The Schools' News Service

The Rax Active Citizenship Toolkit is undoubtedly the most creative textbook you will have ever seen. Written by a teacher of 23 years experience and designed by a leading graphic artist to the film industry, it is presented in a highly graphic style, capturing students’ attention and communicating big issues with humour and innovation. Since [...]

The Essential Guide to the Big Issues for Every 21st Century Teacher by Ian Gilbert ‘This book is a stunner. Writing in an entertaining, page turning style, Ian Gilbert engages the reader with some powerful ideas about learning and teaching.’ – Sara Bubb, Senior Lecturer at the Institute of Education, London ‘In his inimitable style, [...]

One way, however, is better than most… The man-made world changes every day – and indeed over the last couple of centuries many parts of the country have changed beyond recognition. Studying this change is, of course, an essential part of history at any level. However, two problems arise when one starts looking at change [...]

Do you remember your first gold star at school?  To receive one makes a pupil feel very proud and special – and they often rush home to share it excitedly with their parents. These days it is well known that pupils of all ages love to be praised; and that rewards boost a child’s confidence [...]

What is the difference between a quasi-sensory phenomenon and a charismatic experience or a mystical experience? It’s a fairly fundamental question and one that students of religious studies need to understand before they get too far into the religious experience component of Religious studies AS and A2 levels. That, of course, is only the start, [...]

The AQA Entry Level Certificate in Food Technology is a particularly interesting course as it has two possible uses.  Firstly it is a course that is particulary relevant to low ability KS4 students and to those with irregular attendance patterns, and for these students it can be highly relevant to their career path. But it [...]

Open City, the independent organisation which promotes architectural excellence, also runs education programmes for students and teachers in London.  Its website contains educational resources for both primary and secondary age groups, and in the autumn Open City will be running a nationwide eco design competition. I quote from their promotional newsletter below: All primary schools [...]

1,000,001 is in, but 1,000,000 is out…  Which numbers exist in the Land of Fogg? Or come to that, when Harry Potter is in, but Hermione Grainger is out! Who else lives in this strange land? Selected topics in Key Stage 3 Maths covers the nth term, percentages, tessellation and probability, in each case with [...]

If you ask a group of older reluctant readers what they like doing in their spare time, ‘watching TV’ would be pretty high up on the list. Ask them, for example, for five words to describe Homer Simpson or the final series of Big Brother and you stand a chance of getting quite a discussion [...]

What is the most effective (and free) way of helping parents to help their children? It is quite obvious that most parents want to help their children in any way they can – but often lack the skills or knowledge in relation to what they can most effectively do. As a result we’ve produced a [...]

I recently took my senior school choir on a short trip to Venice, and whilst there they were able to perform in a couple of churches and sing in a festival. It was all well-organised and well-prepared. After we had taken our turns, I felt safe that for the rest of the trip the choir [...]

Most of us send out letters to new parents, welcoming them in and stressing the need for them to label up all of their child’s belongings. The trouble is that not all of them do it. Of course, it is clear that some parents will never label up all their children’s clothes and possessions no [...]

It’s the National Year of Music, the Sing Up campaign is still going strong and The Big Arts Give is making exciting plans. With so much enthusiasm for music education, now is the ideal time to be looking at enhancing your music lessons with interactive resources. Boardworks offers one of the only comprehensive cross-specification resources [...]

What do you give to students for whom English is an additional language, to those with limited attendance, or to those who need an alternative to GCSE? KS4 students working at National Curriculum Levels 1, 2 and 3, need a course of study that is designed for them.   Nowhere is this more true than where [...]

No matter how well you plan things, you know there will be times when you need to step in and deliver an assembly at the last minute. And that’s no easy task! But help is at hand. GRENVILLE EDUCATIONAL MEDIA have two great new DVD series which are ideal for both assembly and class use [...]

Now that the flurry of exams is coming to a close, why not order your class set of revision guides and workbooks for your new Year 10s today instead of waiting until the new school year? That way those studying the new specifications will be able to monitor their progress straight away, and you can [...]

Drama Cover Lessons comprises 22 units of work which are photocopiable, self-contained and designed to develop the pupils skills in a meaningful way. They can be set quickly by the Drama Department and administered easily by the cover teacher, who can thus feel more comfortable with administering and supervising this subject. The units of work [...]

One of the great problems that there can be with looking at new resources is the issue of quality. Publishers put out adverts saying that their materials are excellent, but the reality can occasionally be a little different. Which is why Teaching Resources UK provides a huge selection of ready made resources specifically for form [...]

It is easy when we talk about drugs to think exclusively about the illegal variety – cocaine, heroin, etc. But when considering drugs education with students, it is worth also bringing into the discussions the issue of legal drugs such as caffeine, alcohol, paracetamol, tobacco, etc. When it comes to alcohol, for example, repeated surveys [...]

How can you engage your A Level Economics students in the daily world of economics? How can you get them to apply the principles of economics from the classroom to the commercial world? To get them using economic terminology with fluency and produce the results in the exam room? thebusinesspodcast.co.uk will get your students using [...]

Schools spend vast amounts of time and money gathering data, exporting data into spreadsheets and then manipulating those spreadsheets to display the student performance information they want to share. These spreadsheets then have to be disseminated to other members of staff or groups for further interpretation and subsequent action. Often, this process has to be [...]

For science students today there are two issues. The first obviously involves learning what they are taught in the classroom and the lab. The second involves staying in touch with scientific developments – and their implications. It involves discussing the fact that cars driven by Google employees have been cruising the streets, gathering information on [...]

Schools are about teaching and learning they are not about discipline and behaviour. But if the behaviour and discipline in school is not right, then the teaching and learning suffers as a result. In improving schools we find that behaviour and discipline is integrated with the teaching and learning patterns of the school. The unity [...]

The transformation from a young person who writes a history essay because he/she has been told to do so, to a student who is genuinely interested in history and enjoys writing about it, can be slow and gradual. What we hope, however, is that by the time the student considers which universities to apply to, [...]

In a teacher’s busy life it is often hard to find the time to come up with new ideas for workshops to stimulate your students’ acting skills. This book is the answer. In 1984 Actors’ Lab was set up in Scotland as a drama workshop which concentrated solely on building acting skills. It was highly [...]

One way to look at this is to consider the past SATs results gained by schools in disadvantaged areas where the pupils might be expected to have difficulty with their basic skills. This is not to say that SATs are good or bad – but rather to use them as a comparative measure. In this [...]

There are two points about The Outward Bound Trust that tend to attract teachers, when thinking about education outside the classroom. The first is the quality – both of the experiences that they have on offer as well as the outstanding quality of instruction. The second is financial assistance. Being a charity, they have Outward [...]

One of the biggest problems with handling a special needs department is keeping up to date with all the special needs that one can encounter. Of course we all know that Tourette’s Syndrome exists, but quite possibly our knowledge of the Syndrome is sketchy.  That’s fine, until suddenly we find that there is a pupil [...]

One of the key findings of school efficiency research has been that both in schools that are facing challenging or difficult circumstances, as well as in schools where there is a feeling that progress has slowed down, there will always be some departments which are highly effective and which are continuing to move forward. In [...]

Obviously the themes behind the stories have a universal relevance, but they are set in a culture that is distant from that experienced by the children every day. In order to help children learn the deep significance of each story, we have produced a series of DVDs known as “Fleeting Shadows” using shadow puppets, music [...]

Students are often taught about ICT programmes but are not taught the most basic computing skill of all – typing. Touch typing is a skill and, like holding a pencil, once bad habits set in it is very hard to stop. But of course it goes much further than bad habits. The student who can [...]

Recording your students on a regular basis does one thing more than any other: it heightens the profile of your department within the school. What’s more the student’s enthusiasm for the music they create is increased, and the CDs can be used as fundraisers. Meanwhile Ofsted will accept them as evidence of work and the [...]

Environmentally friendly; free data wiping. When you have IT equipment that is no longer needed there are three fundamental issues you need to consider: COST. Firstly, and most obviously, you’ll want to have it removed free of charge from your school. ENVIRONMENT.  Secondly, you’ll want to be assured that it is going to be treated [...]

None of us particularly likes taking a gamble on ordering worksheets, etc, without really knowing what we are going to get. The occasional sample page can help – but really it is much better if the whole product is available on inspection. So we’ve produced ready made resources, lesson plans, work sheets, activities, assessments, interactive [...]

If you are looking for ideas and activities for form periods we’ve produced a huge selection of ready made resources specifically for form time including lesson plans, work sheets, activities, assessments, interactive games and video clips. Not only will they provide you with fun, interesting and informative activities, but they will save you hours of [...]

At GRENVILLE EDUCATIONAL MEDIA we offer a superb collection of DVDs for R.E. – that’s why we’re considered such a reliable and cost-effective resource for many R.E. departments. HOWEVER now we’re offering even more! – we’ll give you a FREE DVD mini-series on the life of Martin Luther (see panel below for full details). With [...]

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, many years after the acceptance of ADHD as a real problem [...]

Perfect the Past Tense for GCSE French is a resource which will give your students structured practice in a complex grammatical area which is vital to their success at GCSE. It comprises a pack of photocopiable worksheets which will guide them step by step through the rules and uses of the perfect tense and help [...]

One of the problems with asking GCSE students to work on a case study is that it can well be the first time they have ever had to do this.   Thus they are not only coming to terms with art as a subject, but also the issue of presenting research. Diffiuclties can arise as students [...]

Cannabis is illegal, it can damage your health, it can damage your career prospects (because of the criminal record you can get), and it is habituative. That’s hardly new information. However, teenagers are still attracted to the proposition of smoking cannabis through peer pressure and a desire to rebel. Because of its image cannabis is [...]

If that sounds like a description of a book that could work with your 11 to 14 year olds who have a reading age of 6-7, then what follows is likely to strike you as rather good news. We have a series of visually exciting books that are, for the most part, first person accounts [...]

Left to their own devices during playtimes and lunchtimes, some children will play in a very positive way. They will work together, mutually acknowledging the rules of their own games, helping and supporting each other and gaining much from the experience. Unfortunately not all children do this. Some become isolated, some race around letting off [...]

Examination questions on Thomas Wolsey and his ministry are set by OCR, Edexcel and AQA. The questions set by the examination boards require students to explain events and attitudes relating to Wolsey’s rise and ministry or to give their own view on a historical debate or interpretation. This 40 page study guide provides a synthesis [...]

Firstly, it is clear that those students who do well in GCSE ICT have a firm grasp of the key terminology. Without this everything else falls to pieces. So we need definitions clearly laid out and a lot of revisions of them. Secondly, throughout the course the students need to be able to see how [...]

Environmentally friendly; free data wiping. When you have IT equipment that is no longer needed there are three fundamental issues you need to consider: COST. Firstly, and most obviously, you’ll want to have it removed free of charge from your school. ENVIRONMENT.  Secondly, you’ll want to be assured that it is going to be treated [...]

An NFER report, commissioned by the then DfEE, to assess the use of data in teaching and learning (Research Report No 671, 2006) reached the conclusion that “School-devised systems and Excel spreadsheets are the most popular data management tools” in Primary schools. But the question then arises, why do Primary teachers prefer these tools? Seemingly [...]

In all history teaching there are issues that can, on occasion, be taught but not fully appreciated and understood by the students in the class. They may know the phrase “the sun never set on the British Empire” and will understand this to mean that the Empire stretched around the world. But was the phrase [...]

Your job is to run groups, or teach groupwork. We produce the essential materials to keep you in touch, inform your practice, and help you lead groups with confidence. 16th European Groupwork Symposium ‘Groupwork and well-being’ 8th – 10th September 2010, York Every year, the Symposium provides a forum for groupworkers, new or experienced, to [...]

One of the questions that has interested me considerably over time is how one moves away from the intense practice on individual issues in reading into incorporating them into general practice of use of the language. It may of course just be me, but I know from experience that I can spend hours with some [...]

Each year your pupils leave school with a range of memories, but not necessarily anything concrete. Likewise, their parents take with them images of the school, and they use these when talking to friends about the school and whether they would recommend it. It is only when the pupils take away something that is likely [...]