Total Income Management: Trips, Dinner Money, Extended Day, Communications, Lettings and Online Payments – a fully integrated solution for your School, Academy or College

Tucasi have been providing innovative software to the Education sector for the last 8 years.  Our Company was formed to address the problems of the income collection process in schools and we now have over 3000 schools across 145 Local Authorities Nationwide, using our systems.  165,000 parents are also registered to pay online using our secure online payment system.

We have combined knowledge of School Governance/Finance (two of our Founders were School Governors) with technical expertise (we have built income systems for Disney Theme Parks and Homebase amongst others), and have created an organisation that is entirely focused on helping schools.

We listen to schools to find out what they want from us and we also understand that software products must be backed up by good service.  We invest significant resources in creating an operations team that focuses not only on selling the system but also training schools, supporting them and making time to listen to what they have to say.

SCO Software :

• Records/stores details of income/expenditure quickly and efficiently
• Generates receipts
• Creates a complete audit trail
• Generates Debt letters/invitations
• Provides comprehensive reports to support finance managers
• Accepts multiple payment methods including online payments
• Generates Gift Aid reports

This software was designed specifically to help administrative staff with the collecting, administration, banking and audit of all non-grant income.   The system works equally well in both Primary and  Secondary Schools and in areas where SCO has been used for some time, auditors recommend it.  

For schools that collect dinner money in advance SCO dramatically reduces administration workload, keeping track of who has paid what and instantly showing who is in arrears and by how much.

The software integrates very quickly with existing school processes and creates a platform that enables schools to offer parents a flexible range of payment options including the ability for parents to pay online.

Systems include :            

Trips, events, uniform management

Dinners management

Extended day management (After School, Holiday and Breakfast clubs)

Online payments

Communications (text/email)

Lettings management

“We have been using the Tucasi system to manage our school trips, charity collections, school events and dinner money for 2 years. We absolutely love it! It meets all of our needs and it saves us administration time; it’s obvious that it’s been designed specifically for schools.

What we also find refreshing about Tucasi is that customer service doesn’t stop with the sale, the ongoing support and training are brilliant and there is always a friendly voice on the end of the phone should we need help.” Primary School in Nottinghamshire

 “Just paid Beth and Dylan’s dinner money for this half term using Tucasi – so easy, and no more lost money….   A great system!”  Parent from Primary School in Hampshire

If you would like a free demonstration of the system or just to find out a little bit more about us, please do not hesitate to contact :

 Annette Mckeown

Head of Sales

0844 800 4016   am@tucasi.com

InspireEducation is a specialist provider of Careers Education and Information Advice and Guidance.

In collaboration with our employer network we have developed a range of workshops that provide world of work CE/IAG information to students in a fun and interactive way.

The workshops support a schools existing CE/IAG provision whilst demonstrating that the duty to provide impartial advice has been met in the production of a detailed Case Study for the school.

Our workshops have proven to:

• Inspire Learners
• Remove barriers to learning and progression
• Re-engage students
• Raise attainment
• Increase student transitional success
• Motivate learners to independently manage their own education and career choices
• Train key employability skills needed for the world of work

The workshops are 2 hours in length, can be delivered to up to a 100 students and involve a highly skilled trainer delivering our interactive and creative content. Workshops are available for students from Key Stage 3 to 5 and include:

• Next Steps
• Goal Setting
• Employable You
• CV Writing
• Interview Skills

(NB Please click on any of the course titles to download the course details)

The cost of each workshop is £500.00

If you would like to book one of the workshops please click here
to send us an email with your contact details and a member of staff will call you.

www.i2e-education.co.uk
Inspiring students about their future

Inspire2Exceed Ltd
Group 7577313
Inspire House
28 Buttercup Close
Corby
NN18 8LB

There is a classic experiment in the history of managing the behaviour of school pupils and schools in which a school in a high poverty low-expectation area of Maryland USA, adopted the syllabus and teaching methods of an extremely conservative nearby private school.

The experiment proved once and for all that a key factor in determining the behaviour of pupils was not so much the syllabus or the background of the students, but rather the unification of the view of the staff.

In short, where different staff hold, implement (or indeed fail to implement) different approaches to behaviour then behavioural issues arise. Where there is a true unification of purpose via one selected approach, then matters progress quickly.

The book, Improving attitudes, managing behaviour and reducing exclusions, builds from this finding, a finding which puts the power to change pupil and student behaviour totally back in the hands of the school and its teachers.

The view of the book is very clear: schools improve when those in the school decide to improve the school, not because of government initiatives, curricula, inspectors, naming and shaming or anything else imposed from without.

For, once a school has its own unified policy, it is able to project that policy to parents and students alike and thus extend the unity of purpose to all members of the school.

Through this unified approach everyone within the school is able to be proud of the school through knowing exactly what its approach to behaviour is, as much as everyone will know what its approach to teaching and learning is.

Within such an approach, everything is covered. A parental complaint about behaviour, for example, is immediately seen by everyone involved within the context of the school’s policy to which everyone has signed up. Through this approach the issues of teaching and learning, motivation and behaviour all start to exist in a unified concept. Each issue is related to the others, and everyone knows where they stand.

But the key issue is not just the development of a new policy to which everyone agrees. It is the implementation and maintenance of the policy every day of the school year.

And it is this issue of seeing both the introduction and the maintenance of the policy as being of equal importance that marks out this approach from so many others. For whatever changes are introduced to the school, there will be objections, which as often as not are simply objections to change rather than objections in principle as they are so often expressed.

It is the overcoming of such objections and the insistence on the maintenance of the new approach that ensures that in the end the school is operating in the way that everyone wants.

You can see some sample pages at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1813.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1813EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 821 7

Price £20.00, approx A$35.00. The price will be determined by the exchange rate on the day on which the transaction is processed.

The book is available in digital format – we will send it as a pdf email attachment when payment has been received.

How to Pay

Payment may be made by any of the following means.

Trying to convince teenagers of the need to engage in a healthy lifestyle can on occasion seem a difficult task.

Which is why one PSHE teacher thought about turning the issue into a series of “Life Games” – all based around the curriculum requirements for the health and lifestyle topics in PSHE Key Stages 3 and 4.

These games enable you to inform and engage your students on topics which are notoriously sensitive including relationships, reproduction, substance misuse, sunshine and travel, mental health and depression.

Each game is a stand-alone activity which can be delivered to a range of groups. Most of the games are accompanied by separate student notes. Clear learning objectives, based on the national curriculum, together with session plans, are provided.

The games can be used in any order and are suited to the classroom, although they could be used in other contexts. They are intended for groups of about eight to forty participants and are generally appropriate for teenagers and young adults. Each activity should last about thirty minutes, although they can be adapted for longer sessions. There are also suggestions for extending the activity and “talking points”, useful as fillers.

Life Games is available as a photocopiable book or on CD Rom, and individual activities can thus be readily copied and distributed to students as required. The copies can also be shared with colleagues or given to supply teachers, without any fear of the original book being misplaced.

An extract from Life Games, ISBN 978 1 86083 718 0, order code T1730EMN
is available at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/pshe/T1730.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 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://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=558
• By phone with a school order number or a credit card to 01536 399 011

When ordering the book please quote the reference T1730EMN.

The most obvious answer to this question is that, for as long as most test and exam papers still require handwritten answers, good handwriting is always going to make an impact and help deliver extra marks.

But there is more. For there is also the issue of the relationship between the brain and handwriting.

Handwriting requires a greater level of hand/eye co-ordination than typing on a keyboard, and thus, as well as helping with exam scores, good handwriting gives pupils the chance to develop their essential fine motor skills.

Unfortunately, there is no doubt that many young people today are brought up in homes where handwriting is limited to little more than the production of shopping lists – and indeed many people are now even typing these into their mobile phones.

It is for all of these reasons that MSL produced the Handwriting Rescue Scheme for fully cursive handwriting.

The scheme, which is available as a photocopiable program supplied on CD or as printed sheets, contains over 300 structured exercises designed to establish complete cursive letter formation.

And there is a particular bonus here, for tests have shown that the use of such material encourages the development of an automatic response to frequently used spelling choices. In other words, by practising their handwriting pupils also learn their spellings.

You can order The Handwriting Rescue Scheme in any of these ways:

• On our website
• By phone on 01604 505000
• By fax to 01604 505001
• By email to info@msl-online.net
• By post to Multi-Sensory Learning, Highgate House, Creaton, Northants, NN6 8NN 

This 150 page book will be invaluable to any student of the Second Reich at Advanced level. It provides a comprehensive, narrative chronological structure which is a prerequisite of any study of the period. Personalities and events are recounted in considerable detail and are clearly set in context.

However the book goes beyond most standard textbooks in the way it prepares students to produce competent essay responses to exam questions and provides practice in handling documentary source.

• Students are given key questions to consider and are encouraged to test continuously the theories of historians against their own findings.
• Essay style questions are set at each stage in the book, all drawn from past exam papers.
• Documentary criticism skills are continuously tested.
• Frequent historiographical references remind students to read beyond this text to gain a greater understanding of the subject.

What’s more, the materials are available as a photocopiable book and as a CD which can be put onto the school’s network and shared among all students for whom it is relevant. Thus all students may use the material with the purchase of just one copy.

ISBN No: 978 1 86083 564 3 Order code: T1649EMN

Sample pages are available to download free of charge from http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/history/T1649.pdf

• Photocopiable book: £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD: £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD plus photocopiable book: £36.94 plus £3.95 delivery

You can order… Please quote the order code T1649EMN

• By post: Write to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
• By fax: To 01536 399 012
• By phone: quoting a credit card number or a school order reference number: 01536 399 018
• On line: Go to http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=473 – you will need a credit card to complete the order

For many students the answer to this question is that students do find it hard to foster evaluation and application skills within the AS level Psychology syllabus. This appears to be true across all levels of ability.

Which is why we have published a downloadable resource which teaches different ideas of how to explore specific key topic areas.

Through these activities the resource promotes independent learning and encourages application skills. At the same time the resource helps students further develop their evaluation skills while helping them to gauge their progress using the success criteria linked to past examiner comments and skills needed at each level.

Six separate areas of covered within this resource: memory, attachments, research methods, stress, individual differences, and social influence. The resource concludes with a set of wide-ranging revision activities.

By way of example, the memory section of the resource starts with a list of key authorities within the field so that students can gain a historical perspective. Second there is a review of models of memory and a link to the exam requirements in this area – plus a task to be completed.

We then move on to improving memory and finally there is a balloon debate activity which covers authoritative researchers in the field of cognitive psychology.

25 Activities for AQA (A) AS Psychology is only available as a download – not as a printed book.

There are sample pages at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/authordownloadsamples/T1817samples.pdf

25 Activities for AQA (A) AS Psychology is published as a download so that you can receive immediately a copy onto your computer which you can print out for colleagues as often as you want. You can also put it on your school learning platform so all staff can access the document – and indeed you can make it part of the induction documentation for new members of staff.

You can obtain 25 Activities for AQA (A) AS Psychology by going to http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=787

The price is £10 plus VAT (the VAT can be reclaimed in most cases by the school).

25 Activities for AQA (A) AS Psychology is published by First and Best in Education, part of the Hamilton House group. If you have any enquiries you can call 01536 399 011, or email sales@firstandbest.co.uk or write to us at First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH.

The full range of First and Best books can be seen at www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk

First and Best in Education
Earlstrees Road
Corby
UK
NN17 4HH

Website: www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk
Email: sales@firstandbest.co.uk

with Hywel Roberts
author of Oops! Helping children learn accidentally

This day is interactive, inspiring and packed with practical input. Hywel practises what he preaches! So while he will address what you need to do to be outstanding, he will do so with enthusiasm, humour and with a realistic grasp of what is happening in schools right now.

• What does ‘outstanding’ really mean?
• What is Ofsted looking for?
• How to engage your students without them even knowing they are learning
• AfL and differentiation strategies
• Effective questioning
• How to make learning relevant
• Creating a climate for adventurous learning

Take home numerous classroom strategies that really do switch on all children to learn, to think, to participate, to take responsibility and to enjoy the whole wonderful process of learning

Venues and dates:

Manchester: 20th September 2013
Leeds: 8th November 2013
London: 31st January 2014
Oxford: 21st March 2014

To book please:

email bookings@smartees-learning.com

call 0118 9797 551 or

visit www.smartees-learning.com

Bursaries: we do not want schools to miss out for financial reasons. A limited number of bursaries are available for schools whose financial status may otherwise preclude them from attending. Please contact us to find out more.

Children do not experience nature enough; they’re not building dens, exploring new landscapes, hunting for bugs or creating wild art. That’s the view of a number of different research projects. Lack of contact with the outdoors has even been diagnosed as Nature Deficit Disorder. There’s no need to worry though, Field Studies Council (FSC) can help with our environmental education courses.

FSC believes the more we know about and take inspiration from the world around us the more we can appreciate its needs and protect its diversity and beauty for future generations. FSC is the only environmental education charity dedicated solely to helping people of all ages to experience the environment at first hand; to discover, explore and by inspired by the natural world.

As part of its mission FSC welcomes nearly 3,000 schools to its centres on science, geography and cross-curricular courses each year. At key stage 2 FSC provides opportunities for children to see, explore and learn in a fun, engaging manner, by immersing themselves in the natural world, taking in its sights, sounds and smells.

For more information on our environmental education courses for schools, please visit: http://www.field-studies-council.org/outdoorclassroom

Did you know that you can get free compasses when you order scientific calcs?

With every two scientific or graphic calcs you order (min order 50 calcs) we’ll give you a FREE metal safety compass (normal selling price is around 45p each).

EG. Order 100 calcs and we’ll give you 50 compasses, order 200 calcs and you’ll get 100 compasses completely FREE!
Offer ends October 15 or when our stock of compasses is used up.

Choose from the calcs on our website or from our “back to school” brochure which you should receive at your school.

All prices are ex vat

Please check our website for more details:
www.signposteducational.co.uk

or contact us on: signpost@talk21.com

Signpost Educational Ltd.
PO Box 999
London
E14 6SHTel: 020 7515 1797
Fax: 020 7515 4420

Being human means being aware of attraction, beauty and social norms. It also means that we have to realise that to a large degree beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

These issues, plus such factors as the multi-facetedness of beauty and the vast range of ways there are of being attractive, requires that we approach each issue from a variety of different angles.

Unfortunately this in turn can give us the problem of each of us having differing (and even contradictory) points of view. There are no set answers – but there are possible answers.

And it gets tougher. When we get to the field of social influences and social relationships there are so many different approaches and so many different views that it can get to the stage that the whole topic seems impossible.

Being yourself, having good positive relationships, acknowledging both rights and responsibilities, avoiding a life dominated by peer pressure, understanding different sexual orientations… these are all vital but complex issues.

So, to make the teaching of social relationship issues throughout the school a simpler and more consistent process, we have produced a course book on social relationships which can be used throughout the school with the assurance of continuity of message at each stage.

The book, Sex and Sensibility: a Sex and Relationships Course for Secondary Schools, is available both in photocopiable form and as a volume that can be loaded onto the school network, so that only one copy is needed.

The volume is intended for use by teachers not only of PSHE, but also biology, sociology, art, science and literature, incorporating as it does everything from key discussion points on the social effects of sexual behaviour to sex in the media, from sex and biology to Shakespeare’s “True Face of Beauty” sonnet and a mystery love letter.

Indeed whether one wishes to look at branding, personality, the law, health or any other matter in this field, it is covered here.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/pshe/T1760.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1760EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 754 8

Prices

• Photocopiable report: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1760emn

• 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=40&products_id=734

Jan Lever Education Consultancy are a team of dedicated professionals who specialize in Curriculum Development, Education Consultancy, PSHE, Religious Education and Sex Education. Jan Lever Education consultancy offer the new Discovery Scheme of Work for Religious Education in primary schools. Which is a comprehensive enquiry-based, teaching programme for Religious Education for Years 1-6. Also the new Jigsaw PSHE Scheme of Work, which is a comprehensive resource that integrates the national PSHE Education Framework, emotional literacy and social skills development into a one lesson a week programme of study for every year group from Reception to Y6.

Website: www.janlevereducationconsultancy.com

Jigsaw PSHE is a comprehensive PSHE Scheme of Work for the whole Primary School. This complete resource contains PSHE Lesson Plans, PSHE teaching resources, original songs, assemblies, Weekly Behaviour Focus and more. SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) development opportunities are mapped throughout Jigsaw. Its mission is to support very busy teachers to deliver high-quality Personal, Social, Health and Economic Education (as well as all the other things Jigsaw aims to convey) to the children in their schools; to bring fun and creativity into PSHE Education whilst ensuring a developmental and progressive curriculum. Jigsaw offers the mindful approach to PSHE.

Website: www.jigsawpshe.com

DISCOVERY RE

Discovery RE is a comprehensive and original set of medium-term lesson plans for Religious Education for the whole Primary School. It fulfils statutory RE requirements and follows Ofsted recommendations. SMSC (Spiritual, Moral, Social and Cultural) development opportunities are mapped throughout and enhances children’s learning, whilst encouraging the celebration of diversity.

Discovery RE provides the overall structure, medium-term planning and approach for RE for the whole school and also gives an assessment framework with levelled marking criteria. Teachers have the flexibility to choose which religions to teach when and supports teachers by cutting planning time.

Website: www.discoveryschemeofwork.com

Shakespeare is full of paradoxes. He wrote for a mass public but has become high culture, didn’t keep his manuscripts yet First Folios are now priceless, was a glove maker’s son but understood kings and courtiers, was a social outsider who became part of the establishment.

Genius leaps boundaries and it is surely Shakespeare’s ability to mix the high with the low that is one of the reasons his work has lasted through four centuries and is still able to find new audiences and fresh interpretation. He was at root a popular entertainer. He wrote as much to please the groundlings as the nobility and in late Tudor times a third of all Londoners visited the theatre every month. People flocked to see his plays in the same numbers they hustled to see bear baiting, cock fights and duels – often in the same theatres and on the same bill.

So the idea of presenting his work in comic book format wouldn’t have seemed that strange to him. If it were merely the etiolated expression of a long ago elite culture, it wouldn’t have survived. His plays are full of the fizz, crudity and knockabout associated with traditional comic art – and much of his work balances the austere and grand with humour. Lear has his fool, Macbeth’s murder of Duncan is followed by the drunken Porter and Juliet’s expressions of love are offset by Mercutio’s obscene raillery.

The comic book format isn’t just another medium through which to present Shakespeare’s work. It happens to be a particularly good one precisely because inherently visual. A live performance is always the best way to understand Shakespeare’s genius, but an illustrated presentation gives some sense of theatrical performance. This is a point appreciated by award winning writer Naomi Alderman when on BBC Radio 4 she said of the Shakespeare Comic Book Series, ‘Amazing… It’s really like a staging of Shakespeare… You can take it at your own pace… for things like Shakespeare where you really want to be focusing on the words but at the same time seeing the staging – it’s just the perfect form for that.’

Being in a comic doesn’t suddenly make Shakespeare’s text less profound or meaningful, though it might make it more accessible to many students. It’s true the original has been edited, but almost any stage production will edit in places – a full length production of Hamlet would last more than five hours and few these days would have the endurance for that. It is doubtful that even Tudor or Jacobean audiences ever saw the play in its entirety. Editing can be helpful, especially when key scenes and speeches have been preserved.

As well as the edited Shakespeare text, Shakespeare Comic Books also offer a modern English translation. This is important. Much of Shakespeare remains easy to understand. Quite a lot of it is challenging but becomes comprehensible after much scratching of head, chewing of lip and consultation of dictionary. Some of it is utterly unintelligible and about which academic experts fail to agree.

It’s not fair to expect school students to tackle that sort of linguistic demand. It’s also not sense. Students baffled and off-put by the seeming complexity of Shakespeare’s language may turn away from it altogether. Students supported in their understanding by a modern English translation may begin to discover the wonder of his verse.

The Shakespeare Comic Books Series is helping to bring Shakespeare alive for the next generation. It’s not definitive, but it’s a brilliant place to start – or as teacher Helen Reynolds put it, an ‘ideal introduction to Shakespeare.’

More information at www.shakespearecomics.com or on 01691 770165

If ever a job has changed in the last 10 years it is that of the bursar and school business manager.

Even the title of the job has been varied, for as one correspondent to the School of Education Administration and Management put it recently, “My pay slip calls me the ‘Administrator’, it says ‘Bursar’ on the door to my room and the head introduces me to visitors as the School Business Manager.”

In a world where even the job title can be variable throughout the day, what chance is there for the bursar (or SBM or Chief Administrator) to cope with the ever changing nature of the school?

The fact is that change is everywhere. The government makes change its watch-word. Independence from LA control puts more pressure on school administrations, and quite often the boundaries as to who actually has the final sign off on new procedures becomes rather confused.

As a result, stress rises and a sense of progressive improvement is replaced by a sense of making do. With few people seeming to know how schools are supposed to react to something as huge as the raising of the compulsory education leaving age over the next few years, it is not surprising that there is often a sense of the school not quite knowing what is coming next.

However, it is only by recognising change as an inevitable part of running the school’s administrative systems and by accepting that the drive towards efficiency and effectiveness is part of the bursar’s job that these various parts of the school process can be brought back into balance.

Hence the new edition of the Bursar’s Survival Guide.

The aim of this comprehensive report is to develop school improvements and efficiencies through changes in administrative procedures. Such action inevitably enhances the personal standing of the bursar and those in the bursar’s department and reduces stress levels throughout the school’s administration.

The report opens with a single example idea, one idea that takes only a few minutes to implement but which could reduce the school’s non-salary expenditure by 10% at a stroke, without changing the quality of the goods and services provided.

After that the volume considers 57 separate topics that affect the role of the bursar and the bursar’s department in the school, and analyses each one in a way that is (in most cases, if not all) different from the way in which standard text books on bursaring and financial control approach the topic.

Quite simply The Bursar’s Survival Guide will help to ensure a smoothly run bursar’s office generating excellent results in all aspects of its work in the years to come.

You can see some sample pages at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/bursar/T1795.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1795EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 885 9

Prices

• Photocopiable book £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Book plus CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1795EMN

• 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=26&products_id=416

You may remember we wrote to your school earlier in the summer about part-time study opportunities at the University of Cambridge.

We’ve had a lot of enquiries from teachers since then about our research-based Advanced Diploma courses, so I’d like to take this opportunity to explain a little more about what’s on offer and the bursary funding available to teachers.

Please feel free to circulate this email to anyone within your school who you think might be interested in developing their subject knowledge through research.

About the Cambridge Advanced Diploma

Your own individual project with individual supervision from a world expert, the Undergraduate Advanced Diploma is a unique opportunity to tailor your own programme of study, explore a passion in depth and gain a University of Cambridge qualification.

The Advanced Diploma is a research-based course, so that means you can choose the research topic and, with an expert in the field to supervise you, you are on the way to gaining a qualification that is equivalent to the third year of an undergraduate degree. The course will give you an excellent grounding in research methods if you’re looking to continue your research at a higher level.

This is a part-time programme so you can combine study with a busy teaching life. What’s more, the teaching format makes study accessible whether you live close to Cambridge or on the other side of the country.

You’ll just need to commit to travelling to Cambridge seven times over two years: first for the induction day when you’ll meet tutors and supervisors and other Advanced Diploma students, and then for six individual supervisions. In between visits, you’ll have access to our virtual learning environment so that you can chat with fellow students and your supervisor and access electronic resources.

Subjects you can study

You can study an Advanced Diploma in the following subjects:

• Archaeology
• Ecological Monitoring and Conservation
• English Literature
• Historic Environment
• History of Art
• International Development (subject to University approval)
• Local History
• Philosophy
• Study of Religion

Teacher bursaries available

The course fee for an Advanced Diploma is £2,200, payable in six interest-free instalments. Teacher bursaries are available to help fund the cost of study:

• State-funded teachers are eligible for a bursary of £200, courtesy of Cambridge University Press
• Non-state-funded teachers who are new to ICE are also eligible for a bursary of £200, courtesy of the James Stuart Fund.

Early application is recommended as funds are limited.

How to apply

We typically accept two enrolments of students for Advanced Diplomas – the first intake in November and the second in February.

The application period for the November 2013 intake is now open and the deadline for applications is 9 September 2013.

The application period for the February 2014 intake will open in October 2013, with a deadline for applications of 1 December 2013.

Find out more about Advanced Diplomas and apply online >>

Find out more

Please don’t hesitate to contact me at enquiries@ice.cam.ac.uk if you have any questions or if you would prefer not to receive emails from us in future.

Best regards

Paul Ireland
Communications and Marketing Manager
Institute of Continuing Education, University of Cambridge
Madingley Hall, Madingley, Cambridge, CB23 8AQ

Tel: +44 (0)1223 746262
Email: enquiries@ice.cam.ac.uk

According to research by BESA (British Educational Suppliers Association), the number of schools using tablets is rising significantly, and they predict that by the end of the year 258,000 tablets will be used in schools.

While using tablets clearly benefits students, this revolution can lead to a problem. For it is clear that the number of tablets that are going missing temporarily is growing at an alarming rate.

This is not to say that the “lost” machines are removed with criminal intent. In fact, it is only a tiny minority of machines that are actually stolen.

What happens is that a person in the school takes a tablet to use legitimately, but then subsequently this specific tablet is hard to locate.

To help with this most schools mark all their portable IT equipment.

The difficulty here, however, is that tablets are invariably made of either aluminium or hard plastic with a cured paint to make them hard and scratchproof. This makes putting identification marks on the equipment difficult, because you simply can’t ‘etch’ anything into aluminium or hard plastics as they do not have a porous surface.

One way out of this dilemma is to use (Dantech’s) aluminium trakaplates which, because of the thickness and strong adhesive that they use, are near impossible to remove. In fact, the only way you could get such an identification label off a machine would be to lever it off with a screwdriver – which is extremely hard to do. There are more details on these on our website.

An alternative approach is ID Silver Mark labels. These labels are precision cut stencils which can include your school name. The labels are then painted with UV ink to show up under a UV light should the label be removed. There’s more information on these also on our website.

If you have tablets or similar objects of value in the school and you would like a way to identify them as school property, please do see our website – www.dantech.co.uk for our complete range of solutions.

Alternatively please call us on 01354 688 488 or email us sales@dantech.co.uk for free and unbiased help and advice.

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 them to gain a ‘C’ or above at GCSE level. Explanations are clearly illustrated with plenty of examples to work through, and answers are included at the back of the book. Most of the exercises are designed to be worked through on an individual basis but there are also a couple of games which can be played in small groups.

Perfect the Past Tense has been designed and written by French teachers and tested in class where it proved to be immensely beneficial.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/modlang/T1675.pdf

ISBN: 978 1 86083 730 2; Order code: T1675emn

The volume is available as…

• 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 book or CD…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 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=34&products_id=492

Teacher motivation is arguably one of the simplest ways of obtaining a high level of departmental improvement without it costing anything. However many managers in schools have had little training in motivational techniques.

The argument is simple: in most organisations, motivating the staff is a central part of the work of the senior management. No matter how professional ones colleagues are thought or expected to be, it is realised that they are also human – and all humans can have ups and downs. We all like to be told we are doing well, we like hear about how our work is contributing to the overall well-being of the organisation, and when we are asked to take on new work, we like to be thanked.

In many ways the application of this to schooling is obvious. When the choice is between the highly motivated individual with the personal drive to make a difference, or the teacher who lacks that drive and for whom teaching is what happens between holidays, there is only one answer. We want the motivated teacher.

And yet we all of us observe the teacher whose level of motivation declines.

Teacher Motivation: the low-cost high gain approach to school improvement is a report which has been used in hundreds of schools across the UK as the model for improving motivation among teachers.

It is provided both as a CD (which can be loaded onto the virtual learning environment) and as a photocopiable book, so that individual sections can be copied and handed to colleagues, who then return for a short in-school seminar on the particular topic being reviewed.

A sample of the book is available on line at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1573.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…

• 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=421
• By phone with a school order number or a credit card to 01536 399 011

When ordering the book please quote the reference T1573EMN

There are four ways in which secondary schools can increase the amount of money that they have to spend each year: by gaining additional support from parents, through donations from businesses, through income from sponsorship projects, and through efficiency savings.

Raising Money for Secondary Schools considers each of these approaches in turn and considers not only approaches that work, but also popular fund-raising methodologies that are often witnessed but are rarely successful.

Indeed, one of the big problems that schools can have with fund-raising is that many of the time-honoured methods of raising or saving money no longer work at all effectively.

When a school comes up against this issue and sees that the amount of money being raised or saved is in decline, there is sometimes a tendency simply to say, “fund-raising doesn’t work any more”. However, this explanation is generally not correct. Rather it is the case that the ways in which businesses and individuals respond to appeals for support have changed.

Further it is also true that what appears to be the common sense approach to gaining efficiency savings simply don’t work. Efficiency savings are possible, but for most schools this is only true when the school follows a particular approach.

This volume also asks the reader to focus on the position of the donor, and consider what sort of appeal will work. The reader is also encouraged to approach different types of organisations in different ways, rather than sending out identical emails and letters to all local companies, large and small.

There are also details of how the school should point out the benefits that will accrue to the donor, as well as to the school.

The volume concludes with a review of 22 separate sponsorship plans and a review of how efficiency savings can be made – often with savings that can be in excess of the amount of money that can be brought in through fund-raising.

Raising Money for Secondary School by Tony Attwood is available as a photocopiable book or on CD Rom which can itself be copied or loaded onto the school’s learning platform or intranet.

ISBN: 978 1 86083 801 9 Order code: T1801emn – please quote with order.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1801.pdf

• 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 to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 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=387

KEY STAGE 2 COMPOSING covers every aspect of primary school creative music making. Each lesson in the book is broken down into five and ten minute blocks, with each step fully detailed and accompanied by explanatory notes for the teacher. As well as a complete set of lessons there are several short- and long-term composing projects for the pupils to work.

Though full of strategies and tips for teachers with a music background, KEY STAGE 2 COMPOSING is specifically written for teachers who have no knowledge of music theory at all and little confidence in teaching music. The book is copiable throughout which means it can be shared by KS2 teachers throughout the school.

David Stoll is the well-known composer of SEALSONGS as well as concert, theatre and television music. He was commissioned by the DfES to run a project investigating how composers may work with teachers in primary schools, and to write a handbook for schools and composers: Building music (DfES 2005). David regularly runs composing workshops and delivers INSETs in schools and for LEAs around the country.

Sample pages of the book may be downloaded from http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/primary/T1752.pdf

Publisher’s catalogue number T1752emn; ISBN: 978 1 86083 714 2

Prices

• Book or CD: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Book plus CD: £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Download from the on-line shop: £16.95

Methods of ordering – please quote catalogue number T1752emn

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House Mailings plc, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
• By fax on 01536 399 012
• By phone with a credit card or with an official school order number on 01536 399 011
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=48_98&products_id=666

According to the government document “Improving Efficiency in Schools,” the average secondary school ought to be able to save around £100,000 a year in efficiency savings, while the average primary school should be able to save around £25,000 a year.

And to be clear, those are not one-off savings. The report stressed that these savings ought to be achievable this year, next year and every year.

To achieve these terrific savings, the report said, all the schools have to do is take a look at how other, more efficient, schools are handling matters, and copy their practices.

Yet if it were as easy as that, surely by now, most schools should be feeling extremely well off, as inefficiencies are removed and the savings mount up in school bank accounts, simply waiting to be used on other educational ventures.

Sadly, as we know, this is not true. And it is not true for one very simple reason: efficiencies arise not just by copying other schools (although this can help somewhat) but mostly through the introduction and maintenance of what might be a called “an efficiency mindset” throughout the school.

The process of achieving an “efficiency mindset” has been explored and examined in detail by school managers and administrators over the past five years in a number of schools – schools which as part of this exploration really have made incredible efficiency savings.

Now for the first time the way in which schools are making savings is described in one volume: “The Efficient School.”

This volume reveals not only many of the projects that schools have introduced in recent years in order to achieve efficiencies, but also the vital processes which these schools introduce to ensure that objections to change are overcome and that changes, once implemented, are maintained and developed.

As such report explores not only areas in which savings can be made, but also the way in which the whole issue of changing well-established processes and habits can be handled in a school.

The Efficient School is available in copiable form (as a printed volume or on CD) so that it can be distributed to all interested members of staff.

ISBN: 978 1 86083 811 8 Order code: T1803emn – please quote with order.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1803.pdf

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 01536 399 011
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=784

The Scrabble board game has been transformed into a number’s game called ‘Numenko’ where the letters are now numbers.

Now sums, strategy and solutions are the objects of the game. Numenko has been used with children by parents and teachers alike.

It allows children to practice using their number skills in a fun way. The game naturally differentiates between abilities because the children choose their next ‘call’.

We have put together a wonderful package for Maths departments to use a combination of ways to encourage and excite children about Maths. Card games that use colour and shapes like Symbotica to number tiles used in Numenko board game and the Numenko-in-a-bag version too.

We have also included packs of Top Careers in Maths pack that bring a greater awareness of maths careers. If you would like to obtain your Departmental Package please have a look through our site for further information.

Elemental Publishing Ltd
78 Bush Grove
Kingsbury
London
NW9 8QX

t. 020 8123 9378
f. 0870 486 2293
m. 07939 609 126

The activities within this volume provide specific structured tasks that can be used during mentoring meetings and to support mentoring intervention.

They will help build rapport, provide evidence of progress through assessment and cover specific issues such as improving attendance, time management, study skills, how to think more positively, conflict resolution and anger management.

Within the volume there are 20 mentoring-specific activities that link pastoral and curriculum aspects of learning, thus linking school work with the whole child.

Each activity is mapped against Ofsted Spiritual Moral Social and Cultural Development criteria addressing student attitudes to learning, attendance and punctuality, considering progress and addressing communication skills.

Through this the volume encourages consistently high expectations of students, improving the quality of learning effectively and giving constructive feedback.

The first activity provides an opportunity to build rapid rapport with a student and then gives the students the opportunity to assess themselves before they develop a set of SMART targets and create a plan of action.

The book then continues through a further 40 tasks as the work of helping the students develop and reach their maximum potential continues.

The activities aim to provide specific structured tasks that can be used during mentoring meetings and support mentoring intervention by:

1. Offering issue-specific activities, e.g. the activity ‘I’m Seeing Red’.

2. Provide structure for building rapport, e.g. the anger-issue activity ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’.

3. Give opportunities for written evidence of progress for the student, e.g. the student self-assessment and reassessment activities.

All of the activities are accompanied by reproducible activity sheets such as assessment and planning forms, information sheets, charts, action plans, cards and questionnaires. Most of the activities can be used discretely as standalone activities. However, one or two run consecutively e.g. baseline assessment and subsequent reassessment. Any activity can be selected to address a particular need with a student.

At the very heart of this book is a set of activities that enable mentors to demonstrate the impact of mentoring intervention. Most importantly, the activities, once complete, will provide users with evidence of work with students that is demonstrable both to them and to other stakeholders.

A4, 92pp plus FREE CD-Rom

ISBN 978-1-909380-03-5

Order code 062-HH, £24.99

To order please telephone 01604 870828, fax 01604 870986, email orders@loggerheadpublishing.co.uk. visit the website www.loggerheadpublishing.co.uk or post to Loggerhead Publishing Ltd, PO Box 928, Northampton NN7 9AP

Circle Time is an effective way of teaching Social and Emotional Learning and character Education, as well as being a method that promotes safety, inclusiveness, fun, team work and deep thinking.

The Beginner’s Guide to Circle Time is suitable as a first time introduction to Circle Time for new teachers or as a refresher for experienced teachers wanting to revive their skills and understanding. The book covers:

• What is Circle Time? • Role of the Facilitator • How do you do Circle Time? • Managing behaviour

Provides explanations and instructions for all the types of Circle Time strategies including:

• Welcoming & Name Games • Rapport Building Games • Sentence Completions •Pair-Share • Sequencing Games •Stories • Pass Around the Circle Games • Mixing Games •Silent Statements • Imagination Games • Team Games

Also included is an explanation of the importance of reflection as part of the Circle Time process and easy-to-use reflection sheets that may form the basis of a student journal.

Resource sheets for feelings, behaviour, character education, Circle Time themes, sample sessions and session planners all make this a comprehensive and practical resource.

BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO CIRCLE TIME Ref: 306H £19.99

TO ORDER:
Post: Small World, 9 Burnham Place, Syresham, Northants, NN13 5HT
Tel: 01280 850 305
Fax: 01280 850 718

Email: orders@smlworld.co.uk
www.smlworld.co.uk

There is one way in which virtually every school in the UK could save itself a considerable sum of money each year.

Negotiation is something most of us think we are good at because we do it every day. We negotiate with colleagues, we negotiate with students. If we have a family at home we also spend time negotiating with them. (After all which parent has not at some time resorted to, “You can watch TV after you have done your homework”?)

But there is no doubt that most of us working in schools don’t have much background in negotiation with suppliers. We tend to accept the contract that suppliers offer us, sign it, and expect everything to be fine.

If we do negotiate it is usually to try to get a discount without necessarily noticing that in so doing we might actually be negatively affecting other aspects of the purchase.

And yet the contract between the school and the retailer offers an opportunity for each side to be specific about what is possible, to clarify assumptions and to enter into a relationship which is satisfactory and beneficial for both parties.

It is because many schools pay little attention to the contracts that they sign that the book Contract Matters:

Connecting the Education and Contract World has been written. It exists because many schools find it nigh on impossible to recover from having entered into a bad contract. Invariably all they can do is see the contract through and rue day it was signed.

Contract Matters contains numerous tips in everyday language for anyone in a school who is in charge of managing contracts. It lists the do’s and don’ts and prompts everyone to investigate assumptions before making decisions.

One minor change to a contract made as a result of reading this volume will pay for the book many times over.

Contract Matters book costs £35.00 plus £3.95 postage and packing. Further information is on-line
at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=760

Order code: CMAAA £35.00 ISBN: 978 0 9876527 3 7

Sample pages can be found at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/bursar/ContractMatters.pdf

You can purchase the book

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 01536 399 011
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=760

If you are contemplating writing a book that could sell to other teachers we would like to hear from you. Or perhaps you have a set of lesson plans or PowerPoints that could be useful to other teachers.

First and Best is particularly interested in publishing the following types of educational resources:

• Material of interest to teachers on a department-wide or school-wide basis – often texts which teachers will read and then return to a staff meeting to discuss.
• Subject specific teaching resources – of practical use to the teacher in the classroom.
• Special needs and behaviour management materials.
• Information for school administrators – be it material related to specific topics, or more general items on raising the efficiency of the school office.

If you are interested please email me details of your proposed book including:

1. Book title – provisional – and proposed length
2. Sample pages – 5 to 10 pages to give us a feel for your style
3. Contents page
4. A brief summary of the proposed book saying whom it is aimed at (age level, subject area, etc), and any thoughts you have on why this book will be wanted by teachers.
5. The market for your book.

Once we get your email we’ll get back to you very shortly, and if we are able to take the book we’ll send you a contract.

You can see the full list of current First and Best publications on www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk For more information for authors please go to http://www.firstandbest.co.uk/authors.php

If you have any queries please call 01536 399 000 and ask for the New Authors Department.

Anne Cockburn
Senior Editor

There are four ways in which secondary schools can increase the amount of money that they have to spend each year: by gaining additional support from parents, through donations from businesses, through income from sponsorship projects, and through efficiency savings.

Raising Money for Secondary Schools considers each of these approaches in turn and considers not only approaches that work, but also popular fund-raising methodologies that are often witnessed but are rarely successful.

Indeed, one of the big problems that schools can have with fund-raising is that many of the time-honoured methods of raising or saving money no longer work at all effectively.

When a school comes up against this issue and sees that the amount of money being raised or saved is in decline, there is sometimes a tendency simply to say, “fund-raising doesn’t work any more”. However, this explanation is generally not correct. Rather it is the case that the ways in which businesses and individuals respond to appeals for support have changed.

Further it is also true that what appears to be the common sense approach to gaining efficiency savings simply don’t work. Efficiency savings are possible, but for most schools this is only true when the school follows a particular approach.

This volume also asks the reader to focus on the position of the donor, and consider what sort of appeal will work. The reader is also encouraged to approach different types of organisations in different ways, rather than sending out identical emails and letters to all local companies, large and small.

There are also details of how the school should point out the benefits that will accrue to the donor, as well as to the school.

The volume concludes with a review of 22 separate sponsorship plans and a review of how efficiency savings can be made – often with savings that can be in excess of the amount of money that can be brought in through fund-raising.

Raising Money for Secondary School by Tony Attwood is available as a photocopiable book or on CD Rom which can itself be copied or loaded onto the school’s learning platform or intranet.

ISBN: 978 1 86083 801 9 Order code: T1801emn – please quote with order.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1801.pdf

• 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 to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 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=387

A major part of any Media Studies course is learning how to analyse or deconstruct media texts. For students new to Media Studies, the most difficult aspects of this are the terminology and concepts of the subject, many of which will be new to them or will have a slightly different meaning in the world of media.

This 119 page, photocopiable book will explain the terminology and concepts of the media to your GCSE students in simple terms and will provide them with a logical structure for evaluating media texts. The content of the book is applicable to both the English GCSE courses and examinations and the Scottish Standard Grade. Each chapter of Media Studies deals with a specific area of analytical inquiry: categories, language, narrative structure and conventions, representations, audience, institutional influences.

The book includes practical and theoretical exercises and an exemplar of an essay response to each area of inquiry. Frequent references are made to well-known media texts in order to clarify meanings.

Media Studies: an Introduction to the Terminology and Concepts by James Rigg; ISBN 978 1 86083 780 7.
Order code: T1685EMN. Sample pages may be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/media/T1685.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable book, £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £37.94 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://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=52&products_id=499
• By phone with a school order number or a credit card to 01536 399 011

When ordering the book please quote the reference T1685EMN.

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 steam and occasionally colliding with innocent by-standers, some become the victims of bullies, others become bullies.

A straightforward way to enhance positive play in the school grounds is to teach the children one game a week which they can then work on together. Some games will catch on and become continuing favourites. Others by the nature of things will fade after a few days.

But two great benefits will emerge from teaching children one game a week. Firstly the initial playing of the playground game by a group of children is always a highly rewarding experience. The sorting out of the rules, agreeing the fundamentals and, above all, working together are all fundamental to the development of the social aspect of each child’s life.

Secondly, although the suggested games will not motivate and engage all children, they will enthuse many, leaving teachers on duty a much smaller number of potentially problematic situations to deal with.

As a further benefit, extracts from the book can be given to parents so that they can encourage their children to play these games when friends come around at weekends or after school, or to give a greater structure to birthday parties.

PSHE in the Playground is a photocopiable book (also available on CD so that it can be loaded onto the school’s network) which incorporates enough games to last a full school year and includes games that are suitable for both key stage 1 and key stage 2 children. Most games can be taught to children in a matter of minutes.

Because the book is copiable only one copy needs to be purchased for the book to be used by all teachers in the school throughout the year.

An extract from PSHE in the Playground, ISBN 978 1 86083 726 5, order code T1691EMN is available at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/primary/T1691.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 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/npqers
• By phone with a school order number or a credit card to 01536 399 011

When ordering the book please quote the reference T1791EMN.

It is undeniable that there are a number of ways of taking A level history students up a grade; but here is just one approach, which can be used alongside any others that you choose.

Many students often feel daunted by using primary sources, tend to overlook them, and, when pushed towards them, use them superficially.

And yet A level coursework units require students to refer to primary sources, and marking schemes give credit to students who show independence in selecting their material.

To overcome this problem, Primary Sources in Russian History 1801-1917 has selected a wide range of materials which are the most accessible for students taking A level history. In it is also true to say that some of this material will also be relevant for GCSE students study this period.

Some of the sources are little more than a line in length while others extend to two ore more pages. Of course, the students will find some of the sources a little difficult to understand – but that is surely part of the historian’s training. Research in understanding a primary source (as well as actually referring to it) is very much part of history.

Each subject area comes with a historical overview, and the sources are followed by questions for the students to answer. There are also some model answers which are meant as a guide for students and a cross-referenced analysis of themes linking each individual source to the prime topics of:

• Autocracy
• Repression
• The west
• Modernisation
• Opposition
• Reform
• Society
• The role of the individual
• The peasantry
• Revolution

The book covers the reigns of Alexander I, Nicholas I, Alexander II, Alexander III, and Nicholas II.

What’s more, the materials are available as a photocopiable book and as a CD which can be put onto the school’s network and shared among all students for whom it is relevant. Thus all students may use the material with the purchase of just one copy.

ISBN No: 978 1 86083 769 2 Order code: T1762EMN

Sample pages are available to download free of charge from http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/history/T1762.pdf

• Photocopiable book: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD plus photocopiable book: £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery

You can order… Please quote the order code T1762EMN

• By post: Write to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
• By fax: To 01536 399 012
• By phone: quoting a credit card number or a school order reference number: 01536 399 018
• On line: Go to http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=738 – you will need a credit card to complete the order

From the theory of knowledge to the philosophy of religion (via moral philosophy) the student faces a problem in that core philosophical arguments are very often buried in a form and style of writing which can make the ideas difficult to discern.

This resource book of philosophical arguments presents and discusses such arguments and, where relevant, looks at individual philosophers in a way that is accessible and comprehensible to students.

The coverage of the volume is extensive. After an introduction on logic and argument, the Theory of Knowledge section deals with empiricism, rationalism, justification, scepticism and knowledge of the external world.

Moral philosophy takes us through utilitarianism, deontology and virtue ethics, practical ethics on topics such as abortion and voluntary euthanasia and meta-ethics.

The final section of the philosophy of region covers ideas of God, cosmological ontological and teleological arguments, faith reason and belief, and the implications of God’s existence.

After each argument there is an explanation – where necessary – of each part of the argument, followed by discussion of any problems or issues arising. Finally there are questions and points for discussion.

Some of the material on God and Moral Philosophy will also be useful to students of A level Religious Studies whose course includes some Philosophy of Religion and Ethics. Of particular relevance are sections on: arguments for the existence of God; faith, reason and belief; religious experience; God and morality; miracles.

There are sample pages from the photocopiable book at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/re/T1706.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1706EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 771 5

Prices

• Photocopiable book: £25.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £25.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the book and the CD: £32.94 plus £3.95 deliveryPrices include VAT.

  You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1706EMN

  • 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=41&products_id=536

We think so!

Whether you’re looking for a workshop to bring business and enterprise to life, to link science and DT together in a real product or even create some brilliant products whilst exploring Teamwork SoapScience4YourSchool is a flexible workshop that can be tailored to your needs.

As with all workshops we can tailor the content to what YOU need.

Here is some feedback about the workshop from an independent school in Buckinghamshire where we delivered SoapScience4YourSchool for the fifth year running in June 2013:

“Presentation is inspiring and inclusive, and rapidly draws in even those whose approach to regular lessons can be more sceptical. The management of the students is probably the best I’ve seen from anyone who is not a professional full-time teacher- the balance of excitement and containment is often something that outside speakers & others involved in schools liaison find challenging, but this was spot-on.”

Please take a look at the video on this page and contact us via freephone 0800 434 6424

http://www.innovativeenterprise.co.uk/Schools/Page.aspx?Id=11

The latest issue of the Journal of Practice Teaching and Learning is devoted to the difficult subject of failing students. Articles consider this issue from the perspective of the student, the teacher, the agency, and users and carers.

Failing a student or trainee always involves pain and difficulty for both teacher and student. This special issue covers the professional issues and the personal impact, and gives examples of how teachers and students have dealt with them.

This stressful duty cannot be shirked; there is an obligation to protect service users and the public from practitioners who are not up to standard. Failures to do so have been noted by more than one recent Public Inquiry.

This special issue is therefore timely, and we are sure that anyone who must deal with these difficult issues will find it helpful.

More details are available at: http://www.whitingbirch.net/cgi-bin/scribe?showinfo=ip011;from=ig01

Reminder: Call for papers

We are now open to receive proposals for workshops and papers for the 10th International Practice Teaching Conference ‘Connections: Creating connections, repairing disconnections, and building relationships in practice learning and field education’

Glasgow, 7-8th April 2014

Details at: http://www.whitingbirch.net/cgi-bin/scribe?showinfo=ip005

If you have any questions on the above, don’t hesitate to get in touch.

David Whiting
Publisher

Whiting & Birch Ltd
90 Dartmouth Road
London
SE23 3HZ

+44(0)20-8244-2421

davidwhiting@whitingbirch.net

Who knows if life in the 21st century is more stressful than a life in which one might be eaten by a sabre tooth tiger or find that half of the village contracted the Black Death overnight.

But what we do know is that there are stresses in our era, and some teenagers seem to feel these issues quite strongly: exams, relationships with friends and with the opposite S, domestic problems, and peer pressure to smoke, drink, take drugs and have S. (I use the abbreviation S as otherwise this email will be blocked by many schools for using “inappropriate language”)

To compound matters, the teenage years themselves are difficult, a time when teenagers are neither children nor grown-ups and when many have a tendency to feel and express rebellion. Sadly, there have been a number of recent cases where teenage stress has led to suicide.

Teenage stress is clearly a highly relevant and serious issue and it is vital that we find ways to help teenagers, firstly to identify the causes of it and then to both understand and cope with it.

But the question is how. When someone is stressed, then their own perceptions become warped, and it is impossible for them to see their position in the world and how they might change it.

So the answer is to work with students before they become over-stressed (on the basis that clearly some stress is good – as one psychologist put it to me while I was looking into this subject, if you are not stressed you are probably asleep).

The manual “Coping with Teenage Stress” approaches the subject by giving teenagers insights into what stress is all about, and then asking them to participate in explorations of the concept. Through this is opens the way to class discussion of the many sources of teenage stress and includes practical work in the form of quizzes, games and questions for class work. It also offers practical help for stressed teenagers with numerous suggestions as to how they can relieve stress and also where they can go for help if the underlying problem is too much for them alone.

It is detailed, practical, there are many more topics that you’ll need to cover (so there is plenty of chance to choose the topics you particularly want to cover) and it comes in a copiable format, which makes it usable in chunks, with as many students as you wish. You can also obtain the volume on CD so that it can be put on the school’s learning platform for all colleagues to access it and use it, no matter which department they are in.

Cat No: 978 1 86083 702 9; Publishers Ref No: T1713emn; Sample pages can be viewed on http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/pshe/T1713.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £25.95. plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £25.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £32.94 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 fax to 01536 399 012
• By phone with a school order number on 01536 399 011
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=542

GCSE Chemistry of the Elements constitutes one of the five sections that make up a complete GCSE course in Chemistry delivered via PowerPoint presentations.

Each of the five sections is divided into a number of lessons. In each case around 60 PowerPoints are provided to allow you to illustrate each and every aspect of the course. Here are the lessons for the ‘Chemistry of the Elements’ section:

There are examples of the PowerPoints at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/authordownloadsamples/T1807samples.pdf

GCSE Chemistry of Elements PowerPoints is published as a download so that you can receive immediately a copy onto your computer which you can then use as often as you want. You can also put it on your school learning platform so all staff in your department can access the document.

You can obtain GCSE Chemistry of Elements PowerPoints by going to http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=775

The price is £10 plus VAT (the VAT can be reclaimed in most cases by the school).

GCSE Chemistry of Elements PowerPoints is published by First and Best in Education, part of the Hamilton House group. If you have any enquiries you can call 01536 399 011, or email sales@firstandbest.co.uk or write to us at First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH.

The full range of First and Best books can be seen at www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk

First and Best in Education
Earlstrees Road
Corby
UK
NN17 4HH

Website: www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk
Email: sales@firstandbest.co.uk

At Smartees Learning we are often asked for our top tips on key aspects of Teaching and Learning, such as Differentiation, Marking and AfL. Of course our highly-acclaimed training courses are about much more than ‘top tips’ but we still love to give our course participants quick, handy guides to take away from our courses.

If you’d like to know more about our training and consultancy, including our programmes on How to Get a 1 for Teaching and Learning and Differentiation, Marking and Feedback, do visit the website at www.smartees-learning.com

If you would like a copy of the AfL guide free of charge please do drop me an email to heather@smartees-learning.com and I’ll forward you a copy

There is just one thing however. I know that we’re imposing on your colleagues in your school office by asking them to pass this email on to you. In order to avoid taking up more of their time could I ask you to write back from your own email address so that I can send you the report directly?

There is of course no charge for the report.

Kind regards

Heather Hamer
Smartees Learning

heather@smartees-learning.com

0118 9797 551

No matter how controversial ADHD may become at times, one thing is certain – everyone would like to help the ADHD pupil so that he/she can partake more fully of school activities without disrupting the work of others.

Similarly there cannot be a parent who has an ADHD child who does not wish, at least part of the time, that their child could just settle down and work or even just watch TV, quietly. Just like “normal” children.

It is in response to these feeling of both parents and teachers that Helping ADHD pupils and students through school has been written.

It is a volume that explains succinctly what the latest research on ADHD reveals, and then sets out in great detail exactly how ADHD pupils can be helped and supported in their day to day activities within the school.

There is no assumption in this volume that the ADHD youngster is going to be given a drug treatment to help control the effect of ADHD. The effects of ADHD drugs such as Ritalin are explained, but the materials and plans given here will work with those who have don’t have any medication, those who have it, but are not affected by it all day, and with those who are constantly medicated while at school.

A fundamental view of the book is that the best approach for any ADHD child is one in which the parents and school can work together with a common purpose to help the young person – and with this in mind there is a substantial section of material at the end of the book that can be copied and passed on to parents.

This parental section contains both explanations and practical approaches to dealing with the ADHD child at home.

Of course, we all recognise that not every ADHD child’s parents will be able to work in the organised and controlled manner that will help ADHD pupils, and therefore we work within the school-based sections, from the basis that although parental support is ideal, it doesn’t always happen.

What is essential is that everyone who deals with an ADHD young person understands what ADHD is, how to distinguish it from other forms of excessive behaviour and how to work positively with these young people for their benefit, without disturbing the rest of the school.

The book looks at individual behaviour, plus issues such as rewards, punishments, handling special days when behaviour may be exacerbated, overcoming impulsiveness, homework, where ADHD people can succeed and do well, ADHD and responsibility, and sport, the arts and other activities.

Helping ADHD pupils and students through school by Tony Attwood is available as a photocopiable book or on CD Rom which can itself be copied or loaded onto the school’s learning platform or intranet.

ISBN: 978 1 86083 855 2 Order code: T1789emn – please quote with order.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/attentiondeficit/T1789.pdf

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 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=24&products_id=126

The Scrabble board game has been transformed into a number’s game called ‘Numenko’ where the letters are now numbers.

Now sums, strategy and solutions are the objects of the game. Numenko has been used with children by parents and teachers alike.

It allows children to practice using their number skills in a fun way. The game naturally differentiates between abilities because the children choose their next ‘call’.

We have put together a wonderful package for Maths departments to use a combination of ways to encourage and excite children about Maths. Card games that use colour and shapes like Symbotica to number tiles used in Numenko board game and the Numenko-in-a-bag version too.

We have also included packs of Top Careers in Maths pack that bring a greater awareness of maths careers. If you would like to obtain your Departmental Package please have a look through our site for further information.

Elemental Publishing Ltd
78 Bush Grove
Kingsbury
London
NW9 8QX

t. 020 8123 9378
f. 0870 486 2293
m. 07939 609 126

Polly Peck and Ratners were widely used in the 1980’s as case studies on how a perfect business should be run, clearly as time has progressed this perhaps was not true. All businesses have their good times but businesses also suffer set backs at some point.

There is no perfect way to run a business and lessons unfortunately are often learnt and understood the hard way – when something goes wrong.

In order that students might see how things can go wrong, and how they can go right, we’ve put together a great business exercise called Jazzy Jotters which is designed to give students a practical insight into how a small business is run. We’ve made it really easy for the teacher to deliver too.

“Jazzy Jotter” is suitable for KS2 and KS3 students. The class is divided into teams (of 7 to 8 students) who act as small businesses that produce Jazzy Jotter Note Pads.

Each team shares out the job roles into management or production staff. The Managing Director organises the team and the Purchase Manager buys the resources to make the jotters. They must make a sample jotter and secure a verbal contract with the teacher. After a full production run, at the end of the exercise they calculate how much profit they have made. The team that makes the most profit wins!

Its hard work, its competitive, its fun – just like the real business world.

This resource contains:
Teachers’ briefing notes
Jazzy Jotter Enterprise brief for students
Student job description
Storekeepers checklist
£10 Money tokens for the exercise
A profit analysis worksheet
Debrief questions

Priced at £25 + VAT and reusable year after year.

http://c-l-e.co.uk/buy-teaching-resources-online/jazzy-jotters/

You can pay and download the exercise direct from our website using Paypal or you may wish to pay with a purchase order number. Please phone or fax your order to 0113 3909814 or e-mail your purchase order number to Julie@c-l-e.co.uk. Your order will be dealt with within 24 hours.

Julie O’Brien, Creative Learning Events, 0113 3909814, 07977 489779
www.c-l-e.co.uk

Trying to convince teenagers of the need to engage in a healthy lifestyle can on occasion seem a difficult task.

Which is why one PSHE teacher thought about turning the issue into a series of “Life Games” – all based around the curriculum requirements for the health and lifestyle topics in PSHE Key Stages 3 and 4.

These games enable you to inform and engage your students on topics which are notoriously sensitive including relationships, reproduction, substance misuse, sunshine and travel, mental health and depression.

Each game is a stand-alone activity which can be delivered to a range of groups. Most of the games are accompanied by separate student notes. Clear learning objectives, based on the national curriculum, together with session plans, are provided.

The games can be used in any order and are suited to the classroom, although they could be used in other contexts. They are intended for groups of about eight to forty participants and are generally appropriate for teenagers and young adults. Each activity should last about thirty minutes, although they can be adapted for longer sessions. There are also suggestions for extending the activity and “talking points”, useful as fillers.

Life Games is available as a photocopiable book or on CD Rom, and individual activities can thus be readily copied and distributed to students as required. The copies can also be shared with colleagues or given to supply teachers, without any fear of the original book being misplaced.

An extract from Life Games, ISBN 978 1 86083 718 0, order code T1730EMN
is available at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/pshe/T1730.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 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://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=40&products_id=558
• By phone with a school order number or a credit card to 01536 399 011

When ordering the book please quote the reference T1730EMN.

If only children were always hungry to learn. Regardless of the delicious offerings prepared by class teachers, appetites can vary considerably between pupils and from one day to the next.

Sometimes a pupil is simply not in the right frame of mind.

Maybe they got out of bed on the wrong side that morning. Whatever the reason, the old adage about taking a horse to water holds true. And children often need a little help in cultivating their thirst for learning.

Creative thinking in children is increasingly being encouraged because of the fast-moving, challenging world they live in. But encouraging this ‘thinking outside the box’ can be a little difficult.

Various types of activities are needed to encourage original thinking and creative exploration of ideas and to kick-start skills such as portraying concepts pictorially and collaborating with each other.

Children also need to be encouraged to develop the skills they will need to organise and understand information.

Where Can an Elephant Hide? contains 180 tried-and-tested, unique activities designed to do exactly that – to kick-start children’s learning. The challenges are ideal for daily use. Engage your children with them first thing in the morning for maximum effect.

Choose the one that suits your pupils’ needs and your mood. Challenge the children to make their own lucky charm, or ask them what you should use instead of ‘X’ if something is wrong.

The 15-minute challenges are clear, self-explanatory and easy to administer. Ready-made for busy teachers, you can use the CD-Rom to display activities on IWB. The teacher’s book contains photocopiable sheets, teacher’s notes and answers.

There are more details and sample pages on our website.

You can order Where Can an Elephant Hide? in any of these ways:

• On our website
• By phone on 01449 766629
• By fax on 01449 767122
• By email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk

And vice versa. Children who are good readers enjoy thinking about language and experimenting with it.

But the question remains: is there any way in which we can generate an extra interest in language, in more depth? It is certainly a worthwhile occupation since thinking about language and experimenting with it does stimulate reading.

In other words children come to see language not as just words they might use, but as something that can be considered as intrinsically interesting.

Put another way, control over the way we express ourselves can be empowering and has a direct relationship to the influence we have on others – a notion that is utterly fascinating for all of us.

Whether one wants to say to children, “Getting what you want from parents and others is dependent on your ability to use the language” or not, is, of course, a personal choice. But if put in a language that children understand, it can be an incredibly motivating factor.

This viewpoint was the starting point for “It’s a Case of Grammar”, a pack which gets children thinking about language in more depth than might otherwise be achieved.

In short it focuses on the language’s possibilities and potential. It answers the question, “Why do I need to know about grammar?” with the answer, “because it makes my speech and my writing more powerful.”

The resource contains over 100 new ideas for exploring and teaching grammar at key stage 2. It also includes a comprehensive training pack and a detailed glossary.

You can order …

• On our website
• By calling us on 01604 491511
• Email us at info@thinkingchild.org.uk

It is a sad fact of life that many young people go into their first interviews without much of an idea as to what questions they are likely to be asked and what answers they ought to give.

Which is why this book exists. It starts with the most obvious question: “Why do you want this job/course?” and moves onto the variations, such as thinking about “Why do you want to work for this company”, “Why do you want to study here?” and so on.

The book works on the premise that any interview is a two way process, allowing the candidate to get an idea of what the company or college is like, as well as being a chance to impress potential employers and lecturers.

Each of the 101 Ways is an exercise or an activity as well as providing information on what to do in different situations. Thus 101 Ways will enable your students to prepare thoroughly for first job or college interviews and help them to manage any nerves.

Students can dip into chapters that will help them brush up on specific bits of preparation, or use it as a workbook from start to finish as a complete guide to being successful at interviews.

This book has been written by an experienced recruiter who both trains recruiters and helps inexperienced interviewees of all ages. Each chapter covers a different aspect of the interview process with 101 practical and thought provoking tips that have been proven to work.

Teachers may also use this book as a class resource in Careers, English, Drama, PSHE, Citizenship or other lessons to prepare pupils for interview practices or the real thing. Each chapter is followed by a series of suggested exercises, mostly working in pairs or small groups, which develop the key themes of that chapter.

You can see some sample pages at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/careers/T1633.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1633EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 683 1

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £9.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £9.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £16.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1633EMN

• 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=461

37 hours per week, 39 weeks per year

Clacton Coastal Academy (CCA) is an exciting multi-million pound independent Academy for 11-19 year old students in West Clacton. There are over 1650 students (300 in the sixth form) on roll at the academy and over 290 staff, making CCA one of the largest academies in Essex and the United Kingdom. CCA have two excellent campuses named ‘Town’ and ‘Coast’ serving students and their families across West Clacton and beyond.

We are looking to appoint a Safety Officer who will be responsible for maintaining a safe environment for Academy students, staff and visitors at the Town campus.  Your duties will include directing traffic at specified times of the day, ensuring students are safe when crossing the road at lesson changeover times and at the start and end of the day, directing visitors to reception, ensuring students do not leave the site during the day without authorisation and any other duties as required by the Executive Principal / Headteacher.

To be successful for this role you will have knowledge of traffic control techniques, crowd control techniques in relation to young people and knowledge of basic methods of individual and group supervision.  A current first aid qualification is desirable but not essential.

As the sponsor, the AET believes that all young people deserve to become world-class learners – to learn, enjoy, succeed and thrive in a first rate educational environment with the best facilities, the best teaching and the most up-to-date resources available to them.  In each of the AET academies, you will benefit from visionary, inspirational and dynamic leadership and be empowered to develop your own skills with access to world-class CPD and Talent Management programmes.  You will also be offered membership of a healthcare cash plan, the Ford Advantage Scheme and be entitled to Childcare Vouchers and much, much more!

The successful candidate will be required to commence employment September 2013 and interviews are scheduled to take place 22 August 2013.

Closing date:  19 July 2013.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early should we receive an overwhelming response.  All candidates are advised to refer to the job description and person specification before making an application.

For further information on this position and to make an application please visit: www.academiesenterprisetrust.org/careers

Each of the academies within the AET is committed to safeguarding and protecting the welfare of children and expects all staff and volunteers to share this commitment.  A Disclosure and Barring Service Certificate will be required for this post.

To say that the teenage years are a time of uncertainties, emotional turmoil, of feeling undervalued and misunderstood and of lacking in self-esteem, is really nothing new.

But to have an activity that can help teenagers work their way through these issues is something worth considering.

Through encouraging the exploration of character analyses and interpretations via drama, teenagers will not only exceed the expectations of themselves (and often everyone in the school), the will often reveal a talent and insight which neither they, nor those around them ever knew that they had.

Of course, many students are reluctant to get involved in theatre games and improvisations, but through gentle coaxing most can be involved, and thus find enormous benefits in their own lives.

It is with this thought in mind that The Tip of the Iceberg has been produced, a book which takes teenagers beneath the surface to unlock their true potential.

Each chapter of the book provides a one hour lesson (some accompanied by PowerPoint presentations) and each lesson is designed so that it can be used either as a lesson that supplements an existing syllabus or as a part of an entire syllabus that spans a year and ends in a performance.

The lessons can be used to complement any GCSE syllabus and as a foundation for A level Drama or Theatre Studies.  It also fits with Text and Performance within the International Baccalaureate.

The book is supplied on CD with a printed version, so that copies of the text can be shared within the department, and relevant extracts made available to the students as they work on the projects.

The volume includes sections on characterisation, relationships, plot structure, remarkable moments, puppetry, symbols etc etc etc.  An extract from the volume is available here.

The Tip of the Iceberg is available as a photocopiable book with a free CD containing the text of the book plus 4 PowerPoints. It can also be bought as a download at a reduced price.

You can see some sample pages at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/drama/T1791.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1791EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 870 5

Prices

• Photocopiable book plus CD £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Download £19.95

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1791EMN

• 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=28&products_id=763 for the book and at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?products_id=764 for the download.

Assessing a student who appears to be poor at maths to see if the child is suffering from dyscalculia is useful as means of helping assign limited resources.

This assessment can be done through an educational psychologist, of course, although this can be rather expensive – and of itself it doesn’t actually provide any resources that can be used to help the student after the assessment.

The Dyscalculia Centre has been looking into this problem for some time, and we have now come up with an on-line test which is much lower cost than a visit to an educational psychologist.

What is more, having marked the test we then provide a comprehensive set of copiable materials relevant to that student. These resources can then be used in school by an assistant teacher or SENCO working with the student.

The on-line Dyscalculia Test covers the individual’s attitude towards mathematical concepts and issues, plus specific questions on addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, fractions, shapes, percentages and time. It is intended for anyone aged over seven years, but obviously does imply that the individual would be expected to be able to answer some basic questions in each of these subject areas.

Testing costs £49.95 per pupil. This price includes taking the test, receiving a specific report in relation to the individual taking the test, and being provided with resources relevant to that individual which can be used to help them progress in maths.

To read more about the test please visit http://www.dyscalculia.me.uk/testing.html

The test itself is set up for payment by credit card on-line, but if you wish to use a school order number you can do this by phoning 01536 399 011, or by fax to 01536 399 012. In each case we will need your email address so that we can email you a link to the on-line test. There are more details about payment for schools on http://www.dyscalculia.me.uk/teacher.html

The activities within this volume provide specific structured tasks that can be used during mentoring meetings and to support mentoring intervention.

They will help build rapport, provide evidence of progress through assessment and cover specific issues such as improving attendance, time management, study skills, how to think more positively, conflict resolution and anger management.

Within the volume there are 20 mentoring-specific activities that link pastoral and curriculum aspects of learning, thus linking school work with the whole child.

Each activity is mapped against Ofsted Spiritual Moral Social and Cultural Development criteria addressing student attitudes to learning, attendance and punctuality, considering progress and addressing communication skills.

Through this the volume encourages consistently high expectations of students, improving the quality of learning effectively and giving constructive feedback.

The first activity provides an opportunity to build rapid rapport with a student and then gives the students the opportunity to assess themselves before they develop a set of SMART targets and create a plan of action.

The book then continues through a further 40 tasks as the work of helping the students develop and reach their maximum potential continues.

The activities aim to provide specific structured tasks that can be used during mentoring meetings and support mentoring intervention by:

1. Offering issue-specific activities, e.g. the activity ‘I’m Seeing Red’.

2. Provide structure for building rapport, e.g. the anger-issue activity ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You’.

3. Give opportunities for written evidence of progress for the student, e.g. the student self-assessment and reassessment activities.

All of the activities are accompanied by reproducible activity sheets such as assessment and planning forms, information sheets, charts, action plans, cards and questionnaires. Most of the activities can be used discretely as standalone activities. However, one or two run consecutively e.g. baseline assessment and subsequent reassessment. Any activity can be selected to address a particular need with a student.

At the very heart of this book is a set of activities that enable mentors to demonstrate the impact of mentoring intervention. Most importantly, the activities, once complete, will provide users with evidence of work with students that is demonstrable both to them and to other stakeholders.

A4, 92pp plus FREE CD-Rom

ISBN 978-1-909380-03-5

Order code 062-HH, £24.99

To order please telephone 01604 870828, fax 01604 870986, email orders@loggerheadpublishing.co.uk. visit the website www.loggerheadpublishing.co.uk or post to Loggerhead Publishing Ltd, PO Box 928, Northampton NN7 9AP