Looking for a secondary school

[gingerbreadrabbit]

I'm looking for a secondary school without Wi-Fi and without phone masts on the roof or nearby. Can anyone give me any names of schools? Thank you.

[cricketballs]

I'll be the first one to ask ..... why?

[gingerbreadrabbit]

Hi cricketballs, because I think that Wi-Fi is a health risk, particularly for children. Wi-Fi affects brain activity and decreases attention (Papageorgiou et al 2011. J Integ Neurosci 10:189-202; Maganioti et al 2010. 6th Int Workshop on Biol Effects of Electromag Fields) and can damage DNA and decrease fertility (Avendano et al 2010. Am Soc Reproductive Med meeting: O-249). I just don't want my children to use it when they could be in a classroom using a safe, wired computer. It is a matter of choice and wanting children to be safe.

[chrchrch]

How interesting... I recall it being said when this was proposed, long ago at DCs' previous school, that it's safer to be directly under the mobile thingies than anywhere in the neighbourhood. But can't be sure, worth checking if everyone in a school without this stuff is getting more radiation than the ones right under it. So, where are the experts?

Do you have a general location in mind, or will anywhere in the world do?

[cricketballs]

I think you are going to struggle to find a school without Wi-fi. Whilst the desktop computers will be hard-wired, wifi will be in use for laptops as many are used by staff, students etc as the demand for more and more to be done electronically (even the registers) then wi-fi is a necessity rather than a luxury.

[gingerbreadrabbit]

For the masts, I have also heard that being directly under them is better than being say 100ms from one. But I still wouldn't want one on a school roof as it would affect the playing fields and some of the school grounds. For laptops, the exposures are high next to a wi-fi one. This video shows what the exposures are in a classroom, . I'm interested in good secondary schools in England/Wales or Scotland, as I consider finding a safe school an important choice for our whole family. Please let me know if you know of any.
If something isn't safe, then it can't be a necessity, we need to work around the problem and make sure teachers have wired computers on which to do the register. I don't see why every desk can't have a computer point on it, so that laptops can be plugged in.

[cricketballs]

to be honest I think that you need to look at more than the one study and video. Your dc will be have been exposed to wi-fi signals no matter where they are; doctors, dentists, shops etc all have wi-fi as more than likely your neighbour.

If it really wasn't safe - don't you think that there would be more parents, scientists etc raising the issue and therefore steps be made? The same was said by a few people when microwaves hit the high street.....

To answer your question though - I think you would have to move to an Amish community to have a school without wi-fi

[PotteringAlong]

My school's out then, sorry. I honestly don't think you'll find one now...

[PotteringAlong]

where are you based? I'm assuming you can't move anywhere in the country to find one?

Your best bet is to contact the education authority and ask them.

[gingerbreadrabbit]

I'm interested in any good non-wi-fi school, as I can then investigate and look at our options. I genuinely think that computers without microwaves are the future, and we will look back on this period in time and wonder how we could have made children absorb microwaves all day at school.

It is a matter of choice. Where there is evidence that it might not be safe, and there is, then parents need a choice. You shouldn't have to become Amish to have a safe environment at school.

[gingerbreadrabbit]

The local education authority doesn't know which schools have wi-fi and which don't. They aren't monitoring the presence of it or the effects of it.

[PotteringAlong]

Ah, my mistake. I thought they did as they monitored our Internet usage (but am a technological idiot so probably not monitored how I think it is!) so thought they must know how we got the Internet

[PotteringAlong]

Right, DH has just got home from year 7 open evening and said his school doesn't have it! Will pm you

[PotteringAlong]

Aagh, phone won't let me do it, laptop at work. Will do it tomorrow!

[cricketballs]

so 3G is ok then

[noblegiraffe]

this report names a couple of schools.

It also says that sitting in a wifi hotspot for a year gives you the same dose of radiation as using a mobile phone for 20 minutes. Are you also mobile phone free?

[gingerbreadrabbit]

Thanks Potteringalong, I am interested if you can let me know the name. Of the two mentioned in the article noblegiraffe, both are private, one isn't secondary and the other has only removed it from part of the school. I don't agree with 3G masts inside classrooms, cricketballs.

I think the statement about a hotspot for a year being like 20 minutes on a mobile is wrong. The video link at the top found a classroom signal to be around 0.8/0.9V/m. The closer you are to a transmitter, the higher the exposures. When children use a wi-fi laptop they are exposed to around a 2-4V/m signal because they are quite close to the transmitters in the laptop. But at 1.9V/m microwaves for 5 hours stimulate immune responses (1). At 0.49V/m sperm develop structural abnormalities (2). Human sperm positioned next to a Wi-Fi-enabled laptop for four hours have fragmented DNA and decreased motility (3). At 1.8V/m for two hours/day for 45 days microwaves change the activity of several enzymes and produce double-stranded DNA breaks in rat brain (4). A mobile phone exposure of 3.5V/m for only two hours a week for fifty five weeks reduces memory functions in rats (5). 4.3V/m for five days affects gene expression and organogenesis in rats (6). At 3.4V/m microwaves cause rapid and irregular heart rates in some people (7). I just think there is evidence that wi-fi in schools might not be safe, and that there should be choice for parents. In May the Council of Europe called for schools throughout Europe not to use Wi-Fi in order to protect children.

1 Novoselova et al 1999. Bioelectrochem Bioenerg 49:37?41
2 Otitolojuet al 2010.Bull Environ Contam Toxicol 84:51-54
3 Avendano et al 2010. Am Soc Reproductive Med meeting: O-249
4 Kesari and Behari 2009. Appl Biochem Biotechnol 158:126-139
5 Nittby et al 2008. Bioelectromagnetics 29:219-232
6 Pyrpasopoulou et al 2004. Bioelectromagnetics 25:216-227
7 Havas et al 2010 Eur J Oncology library 5:273-300

[PotteringAlong]

3G's fine for me, but so is wifi - am on wifi now at school in my free! and I've got my laptop on my lap at 32 weeks pregnant without a second thought. It's Gingerbread who's interested and I could just answer the question...