Sixth Form attend House of Lords meeting on North Korea

On the evening of 28^th June the Sixth Form had the privilege of attending a Joint-Party Committee meeting in the House of Lords, chaired by Lord Alton of Liverpool, on human rights abuses in North Korea.

The 2 hour meeting consisted of listening to the testimonies of 2 escapees from this most secretive and abusive communist regime, followed by a presentation and plea for support from Amnesty International.

The first testimony came from a lady, Kim Hye-Suk who, via a translator told of the horrors and abuse she suffered whilst detained in Prison Camp 18. Between 1978-99 and 2005-07 she and her family were forced to work 15 hour days in a coal mine, pushing coal carts weighing 2 tonnes a total of 2km a day in the pitch dark. She talked of the lack of food being the focus of everyone’s thoughts, with a family of 7 only being given 2 cups of acorns a day to share. She punctuated her talk with naïve but highly graphic pictures she had drawn during her time in captivity. They depicted scenes of torture and execution, often a result of nothing more than stealing a little bit of corn.

The second testimony came courtesy of Kim Joo-Il, a former Captain in the North Korean Army. His evidence gave greater clarity to the degree of brainwashing that the regime perpetuates through the 10 Principles, which make up North Korea’s constitution. In one video-clip there is a scene taken during the Seoul Olympics in which a coach load of female North Korean cheerleaders forcibly and dangerously make the coach driver  stop when they spot by the road a large poster of their own supreme leader, Kim Jong-Il  , fearful that rain might fall on his image! The degree of anguish and determination was clearly visible on all their faces. There were also clips, taken illegally, of ‘public trials’ in which members of the public are being tried for such ‘offences’ as using a mobile phone, a ‘crime’ which can result in a public execution. We were informed that the number of public executions has risen 6 fold in the last year.

Kim Joo-Il also described how extensive the general food shortage is in the whole country, with aid from China and South Korea being siphoned off for the benefit of the regime and its supporters.

With access to North Korea being highly restricted, organizations such as Amnesty International have a very hard time assessing North Korea’s human rights record. Testimonies such as these are extremely important in the work that they do, giving credence to suspicions they have of the regime, gained from satellite images. We saw some of these images where you could see the extent of the crop failures and get a sense of the imminent starvation that is already beginning to blight the abused citizens of this country.

We think of the Houses of Parliament as places where party policies are debated and where laws are formed but we forget that they also offer essential forums where issues like this can receive a proper audience. It is through shining a light in this way that pressure, intelligently asserted, can bring about change.

The Sixth Form is very grateful for the invitation from Lord Alton to attend this meeting.

Useful portals for career advice

Researching possible careers is not  the sole preserve of a school's Sixth Form so whatever age you are it is never too early to start research.
The internet is full of advice but here are some portals which we are very happy to recommend:

My Career On Line

http://icould.com/

http://www.careersbox.co.uk/

http://www.talkingjobs.net/

https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/advice/Pages/default.aspx

Siena Society talk changes to 6pm on Thursday, 30th June

Professor Alastair Poole's talk on the Function of Platelets in Thrombosis Prevention and forum on admissions on to Medical and Veterinary courses is an hour earlier than published- 6pm (not 7pm).
Please visit http://www.bristolplatelets.org/home/alastair-poole if you would like a preview of the work that Professor Poole and his team engage in at Bristol university.
Students from all schools and their parents are very welcome to attend.

Tuesday 28 June, 6-8pm, Room 4A, House of Lords: - All Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea

The Sixth Form at St Catherine’s are very fortunate to have been invited to attend this meeting which will  include the taking of evidence on North Korea’s prison camps, including presentations by a defector from North Korea, Kim Joo-il, who served in the North Korean military, and Kim Hye-Sook, who spent 27 years in the prison camps and was first jailed when she was 13 years old. 

Kim Hye Sook who used to live in the No. 18 Bukchang Camp for 23 years,
describes human rights violations in the camp, indicating the directions of the camp drawn by her.

Amnesty International will show its new film and satellite photographs of the prison camps, and Kim Hye-Sook’s drawings depicting life in the camps will be displayed.

Studying abroad - Erasmus could mean no tuition fees for a year

If you are still considering studying abroad, a different approach could be to take part in an academic exchange programme while attending a UK university.

What you may not expect to hear is that costs rarely exceed what the home student would pay for the remainder of the course. Erasmus, administered by the British Council and a European Commission initiative offers placements that do not pay tuition fees to their host university abroad. And if the placement is for an entire academic year (24 term-time weeks or more) then tuition fees are also waived by their UK university.

Erasmus offers grants for a study or work placement of three to 12 months in one of 30 European countries. Full academic credit is given for most periods of study spent abroad.

Erasmus grants — €225 per month for the 2010-11 academic year — are non-repayable, not means-tested and paid through the home university in addition to any standard grants or loans that the student is entitled to (which are adjusted to a special “overseas” rate). At its discretion, the home university may still offer Access to Learning funds for those who require additional money.

Local authorities may also be able to help with travel costs, through means-tested grants.

For more details download the Erasmus leaflet from the British Council.

4/10 employers unhappy with youngsters' literacy and numeracy skills

The CBI can sometimes seem like a club for professional complainers but they are important, and their views matter. In their latest report, more than four out of 10 of the employers sampled are unhappy with youngsters' use of English, while 35% bemoan their numeracy skills. The report also said that 44% had to invest in remedial training for school and college leavers. Some 69% complained about inadequate business and customer awareness and 55% highlighted poor self-management skills.

John Cridland, director general of the CBI, said: "It's alarming that a significant number of employers have concerns about the basic skills of school and college leavers. Companies do not expect schools and colleges to produce 'job-ready' young people, but having a solid foundation in basic skills such as literacy and numeracy is fundamental for work." He also called on the government to do more to promote STEM: "Higher-skilled employees, especially in science, technology, engineering and maths will be some of the most in demand. The government must improve the take-up of science and maths in schools and support the development of Stem apprenticeship programmes so that employers are able to recruit the right people to drive growth."

Good news if you are considering Accountancy...

The Institute of Chartered Accountants is looking to copy the work/study scheme run by Price Waterhouse and KPMG and extend it to medium sized accountancy firms. The institute currently run the Undergraduate Partnership Programme whereby students at Cardiff, Manchester and Warwick obtain work experience during their studies that helps towards their ACA.