internationally commonsensical figures” and were “determined by the administration to serve its interests”.

Source: INDEPENDENT >> Read full article and comment

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy has fuelled rumours that she was pregnant, refusing to deny it by saying “my lips are sealed to protect something”, in her first interview since the news surfaced.

By Henry Samuel, Paris 12:07PM BST 02 May 2011

A mother who claimed thousands in benefits for three children she invented has been jailed for a year for fraud after her scheme was uncovered.

By ANDY DOLAN
Last updated at 6:47 PM on 1st May 2011

A court heard heroin addict Lisa Ellington named the non-existent children Janine, Thomas and Courtney, and spent some of the £60,541 she swindled on feeding her drug problem. Ellington, 27, had been legitimately claiming tax credits and child support for her eldest child, aged two, but then began submitting fraudulent claims for both children following their July 2004 adoption, after one was abused by her boyfriend. The deception was not discovered until April 2009. Ellington began claiming for her invented children between February 2006 and May 2007. The children had the surname of her partner, Nicholas Grainger. But prosecutor Rashad Mohammed told Warwick Crown Court: ‘In fact those three children do not exist.  She (Ellington) had fabricated the names and dates of birth, and the claim was accepted as valid.’

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Ketamine’s popularity is surging after mephedrone ban, say drug experts.

By Jamie Doward

Addiction charities are reporting a sharp rise in the number of young people who say they are worried about their use of ketamine.

Addaction, one of the UK’s largest charities helping people with drug problems, says it has seen a 68% increase in the last year in the number of inquiries from teenagers using ketamine, up from 151 to 254.

The charity believes a surge in the drug’s popularity is down to people switching from mephedrone after it was made illegal in April last year. Laurie Yearley, who works with young people at an Addaction clinic in Buckinghamshire, said that last year he was seeing two or three people a week using ketamine as a “secondary drug”. He is now seeing six or seven a week for whom it is their main drug. ”People started using ketamine because it was cheap, but then they went on to mephedrone, which was legal,” Yearley said. “But when mephedrone was made illegal they went back to ketamine because they said it was like a milder form of mephedrone, which has pretty harsh side effects.”

Source: GUARDIAN

Lesbian kisses could be banned from television screens until late into the night under radical Government plans to stop children being exposed to ‘indecent’ images.

By BRENDAN CARLIN
Last updated at 5:05 AM on 1st May 2011

A review launched with the backing of David Cameron is expected to recommend that sexually suggestive scenes currently allowed before the 9pm watershed – such as the famous lesbian embrace on soap opera Brookside – should not be shown until later in the evening. A ban on explicit advertisements on high street billboards is also being considered.

The inquiry is being led by Mothers’ Union chief executive Reg Bailey. It was launched last year after the Prime Minister – himself the father of young children – warned that exposing youngsters to adult themes can ‘take away their innocence’.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

How boarding school was great preparation for life… nothing will ever be so ghastly.

By WENDY LEIGH
Last updated at 10:17 AM on 1st May 2011

Last week author Simon Astaire called for Britain’s prep schools to examine their pasts  -  and the terrible behaviour of some masters. He has also written novels about the private school system, which prompted many to write to him with their disturbing stories. Here, Wendy Leigh recalls her traumatic years at a Kent girls’ boarding school  -  ‘an institution that crossed Colditz with Holloway Prison’… Much has changed in English boarding schools over the decades. Today’s teenagers are no longer forced to sleep in dormitories, to eat substandard food or to do without television and computers. By the standards of the past, they live a life of luxury. Yet a new report published in next month’s British Journal Of Psychotherapy by Professor Joy Schaverien, who has spent 30 years treating former boarders, claims that ‘ Boarding School Syndrome’ can traumatise children as much as being put into the care of local authorities. I don’t doubt it for a moment.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Television and social networking are bad for girls’ body image.

By Oliver James

For Guardian-reading mothers it must be a painful irony that their teenage daughters tend to be so obsessed by their weight. For one thing, you and your mothers are the generation of women who fought hard to be evaluated by more than just what you look like.

For another, you have probably gone to great lengths to not go on about either your own or your daughter’s shape, have crossed the road to avoid inducing self-consciousness and done your best to offer commentaries critiquing body fascism. “Where did I go wrong?” you may be wondering. But the evidence is overwhelming that, in most cases, your daughter’s body worries are not your fault.

Source: GUARDIAN

New Scientist has already given you the inside track on the royal wedding – now we are indulging in a spot of crystal ball gazing.

10:30 28 April 2011

If these young people look familiar, that’s because they were created by blending the facial characteristics of Prince William and Kate Middleton to predict the appearance of their future offspring. The images were created using computer software developed in the Perception Lab at the University of St Andrews, UK, which tracks almost 200 facial landmarks.

David Perrett and Amanda Hahn first extracted the landmarks from Middleton’s face shape and used these to construct her virtual twin brother, which they then merged with their matrix of the prince’s face to produce a young adult male. They did the converse to synthethise the young woman’s face. While clues of facial heritage occur throughout the entire face, they note that some features of the royal couple are particularly defining – including Kate’s arched eyebrows and Will’s square chin.

Source: Newscientist >> Read full article and comment

Few in south west Wales will be following the royal wedding more closely than two of Kate Middleton’s former teachers.

28 April 2011 Last updated at 17:31 GMT

Kevin and Denise Allford taught her at prep school and are celebrating with a house party at their home in Llanarthne, Carmarthenshire. Elsewhere street parties are planned across the region. The big screen in Swansea’s Castle Square will be providing extensive TV coverage throughout the day. Swansea and Neath Port Talbot councils have approved almost 40 applications for street parties between them, there are six in Pembrokeshire, and Carmarthenshire has agreed three road closures, including one in Market Square, Llandovery.

Source: BBC NEWS

A binge-drinking mother who threw a stiletto shoe at her eight-year-old daughter, then stamped on her and twisted her arm has been jailed for two years.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 2:05 PM on 28th April 2011

The attack was the second time that the 26-year-old Gloucester woman had thrown something at her daughter and injured her, the city crown court was told. Prosecutor Nigel Trehearne said the woman had twice been cautioned by police – once for punching and kicking another woman in a Gloucester nightclub and the second time for throwing a glass at her daughter. Jailing her, Recorder David Lane QC said she had been lucky not to be prosecuted the first time she injured her daughter in January 2010.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Nick Clegg has said he was “stuffed” over his broken campaign promise not to raise university tuition fees.

By Hugh Macknight, PA

He told North Tyneside factory workers he had no choice but to back the hike in fees after his party “came third” in the General Election.

The Deputy Prime Minister was hauled over the coals by staff at the Bridon International rope factory on the banks of the River Tyne, who said the Liberal Democrats had lost credibility as a political party. Mr Clegg was unapologetic when he addressed the crowd of around 150 workers following a tour of the factory.

Source: INDEPENDENT>> Read full article and comment

One in 10 ‘assaulted by a PARENT’.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:03 AM on 29th April 2011

Schools are stepping up security as figures show one in ten headteachers has been assaulted by parents. The violence includes throwing chairs or desks, beating up teachers and hurling barrages of vile abuse or threats. Some parents are angry their child has been disciplined or refused permission to go on holiday in term time.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

A pilot died yesterday when he steered his gyrocopter into a field to stop it crashing into a nursery school.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 9:03 AM on 29th April 2011

The small craft had burst into flames passing over the roof of the school where 30 infants were holding a royal wedding party. The unnamed pilot had averted a greater tragedy, according to Kelly Burton, an assistant at the nursery. ‘I was outside when I saw the yellow and green gyrocopter flying very low. Its blades were making an extremely loud whirring noise,’ said the 23-year-old. ‘We see a lot of planes and helicopters around here because we are close to an airfield but this was so low, it gave me cause for concern.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Schoolboy Joe Cotton tells teachers the government has a duty to make sure poor students have equal access to education.

By Jeevan Vasagar Education editor

A 15-year-old schoolboy has become the first child ever to address the National Union of Teachers (NUT) conference, making an impassioned speech against the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance (EMA). Joe Cotton, from Mytholmroyd, west Yorkshire, told 1,000 union delegates in Harrogate: “Education as we know it is under threat.” Cotton, who is studying for his GCSEs at Calder high school, told the conference that, “like many other young people”, he had become aware of the impact of politics on his life after recent events. He referred to a letter to the Guardian signed by nine economists, urging the chancellor to reconsider the decision to scrap the EMA, and an Institute for Fiscal Studies analysis that said the cost of the EMA was completely offset by its benefits.

Source: GUARDIAN

The 1,000 head teachers on over £100,000 a year.

By KATE LOVEYS
Last updated at 9:01 AM on 26th April 2011

More than 1,000 head teachers are believed to be on £100,000-plus salaries despite massive pressure on school budgets. The figures mean the number of heads and deputies topping the £100,000 mark has doubled in the past year. Some are receiving more than the Prime Minister, who is paid £142,500. The revelations have infuriated lesser  paid colleagues, who yesterday demanded that the high earners should be named  and shamed. They said they should be held-up to the same scrutiny as chief executives, who must publish their pay.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Head teachers’ salaries should be published to stop schools “abusing” taxpayers’ money with inflated pay deals, it was claimed today.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

The NASUWT union called for heads to come under the same scrutiny as council chief executives or quango bosses amid growing concerns over a rise in six-figure salaries. Activists said many schools were bypassing strict Government rules on pay by rebranding senior staff as “executive heads” or allowing them to take lucrative second jobs as consultants. It was claimed that many flagship academies, which are state funded but independent of local council control, were also awarding huge salaries becuase they are not bound by national pay deals.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Juveniles in private prisons are at risk of serious injury or death through the use of illegal restraints, according to research by the penal reform charity the Howard League.

By Amanda Hall

Some privately run Secure Training Centres (STC) are using unlawful restraints which have resulted in bruising, broken bones and a number of deaths of under 18s in penal custody, according to researchers. The report from Howard League lawyers documents the daily violence the juveniles have faced while they have been in custody. A 15-year-old boy in a STC said in evidence given to a Howard League lawyer: “I had bruised shoulders from when one of the staff dragged me across the room and shoved me into the wall. I had bruising on my back from where I was slammed into the wall in my cell.

Source: INDEPENDENT

As the teenage friends bounced happily on the trampoline in the back garden of a suburban West London home, it must have seemed like everything was in place for a perfect house party.

By Heidi Blake and Martin Beckford

The sky was still blue and the air warm after a beautiful day at the start of the Easter long weekend, and the parents of the party host were making themselves scarce for the evening. The adults had even taken the trouble to knock on their neighbours’ doors earlier that day, warning them that they should expect to hear a little noise from the excited schoolgirls and boys who had been invited by their 14-year-old daughter, Beatrice, to let their hair down before the return to school on Tuesday. But just a few hours later, after a drink and drugs-fuelled gathering, ambulances were rushing casualties to hospital.

Source: TELEGRAPH

A university research fellow has been arrested after a 15-year-old girl died and three of her friends were treated in hospital having allegedly taking ecstasy during a party at his house in west London.

By Mark Hughes and Duncan Gardham

Isobel Clara Reilly died after taking drugs at the North Kensington home of Brian Dodgeon, a 60-year-old researcher at the University of London, it is alleged. The girl had been at a party hosted by Mr Dodgeon’s daughter, 14-year-old Beatrice Hadjipateras. Sources said that at the party on Friday night — which was attended by about 10 teenagers — Isobel and Beatrice had found ecstasy and other drugs, believed to be ketamine and LSD, that are thought to have belonged to Mr Dodgeon and, along with two 14-year-old boys, had taken the drugs.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Teachers say that parents cannot “abandon responsibility” for their children’s behaviour at school.

24 April 2011 Last updated at 11:58 GMT

The NASUWT teachers’ union says a lack of parental support is a major problem behind pupils’ lack of discipline. A survey from the union also claims that pupils turn up at school with iPods and phones, but without basic equipment such as pens. Schools minister Nick Gibb said the government was boosting teachers’ powers to tackle bad behaviour.

Lack of support
The teachers’ union, meeting for its annual conference in Glasgow, has published the results of a survey of more than 8,000 members and found many teachers feel let down by the lack of support from parents over behaviour.

Source: BBC NEWS

A primary school and secondary free school are set to open in September after plans were approved by Bristol City Council’s cabinet.

23 April 2011 Last updated at 09:11 GMT

The private St Ursula’s School went into administration in 2010 and the council spent £1.95m buying the site. The Bristol Free School wanted to run it as a secondary school while the council wanted a primary school there. Councillors have now proposed the secondary school be on a temporary site on the nearby Burghill Road for a year. Free schools are a flagship part of the government’s reforms to education in England. They allow groups of local parents, teachers or charities to establish their own school.

Source: BBC NEWS

Pregnant Kelly Brook has revealed plans for a maternity range for clothing store New Look.

By SARAH BULL
Last updated at 1:27 AM on 24th April 2011

The 31-year-old model, who is expecting her first child with boyfriend Thom Evans, has already found huge success with the high-street chain after launching her own swimwear and lingerie lines. And who better to come up with stylish and affordable clothing options for blooming mothers-to-be than Brook, who consistently finds herself on ‘most beautiful’ lists.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Family of suicide pact teens talk about their heartbreak and how they missed signs the girls were planning something.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 9:18 PM on 21st April 2011

• Families say there were signs they were planning something
• 10 days before death, Hayley posted on Facebook  ‘I just want it over with’
  
• Both girls were being bullied at school

They say they should have recognised the signs, but now it is too late. The families of the two teenage girls that died after committing suicide together said that they should have known that the girls were planning something. There were multiple clues that that the two Minnesota teenagers – Haylee Fentress and Paige Moravetz – felt isolated, estranged from their classmates, and even bullied.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Either the coalition didn’t do the numbers properly or its policy was designed to drag university access back to postwar levels.

By Zoe Williams

Most universities have announced their fees for 2012, and it hasn’t worked out quite the way the government planned it: last December the coalition was anticipating blithely that the majority of institutions would charge £6,000, and only in “exceptional circumstances” would the full £9,000 be levied. All their calculations were based on average fees of £7,500. The University and College Union then said this was a bit optimistic, since even at conservative estimates most courses needed£7,000 to break even.

Unfortunately there was so much going on: students were kicking in windows and burning effigies of Nick Clegg. All the talk was of equality and social mobility and higher education as a social good. We were all too busy for actual maths. Now that the maths is in, and the average fees will be £8,678, this will leave the government with a shortfall (or, in their language, irresponsible deficit) of £450m by 2014. This, by the way, is based on the estimate that 30% of students will default on their loans, which is also a bit optimistic.

Source: GUARDIAN

Pupils at primary schools who use educational apps on smart-phones and tablets are performing better in their lessons, a new report showed has revealed.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 10:38 AM on 21st April 2011

The study reveals that forty per cent of parents who download educational apps say their child’s academic performance has improved as a result. But the research shows that not only are they helping to raise academic attainment, educational apps are also helping children aged between 5 and 11 every day, inside the classroom. The study, commissioned by Encyclopaedia Britannica, shows the vast majority of parents who have downloaded an app claim they have helped their child with school work and projects, while more than half of parents with smart devices actively encourage their child to download apps for exam revision, homework and learning about new topics.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

Tens of thousands of children are being taught by teachers lacking decent subject expertise, it emerged today, sparking fresh fears over school standards.

By Graeme Paton, Education Editor

Official figures show more than quarter of mathematics teachers fail to hold a relevant degree or postgraduate qualification in the subject. Some 31 per cent of physics teachers, 29 per cent of geography teachers and 21 per cent of those teaching English are also not trained to the highest level in their subject, according to data published by the Department for Education.   The disclosure will lead to fresh concerns over standards in secondary schools.

Source: TELEGRAPH

My husband and I will be so panic-stricken at the cost of tuition fees that sending our daughter on a gap year will seem like a mad luxury, writes Cassandra Jardine.

By Cassandra Jardine 5:23PM BST 20 Apr 2011

For the past 10 days, I have been living vicariously. My 19-year-old daughter has charity-hitched to Morocco and is now trolling around having her bottom pinched and being called Barbie. She and her two companions, one of whom is male, have done a mini-version of the gap year: they’ve been ripped off, put in a bus going in the wrong direction, taken a lift from what sounded like a drug dealer and – of course – run out of money. Along the way they have raised funds and a teensy bit of a-wah-ness (as its known in the Gap-yah sketch on YouTube) for Link Community Development.

Source: TELEGRAPH

Do you have to have been a teacher to run a school well?

20 April 2011 Last updated at 12:15 GMT

Julie White-Zamler is about to qualify as a headteacher but has no classroom experience. She told BBC Radio 5 live: “It’s not correct to say a non-teacher can’t learn.” ”I have worked in schools for six years and have extensive schools leadership experience,” White-Zamler explained to Shelagh Fogarty on 5 live Breakfast.

Source: BBC NEWS

Bullying in school is a problem for many staff as well as pupils, according to a teachers’ union survey.

20 April 2011 Last updated at 12:27 GMT

The bullies are often other teachers who pick on their staffroom colleagues – with heads and senior staff alleged to be among the worst culprits. The survey, from the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, says about a quarter of teachers have been bullied by another member of staff. The union is calling for “robust” policies to tackle such instances.

Source: BBC NEWS

‘Harry Potter’ mobile app that will make everything interactive.

By CLAIRE BATES
Last updated at 2:20 PM on 19th April 2011

Newspaper pictures that came alive in the fictional world of Harry Potter will soon be a reality thanks to ground-breaking British technology. Software company Autonomy has developed a vision recognition system for smartphones and tablet computers that embeds pictures and videos on top of real-life objects. It takes augmented reality apps one step further from Google Goggles where users can find search information on a building or object after taking a picture of it.

Source: DAILYMAIL

An arts project inspired by vulnerable teenagers is showing at the Roundhouse in London.

By Saba Salman

A 13-year-old with a learning disability and a 16-year-old victim ofbullying are among the vulnerable teenagers who have inspired an arts project that tackles the emotional traumas of adolescence. Issues as diverse as bullying, sexuality, mixed-race heritage and special needs are explored in The Fat Girl Gets a Haircut and Other Stories, which opens next week at the Roundhouse, north London. The project combines theatre, animation, video and live music and is the culmination of an 18-month collaboration between the youngsters and artist and director Mark Storor.

Source: GUARDIAN

The ‘abstinence’ underwear designed to put teenagers off sex.

By MAYSA RAWI
Last updated at 2:07 PM on 19th April 2011

Parents are often resigned to the fact that they cannot control their teenagers. But some mothers refuse to give up trying. A range of ‘anti-sex’ underwear has been designed to promote abstinence using slogans like ‘zip it’ and ‘not tonight’. The bizarre collection, sold online, aptly named What Would Your Mother Do, includes ‘boy-shorts’ underwear, t-shirts and even a tote bag. WWYMD says: ‘We created a line of underwear to use as conversation starters to help reinforce family morals as they relate to relationships and dating. ’We just want to provide you with cute reminders to help you make an impression – somewhat discreetly.’

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

When a 15-year-old has a baby, it doesn’t have to mean the end of her education and her hopes of a career. Amelia Hill visits the school that treats motherhood as an opportunity.

By Amelia Hill

Pregnant at 15, Tanya didn’t think having a baby would ruin her life. But then, she didn’t think she had much of a life left to ruin. Rarely going to school, fighting with her mother, and depressed, Tanya had been devastated to discover that John, her boyfriend and the father of her child, was just 13 years old; throughout their 15-month relationship, he had pretended to be 17. The couple stayed together during the pregnancy, but five weeks after the birth of their daughter, Amy, John told Tanya he didn’t want anything to do with either of them. Yet today, Tanya is bubbling with love for her 10-month-old daughter, with shy pride in herself and hope for both their futures. In the past 14 months, she has gained five GCSEs and two level 1 qualifications. Next year, she will take two more GCSEs. If all goes to plan, she will then start a beauty therapy course at the local college.

Source: GUARDIAN

One in five women exceed weekly allowance.

By LUKE SALKELD
Last updated at 6:51 AM on 20th April 2011

They were well under the age at which they could legally order a drink in a pub. But when four 16-year-old girls  were confronted by police, they were preparing to share an astonishing haul of alcohol that added up to 97 units. Their booty, carried in a plastic bag, comprised five small bottles of vodka, three large bottles of cider and four large bottles of the alcopop WKD. The recommended maximum intake of alcohol for a woman is 14 units per week, but the four 16-year-olds were planning to drink their way through almost seven times this amount in a single night’s bingeing. Police who took the alcohol from the teenagers revealed their find following a targeted patrol in a residential area of Gloucester where anti-social behaviour had increased.

Source: Dailymail>> Read full article and comment

As many as 36,000 students could miss out on degree courses after universities ignored the Government’s pleas not to charge maximum tuition fees.

By Graeme Paton, and Rosa Prince

The number of degree places may have to be cut by a tenth as the Coalition attempts to plug a multi-million pound black hole created by its higher education reforms, specifically the cost of bigger student loans. Ministers had insisted that vice-chancellors would only be able to impose £9,000 fees in “exceptional circumstances”. But an analysis of universities’ plans yesterday showed that around two thirds intended to charge the maximum for all their courses. As the deadline for fee submissions for the 2012 academic year passed, 46 out of 70 English universities said they would demand the top level across the board, with a further six charging £9,000 for some courses. Poor students will be eligible for generous discounts.

Source: TELEGRAPH

A call for strike action in schools to defend teachers’ pensions could see teachers’ unions staging a joint national walk-out this summer term.

19 April 2011 Last updated at 17:19 GMT

On Tuesday the annual conference of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers backed a call for a strike ballot. But the ATL’s leadership says it will plan the ballot timetable with other teachers’ unions. A spokesman for the Department for Education said pension changes would be “affordable, sustainable and fair”.  The ATL, traditionally recognised as a moderate union, has never held a national strike before.

Source: BBC NEWS

Malaysia’s government has announced it will record the body mass index of students on report cards as part of a campaign to fight obesity.

By Jennifer Pak BBC News, Kuala Lumpur

The Malaysian health minister says the country has the highest percentage of obese citizens in Southeast Asia. Teachers now have to measure students’ body weight and height to see if they have a healthy amount of body fat. The authorities say this will help parents monitor whether their child is overweight or obese. It might seem controversial, but even teenage girls, who are usually self conscious, say they do not mind the move. ”Because we can know our healthy weight, height… Yeah, I worry about getting fat,” several told the BBC.

Source: BBC NEWS

Girls’ behaviour in the classroom seems to be getting worse, according to a survey of teachers.

18 April 2011 Last updated at 14:47 GMT

Almost half of teachers who took part in the poll said they thought the behaviour of female pupils had deteriorated over the past five years.

Kate Fallon, the general secretary of the Association of Educational Psychologists, told BBC Radio 5 live: “We’ve always expected girls to be more compliant, more submissive.”

Source: BBC NEWS

• Almost 75% of universities have opted for maximum fees
• David Willetts says measures will empower students
• New NUS president concedes defeat in battle to oppose policy

By Jessica Shepherd and Jeevan Vasagar

Almost three-quarters of universities that have announced their tuition fee plans have opted to charge the maximum £9,000 for at least some of their degree courses from 2012. English universities hoping to charge more than £6,000 a year have until Tuesday to submit their plans to the government’s access watchdog, the Office for Fair Access (Offa). The average fee of those that have made their plans public currently stands at £8,679.20. This has emerged as the universities minister, David Willetts, argued that the coalition’s decision to slash the teaching grant will remove the “privileged inner circle” of institutions backed by direct state funding and open up higher education to competition.

Source: GUARDIAN

Girls’ behaviour in the classroom seems to be deteriorating as much as their male classmates, a survey of teaching staff suggests.

18 April 2011 Last updated at 03:46 GMT

A survey of teachers, heads and other school staff across the UK found that 44% believed girls’ behaviour had worsened in the past two years. This compares with 43% for boys, says a survey of 859 members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers. But 68% of staff in the survey said boys’ behaviour is more difficult. Half of the surveyed staff thought boys’ behaviour had got worse over the past five years, and 48% thought girls’ behaviour was worse.

Source: BBC NEWS

Teachers will today call for an investigation into rising levels of poor behaviour among girls in the classroom.

By Richard Garner, Education Editor

The girls, they argue, are more likely to resort to cyber-bullying – the form of bullying utilising the internet and mobile phones that is worrying school leaders. A survey by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) reveals that half the teachers believed girls’ behaviour had got worse during the past two years. One in five thought it was now more challenging than boys. Teachers interviewed for the survey accused girls of being “sneakier” than boys in the way they misbehaved. They were also more adept at using modern social media such as Facebook to bully their fellow pupils.

Source: INDEPENDENT