School CCTV cameras
Daily Record
A school has been fitted with 48 CCTV cameras - 37 of them inside the building. Inverclyde Academy in Greenock has more cameras than any school in Scotland and almost one for every 20 pupils. Education bosses claim they are needed at the privately-built school, which opened two years ago, to help with fire safety. But Daniel Hamilton, director of Big Brother Watch UK, said: “There is already more CCTV in schools in Scotland than anywhere else in the world.”
Weight and sleep linked
The Scotsman
Children who do not get enough sleep face an increased risk of becoming overweight, research suggests. The study found that even after other lifestyle factors such as diet and exercise were taken into account, the amount of sleep children got was strongly linked to their chances of becoming obese. Several studies have shown a link but it has not been clear whether lack of sleep was the cause of higher weights, or if heavier children just slept less.
Course cuts slammed
The Herald
Cuts to courses at a Scottish university have been attacked by the country’s leading youth work organisation. YouthLink Scotland, the national agency for youth work, said a proposal by Strathclyde University to close its community education course was “short sighted and ill thought out”. Last month, Margaret Curran, Labour MP for Glasgow East, also expressed shock over the plans.
Children’s drink concerns
Scotland on Sunday
A third of Scottish children and teenagers say they are worried about how much their parents and other adults around them are drinking, while half have been “embarrassed” by the drunken antics of adults around them, a new survey of Scottish opinion has found. The survey, conducted by the charity Young Scot, comes as Scottish ministers prepare to table fresh legislation in the coming weeks to impose a minimum price per unit on alcohol, and with police demanding a tougher crackdown on alcohol abuse.
Improved safeguarding
The Scotsman
A record number of children have been rescued from paedophiles targeting youngsters via the internet, a specialist unit has said. In the past 12 months alone, 414 children from across the UK have been saved - more than one a day. It is the highest number in the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) centre’s history. In total, CEOP has safeguarded more than 1,000 children since its creation in 2006.
