E-Safety Some Facts For You As Parents
Know what your children are doing online and who they are talking to. Ask them to teach you to use any applications you have never used. Keeping the computer in a family room means that you can share your child’s online experience - and that they are less likely to act inappropriately (i.e. via webcam).
Help your children to understand that they should never give out personal details to online friends - personal information includes their messenger ID, email address, mobile number and any pictures of themselves, their family or friends. If your child publishes a picture or video online, anyone can change it or share it. Remind them that anyone may be looking at their images and one day a future employer could!
If your child receives spam/junk email and texts, remind them never to believe them, reply to them or use them. It’s not a good idea for your child to open files that are from people they don’t know. They won’t know what they contain - it could be a virus, or worse - an inappropriate image or film. Help your child to understand that some people lie online and therefore it’s better to keep online mates online. They should never meet up with any strangers without an adult they trust.
Always keep communication open for a child to know that it’s never too late to tell someone if something makes them feel uncomfortable.
Teach young people how to block someone online and how to report them if they feel uncomfortable.
Websites:
Year 11 Annual Reviews
Thank you to all parents who attended the annual review meetings on Thursday 16th November. The feedback from outside agencies and teachers was really positive and demonstrates the huge progress made by students. Our thanks to everyone involved in securing the excellent outcomes and to the students for their hard work and determination.
The Change School Programme
As part of the three year programme for the government’s flagship Creative Partnerships we have entered our third year. There have been a number of meetings to plan and prepare the outcomes for 2010-11. We are continuing to develop our partnership with the Curve Theatre Leicester and once again we have benefitted from an input by Mathilda Joubert of Softnotes.
We are fortunate as a College to have nurtured some excellent partnerships with Creative Practitioners who have brought huge benefits to the College and our students.
This year we are hoping to develop the learning community and offer opportunities for family learning to develop and become embedded.
Please watch this space.
Wider Opportunities Funding
There is a government grant available to support a number of students in their College work and extra curricular activities. Letters have been forwarded to all parents and carers regarding these additional funds. Please access these monies by contacting Sally Cox at the College.
The Wigston Arts Federation Festival
We have been a successful Specialist Performing Arts College since September 1999 and this has resulted in some phenomenal work across the College and the Wigston Family of Schools.
Last year we were able to enjoy the inaugural Arts Festival and as a result of its success we are planning a second festival to run from 20th June 2011 – 15th July 2011.
It promises to be an excellent month of activities across the schools in the borough with the traditional Art and Photography Exhibition, Bye Bye Blues concerts, Literacy Festival and much, much more taking place.
Please inform Sally Cox or Lisa Robinson if you have any activities you wish to publicise during this period.
Arts Partnerships
Guthlaxton College is delighted to host a wealth of Arts based activities through strong partnerships at both a local, regional and national level. We are proud to be strongly associated with Leicester Philharmonic Choir who are resident in the College every Monday; Leicestershire Arts who continue to use us as a centre on Saturdays and have developed the Wigston School of Music on Mondays; Stage Coach; the Phoenix Choir; SWM Theatre Company; Wigston School of Dance; Wigston Male Voice Choir and The Salvation Army to name a few. Our richness in the Arts is also reflected in links with Opera North, Arts Council England, Curve Theatre and EMI/Music Sound Foundation.
We trust that the recent changes outlined in the government’s Autumn Spending Review will not impact upon these partnerships. Our tradition in the Arts is embedded across our work within and beyond the College and we acknowledge our reputation in the Arts.
Christmas Hampers
The BTec students have launched the annual Christmas Hamper appeal in style through a series of excellent House Assemblies on 26th, 29th November, and 1st, 2nd December.
Once again we are hoping that you will support your son and daughter in contributing to the tutor group hampers by encouraging them to bring suitable food items (canned or packet produce, seasonal treats and so on) to College. The hamper judging is on Wednesday, 15th December.
This appeal has been longstanding in our calendar and offers the elderly citizens of our borough some Christmas cheer and happiness.
Please watch this space for the hamper results in the New Year.
Oadby & Wigston Young Citizen of the Year Awards
The Wigston Family of Schools recently nominated a number of young people for the Oadby & Wigston Young Citizen of the Year Award. The awards are for young people aged 14-20 years who have done something for the good of the public within the borough. This may be social, environmental, of family benefit, an aspect of their character which sets a high example to others or developing Student Voice.
Nominations were to be received by Friday, 3rd December. We await the results with our fingers crossed for success for Guthlaxton College students. We will update you of this news item next time.
News of Former Students
A portrait of his sister, Emily, won a former student of Guthlaxton College a £2000 prize.
David Raine attended the College from 1996 – 2000 and was a talented student who enjoyed art and participated in sports, especially rugby.
He completed the piece of work which was chosen by judges as the winner of this year’s Attenborough Prize. This prize is now in its fourth year and is a prestigious award which acknowledges the strength of local talent. It is for the best contemporary visual artist. The work was entered into the City Gallery’s Open 22 Exhibition at New Walk Museum and Art Gallery. The exhibition runs from November 13th to January 9th.
We are extremely proud of David’s achievement and wish him continued success in pursuing his artistic dreams.
News of former students is always welcome. Please forward to Sally Cox at the College on s.cox@guth.org.uk.
Congratulations
Very bravely Tamsin Taylor (11DTM) spoke to the four House Assemblies regarding her ambition to stand for the National Youth Council asking the students and their teachers to support her by giving her an online vote.
She successfully achieved her aim and was elected as Deputy Member of the National Youth Council. A tremendous achievement and our congratulations to Tamsin on her achievement.
We wish her success as she takes up this role.
Music, Film, TV & the Internet
A guide for parents and teachers
There is a new guide which has been written by children’s charity “Childnet International.” It is a useful guide which offers help to parents and teachers in supporting young people accessing music enabling them to stay safe and legal when enjoying entertainment on the internet or via a mobile device. There is a section of FAQ, a jargon buster and tips.
Here are some tips from the guide:
Talk with children about computer use
Are you aware of how your children are using the computer to access music, film and TV content? Talk to them so that they understand why it’s important to use legal sites online.
Using legal sites helps to ensure that everyone who works to make a song, film or TV programme is paid fairly for their work. It’s also worth discussing with them what the consequences would be for the whole family if they were caught breaking the law.
Explore the web’s legal music, film and TV services
There are more than 13 million tracks licensed to legal music services. A full list of services worldwide is available at www.pro-music.org and www.whymusicmatters.org lists the services available in the UK. You may want to use a service such as iTunes or Amazon MP3, or one like Spotify which can supply music to the whole household.
For film and TV, there are many services now available to stream or download films or TV programmes online. These provide access to thousands of titles, and the amount of programming available is growing all the time. To search for specific film titles online visit www.findanyfilm.com. You can also find a list of links to all legal film and TV sites at www.industrytrust.co.uk.
Check your computer and wireless connection
Are you aware of what is on the family computer? Make sure it is protected against viruses and spyware. Ensure your wireless connection is secure with a password and encryption (such as WPA). Talk to your family about what they do online, and decide what protections are best placed to meet the needs of the users in your house.
The guide can be downloaded at:
http://www.childnet-int.org/downloading/assets/docs/downloads_uk_edition.pdf
Sally Cox
Deputy Principal
Published on Thursday 9th December 2010 at 09:00