New film released for schools to highlight ‘County Lines’ grooming threat
A new film tackling the growing issue of criminals grooming and exploiting teenagers has been released for schools. New this week on Into Film’s free screening service for UK schools, Into Film+, is the film County Lines, an Award-winning British drama depicting the story of a teenage boy pressured into running ‘County Lines’, an escalating issue facing vulnerable children and young people today. Aimed at pupils aged 16+, Into Film launched the film and accompanying teaching resource to highlight the UK crisis affecting pupils who lack support and safeguarding within society and to provide valuable insight and support for teachers tackling this challenging subject matter in the classroom. “This film authentically depicts the reality for young people caught up in the County Lines trap,” said Stefanie Roberts, Signs of Safety Practice Lead, Bexley Children’s Social Care. “This is exactly the model used and the film tracks it brilliantly. It’s an important film to share with young people, their teachers and families, and we will be using the film as part of our training.” Inspired by true events, County Lines is the highly acclaimed debut feature from writer/director Henry Blake who based the film on his own experience as a youth worker operating in an East London PRU (Pupil Referral Unit) for children excluded from mainstream school). The film is a vivid and moving coming-of-age story about a struggling mum and her 14-year-old son, Tyler, who is groomed and recruited into a lethal drug-selling network, a ‘County Line’. The director’s first-hand knowledge from working with young people already taking part or at real risk of ‘County Lines’ exploitation has enabled him to create an authentic film that captures the harsh reality that so many young people in the UK currently face. The National Crime Agency (NCA) estimates that more than 10,000 children in the UK are now exploited by or forced to work for drug gangs and that there are now more than 2,000 individual deal line numbers in operation. Police forces, the government, charities and academia are working to combat and disrupt the threat, which can have traumatic and long-lasting consequences for those exploited. “Frontline staff are so crucial because they can urge other professionals to recognise and acknowledge a child’s vulnerability; something that if it goes unchecked can send a young person on a whistle-stop tour of the UK’s criminal justice system,” said County Lines Writer/Director, Henry Blake. To watch County Lines and access the teaching resource, sign up to the free* streaming platform, Into Film+ Into Film and the Into Film+ streaming platform is supported by the BFI using National Lottery funding, thanks to National Lottery players, and the UK film industry through Cinema First. The National Lottery raises £36 million each week for good causes across the UK. *Into Film+ screenings of Filmbankmedia’s films for an entertainment or extra-curricular purpose require a Public Video Screening Licence (PVSL) from Filmbankmedia. State-funded schools in England are covered by the PVSL.
Kaiser Chiefs frontman and Radio 1 star host new CBBC art show
Kaiser Chiefs frontman and former art teacher, Ricky Wilson, is teaming up with award-winning Radio 1 presenter, Vick Hope for a brand new CBBC show, which sees 27 budding young artists from around the UK compete to be crowned Britain’s Best Young Artist. Armed with a sketchbook and pencil, each episode sees three contenders take part in an Inspiration day, designed to challenge and stretch their artistic muscles, before returning to the art studio to create a showstopping artwork. The wannabe artists must impress Ricky and a guest judge who will be on hand to critique the finished artwork and decide who moves onto the next round. Joining Ricky as a guest judge will be world-class artists including Alison Lapper, Simeon Barclay, Si Mitchell and many more. Those that make the semi-finals are commissioned to create an original piece of art for celebrities including, Dr Alex George; acing driver, Jamie Chadwick and former Blue Peter presenter, Lindsey Russell, all appearing in the series. The series culminates with the grand finale, in which the top 3 artists have to draw on all of their creative skills and experience to produce a winning masterpiece which best depicts their hometown. Out of 3 semi-finalists, there can only be one winner who goes on to be crowned Britain’s Best Young Artist and win the prize of their final masterpiece displayed at an art gallery in their home town. Ricky says: “I’ve really enjoyed seeing what all the kids in the show can do and what they can do is astonishing. If I could do anything as half as good as them at that age then I’d be winning the Turner Prize.” Vick says: “Britain’s Best Young Artist is a place for experimentation, for getting your hands dirty, getting stuck in and trying new things. This show proves that anyone can make art and anyone can be an artist, no matter how young they are.” Britain’s Best Young Artist made by BBC Children’s In-House Productions will air Monday to Thursday on CBBC and BBC iPlayer from Monday 7th February. Britain’s Best Young Artist was filmed in a warehouse studio in Bolton, Greater Manchester and across several UK locations including Wales, Cumbria, Yorkshire, West Midlands and London.
How to get boys to open up about their feelings – a case study
Emotional health training organisation Mind With Heart is on a mission to help schools flourish and build a more compassionate society. Here the London based charity talks about its ‘Connected With Others’ programme which explores how positive relationships are key to our own wellbeing. It is an interactive and mindfulness-based programme for secondary school students. The aim is to equip young people with essential life skills that will support them throughout their education, as well as in their working and personal lives. The programme cultivates: • Awareness to recognise their own emotions, as well as the emotions of others; • Stability and resilience to be present with challenging emotions, and the ability to refrain from reacting habitually; • Self-compassion and the ability to be kind to themselves; • Emotional intelligence and listening skills, which enables them to give and receive support from others; • Empathy and compassion to be a good friend to others, including those outside their immediate circle of care; and • A sense of common humanity and a readiness to help. One trainer held this course in a London secondary school over a 5-week period of 10 sessions long, and it was delivered over the course of 5 double lessons of 1 hour and 45 minutes each. Interviews with 3 randomly selected boys from Year 9 (ages 13 to 14) were conducted before the training and again after the training was completed. In addition, there was a focus group of 13 Year 9 boys, which was taken at the end of the course. The majority of students were from a Bangladeshi ethnic background. In terms of the general student population at the school, around half were from a low income background, eligible for Free School Meals. Case study – Student 1 (‘S1’) S1 is a 14-year-old boy; he is chatty, enjoys playing sports and his school friends mean a lot to him. When he was asked in his pre-programme interview how he tries to support friends if they’re going through something difficult, he said ‘…if they forget about it and move on then it will help them focus more on different things’. S1 wants to support his friends and be a good friend by cheering them up and distracting them. By not acknowledging how his friends are really feeling, S1 dismisses their emotions. S1’s response was the same when asked whether he felt supported by his friends: ‘I feel very supported by my friends. When I’m feeling sad, they would try to help me forget about it by cheering me up’. In fact, many of the boys expressed the same thoughts on this, which highlights the problem of emotional avoidance rather than addressing and dealing with emotions. In fact, when asked what empathy was, S1 said he had never heard of it and, when further asked what compassion was, he thought that it was ‘being very enthusiastic and keen toward something’. Mind with Heart’s ‘Connected with Others’ programme aims to provide students with greater understanding and the tools to enhance their listening skills, expand their emotional intelligence and nurture their relationships. After the programme, we observed in S1 an increased empathy, readiness to help, courage and openness to approaching emotions. When asked about whether he would approach emotions differently he said, ‘I would. For example, if I was sad before I wouldn’t like to tell anyone, and I would think about it a lot. Now [the programme] made me think about it, I get it off my chest. I’ll be able to get some advice…’. This was echoed across many of the individual participants. It was clear that the training marked a shift in many of the boys, from perceiving themselves and/or others as ‘weak’ if they expressed their emotions, to it being a sign of ‘maturity’ and ‘strength’ to do so. When reflecting on what he had learnt from the programme as a whole, S1 said, ‘it might not sound as important when you have other things like maths and science, but really when you think about it, it could be one of the most important things that people feel around the world’. Case study – Student 2 (‘S2’) In his interview before the programme, S2 said that, if he is down, he would speak to his friends, particularly those he has known for a long time – ‘they kind of understand me’. However, interestingly, he did not feel the same when speaking with his family. ‘Parents might have [experienced the same things], but at the moment they don’t really know.’ The interview also explored gender stereotypes and whether S2 felt pressure from these stereotypes. S2 was acutely aware of stereotypes such as boys ‘don’t cry’ and that they’re ‘meant to be tough’. He further mentioned that he thought ‘some of them [his male classmates] feel shy and embarrassed to talk about how they feel’. Connected With Others encourages participants to investigate emotions, but also aims to provide them with support, confidence and assurance to take home these conversations and continue them with their families. In addition, the exercises and activities aim to re-educate on social gendered norms relating to emotions. For example, one activity required students to create abstract drawings of 8 different emotions. Students shared their drawings with the rest of the group. The activity opened the possibility for the boys to discuss the range of emotions they feel, while normalising the notion that boys experience a broad range of emotions. It seeks to challenge the traditional hegemonic masculine notions of boys only being allowed to show themselves as ‘tough’, ‘stoic’, ‘unemotional’ and demonstrates that boys can feel a wide range of emotions including being sad, angry, anxious, nervous, disappointed, depressed and shy. After the programme similar questions were put to S2. He said that before he ‘would just keep it [sadness] to myself’ and to cope he would play sports. Whereas now, together with playing sports, he would also try to talk about it. Further, when S2 was asked whether there was
Society reveals ‘deeply unfair disadvantage’ face masks are having on deaf children
The National Deaf Children’s Society has stepped in with a list of actions the Government should take to help deaf children while face masks are used in classrooms. Deaf school children left dreading school following the return of face coverings to classrooms at the beginning of the year, the charity says. It says the situation continues to put deaf children, who are struggling to keep up with hearing classmates, at a “deeply unfair disadvantage” and it’s affecting their education and their mental health. The National Deaf Children’s Society has today published a list of measures that it wants the Government to take, to counteract the negative impacts on deaf children’s education of the continued wearing of face coverings in class. This is in light of the Government’s planned review of the use of face coverings in secondary school and college classrooms on 26 January. The charity is asking parents of deaf children across England to email the Secretary of State, Nadhim Zahawi MP, to outline the impact face coverings in classrooms are having on their children. Face coverings make lip-reading impossible and obscure crucial facial expressions. Describing the ongoing use of face coverings in classrooms as putting deaf children at a ‘deeply unfair disadvantage’, the charity recommends the Government takes action to protect the education of deaf children, including by providing clear face coverings to schools and colleges with deaf pupils. In addition, the charity urges that a dedicated fund is set up to pay for extra support like radio aids or speech to text reporters for deaf pupils and the Secretary of State should write to schools, colleges and parents about the impact of face coverings on deaf pupils and give examples of reasonable adjustments that should be made. These mitigations will ensure that the communication needs of deaf children continue to be met in schools, even if the wearing of face coverings continues into next month. Mike Hobday, Director of Policy and Campaigns at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said: “Face masks across the country are having a huge impact on England’s 45,000 deaf children. Public health must be a priority, but face masks in class mean that deaf children are being left out and left behind. This is not acceptable. “Deaf children tell us they are struggling to communicate with their mask-wearing friends, unable to consistently understand their teachers and falling behind in their schoolwork. “The Government needs to take the urgent actions we’ve set out today to stop deaf children being failed.”
Oldham primary school achieves top art teaching accreditation
Oldham-based Lyndhurst Primary and Nursery School has been awarded The Artsmark Award having demonstrated an ongoing commitment to quality and diversity in arts and culture. The Artsmark award, accredited by Arts Council England, is the only creative quality standard for schools and education settings. Their aim is to ensure every young person can be creative and access a diverse, high-quality cultural education. Having begun the journey in December 2017, the school had to achieve many targets which were set by Curious Minds – the Artsmark team. Joanna Dudson, the school’s Art lead, was acutely aware that even before beginning the journey, the school was independently well on its way. To achieve the award the school had to raise the profile of the arts across the curriculum whilst also deepening the awareness across the school of how it could engage pupils more positively in their own learning journeys. Artsmark fed into the school’s vision of #shaping the future, #making memories and #ready for life perfectly. Despite a global pandemic landing in the middle of their progress, the school did not let it impact their journey. Joanna continued to develop the curriculum and activities with the children around this by adopting a more flexible and adaptive approach. The activities adopted during the lockdown period meant that the students not only met the criteria for Blue Peter Badges, but also the Green Badge for awareness of the environment, conservation, and nature. This award entitled the children to free entry into top attractions across the UK. Commenting on the journey, Joanna Dudson said: “We are really pleased to have achieved this award; at Lyndhurst we value all aspects of learning. Creativity supports all areas of development, as well as supporting emotional and mental wellbeing while creating learners for life. “A real highlight in the process, aside from the Blue Peter badges, was utilising the music specialist at ‘Voices Music Foundation’ to teach music through singing. This allowed the children to develop their motor skills, confidence, rhythm, teamwork, and coordination. “All the staff at Lyndhurst were involved in the process towards the award, so to receive it has solidified our school wide community.” Lyndhurst Primary and Nursery School forms part of the Focus-Trust – a charitable primary schools trust which is based in the North West of England and West Yorkshire with a vision of providing great schools at the heart of communities where children thrive, achieve and succeed.