ALLOCATION OF SCHOOL PLACES IS A LOTTERY

More Chance of Winning The Lottery

It will soon be that time again, when many families will be disappointed because they did not gain entry into their school of choice.  The thought of appealing is not even an option to some people, as the whole appeal process is intimidating and stressful.

The current allocation system for school admissions is suppose to be fair, but many parents are left feeling like their child's future depends on not what you know, but who you know.   .

How does a child who gets the highest level you can achieve in Yr 6  SATS and the only child in the class to get all level 5's.

Yet he was the only one in the class who was not given a place.  The only difference between the child and the other pupils, is that the child is mixed race.

Natalie Anderson, mother, from Liverpool said: "I have a strong suspision that the reason he was not accepted is because of skin colour.  When the school had its Open Evening there was no ethnic minorities present."

"I also went online to find an OFSTED report and out of 998 pupils, one per cent was black and the other pupils was white."

Only recently five families have been going between schools because their children did not get a place in the school that their siblings already attended.

Just having a brother or sister in the school  doesn't mean you automatically get a place for your other children.  These parents now have to be at two different schools without their child being late.

https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AnW3uJb5ade5dGRDS0NBM0dYcnlWUVluQzA3YVNXQ0E&hl=en_GB

IS THAT WHAT YOU CALL JUSTICE

Crime and Punishment 

The British Justice System has been laughable over the past few weeks.  How you justify tagging a 66 year-old grandmother, for selling a goldfish to a 14 year-old boy is questionable.  If the woman was a threat to society or committed a violent crime, then two months being tagged and a curfew would be appropriate.

Have the police got nothing more important to do, such as finding murderers, rapists and peodophiles.  This would be a productive way to keep the British public safe, not staking out and arresting old women.  The Judge should have thrown this out of court.

Whoever gave this case the time of day at the police station and in the Magistrates Court needs to think about whether they are in the right job.  Surely common sense is something that the Magistrates and police should have used when dealing with this woman.

If one incident is not bad enough, there has also been an auctioneer who was fined £1000 for selling a cabinet which happened to have ancient birds eggs inside.  The police unbelievably had a search warrant and took the man to the police station where he was fingerprinted and swabbed for a DNA sample.

The owner of the cabinet was also interviewed by police, but not charged.  Lucky him.

Here is proof that the justice system has its priorities all wrong. 

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  A woman who let her 15-month-old boy die in agony in his urine soaked pram was allowed to go free.  The woman and the baby's father cannot be named, were found guilty of manslaughter but the woman was spared jail because she was left at home with seven children and no money while her husband was out gambling.

• Teenage  rapist was sent to jail for just three years because he said sorry.  The boy was 13 at the time of the attack and was spared a longer term because of his apology.   

• A nursery nurse was fined £60 for holding an apple in her hand as she drove.  Police battled to bring her to court using potographic evidence taken from a helicopter, plane and patrol car.

• A yob who battered a dog to death with a hammer was given a community order and was tagged.

• A 29-year-old woman was fined £50 because her son dropped a piece of banana out of his pram.

• Two boys and two girls who beat and tortured a boy with learning difficultiies was given community orders of just 12 to 18 months.

• A 39-year-old man was fined £60 for not being in control of his vehicle when he blew his nose in his van.

sources of above infomation Daily Express Newspaper

AN HOUR WITH JON SNOW

Jon Snow

After three cancelations due to the snow and the situation in Ireland last week, Jon Snow finally arrived at the University of Central Lancashire. Not only was he worth the wait but he also suprised me, as I expected a serious, old stuffy man.

Even though I want to be a print journalist and Jon Snow is a broadcast Journalist I still found it relevant to go and listen to him. If you really want to be a journalist, you should be curious and want to know and should know a lot of people who are in the industry.

He talked about his journey to becoming a journalist, a few funny stories about his gap year in Uganda and how he feels about the future of journalism.

The one story that stuck in my mind was his description of his involvement of reporting the inaugaration of Barack Obama for Channel 4, it made my hair stand on end.

NEVER TOO LATE TO EDUCATE

Mature Student

After being out of education for 15 years, I embark on a scary journey as a mature student in Higher Education at the University of Central Lancashire.

I am thirty one years old and studying a foundation course in Broadcast Journalism. My only other experience is a City & Guilds in Journalism and media techniques, which I studied when I was eighteen years old.

Twelve years and two children later, here I am; better late than never! I found breaking into the media industry harder than I thought it would be, as my journalism qualification was from a long time ago and I only had four months’ experience at a working newspaper.

l found it hard to even get to the interview stage, mainly because of my lack of up-to-date qualifications. I was very frustrated, but I was determined not to give up.I regularly browsed a website called Hold The Frontpage, a website for journalists or people hoping to go into journalism.

It was there I found an article about BBC Radio Lancashire and The University of Central Lancashire working in conjunction with each other to start a new foundation course in Broadcast Journalism.As it was the summer holidays I sent an e-mail to the university telling them a bit about myself.

I had completely forgotten all about it when I received a phone call at the end of August 2007 to say they would like to offer me a place on the course.After enlisting my dad as chief childminder, I was halfway there.

I now commute from Liverpool to Preston two days a week, then from Liverpool to Blackburn, where BBC Radio Lancashire is situated, for another two days.I would advise anyone who has always wanted to go to university but thought they were too old to go for it.

I am enjoying every part of it and get on with my fellow students no problem; they vary in age from eighteen to thirty six.One of my many worries was I would be much older than the other students and would have nothing in common with them. As usual, I was worrying about nothing.

I occasionally write for an online newspaper called the Southport Reporter. My most recent article was a review of Creamfields 2007, the biggest dance festival in the world, which I have been covering for the past three years.

After having experienced working as a journalist, there is no other job I can put my heart into. That’s how I know I was born to be a journalist. Already doors that seemed firmly shut are starting to open: take, for example, the opportunity of writing for ETP Magazine.

I also have an A4 sized picture of my children on the front of my work folder to motivate me if things start to get tough.

Universities Secretary John Denham was recently in the media saying that Universities need to attract more mature students by designing courses to fit in with people’s lives. The target by 2020 is for 40% of adults to have a degree or higher level of qualification.

Tracy Orr, aged thirty six, studied at Liverpool John Moores University when she was thirty two for a degree in child care, and said: “At the moment I help run a Surestart programme in Halewood in Liverpool. If I had no formal degree I wouldn’t have been able to progress this far.”

I asked her how she found being a mature student. “I loved being a student and after I passed I was so proud of myself, and it set a good example to my own children to do the best they can”.

52% of first year undergraduate students are mature students (aged 21 and over).
58% of these are women.

(Source: Higher Education Statistics Agency)

The tutors are great at university and approachable and, if you’re lucky like me, your tutor will support and encourage you and keep you on your toes.

So all you women out there who have always had an excuse: I have kids; I’m involved with a charity; it’s too far... All these apply to me as well. And if I can do it, so can you. For more information on becoming a mature student, see below:

Foundation Degree Forward

Learn Direct

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