Shanghai students are cleverest with cash
Teenagers in Shanghai, China, are the most financially literate in the world, according to new figures from the Programme for International Student Assessment (Pisa). Students in the city - famed for their high performance in other Pisa tests - came top out of 18 countries participating in an optional financial literacy test for 15-year-olds in 2012. Students in Flemish-speaking Belgium came second in the financial literacy ranking and Estonia came third. The lowest performing countries were Italy in 17th place and Colombia, which came bottom.
Failure to report abuse should be illegal, NSPCC says
Covering up child abuse should be made a criminal offence, the chief executive of the NSPCC children’s charity has said. Peter Wanless, who is leading a review of how the UK Home Office handled historic accusations of child abuse by MPs, said that people failing to report abuse should face automatic prosecution. His comments indicate a policy U-turn by the NSPCC, which previously opposed so-called “mandatory reporting”, claiming that it was unfair to criminalise “those who hesitate” to report abuse.
Newport schools to shut down for Nato summit
The majority of schools in the Welsh city of Newport will close when a major international summit takes place there later this year. So far, 38 schools have confirmed that they will be shut on 4-5 September and six will have shorter days when the Nato summit takes place at the Celtic Manor hotel. The schools will be closed because of concerns over protests taking place during the convention - due to be attended by 60 world leaders - and traffic congestion. It will be the UK’s first Nato summit since 1990 and US president Barack Obama’s first visit to Wales.
Bishop calls for `liberation’ from collective worship
The long-standing law that says schools should perform acts of collective worship should be scrapped, the chairman of the Church of England’s Board of Education has said. The Bishop of Oxford, the Rt Rev John Pritchard, said it would be “liberating” for non-religious schools to be able to drop the duty, but they should still include time for “spiritual reflection”. When the law was established in 1944, he said, collective worship represented the “mood of the nation”. But compelling people to be involved in religion did a “disservice” to keeping Christian faith as part of national culture, he added.
Return to the West Coast from the West Country
A teenager from the mean streets of Los Angeles, who won the chance to study at a top independent school in the UK, is heading home after completing his A-levels. Juan Luquin, aged 18, was selected from hundreds of young hopefuls at a school in West LA to receive a two-year scholarship to Taunton School in Somerset. He now has an unconditional offer to study computer science and maths at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California, but said he was sad to be leaving his beloved England. “The last couple of years have been amazing and I have enjoyed every single minute,” he added. “It’s an experience I will never forget and the friendships I have made here will remain with me all my life.”
