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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
National
Carmen Fishwick

London school bans pupils from using 'innit', 'like', and 'bare'

school-ban-slang-words
Staff at Harris Academy Upper Norwood hope to improve awareness of formal language by banning a list of slang words and phrases Photograph: @artsemergency

Students at Harris Academy Upper Norwood have been banned from using 10 informal phrases in school areas designated 'formal language zones', which includes all classrooms and corridors.

The initiative introduced in September, by the school's new principal Chris Everitt, hopes to raise awareness about the use of language and prepare students for formal situations such as job interviews.

As part of the initiative students are also banned from beginning sentences with 'basically' and ending sentences with 'yeah'.

Speaking to the Croydon Guardian, a spokesperson said the school wants students "to develop the soft skills they will need to compete for jobs and university places … and the skills they need to express themselves confidently and appropriately for a variety of audiences."

The initiative is one of many introduced since the school achieved academy status in September 2013, after being put into special measures post-Ofsted inspection in January 2013.

What do you think of the initiative? And what words would you ban if you were in charge? Let us know in the thread below

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