What is the most effective way of saving money while at the same time giving the inspectorate something new to get excited about?

Ofsted inspectors currently seem to be particularly enthused by schools that use technology to save money while resolving well-known long term issues.

In short, schools which innovate and find new ways to maximise the outcomes of school systems will always impress. Put another way, Ofsted seems to love anything that looks like increased efficiency.

One way that a number of schools are now achieving this is by reducing the amount of money spent on designing and printing homework diaries. For many schools the annual spend in this area can be up to £9,000.

This is obviously a substantial cost and one where it is difficult to measure the impact on homework for learners. Yet, as we know, homework is a really important aspect of the Ofsted framework and is something that will be inspected.

So, the introduction of a new approach which costs less and which generates a higher level of homework completion, along with greater parental interaction, is bound to impress – and, of course, results in greater learning.

It was from this starting point that Show My Homework was introduced three years ago as a method of saving money while making it easier for teachers to set, track and monitor homework.

As a result you can reduce your current costs by more than 50% each year and show Ofsted that students, their parents, your colleagues and SLT all know what homework is set day by day, the deadlines for each homework, and the details of each piece of work.

You can find more information on our online homework system on our website.

Alternatively click here for a free demonstration or call us on 020 3397 7546 for more information. 

Talk to most employers who take on young people just out of school (either for permanent jobs or for temporary employment) and the chances are you will hear some complaints.

These complaints tend to focus around the fact that “these youngsters simply don’t know what being in a job means”.

They might give as examples the fact that some teenagers think that they know everything (when from the employers point of view they know nothing), that when they have finished a job they just sit around either doing nothing or using their mobile.

Indeed one employer that we spoke to commented on a school leaver who actually checked his mobile for messages during an interview!

What Employers Want and Expect deals with the attitude of employers to employees and with the new demands that employers are placing on staff.

The book recognises that under current legislation, employers have an almost total right to dismiss employees during the early days of employment for any reason and notes that the average time people now spend in a job is only two years and four months.

The book takes the view that in order to stay in work the vast majority of young employees must help themselves by being aware of the current needs and attitudes of employers.

It is quite probably the only book which examines the attitude of employers towards young employees and advises teenagers how they can make a good impression.

The volume, which is fully copiable and so can be put on the school’s learning platform, copied to disk or photocopied, covers such issues as reliability, accuracy, punctuality, honesty, smoking, communication, written work, swearing, etc.

This edition, new for 2013, also includes warnings concerning what one can write on Facebook. As the book points out, many employers will check the Facebook pages of their employees to ensure that no one is saying anything amiss about the company that pays the wages.

It is, in fact, essential reading for everyone going into a job for the first time.

The volume can be bought as a photocopiable book or on CD Rom.

You can see some sample pages at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/careers/T1798.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1799EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 895 8

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a book, £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the book and the CD £26.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1798EMN

• 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?cPath=47&products_id=198