Posts by Mel

Girls and gangs-Working in Partnerships

Posted by on Oct 4, 2012 in Main Blog | 0 comments

I had an interesting and enjoyable day at Groundwork’s Girls and Gangs conference in Nottingham, this Tuesday. There were a number of speakers who are experts in this area of work, including Carlene Firmin, who received an MBE at the age of 27. http://www.thisisnottingham.co.uk/City-conference-help-girls-involved-gangs/story-17018873-detail/story.html What really stood out to me was that with over 100 women from various local services attending the event, we all shared a common goal, to help girls who are at risk of joining, or are already involved, in ‘gang life’. It is a complex issue and there are many elements to consider. This will rely on...

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A Decline of PSHE in Schools- How This is Failing Young People

Posted by on Sep 11, 2012 in Main Blog | 0 comments

As pressure increases on schools to perform well and to raise standards, some subject areas are being pushed to one side. This isn’t because that is what schools want, far from it, but because there are only so many hours in a school day and the threat of Ofsted is always a heavy weight on a school’s shoulders. Don’t get me wrong, I believe schools should continue to strive to achieve their best and to encourage young people to do the same, but the route that schools are being forced to take to try to make this happen is not only to the detriment of those young people who are challenged academically but to the subject areas that it may seem it is okay...

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Young People Who Choose Not to Drink Alcohol-What Can we Learn From This?

Posted by on Aug 17, 2012 in Main Blog | 0 comments

Organisations such as Drugscope have for a long time favoured an approach with drug education that highlights the normative behaviour of young people, rather than making assumptions that everyone is misusing substances, because in reality, they are not. Recent research into alcohol use amongst young people shows that many do not drink alcohol. http://www.jrf.org.uk/publications/positive-choice-young-people When we live in a media dominated world of pictures and news stories of drunken young people it can be easy to forget that a large proportion do not drink. It is important that this is emphasised to those we educate, so that they understand that ‘not everyone is...

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Drink Driving-Time For a Change in the Law?

Posted by on Aug 10, 2012 in Main Blog | 0 comments

After statistics have shown that the battle with drink driving is far from over, the road safety charity Brake has called for the government to reduce the drink drive limit to 20mg alcohol per 100ml blood. This will mean people cannot drink any alcohol and still drive legally, effectively producing a zero tolerance to drink driving. The law is currently set at 80mg per 100ml blood, in England and Wales and as Brake suggests, this leads people to believe they are ok to have a couple of drinks and drive. http://www.brake.org.uk/latest-news/310712.htm However even if someone has less than 80mg alcohol per 100ml blood, there is evidence that shows a small amount of alcohol...

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Why is George Michael in my Blog Today?

Posted by on Aug 2, 2012 in Main Blog | 0 comments

Anyone who knows me well, will know that I am an advocate of George Michael. I like his honesty, down to earth approach to life and mostly his perseverance. I don’t believe he got to where he is now without challenges, yet great determination to pull through the difficult times. As we found out just before Christmas 2011, he is blessed to be here still, and is about to release an emotive song, ‘White Light,’ about his gratitude for being alive. The song reflects on his life and the chance he has been given to continue to live. It also questions why one person may die and another lives. His lyrics, ‘One more pill, just one more beer, one more less...

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