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In this study, we identified several main diagnoses and underlying conditions for emergency hospital admission that are particularly susceptible to extreme heat events. This knowledge can contribute directly to establishing health programmes that would effectively target those with higher relative risk of emergency hospital admission due to extreme heat.

Most regions of Australia are exposed to hot summers and regular extreme heat events; and numerous studies have associated high ambient temperatures with adverse health outcomes in Australian cities. Extreme environmental heat can trigger the onset of acute conditions, including heat stroke and dehydration, as well as exacerbate a range of underlying illnesses. Consequently, in the absence of adaptation, the associated mortality and morbidity are expected to increase in a warming climate, particularly within the vulnerable populations of the elderly, children, those with chronic diseases, and people engaged in physical labour in noncooled environments. There is a need for further research to address the evidence needs of public health agencies in Australia. Building resilience to extreme heat events, especially for the most vulnerable groups, is a priority. Public health professionals and executives need to be aware of the very real and urgent need to act now.

The voices of pupils excluded from school for disciplinary reasons are infrequently heard. This article draws together the views of a small sample of pupils, gathered over three separate projects, and identifies common themes. The pupils' voices are reported in the more general context of the role of schools in promoting social inclusion and in a review of patterns of disciplinary exclusion in Scotland. The article concludes that, while many individual schools and teachers try hard to sustain difficult and challenging pupils in mainstream school, the problems faced by both are intractable. The focus on school policy and practice distracts attention from broader social and economic problems requiring solutions.

This paper explores definitions and understandings of Restorative Practices in education. It offers a critique of current theoretical models of Restorative Justice originally derived from the criminal justice system, and now becoming popular in educational settings. It questions the appropriateness of these concepts as they are being introduced to schools in parts of the UK and refers to a recent Scottish Executive funded pilot initiative to implement Restorative Practices in schools. The paper then reflects on some findings from the evaluation of this pilot project, outlines a new notion of Restorative Approaches and suggests that this broader conceptualisation may offer an important way in which to promote social justice in education and to reassess the importance and inevitability of conflicting social interaction and structures inherent in schools as complex social institutions.