In your PSHE lessons , when teaching about Alcohol Awareness could you please think about going beyond ‘ personal responsibility’, and ” know your own limits”? Too many young . sexually active young people are unaware of the harm they can cause an unborn child . They may not even know they are pregnant during those first 12 weeks when all of the cell migration and foetus formation is taking place . Obviously this is an issue particularly for girls , but increasingly recent studies are showing that young men who consistently binge drink may cause a reduction in their capacity to father a healthy baby.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders amongst children continue to rise in the UK, and are phenomena that is not only perplexing the Education system , but our Society as a whole. We cannot control what our young people do , but we can encourage them to think of the lifelong implications for their unborn child. Would any of them really want to create a child with lifelong disabilities just for the sake of a binge drinking session? Many are not aware that this could be a consequence , and so are not even considering the issue and making a positive choice.
An excellent resource on ‘Fetal Alcohol Harm” has been produced by NHS Scotland. It is a designed as training materials for staff, but much of the material could be used as a stimulus for discussions with students in school.
If you want a young person with FASD to tell you what it is really like to live with this condition , I suggest you look up
Morgan Fawcett on youtube.
When I was a child the classroom was a place I wanted to escape from! Yet school can be something children anticipate eagerly each day. We’ve been visiting schools and talking to teachers who have created truly irresistible learning environments.The result is The irresistible classroom, a training resource to help teachers prepare classrooms that captivate children with their potential for discovery. The booklet starts by considering how children learn in Reception and Key Stage 1. It goes on to discuss how a classroom might be arranged to stimulate that learning. Lastly we reflect on how the room’s aesthetic message affects the child’s motivation.
Barry Carpenter Education 