30/01/2017 Inside Out South West


30/01/2017

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It was meant to deliver a fair deal to the poorest workers, so why,

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ten months on from the introduction of the living wage, isn't everyone

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The living wage has gone up, everything has gone up.

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Also tonight, I do the maths with Exeter's young geniuses.

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Once you are finished putting the numbers in,

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multiply them together and look at the number.

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And Nick Baker visits one of the world's rarest

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Hello, I'm Gemma Woodman and welcome to the Inside Out South West.

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Millions of low paid workers got a boost to their pay packets last

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year thanks to an increase in the minimum wage,

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but as our business correspondence, Niall Gallagher, has been finding

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out, not everyone is going home better off.

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How much we've got, how far it goes and what it's being spent on.

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And just once in a while, I get to report on a payrise.

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I am today introducing a new national living wage.

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Right now the minimum wage is ?6.70 and hour.

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Next spring, the national living wage will take most

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That increase to the minimum wage came in last April.

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Ten months on, I want to find out how working life has changed.

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First, I need something to get me going.

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No use doing a day's work if you've skipped breakfast.

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Mo Shoudjee's been running this caf in Paignton for five years.

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But since April, he says everything's gone,

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Suppliers gone up, minimum wage gone up.

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I try to put my prices are up but it doesn't add up.

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I'm just like a man taking it from the customer,

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The new national living wage will have only

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But for Mo, that's not been the case.

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He's had to let two staff go and is now doing their work himself.

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Just over 100 hours, 120 hours a week.

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Not had a day off since I opened the shop.

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Since the Living Wage came in, it seems for Mo at least,

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The government points out, unemployment's gone down,

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although redundancies have increased slightly.

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Well that's hit the spot, time to leave Mo to drum

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For some businesses, the basic wage bill isn't the whole story.

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They've been looking at other employee costs,

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Now, you probably know that these are made here in the south-west,

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here at Callington in fact, but what you probably didn't know

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is that the company that makes these has its fingers

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Samworth Brothers is one of the country's

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Ginsters is their biggest brand, but they also make things

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like sandwiches, pies, sausages and puddings,

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prepared here at their Launceston business, Kensey Foods.

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Most of their factories are in Leicestershire,

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but they employ nearly 1,800 people in Cornwall.

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Last Summer, Samworth introduced a new pay and benefits package

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at Kensey and not everyone's happy about it.

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The company told us this project of theirs has nothing to do

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They say it's the result of a consultation with its staff

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Project Fair Reward increased workers' hourly pay rates.

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But it also introduced phased in reductions

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People doing overtime used to get 50% extra,

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it's now dropped to 45% and in a couple of years

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On Sundays, workers used to get double time.

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By 2019, it'll just be the basic rate.

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Night shift workers are also going to see their extra payments

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fall and additional cash for people working evenings is going.

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The result at Kensey has been a fall in the take home

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In some cases, they are working more hours and bringing home less money.

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Even though the government has told them they are getting pay rises.

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They can see over the next few years, their living standards

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Samworth told us a small number of employees who previously worked

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voluntary overtime have reported a decrease in their

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But they said no member of staff has seen their basic pay go backwards.

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And that ?5 million is being invested in their wage bill over

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The changes at Samworth don't affect all its workers.

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Just down the road from Kensey at Samworth's best known brand,

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things have carried on much as before.

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It's different in Ginsters in Callington.

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They haven't seen a cut to their terms and conditions

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Now staff are very very angry, some are having their terms

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and conditions changed and some ain't.

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They said the changes at Kensey are very much to do with the pay

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structures at that site and that while Kensey and Ginsters might

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seem pretty similar, they operate independently,

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and have different remuneration policies.

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It's nearing the end of my shift, but first,

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Britain deserves a pay rise and Britain is getting a payrise.

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Our huge care sector is well known for low wages.

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Somerset Care are big, they look after around 5,000 people,

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but not all their employees saw their wages go up.

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It's very rewarding, you are going home feeling

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like you've achieved something, to help somebody else.

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As a care assistant in Minehead, Jenny Kennedy got a payrise

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in April, and is now on ?7.28, just above the minimum wage.

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But if she wanted to go for promotion, she's now

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in a position where that wouldn't earn her much more.

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As you progress to supervisors and shift leader it's roughly

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about a 50p difference, for that small increase in my wages,

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Progressing to shift leader requires nearly two years of study

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and after all that you'd start off only ?7.83, just 63p an hour more

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Dr Jane Townson is the boss at Somerset Care in Taunton.

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She says a lack of money in the sector is why wages

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between different jobs have been squeezed.

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We had to make sure that the lower paid workers earned at least ?7 20,

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which in some cases meant putting wages up by 7.5%.

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Now if we had done that and maintained salary differentials

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all the way up the chain, that would have actually cost us 2.5

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million because we have a workforce of 4000 and the income we receive

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just didn't come anywhere close to 2.5 million.

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Many of Somerset Care's clients are funded by the local authority,

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but Jane says those payments don't cover the true costs.

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The government's promised an extra ?900 million

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The local authority only gives a 70% of the actual cost of care.

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We are already behind even before increases

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in the national living wage, long and we are really concerned

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that in forthcoming years when the government has said it

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will further increase the national living wage,

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we really support that the ability of the local authority

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will increase our income to cover it is just not there.

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The National Living Wage is going up again, shortly

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and it's due to keep rising, on that thought, time

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The National Living Wage has certainly given this region

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We're a low pay area so it has the potential

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to do lots of good here, on the other hand this is also

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the sort of economy where some employers are going to struggle

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One thing is for sure, this is a far reaching change

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When it comes to being good at maths, children in the UK

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are falling behind those in other countries.

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But there's one school in Exeter that is aiming to revolutionise

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the way the subject is taught, helping to propel the UK up

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I've been to meet some of its star performers.

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This is a place where they love the subject some love to hate.

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For some, schools like this are going to put big UK on the up.

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For others, it's all much more controversial.

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Welcome to the Exeter Mathematics School.

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Your job, and it's not that easy, is to prove that...

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To be honest ? this makes my brain freeze.

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But it's the sort of problem Ala solves for kicks.

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I hate to interrupt your concentration,

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If we are struggling as much as we were a minute

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I did want to tell you but I thought I'd wait

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What is the process you go through when your trunk to solve

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I guess we like to do maths and we like to do problem solving,

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so this makes us happy, I guess.

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This is why we want to do more maths and solving problems and getting

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By some calculations, Britain has fallen behind countries

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like South Korea and Singapore when it comes to maths,

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so this is one of two schools launched in order to try

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The students study A-level maths, further maths and physics

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They can study other subjects at a local FE college.

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And the school has strong links with Exeter University.

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It's been open two years, and it's a new departure

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One of the reasons why the University of Exeter

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was involved in the school is they believe that you can't just

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sit at university and moan about the standard of students that

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are coming to them, they should be doing something about it.

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So when we were first devising the curriculum,

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we spoke with the university and said what is missing

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How are they not prepared for university study?

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So when they get to university, they hit the ground running

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We're preparing them to excel when they get there and then go

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Until she was 16, Ala was at school in Cornwall,

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but it was becoming clear that she had a talent for maths.

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I never spent more than half an hour on a problem in GCSE

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and here I can spend an hour, maybe an hour and a half sometimes

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When you actually get it and get the answer right,

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that just makes your world, to be honest.

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For many students, Exeter is a long way from home,

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so around a third of them board, travelling home to see

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So you are cooking for your mates, your housemates?

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So was it a big step to move away from home?

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For me, it was just another thing, another step in growing up.

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If you are also about talking to your tea, how about tucking

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into this next maths problem instead and finding out whether you are

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whether you are a numbers genius also.

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Let me introduce Tim who's about to perform

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I have been trained at the maths school for over a year now

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and as such my mathematical abilities have developed

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to the point where I can sense what the numbers on a calculator

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screen without actually looking at them.

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What I'd like you to do is take the calculator and making sure that

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I want you to multiply together lots of single digit numbers.

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Don't bunch it up anywhere on the keyboard.

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All across the keyboard and then once you've finished

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putting all the numbers in, multiply them together

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What I'd like you to do is read out the number very carefully one number

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at a time but I want you to miss out one of the numbers.

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And you've got an audience here, Tim, so if you get it wrong,

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If you want to find out how to do it and is not as hard as it looks,

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This government funding schools certainly stretches able students,

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but some critics might say it serves the gifted few and if the UK

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is falling behind other countries in maths, then why isn't this

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investment and expertise open to all students?

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These students deserve to be funded with an education

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that is perfect for them, just like any other student does.

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We're not taking money out of the system, we're a part of it.

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I don't think anyone would argue with having special schools

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the music of drama and for arts and I think we're just the same

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It might not be common in this culture but there's definitely

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a need for it and we've seen the impact it's had on the students.

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It's an important year for everyone at the school,

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these are the first A-level results in their history, and they're

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expected to go straight to the top of the league tables.

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It's the culmination of two years work for the students,

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three further school getting it set up and our first real measure

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of where we are so very excited, nervous, all in one.

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For some of the students, places at top universities are at stake,

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I missed the A star by one mark, apparently.

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Yeah, still not that bad though, is it?

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Overall the results are good, and 97% of the students

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This year, she needs to get good AS results.

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I got A in all my maths modules and A in physics and B in chemistry.

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I'm really pleased and the work's paid off.

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It was quite intimidating at the start of the whole process.

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The interview, the exam, the entrance test and that was quite

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intimidating because I didn't know how many people were

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going to be much better than me or worse than me.

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The government says Exeter's high profile success shows similar

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But there's a long way to go before we'll know whether that's good

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for students across the board, or just helps a lucky few

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If you are missing those longer, warmer days, then I've got

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Back in the summer, Nick Baker visited one of Devon's top nature

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reserves and discovered a place that's a feast for the senses

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Dunsdon Nature Reserve in North Devon.

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Its 80 hectares are nationally important ? a vital haven

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It's an intriguing mix of meadow, wood, water course

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and a distinctive Devon habitat - culm grassland.

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One was created in 2012 in every English county to mark

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Now they didn't just put a badge on it.

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Look, they've created a wild flower meadow from scratch.

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Well, they didn't get their seeds in packets

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These have come from meadows, local meadows that have been

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especially sourced and green hate has been spread on here so the whole

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place has flourished and reseeded naturally.

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The stunning heath spotted orchid, one of several Orchid

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This is another beautiful moorland specialist,

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In early summer this is a magical place with willow seed wafting

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And the odd goldfinch taking seeds from a flower head.

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These flower rich meadows have seen a 97% decline in the last 75 years ?

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Difficult to tear yourself away from such a great place but I'm

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passing through another distinct part of the reserve.

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This boardwalk is taking me through wet woodland,

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Incredibly, this wet woodland is only about 75 years old.

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It's regenerated mainly from old field boundaries and hedge banks.

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It's fantastic and because you've got this lovely, soggy woodland

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floor, and that tree canopy, it traps the humid air which makes

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Nearly every limb around here is festooned with it.

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The edge of the wood, with a bit of shelter is a great

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This song thrush with a mouth full of dead snail crushed up

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for her young is pausing before returning to the nest.

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While overhead a heron is making repeat feeding flights diving back

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But if you haven't got binoculars there' plenty more

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This hazel bush doesn't look like much but take

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They're as tightly wrapped as stuffed vine leaves

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in a Greek restaurant, but don't take a bite.

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Inside there's a beetle larva waiting to emerge.

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And time for me to emerge right into the heart of Dunsdon

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and its most important feature - Culm grassland.

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Culm is a word for the clay soil that lies underfoot.

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It doesn't drain easily and so it tends to favour plants like rush

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and purple moor grass that tolerate water.

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But it's of limited farming value to farming.

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Over the years thousands of hectares were drained and ploughed.

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Dunsdon is a vitally important ? the largest remaining part

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of the tiny fragment of culm that survives in Devon.

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It's easy to become dazzled by all these orchids

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but there's another very, very important plant here

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for which the management of this area is designed around

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This here is lovely soft which belong to a plant

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It's important because it is the food plant

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The scabious feeds these caterpillars ? if they thrive

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This one is nectaring on a knapweed using its long proboscis.

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Nationally the species has declined by two thirds since 1990,

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mainly because of the loss of habitats just like this ?

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They fly from may to June, and egg lay before the new larva

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emerge to feed on those scabius leaves in August and September.

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For warden, Steve Threkeld, keeping things tip top

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If I was a butterfly, this place is utopia.

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It's a mixture of two kinds of management.

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Cattle grazing during the summer and in the winter,

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it is controlled burning and a very controlled circumstances.

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At the wrong time of year, it could be very drastic.

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Here, they've got it quite right. We have a before and after contrast. On

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this side of the past, you can see vegetation is denser. There is more

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rush and purple moor grass which forms these blonde, dead leaves,

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which smothers a lot of the other less competitive vegetation. On this

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side, the vegetation is shorter, it is less dense but there is more

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spaces which means all the wild flowers are getting lots of light

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and their seeds also get a chance to germinate. This marshes on Heath

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spotted orchid that has toppled over. Members here on the up and

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with the dry summer, it should improve. It is not just the

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rarities. Butterflies of around here. This odd insect looking like a

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dead leaf, a silver moth. It has dead leaf, a silver moth. It has

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flown in from the continent. And I haven't exhausted the place

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yet , I'm on my way to a unusual feature of the reserve that,

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though disused by man, is being It's this a disused section

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of the Bude canal that used to transport sand across north devon

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and cornwall all the Now it's bit of a ditch really ?

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but for wildife a ditch Skating on the surface are these

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manic whirligigs ,but if you look Skating on the surface are these

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manic whirligigs but if you look closely one of my favourite insects

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is swimming about . This is a great diving beetle ?

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an aggressive predator that The smooth backed insect is the male

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? then a female arrives with a grooved back or wing case ?

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They'll probably leave this fellow alone though , a common frog ,

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just one of thousands of species And in the meadow right

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by the canal a dragon fly , a four spotted chaser

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is taking in the rays. It's mandibles are active ? getting

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ready to polish off a smaller beast. I've only spent a half day

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here but I've taken in some great Habitats here. There is the plenty

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chewed of orchids and the butterflies. It is tended carefully

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by the hand of man. With so much of this precious Devon

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culm grassland drained and given over to intensive farming

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it's so important that these few remaining fragments can

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not just be protected, but allowed to expand,

:28:23.:28:27.

connect and act as a haven Next week we have the exploits of

:28:28.:28:30.

rely on them . Next week we have the exploits of

:28:31.:28:44.

James Bond creator. He risked everything alongside the French

:28:45.:28:49.

resistance. That is all to come next Monday at 7:30pm. See you then.

:28:50.:29:04.

Hello, I'm Riz Lateef with your 90-second update.

:29:05.:29:12.

Protests in Downing Street tonight against Donald Trump's travel ban

:29:13.:29:14.

More than 1.4 million have now signed a petition calling

:29:15.:29:17.

for his state visit to Britain to be cancelled.

:29:18.:29:20.

There have also been protests in the States.

:29:21.:29:22.

President Trump insisted little more than a 100 travellers were affected

:29:23.:29:24.

over the weekend and blamed protestors for the

:29:25.:29:26.

A mosque in Canada has been subjected to a terrorist attack.

:29:27.:29:31.

Six worshippers were killed, five critically injured,

:29:32.:29:34.

Guilty - banker Lynden Scourfield was bribed by David Mills to provide

:29:35.:29:41.

Money was lavished on holidays, prostitutes and cars.

:29:42.:29:46.

The corruption cost Halifax Bank of Scotland hundreds of millions.

:29:47.:29:50.

Jennie Platt didn't like spikes put down to deter

:29:51.:29:52.

the homeless in Manchester, so she and her children put down

:29:53.:29:56.

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