Hampshire And Isle Of Wight Youth Commission Is Looking For New Members

Posted on September 18, 2018 By Chris

Are you, or do you know, someone aged between 14 and 25 who wants to make a difference?

Recruitment for new members for the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Youth Commission is now open.

Police and Crime Commissioner, Michael Lane, is seeking volunteers aged between 14 and 25 years old to help give young people a voice on the crime and policing issues that matter to them most.

Youth Commission members gather opinions from young people about the issues that affect them most, seek ideas of how to tackle them and use this to create innovative and dynamic campaigns.

As a Youth Commission member you can:

Make a difference
Have your voice heard
Gain new knowledge, skills and experiences
Meet a variety of new people
Go to some great fun events
Work with those who are making decisions on things that matter to young people

If this sounds appealing to you or you know someone who would enjoy taking part, find out more and sign up. Applications are open until Friday 2 November 2018.

Help spread the word that they are looking for new members – download and display their recruitment poster

Saying goodbye to students

Posted on September 10, 2018 By Chris

When I worked in a local church, each year as our young people left for university we gave them a little goody bag. In previous years it has included:

Pot Noodle
Bag for life
Pens
Post-it notes
Notebook
Corkscrew
Baked beans
Highlighters
First by Matt Carvel

Some of these were fairly useless and jokey presents, others had a more serious use and meaning to them but for us it is important that we marked this rite of passage as they left home for the first time. We wanted our young people to know that as they left our youth ministry, as they left our little village on the edge of the New Forest and head out into the big wide world we still deeply cared for them.

As part of our goodbye we also ran an event for those going off to university for the first time where we ate lots of pizza, and chatted around topics such as accommodation, finance, lectures, friendships, relationships, social life, CU, church and more using a mixture of youth leaders and some 2nd and 3rd year students. We had lots of feedback that this was a really helpful event giving lots of practical information and helping to deal with their fears and nerves.

With all our students we tried to keep in contact – over the first term we sent a couple of parcels to each of our students, and sent fortnightly emails keeping in touch with each of them. We then followed this up with a Christmas social when they were all next be back together as a big group.

What do you do for young people leaving your youth ministry for university?

Commission on Religious Education

Posted on September 9, 2018September 9, 2018 By Chris

The Commission on Religious Education has published its final report.

The Final Report of the Commission on Religious Education, Religion and Worldviews: the way forward. A national plan for RE, has been published. It sets out a National Plan for RE comprising of 11 recommendations, and calls on the Government to consider and adopt it.

The National Plan is built around a National Entitlement which sets out what all pupils up to the end of Year 11, in all publicly funded schools, should be entitled to be taught. The National Entitlement reflects a new and inclusive vision for the subject, fully embracing the diversity and richness of religious and non-religious worldviews. It will ensure a strong academic basis for the subject in all schools. The National Plan provides for flexibility of approach in the translation of the National Entitlement into programmes of study in schools, ensuring that Headteachers are able to choose the approach that is most appropriate for their pupils.

There is a long and detailed Press Release which gives all the background information. There is both the Full Report and an Executive Summary.

Responding to the publication of the Commission on Religious Education’s Final Report, The Church of England’s Chief Education Officer, Nigel Genders, said:

“This report calls for a new vision for Religious Education (RE) which is vital if we are to equip children for life in the modern world where religion and belief play such important roles. It is also timely given the falling numbers of students taking RE at GCSE and A level following the introduction of the English Baccalaureate (Ebacc).

“The report articulates well the need to recruit and train RE teachers who are resourced and supported effectively. It also makes significant recommendations for structural change in the way RE is determined. Today, most people’s experience of religion and belief is national and global, so we support the move away from a local determination of the subject. We believe this will help pupils make sense of religion and belief as it is lived today and this proposed change is educationally valid and would bring RE into line with all other curriculum subjects.

“We fully support the policy of developing a Statement of Entitlement to RE and are pleased to see the Commission endorsing an approach which we already use in Church of England schools. However, the Commission’s proposed Statement of Entitlement requires further work if it is to ensure that children and young people develop religious and theological literacy as part of their knowledge and understanding. We look forward to playing our part in working with the education community to achieve this and building an irresistible consensus of agreement about the subject.

Other media reports include:

The BBC: ‘Teach religion and worldviews instead of RE’
The Sunday Times: Report calls for less religion in RE classes
The Sunday Telegraph: Religious Education should be re-branded as ‘Religion and Worldviews’ to ensure survival, report says
The Independent: RE in schools should be changed to ‘religion and worldviews’, report suggests
The Mail on Sunday: Major shake-up proposed for religious education
The Sunday Express: Atheism lessons in RE shake-up
Christian Today: RE should be changed to include non-religious beliefs and worldviews, says new report
The TES: Call to change RE to ‘religion and world views’

Liverpool confirm Premier League and Champions League squads

Posted on September 4, 2018September 8, 2018 By Chris

Liverpool have submitted their final squads for the Premier League and the group stage of the Champions League, with Lazar Markovic absent from both.

Markovic failed to agree terms with Anderlecht at the end of the transfer window so will remain at Liverpool until January at least despite the Reds’ persistent efforts to offload the winger. Liverpool had a spare place on their Premier League squad list but Markovic has still been left out.

Loris Karius, who recently joined Besiktas on loan, has been included, having been named amongst the substitutes for the opening game of the season against West Ham United.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is likely to miss the whole of the season after sustaining multiple ligament damage in last season’s Champions League semifinal, but he has also made the squad. The club seem to hope that Oxlade-Chamberlain could get some match time towards the end of the season.

Klopp will also have Divock Origi, who came close to leaving, at his disposal both domestically and in Europe.

Connor Randall, on loan at Rochdale until the end of 2018, features as one of the mandatory homegrown players.

The club have registered 17 foreign-trained and six homegrown players, two short of the maximum that could only be achieved by adding two more homegrown players, as each club can register up to 17 foreign and up to eight homegrown.

There is no place for Karius, Oxlade-Chamberlain or Randall in the Champions League squad, but it is otherwise largely the same as that selected for the Premier League. Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joe Gomez need not be named as they are young enough to qualify for the ‘B list’.

Liverpool’s Premier League squad:

Alisson Becker, Simon Mignolet, Loris Karius, Kamil Grabara*, Caoimhin Kelleher*; Trent Alexander-Arnold*, Nathaniel Clyne, Connor Randall, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez*, Dejan Lovren, Joel Matip, Nathaniel Phillips, Andrew Robertson, Alberto Moreno; Fabinho, Pedro Chirivella*, Naby Keita, Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, Adam Lallana, Curtis Jones*, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain; Mohamed Salah, Rafa Camacho*, Roberto Firmino, Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi, Xherdan Shaqiri, Sadio Mane, Dominic Solanke*, Rhian Brewster*

*Under-21s

Champions League squad, as listed on UEFA Website:

Alisson Becker, Simon Mignolet, Nathaniel Clyne, Virgil van Dijk, Dejan Lovren, Alberto Moreno, Andrew Robertson, Joel Matip, Fabinho, Georginio Wijnaldum, James Milner, Naby Keita, Sadio Mane, Jordan Henderson, Adam Lallana, Xherdan Shaqiri, Roberto Firmino, Mohamed Salah, Daniel Sturridge, Divock Origi, Dominic Solanke

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 4, 2018September 3, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

SEND complaints: guide for young people: The Department for Education (DfE) has published guidance for young people aged 16-25 in England who are unhappy with their special educational needs and disability (SEND) provision or support at school or college, and need help and guidance on how to resolve disagreements.
UK Youth Parliament survey: The UK Youth Parliament has launched a Make your mark survey of the views of young people aged 11-18. Young people are invited to take part in the ballot to decide what members of the UK Youth Parliament should debate and vote on to be their campaign in 2019. The survey closes on 10 October 2018.
Vulnerable young people: The Home Office has published a summary of the 11 local authority-led projects in England receiving grant funding from the Trusted Relationships Fund to help youth workers, police, nurses and other professionals working with vulnerable young people aged 10-17 who are at risk of child sexual abuse, criminal exploitation or peer and relationship abuse.
Revised Police & Criminal Evidence Act Codes of Practice (PACE): Changes to the Police and Criminal Evidence Act Codes of Practice, codes C (detention), H (detention – terrorism), E (audio recording of suspect interviews) and F (visual recording of suspect interviews), came in to force on 31 July 2018 including changes that are of particular significance to children and young people.
New unit to tackle exploitation of vulnerable young people: The Department for Education (DfE) has announced plans for a new national response unit to help local authorities in England support vulnerable children at risk of exploitation by criminal gangs. The new unit, which will operate from 2019 up until 2022, will address child sexual exploitation together with other crimes, such as gang and drug activity, which exploit vulnerable children and can lead to children going missing.
First ever study of serious case reviews of sudden unexpected infant deaths: The research was conducted by academics at the University of Warwick who aimed to develop a detailed understanding of the circumstances of sudden unexpected death in infancy (SUDI) cases subject to serious case review. Key findings include: domestic violence, mental health problems and substance misuse highlighted as factors; most cases occurred when intoxicated parents shared sleeping surfaces with child; and many happen following a sudden change in family circumstances.

Mane wins PFA Player of the Month for August

Posted on September 3, 2018 By Chris

Liverpool forward Sadio Mane has won the first PFA Fans’ Player of the Month award of the 2018-19 Premier League season.

The Reds No.10 scored three goals in three games during August to help his team on their way to a 100 per cent start to the campaign so far.

And Mane was the overwhelming winner in a poll of fans across the country for the PFA accolade for last month, taking 58 per cent of the votes.

He finished ahead of Cardiff City’s Neil Etheridge and Watford’s Roberto Pereyra, as well as Sergio Aguero (Manchester City), Lucas Moura (Tottenham Hotspur) and Benjamin Mendy (City).

Andy Robertson is new Scotland captain

Posted on September 3, 2018 By Chris

Liverpool defender Andy Robertson has today been appointed the new Scotland national team captain.

The 24-year-old officially takes the armband ahead of the friendly with Belgium in Glasgow on Friday night and UEFA Nations League tie against Albania three days later.

Robertson has accrued 22 caps and scored two goals for his country to date, since a debut against Poland in March 2014.

The left-back has made 34 appearances for the Reds since signing from Hull City last summer and was a key figure in the run to last season’s Champions League final.

Working Bugatti Chiron made of 1 million Lego pieces

Posted on September 2, 2018September 8, 2018 By Chris

Following on from the Full-size LEGO Car Lego have unveiled a functioning sports car that looks as close to the original supercar from Bugatti as is possible when using more than 1 million Lego Technic parts, more than 2,300 Lego motors, and 4,000 gear wheels in the engine. It’s just about as one-to-one as you can get with building blocks.

According to Lego, the 3,300-pound car can actually take you from point A to B; a former racing driver took it for a test drive and pushed it to 12.4 mph which is amazing for a Lego model. To put it in perspective, a legit Chiron can reach 60 mph in only 2.5 seconds and has a max speed of 260 mph.

The test drive with Andy Wallace took place at the Ehra-Lessien facility in Germany, where the real Chiron was first tested.

The Lego Bugatti took more than 13,000 work-hours to develop and build, and thanks to Lego’s tireless efforts, a driver and passenger can comfortably sit inside the vehicle. There’s even a working brake pedal and speedometer that shows how fast it’s going. The car’s powered by two batteries, an 80-volt for the motor and a 12-volt for the steering and electronics inside the car, so there’s no revving the engine or shifting gears here — but, hey, the lights work.

The life-sized car was built only a few months after Lego showed off its Bugatti Chiron building set earlier this summer. But that tiny replica didn’t generate the 5.3 horsepower of its life-sized big brother — impressive, as long as you don’t compare it to the real Bugatti’s 1,500 horsepower.

The human catapult

Posted on September 2, 2018September 3, 2018 By Chris

I’m not a fan of rollercoasters, let alone bungee jumps, but for those of you who want something more extreme, try this human catapult.

The Nevis Catapult hurls willing participants 150 metres (164 yards) across the Nevis Valley near Queenstown, New Zealand. If you’re up for it, you can experience up to 3g of force, and fly at speeds of almost 100 kilometres per hour (62 miles per hour) in 1.5 seconds. While these are impressive numbers, the video of the whole thing speaks for itself.

Henry van Asch, co-founder of AJ Hackett Bungy New Zealand, revealed the Nevis Catapult after “years of playing around with the idea.” He added “it’s a pretty unique feeling, surprising even. There’s nothing else quite like it”.

The Nevis Catapult was a specially built design, then tested out-of-sight in Christchurch over the last nine months. Testing began with weighted barrels, before moving on to a test dummy phase, and then finally, brave humans.

Like many of these things it’s not cheap, costing NZ$255 (US$176), and you’ll need to be at least 13 years old to participate, plus weigh between 45 to 127 kilograms (99 to 279 lbs).

Youth work and social care news from around the world

Posted on September 1, 2018September 3, 2018 By Chris

Links from around the world of youth work and social care:

Child on parent violence: An article in Community Care reports that Children Experiencing Loss & Trauma (CEL&T) has published an overview of the findings from a survey of parents and carers who were experiencing challenging, violent and aggressive behaviour from their children. Analyses of responses from 538 parents and carers indicate that the commonly-used definition of child on parent violence isn’t robust enough with parents and carers saying that their children were as much victims of the behaviour as the adults and other children that were often hurt or threatened.
Looked After Children – Local Authority Factsheet: The Social Market Foundation (SMF) has published a report analysing the 2017 Ofsted inspections of local authorities in England looking at the provision of services for children in need of help and protection, children in care, and care leavers. Findings include: 36% of local authorities are classed as good; 2% are rated as outstanding; and 63% of local authorities either require improvement or are inadequate. The calculations based on these figures show that this means that 47,085 children – 65% of all looked-after children – are looked after in Local Authorities that are deemed to be falling short of a good standard. Recommendations include a Charter for looked-after children and a commitment from government to monitor the system and ensure outcomes improve. An interactive dashboard has been developed to show how services in local authorities are performing.
The lives we want to lead: the LGA have published a green paper for adult social care and wellbeing and launched a nationwide consultation to kick-start a desperately-needed debate on how to pay for adult social care and rescue the services caring for older and disabled people from collapse.
Now’s the Time small grants programme from the Justice and Equality Fund launches with grants of up to £25,000 available: ROSA want to amplify the voices of all the individuals and groups who are calling for an end to sexual harassment and abuse, in their workplaces and in their communities
The relationship between family violence and youth offending: This LGA commissioned report explores evidence based approaches and interventions for breaking the cycle for young people who experience family violence and go on to be involved in youth offending.
The cost of a child in 2018: The Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) has published its annual Cost of a child report calculating the costs of a child based on the minimum incomes standard (MIS) – the income that people need in order to reach a minimal socially acceptable standard of living in the UK. Findings from the report include: the minimum overall cost of a child from birth to 18 (including rent and childcare) is now £150,753 for a couple and £183,335 for a lone parent.

Liverpool to face PSG, Napoli and Red Star in Champions League

Posted on August 30, 2018September 8, 2018 By Chris

Liverpool will face Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli and Red Star Belgrade in Group C of the Champions League this season.

Thursday’s draw took place in Monaco and placed the Reds – runners-up in the competition last term – in the same section as the clubs from France, Italy and Serbia respectively.

The opening matches of the group stage will be held on September 18/19, with further fixtures on October 2/3, October 23/24, November 6/7, November 27/28 and December 11/12.

Liverpool have played each of the three teams twice before: PSG in the Cup Winners’ Cup (1997), Napoli in the Europa League (2010) and Red Star in the European Cup (1973).

Jürgen Klopp is confident Liverpool will be a ‘big challenge’ for any team in Europe, after sharing his reaction with the clubs official website.

Full Champions League group stage draw

Group A: Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Monaco, Bruges.

Group B: Barcelona, Tottenham, PSV Eindhoven, Inter Milan.

Group C: Paris St-Germain, Napoli, Liverpool, Red Star Belgrade.

Group D: Lokomotiv Moscow, FC Porto, Schalke, Galatasaray.

Group E: Bayern Munich, Benfica, Ajax, AEK Athens.

Group F: Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, Hoffenheim.

Group G: Real Madrid, Roma, CSKA Moscow, Viktoria Plzen.

Group H: Juventus, Manchester United, Valencia, Young Boys.

What Will Happen In Your Body In The Next 60 Seconds

Posted on August 19, 2018August 18, 2018 By Chris

Even when we sit around doing nothing at all, our bodies are busy. Sustaining life is an miraculous feat, and every organ of your body must work together around the clock to keep it going. For your entire lifetime. When you know all the stuff going on, you’ll have a real sense of accomplishment – or else you’ll be exhausted.