Monday 28th of June 2021

UK Teachers Targeted on Social Media

  • Teachers, school principals and academics say they have been ‘driven off’ social media and made to feel intensely anxious for sharing their views online
  • Teachers have faced backlash for expressing ideas around curriculum reforms to better teach diversity to support young people
  • One head teacher received death threats and hate mail after a tabloid newspaper picked up one of her tweets discussing teaching diversity in schools
  • The teacher was reported to the local authority for being an ‘extremist’ after which she received threats to her life and the school.
  • You can read more here.

Viral TikTok Videos show ‘Covid Test Trick’

  • Some parents have been warned about videos circulating on TikTok, which reportedly show users how to produce a ‘false positive’ on a lateral flow test
  • Some videos suggest that placing droplets of certain fruit juices will produce a positive result
  • A school has warned parents to be extra vigilant and to supervise testing if they have concerns
  • It is thought that the ‘hack’ could be used to get time off school/work
  • All lateral flow tests should be followed up with a confirmatory PCR test
  • You can read more here

10% increase in children in Scotland worried about coming out as LGBTQ+

  • Childline has recorded more than a 10% increase in Scottish children expressing worries about coming out (compare to last year)
  • Childline held 170 counselling sessions about coming out in the last year and has delivered a total of 305 sessions to young people on Scotland about gender identity and sexuality in the past year.
  • You can read more here.

Cardiff Primary School Protects Children from Discrimination

  • A Cardiff primary school has become the first Welsh school to sign a natural hair code know as ‘The Halo Code’
  • The code is a pledge to protect children from discrimination based on their afro-hairstyles or hair texture
  • Head teacher Rhian Carbis said: “We are extremely passionate about children’s rights and their well-being, and this is at the heart of everything we do.”
  • The Halo Code, is ran by The Halo Collective who say 58% of black students have experienced name calling or questions about their hair at school
  • You can read more here.