More than 1,000 students tried to cheat using phones in GCSE and A-level exams
The number of teachers and school staff “involved in exam malpractice” has more than doubled between 2016 and 2017. Unauthorised materials, such as mobile phones, accounted for 80% of all the students given penalties. Plagiarism was the other major category, accounting for 17% of cases. Although cases of cheating have risen, the overall number still remains low, with 2,715 penalties issued to students representing just 0.015% of exam entrants in 2017.
Staff and other college staff involvement in cheating has also taken a sharp rise with 360 cases in 2016, to 895 in 2017. In more than half of the cases the teachers received written warnings, but 185 “were required to undergo training, while 90 were barred from involvement in exams”.
All iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are affected by microchip flaw that leaves devices vulnerable to hackers Apple says
Apple continue to experience issues with their phones. Coming after a heated past few weeks regarding older iPhone models experiencing handicapped battery performance by Apple, it has now been revealed that all iPhones, iPads and Mac computers are vulnerable to hackers.
The vulnerability is due to a microchip flaw codenamed “Spectre”. Lukasz Olejnik, an independent security and privacy consultant and researcher, said that the “biggest risk to Apple users may come through malicious websites using JavaScript, a programming language used to run online adverts and other applications”.
Software updates were released in December 2017 to protect against the bugs. However, an update for Safari will be introduced soon. Running older versions of iOS that isn’t iOS 11.2, MacOS 10.13.2 and tvOS 11.2, will leave your iPhone/iPad/Mac vulnerable.
Ambulance A&E delays hit one in eight
Patients in ambulances are meant to be handed over to staff within 15 minutes of arrival. A BBC analysis has been released that says that more than 75,000 patients have waited at least twice as long as that in England. Ambulance crews have said that some of the worst waits lasted “up to five hours”. Patients caught up in the problems said “they feared for their health during the waits”.
Figures from the Public Health England show a “sharp rise” in hospital admissions in England due to flu cases in late December 2017. PHE bosses have said this was a contributing factor to the pressures on the NHS.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42560312
Sharp rise in flu hospital admissions in England
Late December 2017 saw a “significant” rise in hospital admissions in England for confirmed flu. There were 114 admissions to intensive care and a further 421 people admitted to general wards – up from 61 and 66 the week before. NHS bosses had previously warned of a bad flu season due to the recent Australian flu outbreak that has been its worst in recent years. GPs over the same period also saw a rise in admissions, but compared to the baseline admission rates, the raised level was still classed as “low”.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-42567374
Secondary school starters ‘unprepared’ for social media
It has been revealed that a study performed by Anne Longfield, England’s children’s commissioner, has shown worrying trends for young people engaging with social media. The report into the effects of social media on 8-12-year-olds claimed “many children were over-depending on ‘likes’ and comments for social validation”. Ms Longfield has called on schools and parents to prepare children emotionally for the “significant risks” of social media. The study highlighted that “It’s really when they hit secondary school that all of these things come together”.