Teach Secondary - Issue 13.2

PALWORLD Palworld is a game for PC and Xbox which, as the kids would have it, is ‘blowing up right now’.The premise is that you’re a ‘collector’ forced tomake do on a rugged island, scavenging for items to survive – but you’re not alone.With you in this inhospitable environment are a hundred different varieties of ‘Pals’ – small tomediumsized creatures that can be taught to hunt, protect encampments and battle other Pals.One tames these Pals with the aid of ‘Spheres’ – and themore you play, the greater the compulsion to ‘Catch ‘emall’… Yes, the Pokémon comparisons have been flying around this thing from themoment of its release in January, but it deviates fromNintendo’s ‘collect cute creatures andmake themfight each other’ formula in some important ways. For one thing, the Pals you collect can be armed – as in, given guns. If the notion of ‘Pikachu, but with aMagnum’ isn’t sufficiently alluring/ off-putting, there’s also some thinly-veiled satire (the island is addtionally home to several organised gangs and Pal liberation activists) and a complex in-game economy, the implications of which soon start to get a bit icky if you think about it for any length of time... Thinkofanumber... ONE FOR THE WALL “To save man from the morass of propaganda, inmy opinion, is one of the chief aims of education” Martin Luther King Jr. Teach Secondary’s digest of the latest goings-on in the profession... The newsletter What arewe talking about? Red Nose Day 2024 Who is it for? KS3 BEAT THE BUDGET The UNINFORMED teacher’s guide to… WHAT THEY SAID “As a fellow headteacher, I was shocked and saddened by the death of Ruth Perry. As the new Chief Inspector, I am determined to do everything inmy power to prevent such tragedies in the future.We accept the Coroner’s findings and have responded to the recommendations of her report in full.” SirMartynOliver,OfstedHMCI, responding to the ‘Prevention of Future Deaths’ report issued by HMCoroner DO SAY “A cutesy factory farm sim, you say? Where do I sign up?” “I can’t see Ryan Reynolds doing the movie spin-off...” DON’T SAY 2,679 The number of permanent exclusions at state secondary schools over the 2022-23 autumn term– up from1,847 the previous year Source: DfE 28% of parents agree with the notion that the pandemic has shown it’s not essential for children to attend school every day Source: ‘TheMissing Link’ report on student absence byThe Centre for Social Justice 18 Theminimumage requirement for the government’s recently announced NewTeacher Degree Apprenticeship,which will see trainees posted in classrooms Source: DfE What’s on offer? A lesson plan, tutor time activities, a themed assembly and assorted promotional materials to aid fundraising by schools in support of this year’s Red Nose Day, organised by Comic Relief. Howmight teachers use the resources? The resources can be used as extensively or as sparingly as schools prefer.There are ideas for fundraising and posters, as well as a free quiz and puzzle pack, plus as a full one-hour KS3 PSHE/English lesson for those wanting to explore the background of Comic Relief’s work inmore depth. Where is it available? comicrelief.com/secondary 06 teachwire.net/secondary