Category: Education

Homeschooled pupil ‘in limbo’

~ Shaun ~ Leave a comment

A homeschooled pupil has been left in “limbo” by the decision to drop GCSE exams this year, her mother has said.

Mainstream pupils will be judged on predicted grades, but for Rebecca Gouge they do not exist.

The 15-year-old said it left her “anxious” for her future, when homeschooling was intended to be a route to protect her mental health.

The Department for Education said without sufficient evidence it was not possible to receive a grade… More here.

This is ‘exactly’ what we are going through at the moment and we are currently in discussion with our MP, the local education authorities and various other parties. The situation is terrible for those affected.

Bill Bryson ‘to retire from writing’

~ Shaun ~ 1 Comment

Bill Bryson, author of travel and science books which have sold millions of copies worldwide, is considering putting down his pen for good.

The 68-year-old, who was born in Iowa but has dual US-UK citizenship, told Times Radio he had been treating retirement as an experiment this year and “it has been successful and I’m pretty likely to continue”.

Bryson, whose books include A Short History of Nearly Everything and The Lost Continent, is perhaps best known for a travel book on his adopted homeland Notes from a Small Island… More here.

If you want a lighthearted read that is always educational, there is no one better. Will miss his new releases.

We Have the Power to Destroy Ourselves

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We’ve survived 200,000 years so far—2000 centuries. There’ve been risks during that time, most famously of asteroids hitting the Earth, as seems to have happened 65 million years ago when the dinosaurs were wiped out. That’s one type of risk we’ve been exposed to that whole time. There are also comets, supervolcanoes, like the Toba eruption, and risks of natural pandemics. These things have been around for 2000 centuries. The good news is that in most cases, we know that those risks must be small, because if they were even 1% per century, it’s vanishingly unlikely that we would have survived for 2000 centuries. We know that the natural background of risk must be fairly safe. It’s the type of thing that lets species live for a million years on average… More here.

A great read!

Educational Documentaries | Netflix

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For many years, Netflix has allowed teachers to screen documentaries in their classrooms. However, this isn’t possible with schools closed. So at their request, we have made a selection of our documentary features and series available on our YouTube channel. If you are a parent or teacher, please check the ratings so that you can make informed choices for your students and children.

Such a brilliant selection of educational content and it is all free. You can see the full list here.