bbc--2019-10-17--Snowy 2.0: Australia's divisive plan for a vast underground 'battery'

Far beneath a national park in one of the coldest parts of Australia is where the government wants to build a hugely ambitious project: a power station capable of generating 10% of the nation's energy.  It is part of a bold - and expensive - hydro electricity scheme in the Kosciuszko National Park in south-east New South Wales.  The Snowy 2.0 project has ambitions to carve tunnels through 27km (17 miles) of rock to make a huge pipeline linking two reservoirs. The difference in elevation of 700m (2296ft) is what gives the plan its extraordinary might.  It is simple enough in concept, but elaborate in design, and challenging in practice.  Scheme 'in league of its own'  When there is cheap, excess electricity in the grid and demand is low, usually at night, water from the lower reservoir, Talbingo, is pumped up to its lofty cousin Tantangara that sits on a high, open plateau.  When demand for energy rises, the water is released, and is sent tumbling down the main waterway tunnel.  Electricity is generated in a powerhouse buried 800m below the surface by turbines, which are also used as pumps to heave water back up from the lower reservoir to Tantangara.  Conventional hydro plants are pictures of spray and mist when captured water is set free. The Kosciuszko plan, however, would see energy generated underwater and the water reused, while the entire operation would be almost completely hidden beneath the national park.  "What Snowy 2.0 is proposing is in a league of its own," Prof Michael Braer, director of the Melbourne Energy Institute at the University of Melbourne, tells the BBC.  "It is essentially an extremely large and extremely powerful battery. At full power output it would be roughly 10% of Australia's electricity production." • How Australia is changing - in 11 charts • The freak storm that took out a state  Exploratory work has started on a venture that has echoes of the original Snowy Mountains hydro and irrigation scheme in Australia's Great Dividing Range mountains, which was the largest engineering project ever seen in Australia.  The reservoirs that will power Snowy 2.0 were constructed as part of that fabled nation-building enterprise which began in October 1949 and took more than 25 years to complete. The technological wonder included seven power stations, 16 major dams, 145km of inter-connected tunnels and 80km of aqueducts.  The first Snowy scheme was as much about people as it was power. Over 100,000 men and women from more than 30 countries laboured for years. A third of the workforce was Australian, and they, along with migrant muscle, built a symbol of national ingenuity and diversity.  "The spirit of the original Snowy is absolutely flowing and you get it as soon as you turn up to the town of Cooma because the heritage is everywhere," says Dave Evans, director of engineering at Snowy 2.0.  This time around Australia has again sought help from overseas, consulting experts from Iceland, Switzerland, Italy and beyond.  "Usually you have to go around Asia or Africa to work on anything like this, and they are usually a bit smaller. So to have one in your backyard is exciting," Mr Evans says.  Initial works will determine if Snowy 2.0 is both feasible and financially viable. The government hopes it will drive down power prices and give the electricity sector greater reliability.  "There is no question this is a big engineering challenge. Ultimately, you don't know exactly what the rocks look like between the two reservoirs," says Dr Matthew Stocks, a research fellow at the Australian National University.  Australia is one of the sunniest continents, and wind energy is currently the cheapest source of large-scale renewables. Add to the mix hydro technology and Australia has the potential to become a clean energy superpower as more of its coal-fired stations shut down.  "Australia is on an amazing trajectory in terms of installations of wind and PV (photovoltaic solar cells used in rooftop panels). We are currently installing on a per capita basis wind and solar faster than anywhere else in the world," says Dr Stocks.  "In the mid-2020s we are going to have to start significantly changing how our electricity system operates to cope with the variability of wind and PV. You need to spread the resources widely, so you are sampling different weather at different times. You need a certain amount of storage, and pumped hydro is by far the cheapest way to store energy."  For the exploratory excavations alone, 600,000 cubic metres of rock will be gouged from the land.  Snowy Hydro has disputed assertions from environmentalists that up to 100 sq km of national park, including native alpine bushland and streams, would be damaged by the dumping of excavated rock.  Yet not everyone is convinced that such a monumental project is worth the effort.  "It is probably around a A$6-7bn ($4.2-4.9bn; £3.3-3.9bn) project, and you can build a lot of other storage and renewables schemes for that kind of money," says Andrew Stock, an energy expert at Australia's independent Climate Council.  "By world standards it is a mega project and the track record for mega hydro projects delivering them on schedule and on budget is very poor globally, so it is a very risky project."  Costs have blown out since former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced in 2017 that it would be built for an estimated A$2bn. This week, he vigorously defended the project as "the key to making renewables reliable".  It's unclear if power bills - a constant irritant for many Australians - will fall when the giant storage unit is working. Others question the political motive: was it a way for a centre-right government that is an enthusiastic supporter of the fossil fuel industry to promote its environmental credentials?  The director of the Victorian Energy Policy Centre, Bruce Mountain, thinks so.  "Snowy Hydro 2.0 was a political get-out-of-jail card, played at the public's expense," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "This is a project that we can confidently forecast will be a drain on the public purse and whose service in the transition to a cleaner energy future can be met far more cheaply from other sources."  The boss of Snowy Hydro, Paul Broad, is, though, convinced the project is critical as Australia moves away from a reliance on coal, which generates most of its electricity.  "There's a massive amount of renewals coming into the market - you can't have it without some kind of storage," Mr Broad explained to broadcaster's 7.30 programme.  The engineers working on the project appear unfazed by the controversies and expect that Snowy 2.0 will be pumping out electricity by late 2024, or early the following year.  "It is not far away," according to Mr Evans, the scheme's engineering boss. "It is coming quickly."


bbc--2019-11-05--Behind the wheel of a hydrogen-powered car

It's a question I couldn't avoid as I drove across central England in a borrowed car powered by a hydrogen fuel cell.  The Hyundai ix35 was fast, eerily quiet - they've installed a little electronic jingle so you can tell when you've switched it on - and there was a reassuring 230 miles (370 km) left on the clock.  And best of all, I drove with the smug knowledge that when a vehicle is powered by hydrogen, the only exhaust product is water.  Quite a difference from my own 13-year-old, one-litre petrol engine: noisy, slow and undeniably dirty.  So why, I wondered, is this clean, green technology lagging far behind the hybrid and all-electric sectors?  The relatively small hydrogen market is dominated by the Asian giants: Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.  In early October in Tokyo amid great razzmatazz, Toyota unveiled its latest fuel cell Mirai saloon, which it hopes to launch in late 2020.  European brands including BMW and Audi are also fine-tuning their own hydrogen vehicles.  But this is a sector in which the upstart start-up can claim a modest place too.  Outside Llandrindod Wells, a small market town in central Wales, Riversimple aims to lease, not sell, its futuristic hydrogen fuel cell vehicles to a strictly local market.  They have just two cars on the road so far, with Numbers 3 and 4 under construction in Riversimple's meticulously clean production facility.  "The car's called the Rasa - as in tabula rasa, or clean slate," says the company's founder and chief executive, Hugo Spowers.  "We're using fuel cells off the shelf: ours was made for fork-lifts for Walmart warehouses."  The Rasa will do a tidy 60mph (100km/h) and has a range of around 300 miles (480km) on a single 1.5 kg hydrogen tank.  "In purely calorific terms," Spowers concludes, "our car is doing the equivalent of 250 miles to the gallon."  That sounds impressive - so how do hydrogen powered cars work?  At the heart of the car is a fuel cell, where hydrogen and oxygen are combined to generate an electric current, and the only by-product is water. There are no moving parts in the fuel cell, so they are more efficient and reliable than a conventional combustion engine.  While the cars themselves do not generate any gases that contribute to global warming, the process of making hydrogen requires energy - often from fossil fuel sources. So hydrogen's green credentials are under question.  And then there is the question of safety. Hydrogen is a notoriously explosive gas.  That's why manufacturers disclose plenty of reassuring detail on their websites.  The Toyota Mirai, for example, boasts triple-layer hydrogen tanks capable, the company says, of absorbing five times as much crash energy as a steel petrol tank.  The twin hydrogen tanks in the Honda Clarity are similarly robust featuring layers of aluminium and carbon fibre and designed to resist both extreme pressure and extreme heat.  Still, not everyone is convinced.  EuroTunnel does not allow "vehicles powered by any flammable gasses", including hydrogen, to use the link between the UK and France.  The Riversimple business model - a three-year fixed price lease aimed at short-distance local drivers - is designed to negate the biggest problem affecting hydrogen cars: range anxiety.  With just 17 pumps across Britain, refuelling is a challenge, so the industry is stuck.  The public won't commit if they can't guarantee a refill wherever they need to drive, but hydrogen production companies are reluctant to install expensive pumps unless there's likely to be a consistent take-up. • On the inside of a hacking catastrophe • Why passwords don't work and what will replace them • Wheels of fortune: The new electric motors • Ghost nets: Tackling the silent killer of the seas  According to Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, secretary-general of the pro-hydrogen group H2Europe, a country like Germany has around 75 hydrogen fuelling stations - but there aren't enough drivers.  He blames car markers for being slow to produce hydrogen-powered cars. He points out that BMW isn't launching one until 2022 and Audi in 2025. "This is definitely quite late," he says.  Mr Chatzimarkakis wants to prioritise a pan-European network of 20 to 30 pumps aligned along a "north-south corridor" to enable hydrogen-powered vehicles - especially larger freight-bearing lorries - to travel freely where business needs dictate.  The Hydrogen4ClimateAction conference in Brussels in mid-October led to investment pledges by European governments of more than €50bn (£43bn; $56bn) in hydrogen research and infrastructure.  "We at H2Europe are match-makers because this is a co-operative job - it cannot be done by industry alone; it cannot be done by politics alone," Mr Chatzimarkakis says.  That collaboration is evident in California, which is experiencing the flip-side of the car/pump imbalance: there are queues at filling stations.  If you visit the website of the Alternative Fuels Data Center, part of the US Department of Energy, and click on "fuelling station locations", you'll get 42 results - all in California.  "We are laser-focused on building out an infrastructure to refill zero-emission vehicles," says Patricia Monahan, science and engineering specialist on the California Energy Commission (CEC).  As importantly, California is committed to incentives for both producers and consumers in the fuel cell sector, she says.  Anyone buying a new hydrogen car will get an incentive of $2,500, with similar subsidies from both the CEC and the state's Air Resources Board aimed at persuading heavy-duty vehicle companies to look into zero-emission alternatives.  "We are really testing out for the world," Ms Monahan says, "how to develop an infrastructure to refuel these vehicles, and policies to incentivise their production."  In fact, even California may be behind the curve.  According to Andy Walker, technical marketing director at Johnson Matthey Fuel Cell in the UK - itself a sector pioneer since 2003 - several Asian nations are making dramatic commitments to hydrogen.  "The Chinese government has a target of more than a million fuel cell vehicles on Chinese roads by 2020, serviced by over a thousand hydrogen refuelling stations," he says.  To that end, Beijing has reduced subsidies to the battery sector and, in 2018 alone, invested $12.5bn on fuel cell technology and related subsidies.  South Korea aims to go even further, with a target of 1.5 million fuel cell vehicles.  And while Japan's commitment is relatively modest - a mere 800,000 new hydrogen vehicles - we can expect to see a big showcase of hydrogen technology at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.  If these ambitions are even half-way realised, the rest of the world will be playing catch-up.  You can listen to Fergus Nicoll's report on hydrogen-powered cars on World Business Report here.


bbc--2019-11-13--Electric car future may depend on deep sea mining

The future of electric cars may depend on mining critically important metals on the ocean floor.  That's the view of the engineer leading a major European investigation into new sources of key elements.  Demand is soaring for the metal cobalt - an essential ingredient in batteries and abundant in rocks on the seabed.  Laurens de Jonge, who's running the EU project, says the transition to electric cars means "we need those resources".  He was speaking during a unique set of underwater experiments designed to assess the impact of extracting rocks from the ocean floor.  In calm waters 15km off the coast of Malaga in southern Spain, a prototype mining machine was lowered to the seabed and 'driven' by remote control.  Cameras attached to the Apollo II machine recorded its progress and, crucially, monitored how the aluminium tracks stirred up clouds of sand and silt as they advanced.  An array of instruments was positioned nearby to measure how far these clouds were carried on the currents - the risk of seabed mining smothering marine life over a wide area is one of the biggest concerns.  It's hard to visualise, but imagine opencast mining taking place at the bottom of the ocean, where huge remote-controlled machines would excavate rocks from the seabed and pump them up to the surface.  The concept has been talked about for decades, but until now it's been thought too difficult to operate in the high-pressure, pitch-black conditions as much as 5km deep.  Now the technology is advancing to the point where dozens of government and private ventures are weighing up the potential for mines on the ocean floor.  Why would anyone bother?  The short answer: demand. The rocks of the seabed are far richer in valuable metals than those on land and there's a growing clamour to get at them.  Billions of potato-sized rocks known as "nodules" litter the abyssal plains of the Pacific and other oceans and many are brimming with cobalt, suddenly highly sought after as the boom in the production of batteries gathers pace.  At the moment, most of the world's cobalt is mined in the Democratic Republic of Congo where for years there've been allegations of child labour, environmental damage and widespread corruption.  Expanding production there is not straightforward which is leading mining companies to weigh the potential advantages of cobalt on the seabed.  Laurens de Jonge, who's in charge of the EU project, known as Blue Nodules, said: "It's not difficult to access - you don't have to go deep into tropical forests or deep into mines.  "It's readily available on the seafloor, it's almost like potato harvesting only 5km deep in the ocean."  And he says society faces a choice: there may in future be alternative ways of making batteries for electric cars - and some manufacturers are exploring them - but current technology requires cobalt.  "If you want to make a fast change, you need cobalt quick and you need a lot of it - if you want to make a lot of batteries you need the resources to do that."  His view is backed by a group of leading scientists at London's Natural History Museum and other institutions.  They recently calculated that meeting the UK's targets for electric cars by 2050 would require nearly twice the world's current output of cobalt.  So what are the risks?  No one can be entirely sure, which makes the research off Spain highly relevant.  It's widely accepted that whatever is in the path of the mining machines will be destroyed - there's no argument about that.  But what's uncertain is how far the damage will reach, in particular the size of the plumes of silt and sand churned up and the distance they will travel, potentially endangering marine life far beyond the mining site.  The chief scientist on board, Henko de Stigter of the Dutch marine research institute NIOZ, points out that life in the deep Pacific - where mining is likely to start first - has adapted to the usually "crystal clear conditions".  So for any organisms feeding by filter, waters that are suddenly filled with stirred-up sediment would be threatening.  "Many species are unknown or not described, and let alone do we know how they will respond to this activity - we can only estimate."  And Dr de Stigter warned of the danger of doing to the oceans what humanity has done to the land.  "With every new human activity it's often difficult to foresee all the consequences of that in the long term.  "What is new here is that we are entering an environment that is almost completely untouched."  Could deep sea mining be made less damaging?  Ralf Langeler thinks so. He's the engineer in charge of the Apollo II mining machine and he believes the design will minimise any impacts.  Like Laurens de Jonge, he works for the Dutch marine engineering giant Royal IHC and he says his technology can help reduce the environmental effects.  The machine is meant to cut a very shallow slice into the top 6-10cm of the seabed, lifting the nodules. Its tracks are made with lightweight aluminium to avoid sinking too far into the surface.  Silt and sand stirred up by the extraction process should then be channelled into special vents at the rear of the machine and released in a narrow stream, to try to avoid the plume spreading too far.  "We'll always change the environment, that's for sure," Ralf says, "but that's the same with onshore mining and our purpose is to minimise the impact."  I ask him if deep sea mining is now a realistic prospect.  "One day it's going to happen, especially with the rising demand for special metals - and they're there on the sea floor."  Who decides if it goes ahead?  Mining in territorial waters can be approved by an individual government.  That happened a decade ago when Papua New Guinea gave the go-ahead to a Canadian company, Nautilus Minerals, to mine gold and copper from hydrothermal vents in the Bismarck Sea.  Since then the project has been repeatedly delayed as the company ran short of funds and the prime minister of PNG called for a 10-year moratorium on deep sea mining.  A Nautilus Minerals representative has told me that the company is being restructured and that they remain hopeful of starting to mine.  Meanwhile, nearly 30 other ventures are eyeing areas of ocean floor beyond national waters, and these are regulated by a UN body, the International Seabed Authority (ISA).  It has issued licences for exploration and is due next year to publish the rules that would govern future mining.  The EU's Blue Nodules project involves a host of different institutions and countries.  The vessel used for the underwater research off Spain, the Sarmiento de Gamboa, is operated by CSIC, the Spanish National Research Council.


bbcuk--2019-05-30--Special educational needs children and parents hold protest

Children with special educational needs and their parents have held protests across the country to highlight what they say is a funding 'crisis'.  A petition was handed in at Downing Street by Send National Crisis campaigners, while marches were held in 28 towns and cities.  Ministers say they are increasing the cash available, providing an extra £250m up to 2020 to help manage the costs.


pinknewsuk--2019-04-09--Education Secretary Damian Hinds says parents cannot veto LGBT lessons

Signup to receive a daily roundup of the top LGBT+ news stories from around the world  Education Secretary Damian Hinds has said that parents should not be allowed to veto LGBT+ lessons in schools.  Hinds made the comments in a letter to Paul Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, following protests at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham.  In the letter, Hinds said that consulting with parents was an important process for schools—but said: “I want to reassure you and the members you represent that consultation does not provide a parental veto on curriculum content.  “We want schools to consult parents, listen to their views, and make reasonable decisions about how to proceed (including through consideration of their wider duties)—and we will support them in this.  “We trust school leaders and teachers to make the right professional choices and act reasonably when considering consultation feedback, and are clear that dedicated public servants faithfully discharging their duty have an absolute right to feel confident and safe.”  Elsewhere in the letter, Hinds said he wanted to see all young people made to feel “included” and said they should “grow up understanding the value and importance of kindness and respect for others and themselves.”  Hinds’ support for schools and teachers teaching children about LGBT+ identities and issues comes after protests at Parkfield Community School in Birmingham caused a media frenzy in the UK.  The school suspended its No Outsiders programme after a number of parents withdrew their children from the school and protested outside last month.  Approximately 600 children, from mostly Muslim backgrounds, were reported to be kept at home for the day.  Ofsted has ruled that there is “no evidence” to support criticism of the programme.  Hinds had previously rowed in behind teachers and schools last month, and said “we expect all pupils to have been taught” about LGBT+ issues in an interview with Schools Week.  “I’ve always been clear that I support headteachers to make decisions and we believe in school autonomy, that school leaders are best-placed to make decisions.”  Meanwhile, a survey released yesterday to TES found that parents and teachers overwhelmingly support LGBT+ lessons for children.  94 percent of those surveyed said they thought it was important that children learn about LGBT+ identities in school. The same number of people said schools have a responsibility to promote LGBT+ inclusion.  88 percent of those surveyed said parents should not have the right to withdraw children from lessons about LGBT+ people. The same number said that schools who taught children about LGBT+ issues were not promoting a sexual orientation or gender identity.  However, support for teaching younger children about LGBT+ issues was slightly lower. 76 percent said schools should teach children about different types of relationships from the age of 4.


theepochtimes--2019-08-26--California Is Playing Politics With Childrens Education Parents Say Of Sex-Ed Guidelines

Ninth graders work on projects in the classroom of Health Education teacher Leticia Jenkins at James Monroe High School in North Hills, California on May 18, 2018. (Frederic J. Brown/AFP/Getty Images)  California Is Playing Politics With Children’s Education, Parents Say Of Sex-Ed Guidelines  Since the California Department of Education unanimously approved changes to the Health Education Framework in early May, introducing new sex education guidelines for public elementary school grades, many Californians have continued to voice their concerns.  Prior to the decision, parents and religious groups held large rallies at the capitol in Sacramento, as well as organized school walkouts, to protest the new rules regarding topics such as gender identity, sexual health, and sexual abuse.  Stephanie Yates, a mother of three and founder of Informed Parents of California, criticized the board at one of the rallies, saying, “How are they helping kids find themselves when they are confusing them about who they are?” according to the Associated Press.  Claiming that the board made decisions based on a political agenda, Yates also accused officials of recommending material that closely resembled pornography, adding that “this stuff should be taught at home.”  “It’s not the birds and the bees. It’s not biological anymore. It’s not sex ed. It’s sexuality education,” she said.  Despite the overwhelming support Yates received from parents present at the time, some of the proponents of the changes didn’t seem to address their concerns.  “What we are seeing in the Sacramento community is an open arms approach to this curriculum, “ Cheri Greven, the local Planned Parenthood director of Public Affairs, told NBC at the time. “A number of parents spoke up saying they were in favor of this. One father told me it allowed him and his son to open a new line of communication about these topics.”  Meanwhile, parents like Yates are still struggling to understand why the board didn’t make the new curriculum entirely optional. The Education Code 51932(b) states that the California Healthy Youth Act, which requires all students in grades seven through 12 to receive comprehensive human growth and development education, only allows parents to opt their children out of the sexual health education. Regardless of how the child’s family feels, they are not allowed to opt out of any material that deals with sexual orientation, gender identity, discrimination, relationships, or family.  In a statement, education department spokesperson Kindra Britt said that the changes were “also designed to take the needs of our LGBTQ youth into consideration to make sure they felt safe and supported while at school.” However, some felt that the needs of religious or conservative parents were not taken into account.  In an interview with The Epoch Times, New Hope Christian Ministries Pastor Gheorghe Rosca Jr. said that his school district in Placentia wasn’t transparent about the adoption of the new curriculum. And in his experience discussing the matter with other parents, he believes this “is typical of most school districts.”  “They don’t do a good job of communicating with parents and most parents don’t understand the intricacies of the public education system and how laws, policies, frameworks and curricula all work together,” he said.  Essentially, he said in an interview that bureaucrats “make decisions and ask for forgiveness later.”  “It wasn’t until we stormed the board room with hundreds of parents that the District decided to create a Sex Ed Review Committee and allow parents to be active participants in the committee.”  To Rosca, the fact the state refuses to let parents opt out of gender identity curriculum is particularly troubling.  “This isn’t just unfair,” he told The Epoch Times. “It is communism. … My family fled the Communist State of Romania where the [government] decided what to teach children, including values. This is not the America we dreamed of as the land of the free.”  To the state’s education department, however, the lessons are needed to “[dispel] myths, [break] down stereotypes and [link] students to resources [that] can help prevent bullying, self-harm, feelings of hopelessness, and serious considerations of suicide.”  But to parents and community leaders like Rosca, however, “transgenderism is presented as settled science, whereas professionals in academia are not even close to presenting a scientific case for the veracity of transgenderism beyond that of what it has been historically treated as gender dysphoria.”  “Why is the State of California adopting an unscientific curricula and standards and pushing it down the throats of 6.2 million kids?”  Echoing Yates, the father of three is seeing a deliberate political push that ignores the individual in order to impose a state-sponsored “truth.”  “This is a reckless policy and purely political,” Rosca said. “No other unscientific teaching has ever been so rapidly pushed on kids in California’s history.”  Furthermore, Rosca added, the new guidelines give kids the idea that it is wrong for parents to teach them that gender and biological sex are the same.  Traditionally, teachings regarding relationships have always been handed down to children by their parents. But by actively teaching “non-monogamous relationships to 7th graders and an ever-changing spectrum of sexual orientations such as polysexuality, pansexuaity, and asexuality,” Rosca added, and by explaining that “spiritual abuse” is the use of religion to teach “rigid gender roles,” the state’s education authority is making “false statements” to justify accusing perfectly loving and responsible parents of being abusive.  To prevent harm to traditional parents thanks to this new guideline, Rosca said, lawmakers must understand that only parents and families can teach their children morals.  “Parents are responsible to impart values to their children, not public schools,” Rosca said.  Instead of “implementing policies that are unscientific, medically inaccurate and reckless,” he then added, the state should be spending taxpayer dollars on bettering education quality.


redstate--2019-08-29--Former Sex Educator Planned Parenthood is Grooming Girls for Abortion Via the Public Education Syst

Former Sex Educator: Planned Parenthood is Grooming Girls for Abortion Via the Public Education System

Monica Cline — who worked as a sexual health education instructor for Planned Parenthood for ten years — claims young girls are being groomed for abortion via public education.  Monica began her career in 1996 as an HIV prevention educator for the Center for Health Training. In 1997, she became Planned Parenthood’s Title X Training Manager for New Mexico and Texas.  The former instructor says she was ordered to teach children about every kind of sexual activity — because, according to the Director of Prevention Education, the kids had probably already done it all:  To bolster the argument, her superior pointed to multiple PP studies revealing girls as young as 10 coming to clinics for sex-related injuries and the removal of foreign objects, in addition to abortions.  In light of the evidence, Monica asked the director how they could convince children not to have sex. This was the purported response:  “Risk reduction is simply telling them how to make the high risk safer by using lubrication and condoms,” Monica clarified. “The next step is to make them understand they need to be tested for STD’s every couple months.”  She explained that children’s introduction to sex is “illicit sex,” referring to a video children were shown at a Waco, Texas, conference where Cline was present. Cline taught twelve and thirteen-year-old students a module on healthy relationships while her co-worker taught the same students a module on STD training, which included a video depicting a couple who has just had sex. The video, called Nicole’s Choice, and sold by sexual educators for $125, shows a girl wake up after a one night stand and realize she must handle the sexually transmitted disease she received from her hookup.  Monica insisted kids were encouraged to engage in sex and then guided into abortion as the solution to pregnancy:  Her characterization is in line with a video I featured in July, which allegedly shows Planned Parenthood counseling teachers on how to help their students hide abortions from parents. See the startling clip here.  As per Monica, PP told her directing the kids to abortion was a must:  By 2009, she could no longer take the organization’s approach to children.  She recalled them telling her, “Honey, if she’s not having sex with this man this month, she’ll be having sex with another man next month.”  Monica left her post with a very negative view of the abortion giant:  “Teens are being given false ideas that condoms will cover all the bases. They do tell them to get tested and treated – which means coming back to the clinic – and if they are pregnant they are encouraged to get an abortion. … [Planed Parenthood’s] view of our children is very skewed. They believe that this is what our children want. They don’t see our children as victims, they see them as willing participants.”  What has happened to “education”? That is to say, education was once about…education. Our schools appear to have become indoctrination centers covering topics so far outside of reading, writing, and ‘rithmetc that they couldn’t see one another with a telescope. For more evidence, just see the stunning evidence here.  Personally, I miss the days when kids’ time in school was spent learning academic subjects. Beyond those, it seems to me, we’d be much better off if developing minds were taught how to think, not what to think.  See 3 more pieces from me:  Beto O’Rourke’s Latest Goofy ‘Man Of The People’ Video Continues His Tone-Deaf Race To 2020 Obscurity  San Francisco Solves Its Heinous Criminal Problem In A Flash With The Democrats’ Newest, Deadliest Weapon  And please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.  Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.  If you have an iPhone and want to comment, select the box with the upward arrow at the bottom of your screen; swipe left and choose “Request Desktop Site.” If it fails to automatically refresh, manually reload the page. Scroll down to the red horizontal bar that says “Show Comments.”


theindependent--2019-05-05--Parents and headteachers demand aposeducation emergencyapos to stop forced takeover of schools

Parents and headteachers demand 'education emergency' to stop forced takeover of schools

Opposition against the removal of schools from local authority control has resurged as families march in the streets and headteachers reignite calls for forced academisation to end.  Parents are increasingly leading the battles against schools being converted into academies, which are state schools independent of local councils, as they become more aware of negative stories.  The increased use of WhatsApp and social media groups connecting opposing parents across the country, including those who have been successful in their fight, has also spurred families on.  Labour’s pledge to end the forced conversion of local schools into academies at their annual conference, where they condemned the “fat cat” salaries of CEOs at academy chains, added fuel to the fire.  Hundreds of children and parents have taken to the streets with placards in two separate marches against school takeovers in the past week – and more demonstrations look to be on the cards.  The opposition from parents comes as school leaders at the National Association of Head Teachers conference in Telford this weekend debate a motion calling on the teaching union to reaffirm its opposition to forced academisation.  Some headteahers and parents fear that joining an academy trust, which sets its own policies on admissions, behaviour and the curriculum, could result in the school’s identity and staff being lost.  High-profile reports of the large salaries of academy chain CEOs, at a time when schools are struggling to provide even the basics to pupils amid cuts, has also fuelled opposition to the system.  Figures this year revealed that nearly half of the academy chains that have been ordered by ministers twice to justify their awarding of excessive salaries to bosses handed out more pay rises.  A one-school academy trust Holland Park, an academy in west London – once dubbed the “socialist Eton” –  featured in the group, after it awarded its head £260,000 following a pay rise.  Around 250 parents, teachers and children marched in Peacehaven in east Sussex on Wednesday against plans to hand three schools to an academy trust. Placards read “Pritt sticks not BMWs”.  Cherry Lean, whose child attends Telscombe Cliffs Primary School, one of the three schools, is concerned that vital support staff could be cut to fund larger salaries for academy bosses.  “I’m just a normal working mum that’s just standing up for what I believe is an unneeded risk to take with our children’s education,” Ms Lean said.  And last Sunday, more than 100 children and parents marched with signs in Waltham Abbey, a market town in Essex, to stop Waltham Holy Cross Primary School from being taken over by an academy trust.  Shaunagh Roberts, whose child is in Year 4 at the school, told The Independent she’d be willing to carry out another march in Harlow — where the opposed academy chain Net Academies is based — to be heard.  “It is a big problem when you have children outside their own school saying they don’t want to be part of it,” she said. “We need an education emergency right now.”  A number of campaigns have sprung up across the country in recent months. Earlier this year, children wore masks of their headteacher as they marched in Swinford in Leicestershire as part of a campaign to save the leader from losing his job amid a restructure by the Diocese of Leicester Academies Trust.  And some parents are fundraising for legal action against academisation. Ms Roberts compared the growing movement to the climate change school strikes. “It is going to be the next uprising,” she said.  This month, campaigners against the academisation of The John Roan school in London are hosting a fundraising event and parents and teachers are set to lobby the Department for Education headquarters.  Currently local authority schools that receive an “inadequate” rating from Ofsted – such as The John Roan school – can be forced to become an academy in a bid to intervene and drive up educational standards.  Jon Coles, CEO of the United Learning academy trust, recently wrote to the John Roan campaigners and said the poor Ofsted report made a “compelling case for a change of management and control”.  He added: “Children only have one chance at their education and they should not have to endure what is described in the report.”  But Kes Grant, who has three grandchildren at The John Roan, remained sceptical. “We want an education grounded in the community, not a business. We see it as a bigger problem than just John Roan,” she said.  Other parent-led campaigns in Wakefield and Brentwood have not ruled out stepping up protests, with some saying they could host a march in the summer term if they do not get the answers that they want.  The number of schools becoming academies is growing and there are now more than 7,000. Nearly three in four secondary schools are academies as well as more than a quarter of primary schools.  The first academies were set up in 2002 by Labour to improve standards. But from 2010, the numbers increased after the coalition government said it would allow all schools to convert to academies.  Since then, the Conservative government has been pushing academisation as their flagship policy for school improvement. In 2016, former education secretary Nicky Morgan announced plans to convert all state schools to academies by 2022. But the proposals were later shelved following large opposition.  Last year, education secretary Damian Hinds told school leaders at the NAHT annual conference that he wanted to move away from “forced academisation being seen as this punitive threat” for schools.  But a motion at this year’s NAHT’s annual conference this weekend warns that the “threat remains” and it calls for the forced government intervention after a poor Ofsted inspection to be dropped.  A number of schools have improved since becoming academies, but studies have found that the type of school you attend – academy or maintained – does not automatically lead to improvements.  Michelle Sheehy, head of Alumwell Junior School and Millfield Primary School in Walsall, who is proposing the motion, told The Independent: “I don’t know why it is still an option for improving schools. I thought that the popularity of it would decrease but it hasn’t.  “It is still perceived as a threat to heads. They are worried about losing their jobs. It is a culture of fear.”  Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the National Education Union, said: “Campaigns against academisation are a real phenomenon now that parents have really understood what the forced academisation programme is all about and they are taking the lead in these campaigns.”  He added: “Parents are very fearful of the ethos that may come about if their school has to join a multi-academy trust. They don’t like the methods that they see being adopted. I think parents are now recognising what the unions have been saying – that privatisation of schools is not appropriate.”  Libby Nicholas, chief executive of Astrea Academy Trust, which runs 27 academies, said: “The whole point of academy trusts is to raise standards in schools that have been failing children for far too long.”  Ms Nicholas added that all their schools that were previously rated as either “requires improvement” or “inadequate” by Ofsted have improved.  “Academies are breathing new life and new hope into communities that were being left behind, and we’re proud to be playing our part,” she said.  A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We are striving for a world class education for all children, regardless of background and when we see issues of underperformance we will not hesitate to take swift action.  “Since 2010 we have converted around 8,000 schools to academies – many of which are in the most disadvantaged areas of the country.  “More than half a million children studying in sponsored primary and secondary academies are now rated “good” or “outstanding”, with standards rising faster in many sponsored academies than in similar council-run schools.”


theindependent--2019-04-08--Home education may benefit some children but I canapost help but think itaposs secretly all abo

Home education may benefit some children, but I can't help but think it's secretly all about the parents

Education, from cradle to whenever it finishes, ought to give our children the tools to earn a living and, just as important, be a good citizen.  Children need to experience as many different facets of learning as is necessary in order to raise their horizons and be consistent with their abilities.  Working with or being associated with a group of their peers necessarily sets guidelines and boundaries of behaviour.  Without these common behavioural presets being set at an early stage in their development cycle, it can be “awkward” in later life to “fit in”.  Being educated at home, children have fewer opportunities to interrelate with other like-minded children, and I believe that they do not receive a full or rounded education as one who attends a mainstream school.  There may be concerns that the school is failing in some respects to educate your child in the way you would want to prescribe, but I ask myself: “Who is the specialist in the art of teaching?”  One of the benefits of being taught in a group is that it plays on children’s natural competitiveness and when harnessed by a teacher all things are possible and on a consistent planned basis.  Discipline when administered by teaching professional is generally instructive and therefore beneficial for the child and others.  In my view, educating children at home benefits the parent’s aspirations more so than the child, especially in respect of religious or sexual concerns.  The school curriculum has been set to give our children the best start in life and is based on informed current thinking and modern technologies(as finances allow).  Should there be differentiation between what is taught and what is not? I think not. Some of the controversial or worrying topics for parents in the education curriculum (relationships, religion, homosexuality, etc) seem to outweigh the impact that they have on the child’s development.  Am I misguided in proposing that parents ought to support the efforts of our beleaguered teaching professionals to educate our children?  Perhaps the answer to the great challenge (Politicians mustn’t lean too heavily on central banks) facing the economies of the developed world – how to boost growth in a world of very low interest rates – could spring from the right question: what is the point of economic activity?  The prevailing neoliberal model of capitalism has as its sole objective profit and in pursuit of “anything goes”. The untrammelled consumerism in which we currently wallow is characterised by conspicuously vulgar ostentation, heinous levels of waste, planet-killing pollution, resource depletion, greed, corruption, social control mediated by debt and destitution, a pervasive dysphoria and political extremism – among many other malign things.  The European Central Bank would do well to consider establishing a new regime in which economic activity is reprioritised towards beneficial outcomes other than profit.  Nobody needs to be a billionaire, but everyone does need clean air and water, secure and safe food, shelter and clothing, a meaningful job and a world that is left in a good condition.  Give the people tasks that benefit them and ease up on the exploitation.  I have read May Bulman’s interesting article (‘The power to wreck your life’: Tens of thousands of disabled people denied benefits for extra month). What occurs to me is to what extent subcontracted private companies are involved in the process of assessing disability allowances.  They have to be seen to earn their money by saving the government money. Some people with disabilities are treated abysmally by probably unqualified staff of these private sector companies to decide on claims.  It appears in the UK that a person’s actual age increasingly reflects the probability of them wanting a) Brexit, b) England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to continue building an independent nuclear deterrent and c) us to go to war with the likes of Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya.  And now, I note, it also appears maybe d) wanting to vote Conservative?  In spite of this (or because of this) the oldies currently appear to be winners on all fronts.  Is this a sad reflection of nationalism and populism and, sadly, a growing intergenerational divide?  Each day I wake up thinking that surely Theresa May can’t get any worse, and every day I’m wrong. Well, if Corbyn can tear up the manifesto upon which the Labour party was elected, I suppose there’s no reason why she can’t do the same for the Tories.  That way BOTH parties will be wiped out at the next election at the hands of an outraged electorate.  Your anonymous correspondents (“Jews must speak out against Corbyn before it’s too late”) say the evidence of Labour’s antisemitism has been plain for all to see. I’m afraid it hasn’t.  Many claims of varying degrees have been made but little actual evidence has been on show.  This may account for the fact that many see this issue as one of resentment against Jeremy Corbyn’s support for Palestinians rather than one of actual antisemitism.  There is certainly a campaign of gigantic proportions against Corbyn, and we will see at the ballot box whether people obey the various demands and commands from many quarters to loathe the man, or not.


theindependent--2019-06-26--aposEducation is a rightapos Parents of children with special needs launch legal fight to get g

'Education is a right': Parents of children with special needs launch legal fight to get government to fund school places

Families of children with special educational needs who are being denied school places because of swingeing funding cuts have taken a legal challenge against the government to the High Court in person.  A campaigning group of parents say councils are so starved of funds they are unable to meet their legal obligation to provide education and support to young people with special needs and disabilities (SEND).  They joined campaigners and supporters for a demonstration outside the Royal Courts of Justice ahead of the hearing challenging the government.  The crowd chanted “education is a right, we shouldn’t have to fight” and “no ifs, no buts, no education cuts” as they held placards that told the stories of SEND children who felt hopeless.  Funding cuts to SEND are being challenged locally across the country – but this is believed to be the first time that parents have taken direct action against the government.  One mother belonging to one of the three families at the heart of the case told The Independent that she is "constantly stressed and worried" as she battles to get the support her child needs.  Lorraine Heugh, mother of Nico Heugh Simone, who has autism, still does not know whether her 15-year-old son will be given a funded place in a college next year, despite winning multiple tribunals.  “It has had an immense impact on the family,” the mother from East Sussex said. “It is not something that parents want to do but we feel backed into a corner. We feel like we have no choice.”  The landmark case, believed to be the first time the government has been taken to court over SEND funding, is also being brought by the families of Dakota Riddell and Benedict McFinnigan.  Kirsty McFinnigan said her 14-year-old son, who has post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression and chronic insomnia, has not been in mainstream school for two years amid cuts.  She said: “So many councils across the country are struggling and it is shocking to think the government has simply taken no action at all – the current situation is just not working.”  Speaking at the demonstration on Wednesday, Mary Riddell, mother of Dakota, who has cerebral palsy, global development delay and muscle disorders clonus and dystonia, called for urgent action.  Her nine-year-old has had transport support which ensured she could get to school withdrawn. “Local authorities are spread so thin that they are not giving the services needed,” she said.  The parents, who have formed the group SEND Family Action, are calling on the Department for Education and the Treasury to increase the funding to local authorities.  They will argue that the government’s approach to funding SEND is “unlawful” and their children are being failed by the system.  Group founder Gillian Doherty, founder said: “The message to Philip Hammond, to Damian Hinds and to our next prime minister couldn’t be clearer – they must take urgent action to provide the support disabled children need and to which they have a legal right.  “This is the 21st century, in one of the richest countries in the world. Our children are being failed by a system in a tailspin. It’s appalling that parents have had to take their own government to court to try to resolve this crisis.”  Standing before the courts on Wednesday morning, Kevin Courtney, general secretary of the National Education Union, showed his support for the legal action and added that funding cuts were “damaging” children’s education.  Speaking about the thousands of SEND children without a school place, Mr Courtney said: “It is absolutely shameful in the fifth richest country in the world. It is completely unacceptable that we are in this position.”  Analysis from the National Education Union this week revealed that more than 8,000 young people with SEND are awaiting provision for a school place.  Tom Shakespeare, a professor of disability research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, added: “These actions that we are protesting are in violation of human rights. Disabled children do not have human rights in this country.”  The hearing, which is being supported by charities Mencap and the National Deaf Children’s Society,  is expected to last two days.  In August, parents of children with special educational needs won a landmark case after taking Bristol City Council to the High Court over £5m cuts to the SEND budget.  A Department for Education spokesperson said: “The government’s ambition for children with special educational needs and disabilities is no different to any other child – we want them to enjoy school and achieve to their full potential.  “This is why we are investing significant funding into supporting those with more complex special educational needs - high needs funding totalling £6.3bn this year.  “It would be inappropriate to comment further until the judicial process has concluded.”


theindependent--2019-06-27--Parents should be stopped from withdrawing children from religious education over Islam lessons hea

Parents should be stopped from withdrawing children from religious education over Islam lessons, headteachers say

Parents should not be allowed to selectively remove their children from religious education (RE) lessons, headteachers say, as study reveals many withdrawal requests are over the teaching of Islam.  More than two in five school leaders and RE teachers have received requests for students to be withdrawn from teaching about one religion, research from Liverpool Hope University has revealed.  Islam is the dominant focus of these parental withdrawal requests, according to the study of 450 school leaders and heads of RE.  One participant, who received requests for children to be withdrawn from mosque visits said: “The students that have been removed are the ones that need to understand different cultures the most.”  The majority (71 per cent) of teachers believe a law allowing parents to withdraw their children from RE is no longer required, according to the study in the British Journal of Religious Education.  It comes after a report from Thurrock council revealed that parents in Essex were withdrawing their children from religious education lessons on Islam and stopping them from visiting mosques.  Iman Atta, director of Tell Mama, an activist group which records and measures anti-Muslim incidents in Britain, told The Independent: “We have been hearing about cases where parents are pulling their children out of mosque visits as part of religious education since they do not want them to be near a mosque.  “This has been taking place over the last five years and shows that there are parents who have fears or dislike Islam. This is also concerning, since what kinds of views are their children being exposed to? It does not bode well for the future of people and communities living together”.  The right of parents to withdraw their children from RE and from collective worship has been in enshrined in law by both the 1944 and 1988 education acts. Parents can withdraw their children from some or all of the RE curriculum without giving a reason.  Teachers warned in April last year that parents were increasingly abusing the right to withdraw their children from religious education lessons due to their prejudices.  Members of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers section of the National Education Union called on the government to take steps to prevent parents from selectively withdrawing youngsters from RE classes.  “Cases of parents withdrawing selectively from teaching of one religion, predominantly Islam, were often presented by participants as representing a hostility and intolerance to those of other faiths,” the new research says.  But it concludes: “While it was true that Islam’s prominence as a target for withdrawal implies prejudice, our findings suggest that teachers saw the reasons for this withdrawal as misunderstanding more than prejudice.”


theindependent--2019-10-03--Parents in Wales to lose right to remove children from sex education classes

Parents’ right to remove children from relationships and sexuality education (RSE) classes in Welsh schools could be scrapped under government plans.  Families could also be stopped from taking pupils out of religious education (RE) lessons by the Welsh government.  It comes as protests against LGBT+ lessons continue to take place outside schools in Birmingham.  Kirsty Williams, education minister in Wales, said she was minded to ensure all young people are required to study RE and RSE in the new curriculum – which will be LGBT+ inclusive.  “It has always been an anomaly that children could be prevented from attending certain subjects,” Ms Williams said.  In a consultation by the government earlier this year, more than four in five (88.7 per cent) of respondents said they wanted parents’ right to withdraw children from lessons to be retained.  Some respondents suggested home schooling could increase if the right was removed.  The Welsh government has launched an eight-week consultation on the plans.  Relationships education in primary schools and sex education in secondary schools will become compulsory in England from 2020.  The announcement prompted a widespread campaign against the plans - including protests at two primary schools in Birmingham  But parents in England will retain the right to withdraw children from sex education until the age of 15.  The Welsh government is also proposing to change the name of RE to "Religions and Worldviews".  Kathy Riddick, coordinator of Wales Humanists, welcomed the move to include different religions and humanism in RE.  But she called for parents’ right to remove children from RE to remain.  “We have grave concerns about parents losing their right to withdraw their children from RE in faith schools where they could be subjected to a heavy-handed religious instruction that enforces a particular faith-based perspective,” she said.


theirishtimes--2019-05-29--Parents vow to withdraw children from sex education class

Parents of children at an Educate Together school have warned that they will withdraw their children in protest over the planned use of a Catholic organisation to help deliver sex education.  A protest outside Castleknock Educate Together on Tuesday evening drew a crowd of dozens of parents who protested over the use of the Catholic agency Accord in delivering a day-long sex education class for fifth and sixth class pupils.  The Educate Together national office has distanced itself from the school and said it did not agree with the use of any religious groups to deliver sex education.  It has pledged to write to all schools under its patronage to ask them to ensure that sex education is delivered in a way that is “consistent with its ethos and free from religious bias”.  Graeme Carter, the parent of a junior infant at the school, said on Wednesday he and many other parents were prepared to withdraw their children from class for the day if the school pressed ahead with the use of Accord.  He recently set up an online poll of parents opposed to the visit of the Catholic agency. On Tuesday it had almost 170 signatures.  “We chose to educate our children because of its equality-based, multi-denominational ethos which treats all children equally,” he said.  “We are not anti-Catholic or anti-religion, but we want objective sex education for our children. Bringing in Accord goes against everything Educate Together stands for.”  He said Accord did not deal with LGBT issues, which was an insult to gay parents at the school and gay teachers.  Castleknock Educate Together did not respond to queries on Wednesday, while Accord directed media queries elsewhere.  In an email to parents last week, the school said a board of management sub-committee – including parents and staff members – had examined the delivery of sex education.  It said following research and contact with sex education facilitators, Accord was deemed the most suitable on grounds such as experience, availability and delivery of the curriculum.  In a follow-up message on Monday, the eve of the protest, the secretary of the school board said it had received an offer of an alternate provider to deliver the core lessons of the sex education programme.  As a result, it deferred a planned parents’ meeting that was due with Accord on Tuesday evening.  A member of the parents’ association, Leisha McDonald, said parents were deeply frustrated at how the issue had been handled and said there were long-standing issues over the delivery of objective sex education at the school.  She said parents felt they were being kept in the dark and informed about the use of Accord only last week, though the decision was made on March 26th.  Ms McDonald said parents in the meantime had organised for an alternative provider for sex education and were planning to withdraw their children from class and bring them to a local community centre instead.  Educate Together’s head office, meanwhile, said the contracting of external agencies by a school was a matter for the board of management of an individual school.  However, it said it believes it was not appropriate for a religious-run organisation to deliver sex education in the context of an equality-based Educate Together school.  “To this end, Educate Together will be writing to all schools under its patronage to ask them to ensure that relationships and sexuality education is delivered in a way that is consistent with its ethos and free from religious bias,” a spokesman said.  He said the national office was “currently looking at all options in its capacity as a school patron to support the school community involved”.


theirishtimes--2019-09-16--Parents finding it impossible to opt children out of religion education

Parents finding it ‘impossible’ to opt children out of religion education

Many parents are finding it “impossible” to opt-out their children from religion classes despite their legal right to do so, according to campaigners.  Under both the Constitution and the Education Act (1998), parents have a right to have their children opt out of religion classes if they wish.  A spokesman for the Department of Education confirmed this was the case and said practical arrangements to accommodate children whose parents have chosen this option is a matter for each individual school.  However, the campaign group Atheist Ireland claims it is aware of dozens of cases where parents have been told the subject is a core subject and the right to opt-out should not arise. “It’s like the public services card – it’s mandatory, but not compulsory,” said Jane Donnelly of Atheist Ireland.  “If you do manage to opt your child out, they’re given no other subject and you’re asked why do you want to do this. Parents are questioned as to their reason. It’s like a form of coercion.”  Ciara Roosli from Tramore, Co Waterford, said she requested in writing on two occasions that her son be exempt from religion at Ardscoil na Mara.  However, she says she was told verbally that religion was compulsory at the school and the only solution was to remove him from the premises or to go to another school. There is no other secondary school in the town.  “I had to go and take my child out of the school during religion class as I’ve been told that he has no choice but to take the subject,” she said.  “I fully respect the school and its ethos. But pupils should not have to relinquish their human and constitutional rights.  “I can’t continue to take him out of the school. I run a business. I can’t do that three times a week.”  Ardscoil na Mara’s religious policy describes the school as being “immersed in the Edmund Rice (ERST) and the Religious Sisters of Charity traditions” and being “committed to developing the full potential of each student, within a welcoming Christian atmosphere”.  It says its official policy is that religious education is regarded as “an integral part of our programme and a very important subject throughout school”.  The policy adds that it respects the rights of parents who require that their child be excluded from religious education.  One option is that a parent should remove their child from the school premises for the duration of religious education.  Another option, according to its policy, is staying within the classroom following an “educationally appropriate activity” but cannot include study or homework.  The school principal, Pádraig Cawley, declined to comment on the individual case, but said the school promoted inclusivity and was always available to meet with parents to resolve any issues.  He said the school policy on religious education was being reviewed and updated to reflect the new Junior Cycle specification for religion. This new religion course, which teaches about religions and beliefs, is not regarded as faith formation.  According to the department, this subject is concerned with “understanding religion as a phenomenon in the world and are designed to be studied by students of all religious faiths and of none”. However, groups such as Atheist Ireland claim it “disrespects” the rights of parents who seek secular education for their children based on human rights.  Principals in a number of Catholic schools insist they are highly inclusive and seek to integrate students from all faith traditions and none.  They have pointed to ESRI and Department of Education inspectors’ reports, which have found an “ overwhelming majority of parents and students find their schools to be well-managed and welcoming”.


thesun--2019-06-27--Why are parents of disabled kids having to sue the Government to give them basic education

Why are parents of disabled kids having to sue the Government to give them basic education?

WHILE thousands of parents were cheering their kids on at school sports days this week, two mums were in a windowless courtroom in the Royal Courts of Justice fighting the Government for the basic right to educate their children.  Lorraine Heugh and Mary Riddell are furious their son and daughter, who have special educational needs, are being failed by the Government because the budget for high-needs education is just not keeping up with demand.  The mums are livid that years of battling their local authorities, taking their cases to tribunals — which they have won — has not led to the access to education to which their kids are legally entitled, as the money is not coming from central Government to local councils.  Lorraine and Mary are just two of thousands of parents across the country who have spent years battling on behalf of their disabled children because the system is broken.  Kids are being denied the chance to thrive, many are stuck at home because there’s no support, some are declining in health because equipment is not available, parents are at breaking point.  As Jenni Richards QC said in court: “The direct result is that children are not being properly educated.  “This has the potential to blight the lives of these children for ever, seriously limiting the scope for them living independent lives as adults.”  The landmark case is the first to hold the Chancellor Philip Hammond and Education Secretary Damian Hinds to account by angry parents accusing them of abandoning their children.  Together with The Sun’s Give It Back campaign — which is urging the Government to plug the £434million funding gap for care services for disabled children — it is lifting the lid on the scandal of lack of provision for our most vulnerable.  Children only get one chance at a decent education but this is where we are in 21st Century Britain — parents suing politicians for failing in their duty to offer that basic right.  The evidence is overwhelming. The court heard this week from Birmingham, North Yorkshire, Trafford, East Sussex, Hackney and Portsmouth councils, among others, that they were unable to meet the needs of their most vulnerable children because of underfunding by central Government.  An Ofsted Chief Inspector report from December noted an increase in the number of councils failing in their duties relating to special education.  The Children’s Commissioner, Anne Longfield, was quoted saying: “Ninety-four per cent of school leaders say they are finding it harder to provide resources for children with special educational needs and disability.”  The court heard evidence from charities that they were hearing from more and more families desperate to help their children. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. In 2014 changes to special needs legislation were brought in, inspired by the struggles then Prime Minister David Cameron had witnessed because of his own disabled son, Ivan.  Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) were introduced for each child that would last until they were 25 years old.  The plans set out what they legally needed to attend school and lead their most fulfilling lives.  Under the law, the plans would have to be updated yearly to allow for changes in the children’s needs.  But the money was not there to fund this. At the same time the number of children surviving with complex needs increased because of medical advances. Then cuts to local government funding from central Government meant they ran out of money. Parents whose lives are already difficult enough looking after highly complex children, with emotional and medical issues, were either fighting for provision to be set out in the EHCPs or fighting because it wasn’t being met.  The numbers of parents taking local authorities to tribunals has dramatically increased. The vast majority of families win. This all costs money.  Mums and dads have had to quit jobs to take on the full-time defence of their children.  Mary’s daughter Dakota, nine, from Birmingham, has complex needs including cerebral palsy and global development delay. Her EHCP was drawn up in 2016. It has not been updated for three years despite changes in the level of support she requires. When it was eventually amended it featured errors and her transport to school was withdrawn.  My own daughter has severe disabilities. I have lived these battles for ten years.  Teachers and support staff trying to do the best for her are doing so with one hand tied behind their backs.  Worse, the Government just doesn’t seem to care. The next Prime Minister must address this scandal once and for all.  My daughter is now 17. It is too late for her but I do not want another generation of parents to feel like they have been abandoned by a society that should care for its most vulnerable.  The funding parents are asking for will save taxpayers money in the long run because it will enable children to thrive, parents to go back to work and stop expensive court cases.


windowoneurasiablog--2019-11-28--Tatar Parents Urged to Take Education into Their Own Hands for Linguistic and Ethnic Reasons

Staunton, November 24 – Rustam Kurchakov, a commentator for Kazan’s Business-Online portal, says that Tatar parents should take the education of their children into their own hands at least in part so that they can promote their national language as well as English and ensure that their children know the history of their people.  Such collective home schooling, Kurchakov continues, will give children and parents a choice rather than “a dead end;” and he calls on the government to provide support for such an enterprise or at least not throw up roadblocks. Such arrangements will bring parents and children closer together and allow both to enter the future with the skills they need.  Around the world and especially in the United States, ever more parents are homeschooling their children, often for ideological reasons – they don’t accept the ideas and messages they see the public schools offering or view the schools’ curriculum as a threat to their way of life.  In Russia, approximately 100,000 children are now homeschooled, many because they have special needs or because they live too far from a school given how many rural schools have been shut down as part of Vladimir Putin’s education “optimization” campaign (  What makes Kurchakov’s proposal intriguing is that he has a clear linguistic and cultural and one could even say national agenda, an indication that homeschooling in Russia may now be something members of non-Russian nations or non-Orthodox religious groups will consider in order to defend their languages and cultures.


bbcuk--2019-02-20--Edinburgh dads anger as parents block sick child from lessons

Edinburgh dad's anger as parents block sick child from lessons

An Edinburgh father is angry parents of his sick son's classmates are blocking the only way he can take part in lessons.  Keir Wallace suffers from a rare auto-inflammatory condition which means he often cannot leave his bed.  His father John bought a learning robot which would take his place in the class and beam the lessons back to him.  But despite reassurances on its security, his school is the only one in the world to ban use of the robot.  The AV1 unit was designed for children who were in hospital for a long time and wanted to continue to attend school from their hospital bed.  The patient at home has an app on their iPad where they control it completely.  Mr Wallace was given the go-ahead to trial the robot at St John's RC School in Portobello in October 2017.  But it has never made it inside the school.  John told BBC Radio Scotland's Mornings with Laura Maxwell: "There are 850 of these in use around the world and this is the only school in the world where there has been a complaint.  "A tiny minority of vocal parents complained. They said they never knew about the security of it.  "But they have been given the facts. This thing is so secure - It has a 128-bit encrypted video stream that is impossible to crack.  "But the parents don't believe that."  The AV1 unit is the brainchild of Norwegian company No Isolation.  The tele-presence robot is about 15in high and about 8in across.  It can spin around 360 degrees so that it can take part in all types of class activities and it connects to the internet either via 4G or wifi.  The patient at home has an app on their iPad where they control it completely.  It operates behind the HTTPS protocol which online banking uses.  Users can communicate via speakers with the teacher and even whisper to classmates sitting next to the robot. The user can switch a light on to indicate their hand is up to ask or answer a question.  Another light shows that the child is there and listening but not feeling well enough to participate.  There are more than 850 units in classrooms throughout the UK and Europe.  The UK Department of Education earlier this year gave £4m of funding for AV1s to be in every hospital school in England and Wales.  Of 400 pupils in the school, 11 families have objected to the robot's use.  John says Keir now thinks the children at school hate him.  And he believes Keir's rights are being abused under the 2010 Equality Act.  He said: "This has to be highlighted, it is an abuse of a very sick child's right to education.  "It is impossible to record the video stream, or take a screenshot of what's on the screen at home.  "How sad is it that my kid missed up to 50% of his school for nearly two years. An 11-year-old can't go to school when the technology to allow that is sitting in my kitchen."  Legal expert Andrew Tickell, from Glasgow Caledonian University, said it was an example of how modern technology challenges current legislation.  He said: "On one hand you have the absolute right for reasonable adjustments on the part of this boy and you can understand why his father wants him to go to school and get the best education he can.  "But on the other hand you have the substantial right to privacy and that was substantially beefed up by the 2018 legislation on data protection.  In terms of reasonable adjustments, interests and rights of others can be taken into account."  A City of Edinburgh Council spokesman said: "We remain fully committed to trialling technology to help pupils access the curriculum so they feel fully included. An example is our teachers at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children who have used technology to help pupils access their lessons.  "The proposed trial of the AV1 device has generated queries from parents about the technical aspects of such adaptations in the classroom environment. These include internet safety and data privacy impact assessments and we will continue our positive discussions with the manufacturer over its potential use in our schools."


bbcuk--2019-06-28--University parents call for more financial support

University parents: call for more financial support

There are calls for parents studying in Wales to have more financial support while at university.  The National Union of Students in Wales said it was "unacceptable" for those caring for others to be among those struggling the most to make ends meet.  The Welsh Government said improving access to higher education for parents was a "top priority".  Emily Hattersley found out she was pregnant aged 21 and at university, and gave birth to Daisy in April 2018.  The Cardiff University student said juggling financial struggles, sleepless nights and deadlines has been challenging for her and her partner, but she would not change it.  "It's the most amazing feeling in the world. Every single morning I wake up and I realise I've got a person that's half of me, that's funny, she's intelligent," she said.  "She makes us laugh every single day.  "My degree is a lot but the fact that I have a little girl as well - I'm so grateful."  The National Union of Students in Wales said students with children are being left "high and dry by a student finance system that is not geared up to support them".  "Parents who want to better themselves and their children's futures through higher education should not be penalised by their ambition," it added.  Emily is one of more than 6,000 undergraduates in Wales receiving parental support - but the exact number of student parents is unknown because, despite recommendations, universities are not required to record how many of their students have children.  Emily feels universities are difficult places to navigate as a parent.  "I get a lot of funny looks when I'm going into the student union. Yesterday we had to go for a meeting, and the people just look at you like 'oh you're in the wrong place'," she said.  "It does make me quite sad sometimes because I feel like I'm hiding a part of myself. And obviously I'm proud of her. I want to shout from the rooftops but I also feel like in uni I've got an image to present."  But the biggest challenge Emily faced was getting hold of parental support grants from Student Finance Wales to help with costs such as childcare - which alone cost her nearly £1,000 a month.  "You get a parental living allowance, a special support grant, and you also get money for day care which amounts to 80% of childcare costs," she added.  "But we didn't get ours sorted for such a long time it was awful... every time I rung them [Student Finance] they told me something different and I had a different form to fill out and I had to do this and I had to do that".  Emily said she ticked an incorrect box on the application form, which delayed the process.  She was able to get £1,000 from the university's hardship fund and help from family, and finally received her childcare support nine months after Daisy was born.  "I feel like if people didn't have the support that we had we would not be able to do it and if anything that would have made me withdraw from my studies, not being able to pay for it."  The company behind Student Finance Wales - the Student Loans Company - says it has a "dedicated team that process applications for childcare support" and awarded £2.7m to student parents in Wales in the 2017-18 academic year.  "Should an issue arise with an application, we immediately contact the customer to update the information they provided or request further evidence should we need it," a spokesperson said.  "Customers should come back to us as soon as possible to prevent any delays," a spokesman said.  The Welsh Government said it expected "systems to be in place for students to raise any problems or issues in accessing student support".


bbcuk--2019-04-15--Parents find out about primary school places

Families in England will find out on Tuesday whether their children have got into their preferred primary schools.  Last year about one in 10 families missed out on their first choice - but 98% got one of their top three places.  Primary schools have added 636,000 extra places since 2010 to meet rising numbers - but that demographic bulge is now moving on to secondary.  Head teachers' leader Paul Whiteman said securing a place can "feel like a battle for parents".  More than 600,000 families will find out where they have been offered a school place for the autumn.  The national picture on applications will not be known until June, but the chances of getting a first-choice place have been improving in recent years - up from 88% in 2014 to 91% in 2018.  But last year, about 2% did not get an offer on their three top preferences or any of the schools they named.  There are big regional variations each year - with authorities such as the East Riding of Yorkshire, Northumberland and Rutland having more than 97% of families getting their first preferences.  But the lowest success rates tend to be in London, with only 68% of families in Kensington and Chelsea and 77% in Camden getting their first choice last year.  A population boom had put pressure on places - but that has peaked and this year's application numbers could show a downward trend.  For the past decade, primary schools have been building extra classrooms as pupil numbers rose by about 15% between 2009 and 2018, up to 4.7 million.  The size of the average primary school grew by an extra 42 places, but this has not been spread evenly, with some expanding very significantly and with some areas still struggling to meet demand.  Mr Whiteman, general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, called for a more joined-up "national strategy" to ensure enough places.  Otherwise, he said, "the annual anxious wait for families will continue".  Mr Whiteman warned of a "haphazard" approach to expansion, so that "new school places are not always being commissioned in the areas they are most needed".  School standards minister Nick Gibb said standards had risen and the primary school sector was "unrecognisable from a generation ago".  He said 87% of primary schools were now judged good or outstanding, and the use of phonics lessons had improved children's reading.  "What this means in practice is that even in instances where parents aren't getting the news they hoped for today, the likelihood is that their child will be attending a school which will provide a first-class education," said Mr Gibb.  But the New Schools Network, which promotes free schools, said too many children would still be heading for schools which were below the rating of "good".  "Finding out which primary school your child is going to should be a time of excitement, but today nearly 100,000 families will find out their child is being sent to a school that isn't good enough," said the group's director, Luke Tryl.


bbcuk--2019-07-29--Oxfordshire parents court challenge over Christian assemblies

Oxfordshire parents' court challenge over Christian assemblies

A couple are taking the Church of England to court over Christian school assemblies which they say are "indoctrinating" their children.  Lee and Lizanne Harris have been granted a judicial review in their challenge to the Oxford Diocesan Schools Trust, which runs Burford Primary School.  They said the school should provide an "inclusive" alternative.  The trust said the school had "acted entirely appropriately".  Trust chief executive Anne Davey said: "It has provided exactly what the law requires, which includes provision for children to be withdrawn if parents so request."  The couple said they had asked the school to provide "a meaningful alternative of equal educational worth" after withdrawing their children from assemblies.  They claim the children were instead left in a room with a teaching assistant and an iPad.  They said they were concerned Christian stories were presented as fact, and said visiting church officials expressed "harmful views" to children.  In a statement they said: "We enrolled our children into a state community school - which is meant to have no religious character.  "But over time we noticed harmful aspects of evangelism spreading into assembly and other parts of the school.  "We take this step very reluctantly but feel strongly that we need to try to make our children's education as inclusive as possible."  The trust said all publicly-funded schools in England and Wales were required to hold daily religious worship.  Humanists UK said it was supporting the legal challenge and had opposed the law when it was introduced in 1944.  The case will be heard on 29 November at the High Court.


bearingarms--2019-03-15--Portland Parents Sue Schools For Anti-Gun Indoctrination

Portland Parents Sue Schools For Anti-Gun ‘Indoctrination’

Schools are supposed to be places of learning, where facts take precedence over feelings. They’re not supposed to teach you what to think, only how to think.  What they’re supposed to be and what they are, however, aren’t exactly similar.  Because of that fact, some pro-Second Amendment parents are lashing out at Portland public schools for what they say is an attempt to indoctrinate their children.  Four pro-2nd Amendment parents are suing Portland Public Schools (PPS) over gun control rallies. Their lawyer, Multnomah County GOP chair James Buchal, says the district violated parents’ and students’ First Amendment rights by promoting gun control following last year’s school shooting in Parkland, Florida. “It’s wrong for the schools to essentially hijack public resources to push one side of a controversial issue and to misuse children as puppets in their exercise,” said Buchal. He also said PPS used district resources to coordinate with outside activists, helped plan political activity, including walkouts, and claims the schools “indoctrinated” students in the classroom. “It’s a giant scheme of manipulation and it’s not what people want their education dollars spent on,” said Buchal.  Unsurprisingly, the school says the lawsuit is baseless.  I’m not so sure about that.  I can’t speak for Portland, but we saw many schools jumping at the opportunity to not just allow students to stage walkouts, but to seemingly encourage them by giving it a stamp of approval. As Portland tends to be a fairly left-leaning city, I suspect that the support was there then too.  There’s another walkout planned for Friday, though students participating in it will reportedly receive an unexcused absence.  Unfortunately for the schools, no one is talking about Friday. They’re talking about last year when a coordinated effort took place to have students walk out of every school in the country. Back then, schools were practically rolling out the red carpet so students could walk out of class. They made it very clear that they believed anyone who disagreed was an evil, vile human being.  It’s no wonder there’s a lawsuit on this. There needs to be — a lot of them.  Hell, if there was one saving grace to those walkouts, it was how they were practically non-existent here in my neck of the woods despite it being a heavily blue congressional district.  In a lot of places, though, it was different. They were reportedly backed heavily be school administrations and given the stamp of approval. It’s possible many participating in the walkout weren’t proponents of gun control or even those who just saw it as an excuse to get out of class. Some might have been fearful of repercussions if they didn’t participate.  What is that if it’s not an attempt at stifling their First Amendment rights?  Couple that with what I’m sure were endless “discussions” on the Second Amendment–discussions that often had the teacher spouting nonsense like it being a collective right–and what do you have other than indoctrination?  I can’t say if this happened in Portland. Considering the city’s politics, I don’t doubt it, but I can’t say for certain. What I can say is that I know for certain it happened in plenty of other places, and all of them need to have their feet to the fire.


birminghammail--2019-01-29--I wanted to be a woman at 11 - bullied transgender mum disgusted at parents protesting against h

'I wanted to be a woman at 11' - bullied transgender mum 'disgusted' at parents protesting against homosexuality lessons for children

A transgender mum who says she was bullied relentlessly at school has backed homosexuality being taught openly in the classroom.  Single parent Morgan Williams - previously John - made the change from man to woman 10 years ago, aged 22.  The 32-year-old has an 11-year-old daughter at Oasis Academy Short Heath in Erdington - a school which has followed in the footsteps of Parkfield Community School by rolling out the No Outsiders programme.  As reported previously, the curriculum supports LGBT equality and challenges homophobia in the classroom.  Oasis Academy Short Heath has been teaching No Outsiders in school lessons since 2017.  Ms Williams, who has been in a relationship with a Muslim man for the past five years, told BirminghamLive: "I wanted to dress up as a girl ever since I was eight years old.  "You're never too young to learn about LGBT, not in this day and age.  "There are thousands of same-sex parents out there. Every school should take on board [No Outsiders].  "It's about letting everybody know and it will stop bullying and mickey-taking at school.  "I was beaten black and blue by older kids at school because of who I was.  "I had soap put in a sock and had it whacked off my head - all because I was a girl inside.  "Now, children at my daughter's school and those at Parkfield are taught to respect everyone, no matter who they are.  "[Oasis Academy Short Heath] has brought out the best in me and the best in my daughter, because I'm transgender.  "Everyone has helped get my daughter to get to understand more about transgender.  "They've brought all this into the school now, to help other people who were like me when I started this school all those years ago.  "There wasn't help for me then and, now, to bring it out for children who need the help it's great.  "It's teaching kids to be never be afraid of what you are or who you are. It's about everyone accepting everyone, no matter what.  "I knew I wanted to be a woman at 11. My parents didn't accept me for who I was. I had to be straight.  "My 11-year-old just called me mum out of the blue one day instead of dad."  The Kingstanding mum-of-two said she was "disgusted" at parents who protested outside the Parkfield Community School gates in Saltley last week and has called for all schools to put on LGBT-specific lessons.  Fellow mum Daisy Coughlan, who has a six-year-old at Oasis Academy, added: "Respect plays a big part in all of this. We respect other cultures and religions.  "[Oasis Academy Short Heath] teaches us to respect others as you would like to be respected yourself.  "This is what this school is trying to teach pupils, it's OK to be different. It's OK. This is what community is all about."  Elsewhere at Oasis Academy Short Heath, BirminghamLive spoke to deputy principal Joseph Darnley, who explained how No Outsiders is taught in the classroom.  No Outsiders lessons are around 45 minutes long and are taught once a week to all age groups.  Classes are largely story-book based with tales including My Princess Boy, The Odd Egg and King & King.  Mr Darnley said: "We follow the No Outsiders scheme right the way from reception all the way to Year 6 and, within each year group, there are specific books that have been allocated specific to those children and their reading abilities.  "And what the class teachers do is they explore the themes that are portrayed within these texts and allow the children to question themselves and to question other people's perception about all of the issues that are seen in the book.  "In terms of the theme No Outsiders it's about diversity within modern Britain, it's about respecting people's cultures and faiths regardless of what their background is.  "In this community we have a vast array of different cultures and faiths and it's about respecting those.  "The pupils would be steering the direction. Lessons will be focused around addressing the needs and queries that the children have.  "Books are read aloud to the children and there would be a lot of collaboration, a lot of children talking about their own personal experiences and the class teacher will then be able to bring in some more of the global and national issues that we're often phased with in terms of faith and culture.  "It's about respecting people's differences and making sure we're treating people equally. It's about the children being well equipped for modern day Britain within school but also out in the wider community as well."  An example Mr Darnley cited was the book King & King by Linda de Haan and Stern Nijland.  The 2002 children's book is aimed at Year 4 pupils and teachers question children about topics such as why choose to get married? What is marriage? What does gay mean? and why doesn't the Queen know he's gay?  The 32-page book is a tale about Prince Bertie who is yet to marry. His Queen mother insists he must find a princess but, in the end, he marries Prince Lee and the two princes are declared King & King with the story ending with a kiss between the two.  On Monday, a councillor who previously stated how "children are too young" to learn about homosexuality and same-sex marriages in the classroom publicly apologised, and said: "I overstepped the mark."  Mohammed Idrees, a Labour councillor who represents Alum Rock in Birmingham, initially called for peace talks between protesting Muslim parents and a primary school supporting LGBT and equality.  Last week, BirminghamLive reported how an angry group of parents protested outside Parkfield Community School - a school which runs a piloted curriculum based on No Outsiders.  The programme is run alongside sex and relationship (SRE) lessons and has, in recent weeks, caused outrage among some Muslim parents - so much so that a handful decided to pull their children out from school until lessons are scrapped or drastically changed.  On Saturday, Coun Idrees - a proud Muslim - revealed how he has been inundated with e-mails from furious parents who are against such teachings as homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Islam.  He told BirminghamLive Parkfield Community School must "bare in mind it is a predominately Muslim school" and said it "needs to be careful".  "Children, for me, are too young to be learning about this," he stated previously, before adding: "It's not a good idea."  Following his remarks, a spokesman for LGBT Labour West Midlands said it was "very concerned" about Coun Idrees' comments.  "Cllr Idrees's statement offend the values and traditions of the Labour Party," said a spokesman on Twitter.  "While we respect Cllr Idrees' right to his deeply held beliefs this should not come at the cost of the LGBT+ community including LGBT+ students at the school."  However, 48 hours after making comments questioning No Outsiders being taught at Parkfield Community School, Coun Idrees has apologised.  In a statement issued to BirminghamLive, he said: "I wish to apologise for my comments regarding the No Outsiders programme at Parkfield Community School and want to set the record straight.  "I overstepped the mark in my efforts to state the views of some of the parents, but I fully support Birmingham City Council's policies in relation LGBT issues.  "No Outsiders is a new programme that has clearly upset some parents - with some threatening to take their children out of school.  "That is clearly something we all want to avoid and I want to work with both the school and the parents to help us reach a better understanding.  "I have never had a problem with the LGBT community and I am proud that Birmingham is an inclusive and tolerant city and there is no place here for homophobia or any other form of discrimination.  "I have personally apologised to both the leader of the council and the Labour Group chief whip and have emailed an apology to all councillors.  "I also apologise to LGBT groups in Birmingham."  Andrew Moffat MBE, assistant headteacher at Parkfield Community School in Saltley, has been criticised by parents for piloting No Outsiders.  Its ethos promotes LGBT equality and challenges homophobia in primary schools.  The openly-gay school teacher has been at Parkfield Community School for four years.  In 2016, the 740-pupil school was deemed outstanding across the board by Ofsted and, a year later, Mr Moffat was awarded an MBE for services to equality and diversity in education.  The report said: "This is an inclusive school that celebrates diversity. As a result, pupils demonstrate respect for an individual’s age, disability, gender or gender reassignment, sexuality, race, religion or belief."  In a joint statement outlining concerns by parents, Mr Moffat and Hazel Pulley, CEO of Excelsior Multi Academy Trust, said Parkfield Community School "have no plans to change their curriculum and No Outsiders remains an integral part of the drive for excellence".  In a response to BirminghamLive, the school said: " The No Outsiders programme teaches children that everyone is welcome.  "It was created in 2014 by Andrew Moffat, assistant head at Parkfield Community School, and piloted at the school.  "The aim was to find a way to teach children about the Equality Act 2010, developing an understanding of British values through an inclusive curriculum and school ethos.  "A key element of the No Outsiders ethos is engagement with parents from the start, in order to promote solid foundations of tolerance that are matched both in and outside the school gates."