Best Schools - St Swithun’s student elected as West Hampshire’s Member of Youth Parliament

13 year old St Swithun’s student Ishal Mahmud has been elected as the Member of Youth Parliament (MYP) for the West Hampshire Constituency.

In her role as an MYP, Ishal will work with Members of Parliament and service providers in order to champion youth issues and to present the views of constituents. She will meet regularly with other MYP’s to hold debates and plan campaigns on both a local and national level, including the annual debate within the Chamber of the House of Commons every November.

Ishal, who is a year 8 pupil at St Swithun’s, said ‘I am so honoured to be elected as the voice of local young people, and I want to use my role to bring about the actual changes and improvements that they want to see. More personally, I am most looking forward to the annual debate in the House of Commons, which I am hoping will be an inspirational experience’.

The UK Youth Parliament’s (UKYP) campaign for 2019 is Action Against Knife Crime. The UKYP believes that this issue needs to be addressed following the increase in knife crime incidents over the last few years. In the 2018 Make Your Mark ballot, over 196,000 young people aged 11-18 voted for increased measures to be put in place to end knife crime.

St Swithun’s headmistress Jane Gandee said ‘The school is very proud of Ishal. She put a lot of effort into her campaign, including visiting local schools to speak to their students and answer their questions. We are sure she will be a great ambassador both for the school and for Hampshire‘.

Private school pupils who take IGCSEs have better chance of getting top marks, exam watchdog admits

Roger Taylor, the chair of Ofqual, said it is a “problem” that a far higher proportion of children get As and A*s in iGCSEs

Earlier this year, research published by Education Datalab showed that two thirds of pupils achieved grade A* and A in IGCSEs in maths and English language, while just 18 to 20 per cent achieved the equivalent grades in reformed GCSEs

Mr Taylor said that the difference can – at least in part – be explained by privately educated children generally having higher levels of attainment than children at state schools.

He said that iGCSES are not "systematically easier" than the reformed GCSEs. But since they are not regulated in the same way it means there is a “risk” that a “particular subject in a particular year will be easier and we don't have the mechanisms to do anything about that”.

Mr Taylor added that private schools are allowed to teach whichever qualifications they want so they are not breaking any rules.