Month: May 2011

School uniforms given a liberal twist at a New Zealand school

Jo

Looking for a London schoolwear supplier can be a tiresome necessity, but imagine if you had to incorporate a search for the perfect nose ring for your child into looking for the standard shirts and P.E kit.  This may be the reality for parents at a revolutionary New Plymouth high school, where facial piercings have just been declared as part of the school uniforms.  The school clothes policy has changed from one allowing students one stud earring in each ear, the rule favoured by most schools in the area and in the UK. School board chairman Darren Muggeridge said students would now be allowed one lip and one nose piercing.

He described the new rule as a compromise in a troublesome area.  For the school governors, it is a way of meeting the students half way.  They feel that making sure that there are rules around what is worn and where they are worn will keep a sense of authority without depriving the pupils of their rights to self-expression.  The school had previously been particularly strict around school uniforms, but it had taken more time and effort than expected to deal with piercings. The principal of the country’s most well known school, Rangitoto College, said he was seeing demand for a more conservative dress code.  He feels a lot of pressure coming from that direction, as part of the pressure on teenagers to succeed academically.

The atmosphere in New Plymouth is perhaps rather more relaxed than in Auckland, but still, the introduction of the new policy followed a long debate.  Teachers and governors appreciate that it may not satisfy all parents, but they feel that policing facial piercings is no longer worth the time and effort that the school has been forced to invest in it.  In the end it was a case of deciding that there were more important things for the school to be spending time on.  Although facial piercings are often associated with teenage rebellion and the punk look, it is worth remembering that some studs can be the size of a tiny pin, and the level of invisibility is such that they are rarely actually intrusive.

It is probably safe to assume that your London schoolwear supplier will not stock nose studs, however unobtrusive they might be.  This case does raise significant issues where school clothes are concerned.  Whilst many experts agree on the benefits of school uniforms which make children look smarter and help even out differences between them, it is also worth questioning how much effort schools should be forced to go to in order to control the appearance of their students.

Please visit http://www.uniform4kids.com/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.uniform4kids.com/

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Make boring Powerpoint presentations a thing of the past

Emma

We have all seen generic powerpoint presentations that make us want to close our eyes.  The main point to be aware of when writing and delivering sales presentations is making sure the audience come away with information that is in line with the original point of the presentation.  If the audience leave the presentation with a degree of confusion, there has been a failure on your part. Powerpoint design allows for the presentation of a great deal of information, but this can be a challenge rather than a blessing, as there tends to be a temptation to include an excessive amount.

In sales, presenting information properly to prospective clients is crucial .  From the first stages of introducing a product or service to closing the sale, at any stage one cannot risk people walking away feeling like their time has been wasted.  Pictures are sometimes added to presentations as an afterthought, but unfortunately or not, many of us have a tendency to engage more quickly and for longer with pictorial content, so this aspect of Powerpoint design might be more important than you realise.  Using pictures from the generic clipart folder to fill space, for example, sends a very particular  message about your presentation.  The audience is likely to automatically expect to see a generic  presentation, so they can sit back and not think  too much.  Your audience’s attention will be lost before you even start.  Purchasing a CD set of backgrounds and pictures, or subscribing to a big  online picture library, can be a very smart  investment.

Powerpoint technology does allow users to create very dynamic and highly technological presentations, but it is important not to overdo it.  Often, presenters feel that if their presentation looks new and dynamic, it will be effective, but the secret is to tailor the effects to ones that are specifically useful to communicate your message, rather than throwing in any extra detail you can in the hope of hitting the ‘wow factor’.  A common mistake of this kind is the overuse of animations and transitions during a slide show – the audience has hardly been able to read what is on the screen before a new sentence flies in, creating something of a visual overload.

Powerpoint design is there to make communication easier, and it should be used with this in mind.  It is not necessary to approach sales presentations with an aim to wow your audience with your technical abilities, but equally, stock images and a tired old format will only remind them of all the other powerpoint presentations they have ever seen.  As with so many other things in life, it is a question of finding the perfect balance.

Please visit http://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.eyefulpresentations.co.uk/

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Cash Genie can offer you some breathing time

Emma

Cash Genie have been offering payday loans for a number of years now. As such, they can provide you some breathing room if you have debts that need paying. However, they are not designed to be a permanent solution. As a responsible lending company, they know that it is better for their clients if they are only used as a last resort, and even then only once. The best outcome is to lend the cash to tide people through their problems, but also to give them the strategies they need to avoid coming back again.

To a degree, this is simply smart business sense. There’s a proverb: you can skin a sheep once, but you can shear it many times. It is some lenders’ aim to keep their clients in debt permanently (think your friendly neighbourhood doorstop lender…), thereby collecting the interest indefinitely and ensuring that you are never free. However, this approach (and the broken legs that can come as part of the deal) has to be balanced again the chances of defaulting.

Cash Genie works on a 30-day basis. Their loans are for one month only, and the fee is 30 percent. This is a lot compared to high street banks – if you can gain a loan from them. However, it might be better than the alternative (missing a payment or bill and getting fined, for example). In any case, the loans are not supposed to be long-term. The idea is that you have access to the cash you need to get you out of temporary financial trouble – and don’t come back the next month. In particular, carrying the debt over for another month is a very bad proposition, especially if that continues for several months. A debt of £100 would become £130 by the end of the first month, £169 by the end of the second, and £2,330 by the end of the year. (In practice, you are limited to £750.)

Put simply, someone who uses a short-term loans provider again and again is probably someone who isn’t really good with money. In other words, they are someone who is more likely to default on their debt, and that’s not good for the client or for Cash Genie. It therefore makes sense to aim for the sector of the market who need a loan due to temporary adverse circumstances – not through any inherent financial illiteracy.

Please visit http://www.cashgenieblog.co.uk/ for further information about this topic.

http://www.cashgenieblog.co.uk/

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