PTWL Spring17_Opt

More documents

Recommendations

Info

AWARD-WINNING Kids’ Book Reviews Get your nose stuck in a book... Our Kids Book Review Panel is a group of children from across the UK who have an avid interest in reading. They receive books from us on a regular basis and post their reviews online. To see reviews for other titles visit www.primarytimes.net/reviews/ The League of Unexceptional Children: Get Smart-ish: Book 2, by Gitty Daneshvari Published by: Orion Children’s Books. ISBN: 1444014536 Reviewed by Kitty, aged 10 from Berkshire: I would recommend this book to my friends because I thought it was funny and clever. I think both boys and girls would like it if they were aged between 8 and 12. My sister is 8 and I think she would enjoy it. My favourite bit was when Jonathan tricked Darwin, Oli and Hattie, because you didn’t see it coming. I would give it 4 and a half stars. EducationInvestor Awards 2016 Win a family trip to Disneyland and £500 worth of books for your school with the National Young Writers’ Awards The National Young Writers’ Awards has returned bigger and better than ever before as author, TV presenter and adventurer, Steve Backshall, has been named judge for 2017. The competition, organised by tuition provider, Explore Learning, has been running for nine years and has inspired hundreds of thousands of children across the UK to put pen to paper and give writing a try. This year’s theme is ‘The Future’ where children are encouraged to write a 500 word story set in 3017! Whether that means we’re families living in space, robots ruling the world or new species of animal roaming the wild – Explore Learning want to hear from you! TV presenter and adventurer, Steve Backshall is also the author of The Falcon Chronicles, the best-selling adventure fiction series for children. He says: “I’m really excited to be the judge on this year’s National Young Writers’ Awards. Writing was my first love and I think it’s so important for children to let their imaginations run wild and have a go at entering writing competitions like this!” Children can enter now at explorelearning.co.uk/youngwriters for a chance to win a family trip to Disneyland as well as £500 worth of books for their school and a trophy! Warrior Heroes: The Pharaoh’s Charioteer by Benjamin Hulme-Cross Published by: A & C Black. ISBN: 1472925890 Reviewed by Alex, aged 8 from North Yorkshire: I loved this book as much as I loved the others in this series. Arthur and Finn are on another adventure in the time of the Greeks. With the Greek police on their tail, the boys must successfully help a soldier in the Greek army to escape unnoticed and get to Olympia (an Ancient Greek city). A book of excitement and adventure, this book was not put down after I picked it up, and I read it cover to cover in one go. Charlie Chick Wants to Play by Ant Parker Published by: Campbell Books. ISBN: 1509829008 Reviewed by Aurora’s mum from Oxfordshire: Great little book with adorable illustrations. Aurora just loves lifting the flap at the end. The Painting-In Book: 30 Paint and Play Activities by Anna Rumsby Published by: Laurence King. ISBN: 1780679378 Reviewed by Noah, aged 5 from North London: This book is huge! It has pictures on each page so it’s not a normal colouring book. It also teaches you how to mix colours. My sister also loves this colouring book. I only wish there were more pizza pages in this book. Mortal: Book 3 (River of Ink) by Helen Dennis Published by: Hodder Children’s Books. ISBN: 1444920480 Reviewed by Ben, aged 10 from Oxfordshire: For me it started off slow but after a few pages it hooked me and I couldn’t stop reading it. This is now one of my favourite books. I would recommend this book to anyone who likes stories that move quite quickly and are almost a quest in them. It could be set in any time from 1990 to 2017. It ends on a cliff hanger and I would definitely read the next book in the series. Over all it is a stunningly good book and I would recommend it. 18 Primary Times, West London • Spring 2017 Don’t forget to say you saw it in Primary Times!
Growing up Digital Anne Longfield OBE is the Children’s Commissioner for England and recently published a Growing Up Digital report. Anne tells Primary Times why she believes the internet can be a huge force for good... Like many other parents, I’ve had to adapt quickly to the internet and the growth of social media. I grew up in a world where Google, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter weren’t part of everyday life - as they are today for millions of children. I believe the internet can be a huge force for good. The digital world gives children the kind of amazing opportunities I could never have imagined when I was a child. It offers them a chance to learn, to explore and to engage with others. My 5 year old nephew has been deftly handling his parents’ tablet for years – as everyday as any household object he has grown up with. But as parents we do worry. We often feel out of our depth or unsure about the impact the internet is having on our children’s lives, on their friendships and on their childhood development. While mums and dads must be the first line of protection against the potential online dangers, there is much more that can be done to support them. Earlier this year I published a report called “Growing Up Digital”, following a year-long study by a group of experts with expertise in areas like media law, online bullying, safety and children’s digital use. Our panel included Baroness Beeban Kidron, who set up the 5Rights project to campaign for better digital rights for children, and Liam Hackett founder of the anti-bullying organisation Ditch The Label. We listened to the experiences of children and parents and set out a range of ideas about how we could give children the three most important skills they need to get the most out of the internet: resilience, information and power. I know many parents are concerned we aren’t giving children the skills they need to navigate their way through the new digital world. Kids are spending longer online and recent studies suggest almost a third of 15 year olds have sent a naked photo of themselves at least once. Over a third of 12-15 year olds have seen hateful content directed at a particular group of people in the last year. Often parents are focussed on chatroom safety and the fear of “strangers” and “grooming”, while children themselves are more worried about online bullying and inappropriate pictures of themselves appearing on social media. For example, it’s clear from ‘Growing Up Digital’ that young people don’t feel they have control over their social media lives. They’re agreeing to social media terms and conditions despite them being so long and complex that they could never be expected to really understand them fully. It means they are giving up their right to privacy and even allowing the content they post – pictures usually – to be sold by the social media giants, if they wanted to. As part of our study, we asked some young people whether they understood the terms of Instagram. Many parents will know that their children use Instagram to share pictures, often of themselves. It’s used by more than half of 12-to-15 year olds and one in four 8-to-11 year olds who say that they have a social media account. The younger children we showed the terms and conditions to were unable to read more than half of the 17 pages of text, and none of them fully understood what they were committing themselves to when they clicked ‘accept’. When we asked an expert in privacy law to simplify them so children could understand them, many were shocked by what they read. We also looked into children’s experiences of reporting problems on social media sites. We found that many simply have no idea how to report unacceptable content or behaviour – and even when they do, they are usually not happy with the action that’s taken. So we are calling on social media companies to rewrite their terms and conditions so children can understand them and can then make informed decisions about what they’re signing up to. I hope the Government will implement legislation to protect children’s privacy and data online. And I would also like to extend my powers so the Children’s Commissioner is able to oversee the number and the types of complaints that the social media companies are receiving from children. ‘Growing Up Digital’ calls for a Digital Ombudsman, a mediator to act between children and the social media giants, similar to the role which works well in Australia. The Ombudsman would be an independent person who can help children to have content removed from sites if they are unhappy with a picture or a post that invades their privacy, is used without their consent or is used as part of online bullying. It’s also important to make sure that children are taught about their rights and responsibilities online from an early age. The internet is a part of every child’s life, so it makes sense for all four-to-fourteen year olds to learn how to get the best out of it, while also avoiding some of the dangers. This obligatory part of the curriculum would include what it means to be a responsible citizen online, how to protect their rights online, how to respect others’ rights online, and how to both disengage and engage with the online world. As younger children want to learn these skills but sometimes feel uncomfortable talking to teachers and parents about the internet and would rather talk to people their own age, digital citizenship should involve older children who younger kids are more likely to trust. It’s so important children are better educated about the internet, understand what they’re agreeing to when they join social media platforms and that their privacy is better protected. Nobody wants their children roaming around in a world for which they aren’t prepared. We wouldn’t let a child roam around the ‘offline’ world without teaching them the skills to do so first. So it’s time we did more to prepare children for a digital world that has limited regulation and which is controlled by a small number of powerful organisations. Technology is developing at a rapid pace. When it was created 25 years ago, the internet was designed with adults in mind - but it’s now up to all of us to make sure it is a better and safer place for children by giving them the information, the power and the resilience they need to thrive. For more information about the ‘Growing Up Digital’ report visit www.childrenscommissioner. gov.uk/publications/growing-digital For more information on the 5Rights Project: http://5rightsframework.com For more information about the anti-bullying charity Ditch The Label: www.ditchthelabel.org The Children’s Commissioner for England wants to hear from children about where they live, the important people in their lives, how they spend their time and what they would do if they were in charge of the world or their school. If your child would like to take part visit https://live.firstnews.co.uk/our-lives/ www.primarytimes.net/west_london Primary Times, West London • Spring 2017 19
Page 1 and 2: WHAT’S ON GUIDE FOR FAMILIES AND
Page 3 and 4: Spring 2017 : Contents Dear reader.
Page 5 and 6: LDO Celebrates ‘Iconic London’
Page 7 and 8: Museum of Brands, Packaging & Adver
Page 9 and 10: Fun family days out this spring! Fa
Page 11 and 12: Roundabout continued from p8 Thu 6
Page 13 and 14: New opportunities at your local Sta
Page 15 and 16: Focus on Education World Book Day p
Page 17: Highfield Preparatory School Who wo
Page 21 and 22: adapted by ANYA REISS from the nove
Page 23 and 24: Competitions! WIN TICKETS! My First

PTWL Spring17_Opt

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?