Section:GDN 1N PaGe:5 Edition Date:190821 Edition:01 Zone: Sent at 20/8/2019 19:18 cYanmaGentaYellowbl
Wednesday 21 Au g u st 2019 The Guardian •
Must try harder? 5
Practice doesn’t make
perfect, study fi nds
Page 11‘It’s an act of defi ance’
The rise of all-female
lineups at festivals
Page 17A million fl owers bloom Joanna Golland on her horse, Flo , left, and her daughter Sophie on
Beatle in a sunfl ower fi eld near Spalding in Lincolnshire. Vine House Farm grows sunfl owers
over 40 hectares (100 acres) and is one of the most northerly commercial sunfl ower farms in the
world. The six million fl owers on the farm will be harvested for their seed and fed to the birds.PHOTOGRAPH:
GEOFF ROBINSON
PHOTOGRAPHYOutrage at
Amazon’s
unrecyclable
plastic bags
Miles BrignallEnvironmental groups and customers
have criticised Amazon after it
introduc ed plastic packaging that
cannot be recycled in the UK.
While supermarkets and other
shops have been reducing single-use
plastics , the world’s biggest online
retailer has started sending small
items in plastic envelopes, seemingly
to allow more parcels on to trucks.
Adrian Fletcher, an Amazon
customer from Glasgow, is among
those who have complained to the
company. He said the move felt like a
“major step backwards”.
“My husband is disabled, and we
rely a lot on Amazon and other home
deliveries,” he said. “Previously
our small orders arrived in easily
recyclable cardboard packaging, but a
few months ago Amazon started using
plastic envelopes. I diligently recycle
all the packaging but can’t these.
“The supermarkets have all been
dropping carrier bags from their online
deliveries, but Amazon is going the
other way – it’s madness.
“I have asked them not to ship my
orders using plastic packaging but this
falls on deaf ears.”
Amazon’s Second Chance website,
which details how customers should
recycle its packaging, states the Prime-
branded envelopes are “ not widely
recycled across the UK”.
It is thought Amazon ships between
4bn and 5bn parcels a year world-
wide. In February, the Washington
Post reported how the new Amazon
envelopes clogged up US recycling
centres as consumers were wrongly
placing them in recycling bins.
On Monday, Amazon was among
181 companies that signed up to a
new offi cial defi nition of corporate
purpose in the US, which threw out
making as much profi t as possible
for shareholders as the sole objective,
and embraced the interests of other
stakeholders, including employees,
customers, suppliers and the
community.
The move included a pledge
to protect the environment “by
embracing sustainable practices”.
Amazon told the Guardian: “ Our
mission is to deliver the very best
customer experience.
“We work with manufacturers
worldwide to continuously improve
packaging design and introduce new,
sustainable packaging that delights
customers, eliminates waste and
ensures products arrive intact and
undamaged for our customers.”
It also said it listened to its customer
feedback.Poorest pupils twice as likely
to fail GCSEs as richest peers
Sally Weale
Education correspondentDisadvantaged pupils are almost
twice as likely to fail GCSE maths as
their wealthier classmates, accord-
ing to new research that lays bare the
attainment gap between rich and poor.
The analysis, published on the eve
of GCSE results day, shows students
in England from poorer backgrounds
lagging way behind wealthier peers in
key subjects at GCSE, prompting calls
for more government investment in
schools in deprived communities.
Russell Hobby, chief executive of
the education charity Teach First ,
which carried out the research , said:
“ A child’s postcode should never
determine how well they do at school,
yet today we’ve found huge disparities
based on just that. Low attainment at
GCSE is a real cause for concern, as it
can shut doors to future success and
holds young people back from meetingtheir aspirations.” Two in fi ve (38%)
pupils from the poorest one-third of
postcodes fail GCSE maths, nearly
twice as many as those from the richest
third (20%), according to the analysis.
Children from deprived back-
grounds are also less likely to be
awarded top grades. Just 11% of the
poorest pupils attain either a 7, 8 or 9- the top three grades under the new
GCSEs – in English , compared with 22%
of their more advantaged peers.
In maths it is 13% for poorer pupils,
compared with 26% for wealthier
students. In French 15% of poorer
pupils get top grades, compared with
27% of those from the most advan-
taged backgrounds. In geography, 50%
of disadvantaged children fail to get a
level 4 – a standard pass – compared
with 27% of the richest pupils.
As with maths, 38% of the poorest
pupils fail to pass GCSE English , com-
pared with 22% of the richest.
In history, almost half (46%) of the
poorest pupils fail , compared with 27%
of the wealthiest; 16% of the poorest
students get top grades, compared
with 31% of the richest.
The fi ndings, based on the govern-
ment’s underlying key stage 4 results
data for 2018 , show that two in fi ve
pupils from the poorest areas (41%) fail
to pass French, compared with a quar-
ter (26%) of wealthier peers. Similarly
pupils from wealthier backgrounds are
almost twice as likely to get top grades,
with 27% of them getting either a 7,8 or
9, compared with 15% of the poorest.
This latest research comes weeks
after a study by the Education Policy
Institute suggested progress in closing
the GCSE attainment gap had come to
a standstill or even gone into reverse.
Hobby called for new funding for
schools , promised by the prime min-
ister, to target areas of greatest need.
The shadow education secretary,
Angela Rayner , said the government
had embedded inequality in schools,
with the most disadvantaged losing
out. The Conservatives have slashed
funding for schools and created a crisis
in teacher recruitment ... and a gener-
ation of children are paying the price
for this government’s failure.”
A Department for Education
spokesperson said the gap had nar-
rowed since 2011 and disadvantaged
pupils were supported by £2.4bn in
additional pupil premium funding.Exam pressures on girls
Happiness dented by stressPublicity-hungry schools and
pressure to post results on social
media are driving up exam stress
among girls, the Girlguiding
movement has warned, after it
found that close to two-thirds of
girls now believe there is too much
pressure to succeed.
On the eve of GCSE results day the
charity warned that girls are facing
a “perfect storm” of pressures ; well
over half of those aged 11 to 21 fear
a bad performance in exams could
ruin their futures.
With an expectation that girls will
post about their results on line, 65%
of those polled for Girlguiding said
there was “too much pressure and
focus on doing well ”. Half admitt ed
exam stress aff ects their happiness.
Robert Boothce’
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