Spikyheaded

The Independant on Sunday ran a great article on the 12th April that looked at the positives in many young people and a focus on Sisco a friend of Damilola Taylor who went of the tracks after his murder but has now come good and helping other young people.  You can read the article here. They also looked at eight teenagers under the title of “The inspiring generation”. It is worth a read and great to see a newspaper writing a positive piece on young people. 

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Spent a fair bit of time with a journalist from Bloomsberg the other week and the only bit that gets printed is a small question they ask on the phone a few days later! Anyway the article is here and went to print in New York. This was in relation to my work in North London with Prospex.

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Now Knife crime is a serious issue and as part of my work at Prospex in North London we have really felt the effects of it this year. But the latest suggestion by the government concerns not only me but young people in general. The idea that all young people under 16 have a curfew stereo-types and in a sense criminalises all young people. This morning I asked a group of young people ow they felt about it and they said it just made them all out to be demons and trouble. People assume that just because they are young they are carrying a knife when they would never do so. We have to make sure that all young people do not get tarnished with the same brush.

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Artwork by Beef Frankland.

Following the tragic death in Oxford Street yesterday the Met Police have announced that they are going to heavily increase their controversial stop and search policy to try and curb the deaths especially of teenagers from knife crime.

This is a complicated issue.

Used wisely it can be a good thing but it can be easily abused to intimidate young people or stir racism.

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Jim Knight schools minister could do with getting in a class room and teaching as this last week he stated that he feels classes of up to 70 pupils could be acceptable provided there is enough teaching assistants. Read the Daily Mail article here.

I teach in a school one day a week and personally feel classes need to be smaller. It would be interesting to teach music to a class of 70 not to mention be a real stretch on the resources needed.

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According to a report in the Sunday Times today the number of teenagers having breast operations has increased by 150% in the last year. Doctors believe this is nearly all down to following celebrities.

It is worth readig the full report as it is a worring trend that again emphasises that you have to look a certain way to feel good about yourself.

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The Times reports yesterday of a school that has blanked out all the childrens faces on their web site with cartoon pictures. Their reason is that it protects the children. Check out the story here. 

I my mind this is a step to far as the NSPCC have expressed.

Child protection is a serious issue but we must make sure we get it right otherwise we will be left in a situation where our children and young people can do nothing and their achievments not celebrated.

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