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The Education Act 2012 gives schools the power to impose detentions without the existing 24 hours’ notice for parents. Photo: GETTY

6:00AM GMT 16 Jan 2012

Teachers will be able to keep unruly pupils behind at the end of the school day without warning after ministers scrapped the existing 24-hour notice period for parents.

The Government insisted the rules – being introduced from today – would make children more accountable for their bad behaviour.

It is among a series of Coalition reforms enshrined in the Education Act 2011 designed to crack down on classroom indiscipline. This includes increased powers to search pupils for banned items, granting teachers anonymity when accused of assault and giving heads the final say on expulsions.

It comes amid fears that the balance of power in schools has swung too far towards pupils in recent years.

Almost 1,000 children are suspended from school for abuse and assault every day and two-thirds of teachers admit bad behaviour is driving professionals out of the classroom.

Trading currencies has gotten a bad rap from some people, and it hasn’t deserved most of it. While some people think that trading currency pairs is “unsafe” or “too risky,” generally these are a different kind of investor than the type who would even be interested in laying down the cash for currency pairs in the first place.

While Forex trading is potentially lucrative, it isn’t for everyone, and you need to respect that different people are going to have differing opinions about how to grow your wealth. If you try to listen to everyone, you might end up never doing anything.

Image via Flickr

Your Trading Platform is Important

In years past, the only method anyone had for investing was to trade through a broker. You’d call up your broker and instruct him to buy this or sell that. Fortunately, in the computer age, your options have opened up considerably. Regardless of what kind of asset you want to invest in, you can get into Forex currency trading online with UFXmarkets or another wholesale investing platform in this day and age. Your options are generally now limited only by how much you want to invest and when you want to start. But choosing one that allows you to invest in your own way is crucial.

They Aren’t All the Same

Your choice of trading platform is very important to how ultimately successful you become. While many people end up with the first company they see online, you should take the time to check out plenty of different platforms, to make sure the one you choose is the best one for you. While many Forex trading platforms allow you to change up your view of the trading window and other screens, finding one that offers all of the features you want is even more important. Make sure every currency pair that interests you is featured in any company you choose to work with.

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The Work Should be the Research

Researching currencies can take a lot of twists and turns. You may research the country and its GDP to determine its currency’s relative value, or you may be more technically inclined, and look for trends along the candlesticks. No matter what method you use to pick your currencies, picking your trading platform shouldn’t be anywhere near as difficult. If you have to work harder negotiating the interface than you do in your research, you’ve got a real problem.

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Huntsville Middle School seventh-grader Emma Stowe loves to write, so her parents gently encouraged her to enter a nationwide creative writing competition a few months ago.

Good call. Emma’s entry, Thinking Cap, won the grand prize in the 9-13 age group of the annual “Be a Famous Writer” contest sponsored by MrsP.com, a website that aims to encourage a love of reading.

“I knew I was a finalist, but I never thought I might win,” Emma, 13, said Sunday. “I’m really excited.”

Emma’s 950-word short story about a missing gerbil named Ginger will be turned into a web video featuring Mrs. P. – TV sitcom actress Kathy Kinney. Kinney’s past credits include “My Name is Earl,” “The Drew Carey Show,” “Seinfeld” and “Grace Under Fire.”

Robin E. Kaplan, an award-winning illustrator from Portland, Ore., will create original artwork to accompany Emma’s story.

In addition to the video, MrsP.com is producing a bound copy of Emma’s story with Kaplan’s illustrations. The picture of Emma that accompanies this article will appear on the book jacket.

“Emma’s written stories since she was little,” mother Elaine Stowe said Sunday. “It’s just something she’s always loved to do, so we thought this contest would be a fun experience for her.”

“But it was a pretty big surprise” that she took top honors.

Emma’s father, Jay Stowe, is chief operating officer of Huntsville Utilities.

Her story is set in Miss Applewood’s fourth-grade classroom. Ginger, the class pet, has vanished from her cage. A student in the class, Lily, skips recess to try to solve the mystery.

Lily ends up using carrots to coax the missing gerbil from its hiding place in the wall.

“Like a lot of fourth-grade teachers, Miss Applewood encourages the kids to use their thinking caps,” Emma said. “There’s a constant theme of Lily saying to herself, ‘I need to use my thinking cap to figure out where Ginger is.’”

Emma credited her sixth-grade reading teacher at Huntsville Middle, Michelle Steed, with pushing her to become a better writer.

“She taught me to really like words and learn their meaning.”

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Did you know that one of the biggest mistakes a person can make is misplacing an important document, such as a birth certificate or passport? Yes, these types of important, identifying documents are often what we’re frantically searching for when we need them most. About to board the plane for your honeymoon and can’t put your hand on that passport? Running late to register your little one for school and can’t seem to find his or her birth certificate? Do these harried circumstances sound familiar? If they do, you’re certainly not alone. Everyone misplaces an important document from time to time, but fortunately for all of us, emerging technology is beginning to make our lives (and our homes) slightly more peaceful. Scanning, storing and sending confidential pieces of paperwork and information is now revolutionized, and email fax services will help de-clutter even the most frantic households in no time.

Email fax services are available to the public, and helping everyone from frazzled parents to stressed business owners finally get rid of all their excess paperwork, and think with clearer minds (and clearer desktops). Imagine a workspace completely free of sticky notes, signed documents or invoices or bills waiting to be paid. Now, all those pesky pieces of paper can be neatly scanned into your iPad or smartphone for new ease of access and convenience. If you think you might not be a candidate for email fax services, think again. Take a look at our collection of who might be a great fit for the new technology, and start simplifying right away.

Computer Workers

Image by dennes abing via Flickr

If you spend your day in front of a computer, there’s no reason to also rummage through tons of hard copies of papers and files. Scan them all into your mobile device and enjoy the ability to send documents back and forth to coworkers and supervisors.

Families

Get the clutter out of the house, and keep all the kids’ important papers on your phone. You’ll never have to run home again to grab a permission slip or medical document.

Now that you’ve discovered how truly effortless email fax services can be, it’s time you register for an account and start cleaning up that clutter in your own life. That stack of bills sitting on the kitchen table? Scan them into your phone and pay on the go. The kids’ syllabi for school that are overtaking your home office? Copy those to your phone and toss the paper copies in the recycle bin. Before you know it, that cluttered desktop and frantic searching for lists and little scraps of paper will be a distant memory.

I will be at all seven King Holiday Hoopfest games at Hec Ed Monday, and I will post Twitter updates throughout.