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'Don't call girls girls' row: 'Let's celebrate women not fret about what we should call them'

The head of a group of leading girls' schools has hit back at the “don’t call girls girls” instruction, as she says teachers should “celebrate women”.

Cheryl Giovannoni, chief executive of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), said that the debate about what to call female pupils “misses the point”, adding that there are much “bigger issues” at stake.

She said that teachers should not attempt to “wrap girls in cotton wool”, adding that they will “call you out” if you are “hiding” from the fundamental problems.

Earlier this week, Natasha Devon, the Government’s former mental health tsar, said that teachers should not refer to pupils as "girls" or "ladies" because it means they are “constantly reminded of their gender”.

Speaking to headteachers at the Girls’ School Association’s annual conference in Manchester, she said that she would “never walk into a room in an-all girls’ school and say girls or ladies” because it was “patronising”.

Rather than addressing children as “boys” or “girls”, she said that teachers should use gender-neutral terms such as “pupils”, “students” or “people”.

Ms Giovannoni, who heads up a group of 24 independent girls’ schools, said young women need to concentrate on the “more fundamental issues”.

“Gender inequality is one, gender pay gap is another, underrepresentation of women in most professions, underrepresentation of girls taking STEM subjects,” she told The Sunday Telegraph.

“There are much bigger issues for us to be debating in a way that actually help move society forwards than whether we call girls ‘girls’ and boys ‘boys’.”

She said it is important not to “wrap girls in cotton wool – they are feisty and confident. They will call you out if you are hiding from the things that are fundamental and crucial.”

Read more at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/2017/11/25/head-leading-girls-schools-group-hits-back-dont-call-girls-girls/

Starting school at 10am halves student illness and improves academic performance, finds study

A new study has shown delaying school start times for teenagers can have major benefits, including better academic performance and improved mental and physical health.

When students in their mid-teens started school at 10am instead of the usual 8:30am, rates of illness decreased by more than half over a two-year period, and got significantly better grades.

The long-term study, which was carried out in an English state school, demonstrated the huge health impact that early start times and more sleep can have on teenagers. 

Dr Paul Kelley of the Open University, the lead author of this new paper noted that British schoolchildren are the sixth most sleep-deprived in the world, with American children topping the rankings.

Earlier this year, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a position statement declaring that “delaying school start times positively impacts student achievement, health and safety”.

They have joined other major US organisations such as the American Medical Association in calling on all schools to implement start times of at least 8:30am. As it stands, many schools in the US currently start as early as 7am.

Read more at: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/school-start-tim-10am-student-illness-health-academic-performance-study-a8072231.html