All posts tagged: classes

Maths pupils ‘make slower progress in mixed ability classes’

Maths pupils ‘make slower progress in mixed ability classes’

Published by skeptic

Pupils in mixed-ability classes make slower progress in maths compared to those grouped by attainment, a new report suggests. Using sets for maths also did not “significantly harm” the attainment of students from poorer backgrounds, or those with low attainment earlier in school. The report was published by the Education Endowment Foundation today, based on research conducted by the UCL Institute of Education. It investigated the impact of different ways of putting pupils in maths classes. The study compared the attainment and self-confidence of year 7 and 8 pupils taught in mixed-ability classes with those taught in sets between September 2022 and July 2024. Of the 97 schools that took part, 28 of them used mixed attainment groups while 69 used setting for maths. It found pupils in schools with mixed-ability classes made one month’s less progress in maths compared to pupils who were grouped based on attainment. Pupils with higher previous attainment in maths made about two months’ less progress when put in mixed ability classes rather than sets. But pupils with lower previous …

Utah prison kindness classes, South Bend duckling rescue, The Kid Laroi and more good news today

Utah prison kindness classes, South Bend duckling rescue, The Kid Laroi and more good news today

Published by Jenni Sidey

When the broader news cycle feels heavy, The Brighter Side of News brings you something lighter and more human. Across very different places and circumstances, people are still showing up for each other with compassion, quick thinking, generosity, and persistence. These are the kinds of moments to make your day! Inmates at Utah Prison Say They’re Becoming “Better People,” Thanks to “Kindness Classes” Utah State Prison in Salt Lake City. (CREDIT: Getty Images) Inside a Utah prison, a weekly program built around empathy, accountability, and compassion is giving inmates space to think differently about who they have been and who they still want to become. The “Kindness Class,” highlighted by the Utah Department of Corrections, is run with the One Kind Act A Day Foundation and encourages participants to reflect on their choices and the effect those choices have on others. The idea is simple, but the impact appears to be real. According to the People report, inmates said the class has helped them think more seriously about second chances, growth, and what it means …

‘At certain points, I had to stop entirely’: what I learned after a week of Hyrox classes | Well actually

‘At certain points, I had to stop entirely’: what I learned after a week of Hyrox classes | Well actually

Published by Sam Flores

I have spent years in and out of the gym, trying the latest fitness trends. Consequently, my social media feed often populates with shirtless, sweaty men promising to transform my workouts. Then it started. First, it was the occasional video of athletes grinding through a series of herculean tasks: pushing plate-laden sleds, collapsing over rowing machines, sprinting laps and throwing weighted balls at a wall inside of what looked like an aircraft hangar. That trickle became an avalanche, and I became curious. It looked like CrossFit, but it wasn’t. I was discovering its newer, endurance-heavy counterpart Hyrox. Hyrox is a fitness race that combines running with exercises designed to train the body for everyday activities. And it is seemingly everywhere – on TikTok, Instagram and group chats with friends who are protein-maxxing. To break it down for the uninitiated, I spoke with one of the sport’s founders and tried a few classes myself. What is Hyrox? Founded in 2017 in Germany by Christian Toetzke, an endurance racer, and Moritz Fürste, an Olympic field hockey player, …

The hidden cost of early morning classes on teen student brains

The hidden cost of early morning classes on teen student brains

Published by Jenni Sidey

The first alarm can feel like a small act of cruelty. It goes off while your brain is still deep in night mode, and the school day demands you switch on anyway. For many teenagers, that mismatch is not a character flaw or a failure of “time management.” It is biology. During adolescence, the body’s internal clock shifts later, making it harder to fall asleep early, even when you know you should. Early school start times lock in early wake-ups, and sleep debt piles up through the week. “This is concerning, as chronic sleep deprivation not only affects well-being, but also has a measurable impact on mental health, physical development and the ability to learn,” says Oskar Jenni of the University of Zurich (UZH). A school schedule built around choice In northeastern Switzerland, one secondary school tried a different approach. At the Gossau Upper Secondary School in the canton of St. Gallen, students began working with a flexible schedule that let them shape when their day began. Schematic illustration of the old and the new …

Solasta 2: Release date, classes, cast and more

Solasta 2: Release date, classes, cast and more

Published by Daniella Wilson

If you enjoyed the first game, then it’s time to start gearing up for the Solasta 2 release date. While Baldur’s Gate 3 may have got all the attention a few years ago, anyone who played Solasta: Crown of the Magister knows what people have been missing out on. Thankfully, it sold well enough that it’s back for round two, and it’s even captured some of Baldur’s Gate 3’s actors to take part. If you’re wondering when Solasta 2 releases, who’s in it and more, here’s what you need to know. When is the Solasta 2 release date? Solasta 2 releases into early access on PC on 12 March 2026. While the first Solasta game did eventually make its way onto PlayStation 5 and Xbox consoles, Solasta 2 will begin its life solely on PC. Once early access is out of the way, we expect that Solasta 2 will be released onto consoles as well. Want to see this content? To show this content, we need your permission to allow Google reCAPTCHA and its required …

Women and middle classes dominate weight loss jab take-up | UK News

Women and middle classes dominate weight loss jab take-up | UK News

Published by Sam Flores

Women and the middle classes are dominating take-up of weight loss jabs, research suggests. Almost 80% of private prescriptions are for female patients, according to a survey by The Health Foundation, while the highest uptake by age group across both genders are those aged 30 to 49. It also showed people in the most deprived areas were around a third less likely to be getting the jabs than those in the least deprived, despite the former having far higher obesity levels. People in poorer areas also tend to start treatment when they are heavier – another sign of inequality. The data covered 113,630 people who accessed the drugs privately between November 2024 and October 2025. Read more: What are the available weight loss jabs? It comes as the NHS works on a phased rollout of Mounjaro, which will take 12 years. Some 220,000 patients have been prioritised for the first three years. Those eligible for treatment on the NHS have included those with a body mass index over 40 and illnesses such as high blood …

Yale stops David Gelernter from teaching classes

Yale stops David Gelernter from teaching classes

Published by Sam Flores

Professor David Gelernter sits in his office at Yale University in New Haven, Conn., on Aug. 28, 1997. Brad Clift | Hartford Courant | AP Yale University said Wednesday that it has barred professor David Gelernter from teaching computer science classes, for now, as the university conducts a review of his contacts with Jeffrey Epstein, which included mentioning a Yale student for a potential project. Gelernter’s extensive email correspondence with Epstein came to light after the release of files related to Epstein by the Department of Justice in late January. Among those files is an October 2011 email to Epstein, in which Gelernter mentions a software project to be built. “I have a perfect editoress in mind: Yale sr, worked at Vogue last summer, runs her own campus mag, art major, completely connected, v small goodlooking blonde,” Gelernter wrote. The email was sent three years after Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida state court to soliciting an underage girl for prostitution. Epstein served 13 months in jail in that case. The Yale Daily News reported Tuesday …

Community health hubs could use empty classes

Community health hubs could use empty classes

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles Classrooms in schools rocked by falling rolls could be used by the NHS as “community health hubs”, the boss of the Department for Education’s property arm has said.  Lara Newman, the chief executive of LocatED, also said she was “seriously worried” about plunging birth rates undoing the free schools programme.    A drop in birth rates since the early 2010s has left primaries struggling to fill places and forced the worst-hit urban councils to slash intakes and close schools.  Councils ‘can’t afford it’ Speaking at a Westminster Education Forum on school buildings last Thursday, Newman said: “Local authorities are in a really difficult position around their own funding. They cannot afford to keep empty schools going.” Lara Newman She argued that “finding some medium-term way of usefully utilising” empty space was “absolutely crucial”.  Options that could keep school buildings occupied and viable “if and when children return”, included using empty spaces as “community health hubs” alongside public health and wellbeing services.  A slide shown during her talk noted paediatric …

CPS draft guidance classes circumcision as potential child abuse

CPS draft guidance classes circumcision as potential child abuse

Published by Sam Flores

Draft prosecution guidance on harmful practices has classified non-therapeutic male circumcision (NTMC) as a potential form of child abuse. The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) guidance states circumcision can be a “painful and harmful practice” and “may be a form of child abuse or an offence against the person”. The National Secular Society campaigns to protect all children from medically unnecessary genital cutting. It has repeatedly called on the Government to protect boys from NTMC until they are old enough to decide for themselves, based on their own values. The CPS said it has “recently prosecuted cases where significant harm and distress has been caused to victims”, referring to the jailings of Mohammad Siddiqui and Mohammed Alazawi for circumcision related crimes against boys last year. Unanaesthetised circumcision was “gratuitous infliction of pain” In January 2025, Mohammad Siddiqui was jailed for child cruelty, amongst other crimes, after performing an unanaesthetised circumcision on an infant. Pre-existing CPS guidance includes child cruelty as a form of child abuse. In court, the CPS’s KC described the unanaesthetised circumcision as “gratuitous …

English classes are being targeted by anti-immigration protesters – but they’ve been politicised for years

English classes are being targeted by anti-immigration protesters – but they’ve been politicised for years

Published by skeptic

Just as the protests outside asylum hotels of summer 2025 faded from headlines, some anti-immigration groups turned their attention to another target: English classes. On November 24, a protest was organised outside a primary school in Glasgow, in opposition to an Esol (English for speakers of other languages) class being delivered for parents of children at the school. Holding placards reading “protect our kids”, protesters claimed that these classes presented a danger to children at the school. The protest was widely publicised by Spartan Child Protection Team, a self-styled vigilante “paedophile hunter” group. Just three weeks earlier, the group circulated complaints online regarding an Esol class taking place in a community learning centre next to a primary school in Renfrew. In response, Renfrewshire Council shut down the classes. Other anti-immigration groups across Scotland have followed suit, raising “safeguarding concerns” around Esol classes – specifically, the presence of migrant adults in proximity to schools. Glasgow City Council took a strong stance in response to “social media speculation around family learning opportunities” and the protest at Dalmarnock …