Arsonist tortoise rescued by fire-fighters!

After knocking its heat lamp onto its  bedding whilst left at home alone on Christmas Day, a 45-year-old tortoise set  fire to its house in Great Dunmow, Essex and fire-fighters were alerted to the  blaze by worried neighbors.

When they heard alarms and found a smoke-logged house, concerned neighbors of a house in Great Dunmow naturally called the fire-brigade. Shortly after this, a volunteer fire crew arrived at the property. The house was found filled with smoke because a small fire was burning in one of the rooms. After putting out the fire within twenty-five minutes and clearing the property of smoke, fire-fighters investigated the house and found that it was empty except for a small tortoise who seemed to be an unlikely culprit of the blaze.

It appeared that the tortoise had caused the fire by knocking its heat lamp onto its bedding, which then ignited. This caused a small fire that spread to other parts of the room that the tortoise was in and filled the rest of the house with smoke. After responding to the fire the fire-crew wrote on “Face Book” to say: “This 45-year-old tortoise might look angry, but it’s his lucky day. After he set his bedding alight his neighbors heard the smoke alarm and called us.”

As reported by The Manchester Evening News, Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Watch Manager, Gary Wain said: “This incident shows just how important it is to have smoke alarms on every level of your home – even if you’re not home they will alert anyone close by to the first signs of fire.”

Although the tortoise had a lucky escape, his unlikely story is a reminder that house fires are more common during the festive period. This is because people often do things such as overload electrical sockets with gadgets and leave them on overnight. People also leave their Christmas dinner unattended whilst they’re cooking it and older, dried-out Christmas trees with fairy lights can be a fire hazard. Various things that we only do at Christmas  mean that at this time of year there is a twelve percent rise in call-outs to the Fire Service compared to other times of the year. 

The WW1 poetry that we weren't told about.

One century after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and the consequential outbreak of World War One, there has been a lot of reflection on the significance of the poetry that the Great War influenced and on the poetic works that were hidden from the public.

It is said that the First World War influenced poetry more than any other conflict has. Whilst the works of war poets such as Wilfred Owen and Siegfred Sasoon are celebrated and appreciated for their literary and historical significance, a collection of less known poetry produced by serving soldiers in WW1 has been put together by John Sadler and Rosie Serdiville, who recovered the works from archives and libraries.

In reference to the poetry that he helped to recover, Mr. Sadler said: “These were men simply looking around them and writing for themselves. It is the antidote to the other war poets. You don’t have the doom and gloom of a Wilfred Owen or deeply reflective stuff.”

A lot of the poems inspired by WW1 were written within days, or in some cases, hours of the outbreak of the war. Although the most admired poet that emerged from WW1 is still Wilfred Owen, who had five poems published before he died in 1918 at the age of 25, the war poetry that is still beginning to emerge, gives us a new understanding of the war.

With poetry written by less known writers such as Arthur Roberts and John Gamble, being made accessible to the public even a century after the war began, it is difficult not to appreciate the sacrifice that WW1 soldiers made to help our lives and our society become what they are.

Education Secretary unveils radical changes to school exam structure.

Michael Gove wants to help school children “compete with the best in the world,” which means a complete overhaul of GCSEs in England.

From 2015 GCSEs will dramatically change so that coursework will be abolished in favor of exams at the end of two years of study and results will be graded from 8 to 1 instead of A* to G.

Mr. Gove told the House of Commons that the Government needs to reform our examination system to ‘restore’ public confidence. However, he has been accused of trying to cut back on re-sits whilst affording himself a fourth attempt at GCSE reform. Mary Bousted, leader of the ATC Teachers’ Union, said that constant change in exams was turning pupils into Mr. Gove’s guinea pigs.

Although the new exam system will be implemented in stages, with English and Math being the first subjects that will be affected, the changes will not initially be applied to the whole of the UK as Wales is planning its own changes to GCSEs, Northern Ireland has not planned for any changes and Scotland already has its own exam system.

Despite people debating whether the planned changes are good or bad, they mean that the exam system in England will see the biggest reforms to education in over 25 years and a move back towards the structure of O- Levels, which pre-dated GCSEs.

Scottish schools preparing for controversial changes to exam system.

A study into the questionable alterations that have been proposed for the Scottish school exam system has concluded that the changes are on track and will be implemented on time.

Education Scotland carried out research on how well educational bodies are preparing for the introduction of the newly proposed national exams. The findings of the research showed that the implementation of the new system, which will replace the standard grade and intermediate grade qualifications is on track.

Although some teaching unions have argued that the audit process surrounding the exams had been flawed, education Scotland insist that their audit has been “thorough and comprehensive” and that it has been carried out alongside each of Scotland’s education authorities.

In reference to the audit, Education Scotland said that listening to classroom teachers has been a crucial element in the process and Dr. Bill Maxwell, the government agency’s chief executive said: “Evidence from the audit shows that secondary schools are making good progress in their preparation for the new National Qualifications.”

The audit has shown that most schools in Scotland are ready to deliver the qualifications, however there are flaws in the preparation that has been carried out and Ann Ballinger, the general secretary of the Scottish Secondary Teachers’ Association commented on how there is a belief that there are numerous examples of councils who have failed to consult with classroom teachers and even departmental heads.

It is clear that not everyone within the Scottish school system is happy with the introduction of the new exams and in reference to the audit process, Larry Flanagan, general secretary of the EIS said: “The superficial nature of the consultation in most authorities and schools tells a deeply depressing story about how little the voice of the classroom teacher is listened to.”

Despite the concerns surrounding the new national exams, the government is continuing with their changes to the Scottish school system and if all goes to plan, the changes should be in place by 2013.



Computer company gives  schools free IT equipment.

At this year’s Education show Trade Fair at Birmingham’s NEC, an IT company will announce an exciting offer for schools.

The city’s nationally renowned venue will play host to the event that will see the IT support company, EPX Technical Services, announce their offer of free computers for schools and colleges.

EPX Technical Services are opening the offer to any school or college that sign up for an IT Maintenance contract with the company for one, two or three years.

Daniel Ellis, the Managing Director for EPX Technical Services, said: “In many schools it is the ICT teacher who maintains the computer systems, but this can have its drawbacks.”

Due to this, Mr. Ellis highlighted how EPX Technical Services are delighted to be able to show their support for schools and colleges through their exceptional offer.

The computer deal itself states that for every £100 per month that a school or college spends as part of a twelve monthly maintenance contract with EPX they  will receive one PC installed with Windows, including on-site set up, free of charge.

The offer also applies to every £75 spent per month over two years and every £50 spent per month over three years and is open until the 31st October 2012.

Mr. Ellis added that he urges anyone who was interested in his offer to speak to his company at their stand C86 at the Education show.

Rising tuition fees damage universities' popularity

According to figures from the admissions service, UK University applications are down by 8.7% for the first year of higher tuition fees.

University applications have been affected the most in England, where tuition fees could clime to as much as £9,000 per year.

Although the dip in University applications has not been as dramatic as many were predicting it would be, Sally Hunt, general secretary of the UCU lecturers’ union, said: “The figures are very worrying and once again highlight the government’s folly in raising tuition fees to as much as £9,000 per year.”

Wendy Platt, the director general of the Russell group of leading Universities, said that longer term underlying trend in university applications continues to show an increase in demand for university places despite the burden of rising tuition fees.

The changes to tuition fees have clearly effected university applications, as was expected, however a social study has shown that there is already a gap between the amount of men and women that are applying to go to university, with women being in the majority and it is thought that this gender gap is set to widen.

Excitement rises as new McDonald’s outlet opens in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh.