Childline increases counselling sessions over exam anxiety

  • Childline reports that the number of counselling sessions over exam anxiety has almost doubled in seven months.
  • More than 200 counselling sessions about exam worries took place in March 2022, nearly double the number of sessions in September 2021.
  • Childline practitioners delivered 1,734 counselling sessions in 2021-22 to pupils worried about exams and revision, representing a 62% rise from previous year.
  • You can read the full story on The Independent’s website.

Online platforms struggling with Buffalo shooting re-uploads

  • Following Saturday’s mass shooting in Buffalo, online platforms are seemingly struggling to prevent versions of the gunman’s livestream from spreading.
  • The shooter wanted to livestream the shooting on Twitch according to a to-do list he published on Discord outlining his intentions but his channel was taken down.
  • Twitch reported that that they are monitoring for “any accounts rebroadcasting this content” and Meta has added the footage to a database for automatic detection and removal.
  • Some re-uploads of the shooting included a link of a screen recording which received 43,000 interactions and a post on Facebook linking to the video that was viewed more than 1.8 million times.
  • You can read the full story on Engadget’s website.

Children’s activity levels have not recovered after end of restrictions

  • A study by the University of Bristol has found that children’s activity levels have deteriorated even after pandemic restrictions have been lifted.
  • The study found that only a third of children were meeting the national recommended physical activity guidelines.
  • There was also an increase in the time children spend sitting down each day during the week, spending on average 25 minutes longer.
  • You can read the full story on The Guardian’s website.

Holiday hunger payments still not in place for summer

  • According to the Department of Education, funding for the “holiday hunger” payments this summer is still not in place.
  • Agreement is needed from the Stormont Executive to provide £22m a year so that the scheme can help approximately 98,000 children.
  • Ministers had previously agreed to pay for free school meals for eligible children in NI during school holidays, where families received £27 per child every fortnight.
  • You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.