School World

Communication and language are obviously key areas that influence development in children from a very early age.

Whilst there is no question that parents have the most impact on their child’s development, it can be problematic as 77% of parents say that information about support for speech, language and communication is not easily accessible.

The funding regime in England for two year olds means that your staff must have the skills and knowledge to develop communication skills with these children and to work with their parents so that the progress continues at home.

To help with this important area of communication and language we have developed a major collection of accessible resources for Sure Start Children’s Centres.

These materials ensure that practitioners have the knowledge and skills necessary to support communication and language and to cultivate collaborative relationships with parents.

The resources describe the different elements of communication and language and outline what good practice looks like. They also show how Sure Start Children’s Centres can empower parents so they can interact with their children to develop communication and language skills.

There is also a pack to help teams of early years practitioners to understand, reinforce and enable the development of speech, communication and language in their group or setting.

I CAN’s resources include progress checks that can be shared with parents for early identification of difficulties and to support the reporting to parents between 24 and 36 months. They also show the way in which everyday activities can be used as opportunities for enhancing communication skills.

I do hope you will consider introducing these techniques and approaches in your centre.

You can read details of all these early years resources and the benefits they bring on https://shop.ican.org.uk/catalog/2 or place an order, via our order form here http://www.schools.co.uk/ICANorderform.pdf.

For young children intellectual development and emotional development move hand in hand, each nurturing the other.

Which is why children need to feel that they belong in their nursery and pre-school environments, are safe there, and have their own space which is just right for them.

The strength of such feelings can be judged by the fact that for many adults the prime memories of pre-school life are of the spaces rather than the events that took place within those spaces.

Thus it is that when children have found their own space that is right for them, they can work outwards and begin to communicate more extensively with the outside world.

It is as a result of this thinking that we have produced a large selection of furniture which creates intimate spaces where young children can settle – sometimes on their own, sometimes with their friends to play, to talk, and to watch. Such activity is fundamental to future learning.

To see what we have designed, and how it can be used, please take a look at:

http://www.communityplaythings.co.uk/products/roomscapes/cosyspaces/index.html

Quick & Easy Equipment Register that puts you in control
Why not save money by doing less PAT testing?
Fed up with broken classroom chairs…here’s the solution!
Efficiencies that save £1000s a year
Old Computer Equipment Recycling Service

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Quick & Easy Equipment Register that puts you in control

www.istekuk.com
Istek UK Limited, 3 St Ursula’s Close, Salisbury SP1 3FY

Email: info@istekuk.com
Phone: 01722 413255
Fax: 01722 322477

Keeping your inventory up to date can be a chore, but this software can really ease the burden. It is straightforward to setup and update, with all existing equipment details easily imported. Add new items, run inspections and stock checks either with Excel or printed lists. Keep track of loans and disposals, produce instant valuation reports for insurance, and valuation/depreciation reports for financial reporting. Log, track and get reminders for what maintenance, servicing and testing is needed, and print from a huge range of reports. Email us or visit our website for more details or to request a demonstration disk.

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Why not save money by doing less PAT testing?

www.firststopsafety.co.uk
First Stop Safety, 11 Glaisdale Road, Northminster Business Park, York YO26 6QT

Email: sales@firststopsafety.co.uk
Phone: 01904 791050

Most organisations carry out PAT testing annually. This is not always necessary. In some offices testing is only necessary every 2 or even 4 years.

Our PAT training can help you work out how frequently you need to carry out inspection and testing

PAT Testing PowerPoint DVD – Watch the DVD and start saving money by doing less testing. Only £24.

If you would like to be kept up to date with the latest electrical safety information then please subscribe to our mailing list.

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Fed up with broken classroom chairs…here’s the solution!

www.centraleducational.co.uk
Central Educational Supplies Ltd. PO Box 999, London E14 6SH

Email: centraleducational@yahoo.com
Phone: 020 7515 1797
Fax: 020 7515 4420

The Postura chair has a TEN year “fair wear and tear” guarantee AND it’s made in the UK. Save yourself hassle, time and money! See our website for details or phone 020 7515 1797

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Efficiencies that save £1000s a year.

www.admin.org.uk
School of Education Administration, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH

Email: prospectus@admin.org.uk
Phone: 01536 399 007
Fax: 01536 399 012

When the School of Education Administration launched its School Efficiency courses no one quite knew which efficiencies schools would report.

But now we’ve seen it in action, and the savings schools are making are really extraordinary.

Among the most dramatic savings being achieved through efficiencies are those made to school meals arrangements, the way photocopying is organised, IT provision, school cleaning contracts and the movement to an automated text system.

The next 10 week Certificate in School Efficiency course (taught by distance learning) closes its intake of students on 11th May. The course commences on 21st May. It costs £249 plus VAT.

The next one year Diploma in School Efficiency course will also close its intake of students on 11th May with the course commencing on 21st May 2012 2012.

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Old Computer Equipment Recycling Service

www.prmgreentech.com
PRM Green Technologies Ltd, 19 Kimberley Business Park, Kimberley Way, Brereton, Rugeley, Staffordshire, WS15 1RE

Email via form at www.prmgreentech.com/contact.htm
Phone: 0800 840 9195

We collect redundant computer equipment (PC base units, CRT monitors, TFT monitors, servers, laptops, server racks, switches, telecom switches and printers) for recycling, ensuring all data is removed and adherence to the WEEE directive by offering industry leading environmental practices.

The chances are that for many young people today newspapers are either something that exist in other households but not their own or they are gossip columns with very little international news.

Which is why Newsademic exists – for it is an international newspaper written and edited for KS 3 and KS 4 students.

To date we have over 30,000 readers – which is why we know there is a demand for such a publication.

It is also why we are happy to offer a free two month subscription to the paper. We know that schools that see it, like it.

The publication supports the PSHE, History, Geography, Science, English and RE curricula though its focus is on international news events that shape and affect the world that we all live in today.

Newsademic carries no advertising. Neither does it feature articles about television, sport, computer games, pop music or celebrity culture.

The newspaper is distributed fortnightly as a PDF file by email or as a download. Although it can be read on screen it is designed to be printed out and read as a paper copy. An intranet licence allows all students to access an HTML searchable version of Newsademic via their school network. Two levels of activities, based on some of the featured articles, accompany each issue.

Annual subscription rates start at £24.00 and schools can photocopy any part of the newspaper as many times as they wish for use within their school.

To subscribe free of charge for two months please go to: www.newsademic.com/promo/h0112

For more information visit www.newsademic.com

A New DVD Produced with the co-operation of The Universities of Sussex and Greenwich by Team Video Productions.
Everything you want to know about Going to Uni
Reviewed by George Ferris, Aimhigher Consultant Waltham Forest East London:
This is a thorough and truly comprehensive guide which prepares young people for the difficult choice of deciding both whether to go to university and where and how to apply.

The material is fresh and direct, involving current undergrads and school and college students in wide ranging question and answer sessions which really do ‘touch all the bases’.

The DVD will prepare groups and individuals to get the most out of visits to Universities, and if this is not feasible this is the next best thing to being there, including tours of both city and campus environments.

Information ranges from the realities of shared space student life to the practicalities of making ends meet on a student loan: from the angst of making new friends to the possibilities of trying new hobbies.

The wealth of material is well organised and accessible, and combined with comprehensive on-line notes offering suggestions and activities, which could form the basis of either a school or college themed day or a course of two to six sessions in a wide range of careers, G&T and life-skills contexts.

This DVD is an essential tool in helping young people make sense of the choices facing them in the sometime unfamiliar area of higher education.

Everything you want to know about Going To Uni.
The DVD Includes:
20 Question and answer sequences in 3-4 minute clips accessed individually by click and go menus
Student Briefing sheets linked to each question listing the key points raised and links to relevant web sites
2 student tours of the Universities of Sussex and Greenwich with linked Student Briefing sheets
Use These Links to Preview
Preview student briefing sheets
View Clip
More Information

A versatile DVD resource for
Head of 6th Form
Head of Years 10 & 11
Careers & Life Skills
To order or request a review copy
On line: www.team-video.co.uk
by Email : admin@team-video.co.uk
Price £46.99 (including VAT) + £2.50 P&P
postage is free if ordered online.

TEAM VIDEO
PO BOX 38194
London
W10 5WZ
TEL O20 8960 5536
FAX 020 8960 9784

Young people with Autism Spectrum Condition face difficulties with social skills, communication and behaviour – all things that if left can make it very difficult for children to maximise their potential in terms of their education.

However, with the right sort of teaching and understanding, children with Autism Spectrum Condition can be polite, well mannered and sociable, while becoming calm, and happy.

As a result of such changes they begin to feel secure and learn how to be kind and charitable, while putting their own leisure time to good use, while developing their skills and knowledge.

Perhaps most excitingly they can become creative in a unique way.

Understanding the learning style of children with ASC is necessary if such progress is to be made – which is where “Single Focused Attention: Teaching children with an Autism Spectrum Condition” comes in. This volume, which is available as a copiable book and on CD (which allows it to be placed on the school’s learning platform) takes the interested teacher from a discussion of the condition through to ways in which the pupil or student can be helped at school.

The book includes issues relating to individual work, social skills, life in the school playground, timetabling, anxiety, homework, the physical and sensory environment, curriculum issues, and much much more.

The volume concludes with a test to establish whether the children do have “Theory of Mind” plus a large series of worksheets that can be used with ASC children.

You can see a full list of the topics and sample pages at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/spneeds/T1766.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1766EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 782 1

Prices

Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery
CD with school-wide rights: £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery
Both the Ring Binder and the CD £27.94 plus £3.95 delivery
Prices include VAT.
You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1766EMN

By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
By fax to 01536 399 012
On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=743&osCsid=c1f61818b682e4a3155aec3e01e0baea

When one pauses to think about it, the answer must be “quite a lot”. Colleagues who are motivated, who enjoy their work in the school, and who are willing to go the extra mile, are bound to get more out of their pupils and students than those who are not so motivated.

Enthusiasm, drive and determination are infectious. If a teacher feels good about the job and everything around it, then obviously that will encourage those in the classroom to do more work.

Such observations are easy to make. But it is nevertheless the fact that the overwhelming majority of schools in the UK don’t engage in any sort of programme that focuses on raising teacher morale and then maintaining it, once a high level of morale has been achieved.

Rather, the dominant view has come to be, “teachers are professionals and we expect professionals to work hard and do their best.” In other words it is generally not considered the school management’s job to consider the morale of teachers.

Although this is a widespread point of view the fact remains that, in organisations where the morale of the professional staff is considered, results increase.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that it is not immediately obvious to most school managers exactly how one goes about raising teacher morale. After all, one doesn’t want to pry into a colleague’s private life, and one certainly doesn’t want to make overt statements to colleagues which suggest that morale in the staffroom is not as high as it might be.

And yet there is a whole range of strategies available for raising teacher morale which have been used with success in a number of schools and which can be introduced into any school.

These strategies, along with a detailed study of the issues that affect teacher morale and how a broader policy of maintaining high morale can be achieved, are all detailed in the volume “Raising Teacher Morale in a World of Change.”

The volume comes in copiable form, so that several managers can consider the approaches at once and then meet together to discuss them. It is also available on CD so that again it can easily be shared with colleagues.

Publisher’s reference: T1600emn; ISBN: 978 1 86083 648 0

Sample pages can be viewed on: http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1600.pdf

Prices

Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £49.95 plus £3.95 delivery
CD with school-wide rights £49.95 plus £3.95 delivery
Both the Ring Binder and the CD £56.94 plus £3.95 delivery
Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the book…

By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
By phone with a credit card or school order number to 01536 399 011
By fax to 01536 399 012
On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=440

Deutscher Wiederholungskurs will help Higher Tier candidates achieve better grades at GCSE. It provides material for revision for the GCSE speaking and writing tests and helps to bridge the gap between GCSE and ‘A’ level.

The course presumes the knowledge of grammar and vocabulary that a proprietary course will have covered and then builds on that knowledge to take the student to a higher grade.

The course is divided into 8 topics drawn from the GCSE syllabus, each containing the same tasks:

Oral questions to revise the topic briefly;
Suggestions for visual stimuli for further oral revision;
A passage of German entitled “Fritz erzählt” which contains gaps to fill in and practice for case endings, pronouns and verb endings;
Comprehension exercises on the passage to be answered in full German sentences;
A passage of English for translation into German; and a series of questions in German, the answers to which should form the basis for a short essay. Finally there are a series of related role-play situations.
The book is fully photocopiable for ease of use in the classroom and will prove an invaluable source of revision and consolidation for your GCSE students.

Sample pages from the book, order code T1616emn, can be found on http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/modlang/T1616.pdf

Prices

Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery

CD with school-wide rights: £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery

Both the Ring Binder and the CD £26.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…

By post from First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct, Earlstrees Rd, Corby, NN17 4HH

By fax to 01536 399 012

On-line with a credit card at http://tinyurl.com/mw79zv
By phone with a school order number or a credit card to 01536 399 011
When ordering the book please quote the reference T1616EMN.

Our team of West End actors and directors can help you develop your students’ understanding of how to approach text as an actor.

Our scene study workshops are designed to support preparation, rehearsal and performance in relation to:

The preparation process for monologues and duologues, supporting written performance concept – Edexcel AS Unit 2 Section A
Delivery of text and role and enriching supporting notes – AQA AS Unit 2 DRAM2
Delivery of text and role in group performance – Edexcel AS Unit 2 Section B.
West End actors and facilitators can bring a diversity of skills and techniques straight from professional rehearsal rooms, and this experience forms the basis of our workshops. A wide range of rehearsal techniques and devices are introduced in a practical, accessible way.

We work with the students’ individual performances using their monologue, duologue or script extract, and the process feeds directly into the written performance concept or supporting notes.

We will make links between rehearsal techniques and influential practitioners, providing a context and offering an abundance of practical and professional examples of situations where devices can be applied.

Students leave the workshop having completed a comprehensive preparation and rehearsal process to detail in their WPC or supporting notes, and with a stronger command of their own performances.

For more information and costs please see our website at www.WestEndinSchools.org.uk/alevel

To enquire please either:

fill out this form
email office@westendinschools.org.uk
or phone Nigel Godfrey on 020 7395 7520.

New on the Advisory Unit’s website is a series of short video ‘How to do it’ tutorials designed to introduce and improve GIS skills for you and your students.

Just click on the link http://www.advisory-unit.org.uk/site/aegis3/aegis_tutorials.html and choose from 22 YouTube videos listed on the Advisory Unit website under the headings Introduction, Basic GIS Skills, How to create AEGIS files and More Advanced Techniques. Each video has a commentary and demonstration.

Prepared by the Advisory Unit, the home of the best-selling AEGIS GIS for schools, the videos are instant and handy guides for students using AEGIS in class and creating new AEGIS projects for fieldwork or Controlled Assessments

Teachers and students can access the AEGIS videos at school, home or on any smartphone.

More about AEGIS
AEGIS is the most widely used GIS for schools with a one-off purchase for installation on the school network. Once you have the program you can embed GIS in classwork for world development, local activities or regional studies or use AEGIS as a basis for collecting, processing and mapping fieldwork data. AEGIS is a valuable resource right through the school from Year 7 to A2 giving students the skills required to display and search choropleth mapping, landuse mapping, traffic and pedestrian surveys, and bar and pie charts of locational data.

Improve your GIS skills with AEGIS tutorials. For more information contact:

The Advisory Unit: Computers in Education
The Innovation Centre
Hatfield
Herts
AL10 9AB

Tel: 01707 281102
Fax; 01707 281103
Email: sales@advisory-unit.org.uk