GTA Online is adding a new subscription service

  • Grand Theft Auto (GTA) publisher, Rockstar Games has announced a new subscription service for GTA Online (an online multi-player game).
  • The GTA Plus subscription grants players ‘exclusive perks’ for $5.99 a month, roughly £4.59, including GTA currency and gameplay updates.
  • The subscription will be available only to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S/X players (the new generation consoles).
  • You can read the full story on The Verge’s website.

Children and teenage entrepreneurs turn to social media and cryptocurrency

  • Children as young as 6 are going online to make money through selling on eBay, gaming, or cryptocurrency markets.
  • Using information from YouTube videos and TikTok tutorials, young people learn how to make money online.
  • This introduces further questions for safeguarding children online from exploitation and scams.
  • You can read the full story on the Sky News website.

Watchdog to investigate police response to child sexual exploitation

  • The education secretary has reported that tougher guidelines will be introduced in response to the “hugely distressing” strip-searching of 15-year-old Child Q.
  • Guidelines and policies will be reviewed as “no child should have been exposed to that sort of trauma”.
  • A safeguarding report found that racism was “likely a factor” in the search, which was conducted in school, with no appropriate adult present.
  • You can read the full story on the BBC’s website.

DfE expects schools to run 32.5 hour week by 2023

  • A new Department for Education (DfE) White Paper states that schools will be asked to offer at least 32.5-hour school weeks by September 2023.
  • The DfE acknowledges that most schools already provide this, but this move will address the disparity across all schools.
  • The 32.5-hour weeks is equivalent to 8.45am to 3.15pm, Monday to Friday but currently 14% of schools across England have shorter school weeks.
  • You can read the full story on Tes Magazine’s website.