Make a difference Challenge
Birmingham has been chosen by the Cabinet Office to take part in the Campaign for Youth Social Action, an initiative to create a social action journey for young people between the ages of 10 and 20. The Citizenship Foundation are looking for primary schools to whom they can offer children in Years 5 and 6 the opportunity to take part in the 2014 Go-Givers Make a Difference Challenge.
The Make a Difference Challenge presents a real context for learning in which KS2 children take part in a social action project that has a clear focus on raising their aspirations and confidence. Pupils lead in making a difference to their communities by campaigning, taking direct action or fundraising for a cause of concern to them.
More information can be found in the leaflet here
Go Givers Birmingham Leaflet
or at the Go-Givers website here.
Consent and Sexual Violence
Last week saw the publication of two major reports from the Children’s Commissioner. “It’s wrong… but you get used to it” is a qualitative study of gang-associated sexual violence towards, and exploitation of, young people in England. Some of the headline findings include:
• Gang-associated sexual violence and exploitation must be viewed within wider patterns of sexual harm and victimisation between young people.
• There are significant levels of sexual victimisation within the gang-environment and young women are at particular risk.
• Young women’s exposure to risk varies according to their status, and are frequently blamed for the harm they experience.
• Young people assume that sexual violence is ‘normal’ and inevitable
• Incidents are not being reported or adequately identified
The report provides a number of recommendations including for schools
• Schools and education providers need to promote understanding of healthy relationships, the concept of consent and the harm caused by rape and sexual assault.
• Every school and education provider must develop and implement whole school approaches to address all forms of sexual violence and exploitation, including sexualised bullying and coercive behaviour.
The full report is available Its_wrong_but_you_get_get_used_to_it,
and if you would like support on how your school can support young people through PSHE and SRE then please contact Niall or Liz on niall.crawford@servicesforeducation.co.uk or liz.bates@servicesforeducation.co.uk
The second report “Sex without consent, I suppose that is rape” is a study of how young people in England understand sexual consent. It looked at young people’s perceptions of sexual consent and found that young men are under pressure to have more sex in order to gain the respect of their peers and earn what they term ‘man’ or ‘lad points.’
The trend is thought to be contributing to widespread cases of forced and coerced sex currently happening in Britain ‘in an extraordinarily casual way.’ The study also found a worrying lack of understanding among young people about what does and doesn’t constitute rape.
The study canvassed the views of 607 young people aged between 13 and 20 years old, and found that, in the main, young people understand what is meant by giving consent or agreeing to sex, but they have a very limited understanding of responsibility to get consent to have sex. One of the most worrying findings of the research is the uncertainty that young people have about what is and isn’t rape. Young people expressed the view that non-consensual sex between people who know each other is not rape.
The full report can be accessed here.
Sex_without_consent_I_suppose_that_is_rape_newprint
New Be Healthy Schools Award winners
Finally to end on some good news, we send a huge ‘Well Done’ to the five schools that all gained the Be Healthy Schools’ Award last week. We saw some fantastic work being done and met some brilliant staff and pupils working together to improve physical and emotional health in their schools. What is interesting to see is the range of activities the schools take on – the curriculum, working with parents, support for vulnerable pupils and staff training. So much great whole school practice and it really is making a difference with big increases in outcome measure such as take up of school dinners, pupils walking or cycling to school, and attendance at parent cooking sessions amongst many others. So our congratulations go to:
• Benson Community School
• The Rosary Catholic Primary School
• Paget Primary School
• Hawthorn Primary School
• Hillstone Primary School
If you would like more info on the Be Healthy Schools Award contact Andrew on andrew.cooper@servicesforeducation.co.uk.