Daily Archives: 11/01/2017

Literacy

Fact: we are more creative when we are unfocused

What is one of the most effective ways of getting the most out of your pupils in their creative writing lessons?

It is a fact that we are more creative when we are unfocused, because the brain is not only a lot less efficient at filtering out distractions, but it is also a lot less efficient at remembering connections between ideas or concepts – enabling us to make new connections, be open to new ideas, and think in new ways.

However, although this might be the best way to come up with creative ideas, it is not the best scenario when it comes to your pupils’ creative writing. For them, creating a consistent writing routine and idea habit will gain better results. Indeed, once a creative idea has been thought of, it must then, of course, be written in a way that will meet the requirements of the Programmes of Study for writing composition – which is possible when there is an embedded routine to follow.

One approach would be to use Brilliant Activities for Creative Writing – a series of photocopiable activity books for Year 1 to Year 6 pupils that provide a flexible but structured approach for developing writing skills, which both you and your pupils will enjoy.

The activities help children to develop writing skills for different genres, from narrative and poetry to recounts and persuasive writing. The sheets are self-explanatory and ready to use; the only additional resources needed are a pen or pencil and, sometimes, extra paper. Hint boxes provide extra support for the children in completing the task.

For more information about Brilliant Activities for Creative Writing, visit http://www.brilliantpublications.co.uk/book/brilliant-activities-for-creative-writing-series-pack-505

What’s more, you can order Brilliant Activities for Creative Writing in a variety of ways, including:

  • by visiting the website
  • by phone on 01449 766629
  • by fax on 01449 768047
  • by email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk
  • or by post to Brilliant Publications, Mendlesham Industrial Estate, Norwich Road, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5ND.

Brilliant Publications,
Mendlesham Industrial Estate,
Norwich Road,
Mendlesham,
Suffolk,
IP14 5ND.

website: www.brilliantpublications.co.uk
email: orders@tradecounter.co.uk

phone: 01449 766629
fax: 01449 768047

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Primary

Everything you need for a whole year of British Values activity!

A year of class room British Values Key Stage 2 activity in one bundle! Two copies of each of our books – It’s The Law!, Looking After Britain, Our Country, Our World, Let’s Vote On It! and God Bless The Queen and two posters to display in class, one outlining the key British Values and the other to record progress and understanding with stickers supplied.

Just £50!

Find out more here

British values starter bundle

 

School News

The School Improvement Conference

“We run our schools differently. Students want to attend them, teachers want to work in them and other schools want to learn from them.”

This year we are running our School Improvement Conferences on February 1 2017 and April 26 2017.  We have already had an extremely successful event on November 30 2016, feedback from delegates who attended includes:

“Absolutely outstanding – most useful experience of my career to date”

“Excellent day with lots of discussion, good honesty”

“A thoroughly engaging, thought provoking day.  All presenters and presentations were excellent and at times inspiring”

We would like to share with you the strategies we have developed that have helped our students across the Trust deliver Progress 8 scores up to 0.56. These strategies also formed the bedrock that transformed failing schools into good schools in a short period of time.

For more information, please take a look at our brochure and booking form by following the links below. We look forward to working with you.

School Improvement Conference Brochure

School Improvement Conference Booking Form

Science

Research: students who use web-based testing progress at a faster rate

Students who regularly test their literacy and numeracy skills with web-based games progress fastest overall across the subjects

According to recent research, carried out by Andrew Gallacher (an education coordinator at the University of Glasgow), students who regularly test their numeracy and literacy skills with web-based games progress fastest overall across the subjects.

Which is exactly why Education Quizzes exists – and why we are offering free sign up for schools to Education Quizzes for a whole year.

Our library of GCSE Chemistry quizzes cover an extensive range of topic areas, making them ideal for revising what your students are being taught in their Chemistry lessons, past and present.

Education Quizzes is also ideal to set as homework tasks as it involves little to no PPA time – giving you more time to focus on planning and preparing future lessons and assessing the work of your students from lessons which have gone before.

To see the GCSE Chemistry education quizzes that we have produced thus far, toggle through the topic area links below. Alternatively, you can email admin@educationquizzes.com to request more information.

If you would like to sign up free to Education Quizzes for a year, simply visit our schools’ registration page – www.educationquizzes.com/schools-uk-registrations/. 

Topic area

Acids, Bases and Salts 

Balancing Symbol Equations 

Chemical Reactions 

Emulsions 

Equilibria 

Periodic Table – Transition Elements

Polymerisation

Reversible and Irreversible Reactions

Water

See more

School News

How do parents of prospective students know that your school is a good school?

Good schools tend to leave the advertising of their school to word-of-mouth, but this method isn’t very effective when it comes to attracting parents of prospective students who are new to the area or when there is more than one good school in the same catchment area.

Which is what makes it so important that schools should be proactive in trumpeting their achievements and not just rely on word-of-mouth recommendations.

Of course, there are several obvious ways in which you can broadcast the achievements of your school, but mounting an honours board onto a wall of the school for all visitors to see, including parents of prospective students, is one method which often gets overlooked.

This method is particularly effective for not only does it help to persuade parents of prospective students to choose your school but it is something that will impress the likes of Ofsted.

To see our full range of honours boards, please do visit our website. Alternatively, you can call us on 01280 701093 and we’ll be pleased to discuss our boards, send you a brochure, and give any advice and guidance that you may require.

Primary

New year’s resolution – tackle key issues in a week

What can you really achieve in a week?

Teachers want to keep developing and updating their professional knowledge, but it is often hard to fit this in alongside teaching, planning, marking and, ideally, enjoying some well-deserved down-time.
Some issues such as behaviour management can seem insurmountable whilst others, such as mentoring, you want to do but they never seem to reach the top of the priority list.
As busy professionals, when faced with a difficult problem, most teachers also prefer useful advice in the form of workable strategies they can try, rather than lengthy theoretical analyses of the issues.
A solution that fits with the way teachers work and helps them to keep up to date in a manageable way is needed. And if the teacher is able to make progress in seven short days, so much the better!
We are delighted to announce a brand new series, Getting it Right in a Week, aimed at teachers in the classroom, and designed to help you and your colleagues to master key topics in 7 days.
These books are concise and accessible but still take a critical approach. They provide a straightforward, practical collection of suggestions and strategies that can be quickly studied, tried out and evaluated for their usefulness. Each book is grounded in evidence but understands how teaching works in reality. The first titles in the series cover behaviour management, lesson planning and mentoring and are published this month.
Just go to our website http://www.criticalpublishing.com/getting-it-right-in-a-week to download free sample chapters and to see details of our special pre-publication offer.
If you have any questions or queries about Getting it Right in a Week please do call 01727 851 462 or email di@criticalpublishing.com
Di Page
Critical Publishing