19/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.

Something amazing happened in every school this year. It’s just that many schools decided to keep it all rather quiet.

And so, July 15 2008 is the first ever CELEBRATE SCHOOLS DAY. A day to celebrate all the great things that happened this year.

We want to celebrate (and get media coverage for) both the thousands of pupils who have done well in their studies, plus those that have done something for others, and those who (without causing any harm) have enjoyed themselves. Those who quite simply have done the work, and then smiled and laughed, and enjoyed life. They just enjoyed the past year.

The idea of celebrating the positive aspects of school came from Iain Bell of Book-Builder. When Iain and I discussed the idea recently he told me that each year his firm publishes large numbers of School Yearbooks. The pupils create these themselves with teeacher support – and the image they project is always one of fun and excitement.

So he had the idea of trying to get this image across to a wider audience – and created CELEBRATE SCHOOLS DAY.

If you want to join in there are two things to do.

First, encourage your pupils to sign in (obviously with teacher guidance and support), and then send in comments, pictures and videos to www.celebrateschoolsday.com - which will be a permanent record of the fact that among all the hard work school can be enjoyable too. (The web site is moderated, so you don’t have to worry about pupils putting up anything that is detrimental. We’ll check everything as it comes in.)

Second it would be great if you could send a press release about something really good that happened in your school to your local paper, your local radio station, and (if you wish) the national press and TV. (By all means send me a copy – I’ll be most interested to see it – but the main thing is to send it to the media).

You don’t have to do both - if you just want to take part in one of the activities that is fine. But the overall aim is simple: to have this one day in the year where we can all say, school is good.

I do hope you will join in – Celebrate Schools Day will only work if you do decide to say something positive to the press in the next week, and tell them it is for Celebrate Schools Day.

If you would like to know more about Celebrate Schools Day please call Holly on 01536 399 000. If you would like to contact Book-Builder please call 0845 388 9901

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12/06/2008 by Tony Attwood.

The power of celebrities and the power of the internet is now so strong when it comes to teenage girls that (according to a survey by GirlGuiding UK) advertisers and politicians have little chance to influence their opinions and behaviour.   Teachers have less power than celebrities or the media - but are way ahead of advertisers and politicians in their influence.

And although celebrities do have this influence - much of the influence they have is openly seen as negative by teenage girls.

The survey found that away from friends and family, celebrities have the biggest hold with 42% naming them as the greatest influence.

As you might guess, the top celeb is Victoria Beckham, who was nominated  by 35% followed by Leona Lewis who polled 32%.

Kate Moss and Amy Winehouse came next with 29% and 23% respectively.

38% said that the media is the prime influence of their attitudes to alcohol and drugs.  Teachers on the other hand were a prime influence at 30% - way above advertisers who influence 7% and politicians at 4%.    19% say the media influences their opinions about sex and relationships while teachers influence 15% and advertisers 2%.

59% say Channel 4 TV programmes like ‘Skins’ and ‘Hollyoaks’ help them  understand issues affecting people their age.

44% of the girls said they could name more WAGS [footballers’ wives and girlfriends] than female politicians.

However celebrities actually have a negative influence on the way girls view the world, with 59% believing they make girls their age less well-informed.

75% of the girls taking the survey said they used the internet daily, but they placed less trust in it than in newspapers or TV.   The most trusted medium is television news, which was named by 90% of the girls.  Although around half said they didn’t bother to stay informed about world events.

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