#youth

Miss L starts work at a new Pupil Referal Unit after half term. So we were chatting away on the bus about lesson planning for SMSC. 'Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural education' is the new term for what was PSHE or Religious Education when I was doing my GCSE's 2 decades ago.

The challenge for Miss L is 'doing' SMSC with young people either excluded from school and/or will have to miss her class to be up before the magistrate. It's seems lessons talking about 'pink whizz' is the way forward, following maths lessons based on comparing receipts for the best deals on bulk buys (read cider).

It's a world away from my education. Although not quite. Miss L met my little bro recently (after 15 years) and he smoothly deflected a conversation about PRU's infront of his son. Being excluded from school is no longer a trophy for him and in fact he's turned out to be a wise and mature young man and a great dad. I suspect seeing his change will be inspiration for Miss L in the tougher lessons.

Anyway, I digress. I felt sad to hear the criminal spiral that children as young as 12 find themselves trapped in.

I was suddenly lifted as we stepped off the bus. Stratford was awash with young people in branded t-shirts, handing out leaflets, on megaphones and shooting media interviews. Tuesday is voting day for Young Major of Newham. There's hope, when you see so many young people getting involved in politics. (As an extra bonus the shops in Stratford Westfields were devoid of youths - thankfully they were too bust to shop!)