Here are links to five great new resources that I’ve found online this week:

1) Classdojo (shared by Lara Savory) – Classdojo is a wonderful online behaviour management system. When you set up your class you can give points for positive behaviour (and remove them for negative behaviour). You can also track the children’s scores over time which could be useful for reporting to parents. It’s even possible to use a mobile device to add rewards to the system. Watch this video to find out more:

Click here to view the embedded video.

2) Pictograph Generator – The amazing John McClear has created a simple online pictograph generator. It’s easy to use and customise and is a great resource for Maths (data handling / problem solving) and ICT work. Watch this video to see how it works:

Click here to view the embedded video.

3) The Water Cycle - This great animation (shared on the great The Kids Should See This blog) shows how the water cycle works. It is very visual and could be used as part of Science work. Could your pupils write some narration for the video? I’ve added this video to Teaching Videos, so don’t forget to look there for more educational video resources.

Click here to view the embedded video.

4) Your Paintings – This is a wonderful resource from the BBC, sharing 77,000 paintings online. You can find paintings by artist or features and you can also look at items within paintings that have been tagged. There are some ideas for teachers on the site’s blog.

5) Young Science Investigators Project Kit (shared by Sophie Bessemer) – This free resource is focused on science at work in the real world and scientific enquiry skills, based around three topics: electricity, forces and materials. It has lots of hands on activities for the children to do in or out of the classroom, with some accompanying animations, teachers notes, worksheets and curriculum links.

Which of these is your favourite resource?

Here are links to some of this week’s education-related news:

• Education Secretary Michael Gove has announced plans to more than double the number of top head teachers helping struggling schools in England. However, most of England’s best teachers are deterred from becoming heads because of the pressures of targets, according to a survey of their own principals.
• A study by Cambridge University’s international exam group has said that “overbearing assessment” has led to “narrow drilling for tests”.
• Constant changes to the National Curriculum imposed by Labour are overloading schools and promoting a “tick list” approach to teaching, ministers have been warned.
• The education secretary is expected to unveil reforms to the BEd and the PGCE as he looks for greater efficiencies in how entrants join the profession and moves training away from universities.
• All schools in England will be given the chance to convert into independent academies under Coalition plans.
• Laws forcing schools to stage a daily Christian assembly should be scrapped because children should not be “coerced” into religion, according to a head teachers’ leader.
• The Centre for Policy Studies has produced a study which claims that badly behaved pupils ‘should be banned from mainstream school for 12 months’.
• Unruly children may be temporarily suspended before Ofsted teams arrive, or supply teachers brought in to cover “terrible” classes of disruptive pupils because inspectors are known to be unlikely to observe those lessons, the education select committee has heard.
• A new Ofsted report explains that the best primary schools teach virtually all their children to read, regardless of their social and economic background, ethnicity, language spoken at home, special needs and disability.
• Some young children are unable to speak and listen properly when they start nursery school because of continuous noise and poor conversation at home, according to a new Ofstead report.
• Up to 40 new university technical colleges (UTCs) could open in England, according to Lord Baker, the chair of the trust developing a new type of vocational education for teenagers.

Image – bullying-739607

• The Schools Minister Nick Gibb has spoken about the importance of tackling bullying in schools. Also, three quarters of a million people are supporting Beatbullying’s campaign for a new law against bullying over the internet and in schools.
• School music lessons could be hit as local councils make savings and school budgets are redrawn.
• Bestselling writer Nick Hornby has started a project to encourage east London school children to read and write more. You can also watch a video report from the BBC about this news story.
• Almost 300 school staff have suffered “major” injuries as a consequence of violent attacks so severe, in the past 10 years, that they have had to leave in an ambulance, new Government figures show.
• A school is to ban pupils from putting up their hands when they know an answer in class – because it “alienates” less intelligent children.
• Thousands of highly trained dogs are being primed for calls from schools looking for a sympathetic, albeit furry, ear for children with reading difficulties.

Visit Teaching Events to find educational events to use in your classroom.

Bullying UK is a registered charity which was founded in 1999 by journalist Liz Carnell from Harrogate and her son John, as a direct result of their experience of dealing with school bullying. Liz has been researching and writing on school bullying issues for 14 years and now uses the Internet to provide information and advice.

www.bullying.co.uk

The Bullying.co.uk website has a huge collection of articles for young people, schools, parents and other adults. There is also a useful section about cyberbullying. Don’t forget to follow Bullying UK on Twitter, or consider making a donation if you can.

Beverley Hughes today published a consultation on new guidance to help professionals spot the first signs of gang membership.

This guidance is aimed at professionals such as social workers, youth workers and youth offending teams already working with young people displaying risk factors. The guidance highlights risk factors which could signal towards their involvement in gangs. Some high level risk factors are:

•    Early problems with antisocial and criminal behaviour
•    Persistent offending
•    Unable to regulate own emotions and behaviour
•    Physical violence and aggression
•    Permanent exclusion from school
•    Friends condoning or involved in antisocial and aggressive behaviour
•    Alcohol and drug misuse

Link: http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/docbank/index.cfm?id=12639

The Government has published revised guidance on children missing education and launched a review of home education.  This will ensure that everything possible is being done to guarantee all children their right to a balanced education in a safe, healthy environment.

The guidance makes clear that local authorities have a duty to make arrangements to enable them to establish that every school-age child is receiving a suitable education, and clarifies the roles and responsibilities of parents and local authorities to provide a suitable education for children.

A public consultation gathered a wide range of views – including many on home education. Some local authorities and children’s organisations expressed concerns about the current system’s ability to adequately support and monitor the education, safety and wellbeing of home educated children.
The review of home education will investigate the current system for supporting and monitoring home education. It will look at safeguarding and how any concerns about the safety, welfare or education of children are dealt with. There are no plans to change parents’ well established rights to educate their children at home.

It will assess the effectiveness of current arrangements for parents who home educate and of local authority systems for supporting children and families. It will also make recommendations for improvements, where necessary.

Dispatches is on tonight looking at Britain’s Challenging Children.  Here is the information that I’ve been sent from the Director Brian Woods:

“Tonight at 8pm Dispatches spends a year inside 5 UK primary schools to uncover the enormous challenges faced by teachers dealing with violent and disruptive behaviour.  97% of teachers say they have to deal with disruptive pupils in their classroom – pupils like Levi in Luton, who regularly has to storm out of class for fear that he might lose control; or Jordyn in Glasgow whose swearing and aggression frightens teachers and classmates alike.

With remarkable results, we follow Levi, Jordyn and others as their schools reach out to both children and parents to address the roots of their behaviour.  But with this kind of support available only in a tiny minority of schools, are we doing enough?”

Dispatches: Britain’s Challenging Children – Channel 4 8pm

It’s time to get up, pull on the school uniform and the tie with
that dreaded knot – the special knot that would otherwise show you up.
Downstairs you eat the breakfast your oblivious parents have prepared
on automatic drive, grab the school bag, say goodbye to “Frazzle” the
dog who looks back with those large caring eyes, head slanted and tail
still.  He knows; he is the only one who really knows.

You leave for the longest journey on earth. It lasts a lifetime but
takes only 15 minutes. Goodbyes are muted and you force yourself out of
the car and through the front gate for the day ahead. You have arrived
at school, the place you dread more than anything.

Being bullied and suffering from low self esteem is
an awful predicament. It’s there as a constant, like toothache it
pervades every thought. The trip home the only relief, the chance to
recover suffer in silence and hide from the outside world. And your
performance at school is well down compared to your real ability.

A recent survey in Northern Ireland shows 22 % of all children have
been physically attacked by school bullies, 39% bullied in other ways
and thanks to modern technology 10% percent had been bullied by
Internet.

Bullying takes many forms; name calling, rumours, being pushed
threatened, belongings stolen or damaged.  But these are the outward
signs.  Internally the physical and psychological damage can be immense
and long lasting.

Pip Jaffa, chief executive of the Northern Ireland Parents Advice
Centre explained “The impact depends on the kind of bullying and the
resilience of a child. This can include not sleeping and not wanting to
go to school, as well as physical symptoms like having a sore stomach
or headache as a way of showing they are upset.”

In the clamour of family life these subtle changes can go unnoticed
for some time before the child opens up or you spot a growing
reluctance to go school or join in. Bullying has a knock on effect, it
lowers self esteem and the defence mechanism is breached.

Bullies need help too, often compensating for their own problems or
influences. Parents can sometimes induce bullying. Their children
mismanage advise that to succeed you need to dominate other children or
push them around.  Such advice can be given by parents who were
themselves bullied at school or suffering from issues at work.

There are many ways to support bullied children.  Diligent
observation of a child’s behaviour is the start.  Changes in routine
and demeanour, a reluctance to participate are just some of the outward
signs.  A routine child’s “health check” needs to be completed subtly
by parents. If a parent is concerned that bullying is taking place in
school, they should contact the school and ensure something is done.
They need to be persistent and remember that they are the voice for the
child.

Help is also available for the home. It is important a child – like
us all have positive self esteem. This essential ingredient can help
build up a positive attitude that will last a lifetime.  The foundation
work can be achieved through playing educational games in self esteem.
Played at home, as well as school, the benefits are something to
consider as 25% of children will come across some form of bullying
during their schooling.

Alistair Owens writes for keen2learn

Headteachers were advised today to screen pupils’ computer accounts and gather proof, including photographic evidence, where they suspect teenagers and primary children of joining gangs. Ministers have drawn up advice to schools on identifying and dealing with gang members amid growing evidence young pupils are drawn in by older siblings. They are concerned sexual abuse of girls is spreading through gang cultures.

The document, seen by the Guardian, suggests:

· Headteachers set out emergency plans to deal with sudden outbreaks of weapon-related violence, and inform child protection experts if they suspect girls are being sexually abused in “initiation rituals” or revenge attacks by rival gangs;

· Teachers should learn to identify signs of gang membership such as pupils wearing certain colours, items of jewellery, or clothing. Some pupils now wear weapon-proof clothing, the document says;

· Emphasis is placed on schools working in intelligence operations with police and local partners to protect children at risk;

· Staff should be trained to look out for tags, graffiti, in the streets or in notebooks, or for pupils who suddenly acquire expensive trainers or mobile phones;

· Schools which suspect there may be gangs operating in their student body should “gather evidence” including photos of tags, and behaviour records;

· Some schools may employ tactics including “screening tools” to monitor students on social networking sites, or use powers to search pupils suspected of carrying weapons.

The guidance says that gangs are “predominantly male”, continuing: “There are a few female gangs, but more often girls are subservient in the male gangs and even submissive.” It warns of sexual exploitation which might include “initiation rituals” or “revenge attacks” against members of other gangs.

It goes on: “There is local evidence of some young children (including primary age) engaged in gang activities. In some areas the groups may be relatively formalised into age groups, for example’tinys’ who can progress to ‘youngers’ then ‘elders’, usually through symbolic acts of crime.”

According to a survey by the ATL 1 in 10 teachers say they have been attacked and injured by violent pupils. The ATL surveyed 800 members across the UK and found two-thirds believed standards of behaviour were getting worse, despite repeated government attempts to crack down on poor discipline.

Nearly all state school and college staff who took part in the study reported problems with low-level disruption, such as pupils talking, using mobile phones in class, and ignoring teachers’ requests.

3 out of 10 said they had experienced “physical aggression”, while three-quarters said they had been threatened or insulted by a pupil. One in 10 teachers and college lecturers said a violent student had caused them “physical harm”.

More details are available on the Guardian website.

Parents of pupils who have been excluded from school will be required to keep
their children indoors, attend reintegration interviews with the head teacher
and work with teachers to develop strategies for improving the behaviour of
their child, announced Ed
Balls today. Measures from the Education and Inspections Act 2006 that come into effect this
week, include:

• Parents are now responsible for keeping children indoors during
  exclusions – parents of children found in a public place during school hours,
  without reasonable justification, can be subject to a £50 fixed penalty notice.
  This will be £50 if paid within 28 days rising to £100 if paid after 28 days but
  within 42 days of receipt of the notice. Failure to pay could result in
  prosecution of the original offence which, on conviction, could mean a £1,000
  fine or a community sentence.
• Parents of excluded pupils will have to attend compulsory reintegration
  interviews with the head teacher – where they will discuss strategies for
  managing the pupils’ behaviour in future
• Earlier intervention through parenting contracts – schools will have
  the ability to develop parenting contracts, which set a clear, agreed action
  plan for unruly pupils, before bad behaviour escalates to the point where
  exclusion is necessary – previously, parenting contracts only came into play
  after a pupil was excluded;
• More power for heads to enforce parental responsibility – heads will
  now be able to apply directly to the courts for parenting orders in cases where
  parents do not take responsibility for their child’s action. These enforce the
  terms of a parenting contract and mean that parents will be fined if they then
  fail to take the agreed action.
• Tighter rules to help prevent excluded children slipping behind – After
  the fifth day of any exclusion, either the school (in the case of fixed
  exclusions) or the local authority (in the case of permanent exclusions) must
  provide an alternative source of full time education to prevent the excluded
  child from slipping behind. Under the previous rules this was required after 15
  days, not five.

It’s about time that the first rule comes into effect.  How demoralising is it when you have excluded a child from school to see them riding around the playground or talking to the children during playtime through the fence!