London news: School bans football and introduces chess clubs to stop bullying | UK | News

Following a damning 2019 Oftsed inspection, Charlotte Whelan was employed as headteacher at Hackney New School in East London. Ms Whelan informed the BBC the college has been “utterly reworked” with the introduction of poetry recitals and chess clubs.

Ms Whelan stated the scholars have “responded properly” to the introduction of poetry recitals as a substitute of sports activities video games.

She stated: “The faculty has been utterly reworked and the scholars are actually thriving.

“It’s lengthy been my perception that we could possibly be doing extra for pupils whereas they on their breaks, so typically you see them aimlessly wandering the playground.

“We need each second in school to rely.

“We started by introducing the poetry recitals throughout break and lunch and the scholars actually responded properly.

“It developed from there.”

While pupils aged 11 to 16 are nonetheless allowed to train throughout breaks and PE classes, lecturers are actually working with a extra structured strategy.

As properly as poetry recitals, chess and choir clubs have been arrange to give pupils extra selection what they need to do throughout their break occasions.

READ MORE: How did rating little ladies on “sexiness” develop into “regular” in faculties?

“Examples embrace racist bullying and name-calling.

“The faculty’s behaviour logs report many incidents of racist, homophobic, sexist or different discriminatory behaviour.

“This is totally unacceptable.”

Inspectors additionally discovered “extremist, sexualised and homophobic graffiti” inside the faculty grounds.

According to the MailOnline, footage shared on social media again in 2019 appeared to present lecturers ingesting and dancing in a college altering room after sending college students house for half time period.

A former pupil who shared the footage stated on the time: “I bear in mind seeing a instructor carrying wine in a Tesco bag into the college, and the subsequent day this video was launched.”

Over the final yr, due to the coronavirus pandemic, there have solely been 5 experiences of bullying together with cyberbullying.

Linda James, founding father of Bullies Out, informed MailOnline: “We had been actually happy to hear of Hackney New School’s plan to scale back bullying.

“Schools which put in place efficient methods equivalent to this will actually make a distinction to the entire ethos of their faculty setting.

“Bullying behaviour thrives on unsupervised break and lunchtimes so introducing protected areas for youngsters with supervised actions can assist them really feel included and supported while eliminating the bullying behaviour that may happen.”

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