Should CCTV be allowed in schools?

A few weeks ago a school in America was prosecuted by parents because their school issue laptops had cameras on them which some teachers used to view the students and the family whenever they wanted. This is still under investigation and students started to worry when they found this out. Most of the students covered the cameras with sticky tape. All of the parents were outraged and most of the parents pressed charges. The school said that the cameras were only supposed to be used to see if the laptops were stolen or if children weren’t on appropriate websites or software. They could film from the camera or take a still images to help finding the laptops if reported stolen or missing.
 This report brings up the question, what happens with the things filmed in schools? Is it stored, is it thrown away or do teachers take them home and watch it. CCTV does help catch somebody if they are breaking the rules. They could tell if someone had broken the rules from their expressions or body language. Is there a need for this many cameras in schools today just to see what exactly someone doing a crime e.g. smoking at school or vandalism.
I asked fellow students and they quoted “I think it’s totally pointless it’s a school not a prison.” “There could be someone who we don’t even know in a room in Sir Harry’s watching us all its creepy!”
Apparently when the new head teachers were being interview they said they wanted cameras in the toilets e.g. near the taps which seems really wrong that they would want someone watching boys and girls inside the toilets however, Mr Digby did not have that idea at all but the other head teachers did.

CCTV in the UK

One study shows that there may be more than 4.2 million CCTV cameras in the UK alone. If this is the case why is there still crime. We are videoed several times during the day, while doing everyday things. It is thought that because there are so many cameras criminals would stop committing crime.
Some reasons for this are that criminals sometimes think that the cameras are. Also, a camera can only point in one direction at a time. Even with a swivelling camera it is still very easy to evade being seen.
Some people say that it is an invasion of our privacy and that cameras should be abandoned. While others want them to go because they watch the normal civilians but never seem too catch the criminals.

 Tom and Matt

 

Fundraising for Haiti

You are probably aware of what happened on the 12th of January this year. Where an earthquake measuring 7 on the Richter scale hit a small Caribbean country on the western side of Hispaniola. Port-au-Prince, the capital of Haiti (with a population of 10,033,000) was struck around 16:53 local time followed by two after shocks, one measuring 5.5 and the other measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale.  This left 1,500,000 homeless, 300,000 injured and 230,000 dead! It is now thought that around a third of the population is under fourteen years of age. The earthquake came to a shock for many but mainly the locals, who the majority were having their pre nap before dinner, and were awoken by the shaking underground. Many houses fell down and roads were split, as Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the western hemisphere, and by all means not quake proof! Haiti has also suffered a series of recent events; they suffered four hurricanes and storms killing thousands in 2008.

At the time the roads were blocked with rubble, the telephone lines where down and within a couple of days, food and drink resources where low and crime was rapidly increasing so the marines where sent out on patrol until aid was given. Dead bodies were increasing by the hundreds yet there was no time or room to give them a burial, instead piles of bodies were placed on the streets in body bags, and many bodies still remain in the rubble of destroyed homes. The villagers at first had no aid in removing the rubble and instead had to use there bare hands to try and get to the survivors, one boy had managed to live a whole week under the rubble of his collapsed house! After hearing what sate this country was left in, many countries responded to the appeal and sent out search and rescue teams, raised money in events and fundraising. But what came to a great was that the first country to supply aid for Haiti was a neighbouring country, the Dominican Republic, who had throughout the past century had many conflicts and disagreements. They provided; food, bottled water and heavy machinery to clear the rubble from the roads and streets. The government then sent eight mobile medical units along with, thirty six doctors, that included specialists in every medical area which also brought surgeons, thirty nine trucks with food were also received from the government, along with ten mobile kitchens and 110 cooks who were able to provide around 100,000 meals a day for the locals suffering in Haiti.
Our school, like many around the world, participated in fundraising events to provide for Haiti. These events included: non- uniform; where each student had to pay £1, selling cakes and candyfloss on stools, the staff paid extra money directly to the finance office and separate buckets went around the classes for pupils to place in any more extra change. In total Sir Harry Smith Community College raised £1066.58.

By Charmaine and Lauren.