The Schools' News Service

Is it possible to transform the mindset of teenagers? Recently there has been a growth in interest in the issue of the way in which teenagers see the world. We’ve all been looking at the social and emotional aspects of learning for some time, but now there is a thought that there is an extra [...]

In fact most teachers and managers in schools have no shortage of ideas – but practical solutions which turn ideas into actual teaching and learning events are harder to find. Simultaneously it gets increasingly difficult to keep coming up with great ideas of your own – especially when there is pressure to come up with [...]

Managing ADHD remains one of the main problems for special needs. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD) refer to a range of problem behaviours associated with poor attention span. Research which was reported at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Liverpool, showed that even now, [...]

Teachers can win £50 worth of M&S vouchers by writing a review of their school trip and putting it up on www.schooltripadvisor.com recent reviews cove, AS Applied Science and a Hockey tour to Spain. And for those teachers interested in a holiday that makes a positive contribution to the local people and environment a visit [...]

Coming to a screen near you… … e-books from Teachers’ Pocketbooks January 2010 sees the launch of the popular Teachers’ Pocketbooks’ Series in electronic format. The page to screen premiere takes the shape of a DVD featuring 15 top-selling titles from the series in e-book format. Fifteen Favourites DVD is an ultra portable digital library [...]

What is the most effective way of increasing the speed and depth of learning amongst students preparing for examination? This is a contentious issue of course – but one point that does come up in many debates is the medium through which the students learn. Secondary school students live in a world of the internet. [...]

Improving behaviour, raising achievement, increasing motivation How can we improve behaviour, raise achievement and increase motivation? Obviously that is a tremendous challenge in every school, and indeed even more of a challenge when our colleagues in Ofsted start suggesting that we do all three at once! Of course we want to do it. For myself [...]

Managing ADHD in school Managing ADHD remains one of the main problems for special needs. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD) refer to a range of problem behaviours associated with poor attention span. Research which was reported at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Liverpool, [...]

Text or html? The School of Educational Administration recently undertook a survey of 2300 primary and secondary schools to find out if they view their incoming email advertisements as HTML (that is with layout and links) or as text-only, where all the design features are stripped out. Around 25% of those we asked replied – [...]

Activities outside the classroom made easier Teachers and others will now find it easier to take young people out and about as Schools Minister Diana Johnson launched a consultation on simple and straightforward guidance to cut red tape. Activities outside the classroom have significant benefits for young people and help to bring learning to life. [...]

One of the problems which can occur with Form Time is the issue of finding a variety of engaging subjects and topics that will interest the students, and have a meaningful educational impact. One can do it for one’s own specialist subject, but in other areas it can be difficult. The other issue is the [...]

Why bother to teach touch typing? According to an article in the Independent newspaper in July this year* “Parents seeking to give their children a head start at school or university are bombarding typing schools with requests for summer courses this year.” Touch typing is not in the National Curriculum – but there is a [...]

My Life (from The Children’s Society) is a free, interactive Citizenship and PSHE education resource to help children aged 7–11 to develop the skills they need for a healthy, happy childhood. It has been written for the Key Stage 2 curriculum and contains direct links to Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) and the [...]

Raising Money for Secondary Schools It is an indisputable fact that some schools manage to raise far more money from non-governmental sources than others. When one looks at this it is often tempting to explain the difference by the nature of the local community or the wealth of the parents, but that in fact can [...]

Religion, the theory of knowledge and moral philosophy A problem faced by students of philosophy lies in the fact that core philosophical arguments are very often buried in discursive text and can be difficult to discern. “Philosophical Arguments” which is designed for IB Students and A Level philosophy and religious studies students presents and discusses [...]

Win £50 M&S voucher Teachers can win £50 worth of M&S vouchers by writing a review of their school trip and putting it up on www.schooltripadvisor.com Voluntourism For those teachers interested in a holiday that makes a positive contribution to the local people and environment a visit to www.responsibletourism.co.uk is well worth while as there [...]

Priory Education Services, part of the Priory Group, Europe’s leading independent provider of acute mental health services, is investing in new specialist education facilities in south west London. The Priory Lodge School will be a purpose-built day school for young people with autistic spectrum disorders, in particular Asperger’s Syndrome and associated learning difficulties. It will [...]

Download ready made assemblies for ks3 and ks4 These assemblies are arranged term by term, offering topical and relevant assemblies for the whole school. They can be downloaded from the internet site (see the link below) and can be used on a 14 day free trial period. Here are some examples from the autumn term [...]

What does a History lesson look like? This must look like one of the silliest questions ever – as a History teacher you know perfectly well what a History lesson looks like, not least given the fact that you have taught a fair number. But there are a couple of really good reasons for contemplating [...]

Exams can creep up on teachers too ………………… Have you heard about the students who forgot the date of their GCSE maths exam ? They turned up for school OK, but without pens, pencils, calculator, ruler or compass ! It’s easy to assume that the existing stock of exam desks will always be enough for [...]

School children rally in support of The Prince’s Rainforests Project Attracting thousands of frog designs, The Prince’s Rainforests Project’s “Win a Tree-mendous Rainforest Frog” competition has created a visual petition of staggering proportions in support of the rainforests from engaged school-aged children across the UK. Working in collaboration with Eco-Schools, the Scouts, Cool It Schools, [...]

What distinguishes an A or B student from a student with a lower grade? Here is one simple answer: critical thinking. The student who can engage in critical thinking gets the A or the B. The student who can’t gets the lower grade. The book “Critical thinking” takes this position as its starting point and [...]

What Today’s Employers Want and Expect In one very real sense What Today’s Employers Want and Expect is just another guide for school leavers. Except that it starts with a somewhat unusual premise: that your employer is probably an alien. Not in the sense that he looks like Zaphod Beeblebrox but rather that in terms [...]

School Trip Advisor: Where do Teachers find out about School Trips? School Trip Advisor is an independent source of advice for teachers looking to arrange school trips and tours, anything from a school day out to a residential trip in Europe. Reviews of the school trips are made by teachers for teachers. There is a [...]

Coming to a screen near you… … e-books from Teachers’ Pocketbooks January 2010 sees the launch of the popular Teachers’ Pocketbooks’ Series in electronic format. The page to screen premiere takes the shape of a DVD featuring 15 top-selling titles from the series in e-book format. Fifteen Favourites DVD is an ultra portable digital library [...]

Managing ADHD remains one of the main problems for special needs. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and attention deficit disorder (ADD) refer to a range of problem behaviours associated with poor attention span. Research which was reported at the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Faculty of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry in Liverpool, showed that even now, [...]

In one very real sense What Today’s Employers Want and Expect is just another guide for school leavers. Except that it starts with a somewhat unusual premise: that your employer is probably an alien. Not in the sense that he looks like Zaphod Beeblebrox but rather that in terms of the way he sees the [...]

How do teachers get education news and information? The big problem for teachers is that there simply is too much news about education and no chance to read it all. Which is why we started www.ukeducationnews.co.uk which gives a rolling headline list of every major news story in the UK, 24 hours a day. You [...]

Racial discrimination in schools It is a frightening thought, but a study by Manchester University and analysts at Education Data Survey have found that 44 per cent of teachers said that they had suffered discrimination because of their ethnicity. The Teacher Support Network is not surprisingly taking up this issue and have said, “Racism is [...]

What does a PSHE lesson look like? This must look like one of the silliest questions ever – as a PSHE teacher you know perfectly well what a PSHE lesson looks like, not least given the fact that you have taught a fair number. But there are a couple of really good reasons for contemplating [...]

Is it possible to have 100% of pupils at Level 5 or above at the end of KS3 maths? Nationally there were about 20% of pupils who were working below level 4 at the end of KS2. The Government has recently announced 20 hours of one-to-one support for the 30,000 least able children in KS1. [...]

What do predicted D grade students have to do to get C grades and above? Surprisingly the answer is both unexpected and simple. It’s not primarily about working harder and longer. Nor is it merely about being more motivated. Rather the solution lies within the issue of the organisation of ideas. The fact is that [...]

“The calculator that refused to die” About fifteen or more years ago I bought a basic calculator (battery and solar power), used it a lot and am still using it today. What does that prove ? Well, for a start it shows that consumer electronics products can be incredibly reliable and great value for money. [...]

Tough, simple, hard-wearing protective aprons for teenagers The School Protective Aprons protect student clothing against spilled items. They are tough but comfortable with an elasticated waistband. Over 100,000 have been supplied to schools since we launched the range. The aprons are available in heavy-duty cotton drill, in navy or white, and can be supplied with [...]

Sometimes quality is really important You’ll know this if you ever have a problem with a school trip. It is bad enough when something goes wrong and it is just one or two adults travelling, but when you have a whole party of students travelling, you really do need to be assured you are travelling [...]

Exams can creep up on teachers too ………………… Have you heard about the students who forgot the date of their GCSE maths exam ? They turned up for school OK, but without pens, pencils, calculator, ruler or compass ! It’s easy to assume that the existing stock of exam desks will always be enough for [...]

OWL, the Electricity Saving Company , to Help Leeds University Reduce its £11m Energy Bill OWL, the electricity saving company, is partnering with Leeds University to launch a year-long study on how it might reduce its £11m a year energy bill. The study will see Leeds University use the latest OWL Wireless Electricity Monitor, to [...]

A source of lesson plans for Form Time One of the problems which can occur with Form Time is the issue of finding a variety of engaging subjects and topics that will interest the students, and have a meaningful educational impact. One can do it for one’s own specialist subject, but in other areas it [...]

Activities outside the classroom made easier Teachers and others will now find it easier to take young people out and about as Schools Minister Diana Johnson launched a consultation on simple and straightforward guidance to cut red tape. Activities outside the classroom have significant benefits for young people and help to bring learning to life. [...]

The problem of plagiarism The IT News service that we run has recently been discussing the problem of plagiarism in terms of student work. After some discussion two IT services have come up which might be worth looking at (or getting your IT support team to look at) if you have any worries about plagiarism [...]

The complete set of KS3 history materials for peer, teacher or self-assessment teaching chronology, historical knowledge and understanding, interpretation, enquiry etc. Materials that can be used for peer, teacher or self-assessment are always beneficial – especially when they contain such attributes as an overall teaching framework, mind maps and personal pupil assessment record sheets. Key [...]

Is it possible to transform the mindset of teenagers? An interest in social and emotional aspects of learning is nothing new, but recently there’s been a growth in interest in the area, which has resulted in far more attention being paid to social and emotional skills in education. The question therefore arises: is it possible [...]

Is it possible to transform the mindset of teenagers? An interest in social and emotional aspects of learning is nothing new, but recently there’s been a growth in interest in the area, which has resulted in far more attention being paid to social and emotional skills in education. The question therefore arises: is it possible [...]

What is the connection between travel, higher education and employment? My view is that admissions tutors in universities/colleges and personnel managers in companies have rather odd jobs. They make decisions as to whom to accept onto a course or into a job, and mostly they make these decisions by looking at the evidence in front [...]

What is the most successful approach toschool improvement yet developed? (And how it can be implemented in any school in the country.) There are many approaches to school improvement on offer, and it can be hard to locate the most effective. This lack of certainty can lead on occasion to several different initiatives being run [...]

How to teach general studies One of the great problems with general studies is the sheer breadth of the subject – the range of possibilities is endless. In teaching the subject I have found that a topic that goes down well with one group of students fails to raise any interest with another group. Maybe [...]

What distinguishes an A or B student from a C or D student? Here is one simple answer: critical thinking. The student who can engage in critical thinking gets the A or the B. The student who can’t gets the lower grade. The book “Critical thinking” takes this position as its starting point and shows [...]

What does a Modern Languages lesson look like? This must look like one of the silliest questions ever – as Head of Modern Languages you know perfectly well what an ML lesson looks like, not least given the fact that you have taught a fair number. But there are a couple of really good reasons [...]

How to teach the concept of the production line … Not to mention the concept of quality assurance, quality control, costing, time analysis… The answer for many teachers is to install a production line process and to watch what happens – and certainly one ideal way of doing this is through the PrestigePro from Ellison. [...]

How to achieve higher grades in the pre-released case studies for the January A Level Business Studies examinations The most effective way of raising grades for the A Level Business Studies pre-released examinations is through detailed preparation work on the case studies. APT has been producing guides to case studies for a number of years [...]