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

Schools:

• Ofsted have published their Annual Report 2011 which can be downloaded here. Various articles relating to the report have been published on the BBC, Guardian, TES and the Telegraph sites. The Schools Minister has also published his comments about the report.
• The TV chef Jamie Oliver has accused the Education Secretary Michael Gove of eroding healthy school food standards.
• Cities in England with high youth unemployment must do more to raise young people’s attainment in maths and English, a report says.
• History should be compulsory in England’s schools until the age of 16, argues historian Sir David Cannadine.
• The first ever national plan for music education has been launched by the Department for Education. It aims to ‘enable every child to have the chance to learn to play a musical instrument for at least a term and ideally for a year by transforming the way music is delivered to schools.’

Strike Action (30th November):

• Thousands of teachers in the UK have voted to strike over changes to their pensions and pay. However, Michael Gove warns unions that there’s no more money to fund an improved pension deal.
• Employers should allow staff to bring children to work where possible, during the public sector strike next week, David Cameron has said.
• A headteacher is preparing to draft in soldiers to keep her secondary school open during next week’s nationwide strikes.

Other News:

• The government has pledged to continue to provide free milk to all under-fives in the UK despite ordering a review of the scheme.
• Children are still at risk of “significant harm” in almost one in five council areas as social workers struggle to cope with mounting workloads, according to Ofsted.
• Thousands of teenagers are being consigned to the dole queue after leaving school with a poor grasp of the three-Rs, according to a report published today. However, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg says a £1bn plan to provide subsidised work and training placements will “provide hope” to thousands of young people.
• Sports medicine specialists say governments across the UK have squandered the chance to create an Olympic legacy of fitness.
• Parents are dressing up their children in provocative clothes and allowing them to wear make-up and high heels because they lack traditional values, according to a leading headmistress.

Next week’s Teaching Events include:

• 21st to 27th November - Road Safety Week
• 30th November - St. Andrew’s Day
• 30th November - Computer Security Day
• 1st December - World AIDS Day
• 1st to 10th December - Great British Tea Party
• 2nd December - NSPCC Number Day
• 3rd December - Tree Dressing Day
• 3rd December - International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Schools are invited to sign up for a charity world record breaking attempt for the most people signing and singing simultaneously. The event takes place on February 8, 2012 and it is being organised by SignHealth, the national healthcare charity for Deaf people.

The event is designed to raise awareness of deafness and the work of SignHealth, as well as acting as a fundraiser for the charity through sponsorship from businesses and a suggested donation of £1 for everyone taking part. Young people from all over the country and overseas will learn to sign a song, entitled ‘Sign2sing’, which has been composed especially for the event,

SignHealth, which provides health-related services for all Deaf people, will produce a DVD to show children how to sign the song, as well as a resource pack for teachers to use within the school curriculum. The event is primarily aimed at four to 11-year-olds, however other younger and older children and adults can join in if they wish. Find out more and register your school on the Sign2Sing site.

Will your school be taking part?

I’ve been browsing through Twitter posts and RSS subscriptions that I follow and have found some new discoveries to share. Which is your favourite?

1) Beatlab (shared by Tony Parkin) – This tool is similar to the inudge site that I shared recently.  It lets you create simple loops of music using a wide variety of instruments. You can also change the speed and length of your loops.

2) Learn with Portal (shared by Steve Bunce) – When I’m not teaching or working on my websites, I enjoy spending time playing XBox. I recently played through the game Portal 2 and I had great fun solving the various puzzles that the game provides. I was really excited about this project which involves schools using the game to design levels and create their own challenges. The Learn with Portal site doesn’t show much at the moment, but this Youtube video shows some of the potential of the project:

Click here to view the embedded video.

3) Inside Story Flashcards (discovered on I Learn Technology) – This site has a selection of flashcards that would look great on an interactive whiteboard, or printed and put on display in the classroom. The cards are sorted into basic, easy, medium and hard groups of words and they could be used for ‘Word of the Day’ type activities to expand children’s vocabulary.

4) Edupic (discovered on the Whiteboard Blog) – Edupic has a large gallery of pictures and clipart that can be freely used for educational purposes. Teachers could use them in their presentations and children could also use them as part of their own projects in the classroom.

5) Writing Prompts (discovered on I Learn Technology) – This great site shares some wonderful images which can be used as starting points for writing in the classroom. There are a wide range of pictures, covering lots of different weird and wonderful topics!

Don’t forget that I have also created a number of ‘Writing Inspirations‘ posters which you can download for free on Teaching Ideas.

Here are five of my favourite online resources that I’ve discovered recently:

1) inudge (shared by Jill Summers) – This is a music generator that has simple controls and is really easy to use. You just use your mouse to draw on a 16×16 grid to make short loops of audio. There are options to have up to eight tracks (with different instruments) as well as the ability to adjust the volume and audio pan. Any music that is created can be shared and embedded. Here is one of the most popular tracks on the site at the moment:

2) Pixlr-o-matic (shared by Simon Haughton) – This fun tool lets you add a variety of effects to your photos. It has a really simple interface and you can preview the effects immediately and compare which ones you prefer. There are options to use photos from a web cam and upload pictures from your computer, so don’t forget your e-safety rules when deciding which photos to use

3) Well Done – Show Mr. Mitchell - This is a wonderful blog, set up by David Mitchell, as a way of sharing the wonderful things that the children at his school do. When children come to see him, he posts photos and audio comments to publish the children’s achievements on the blog instantly. It’s a great concept and it’s very easy to set up. Watch this video to see how David’s blog works:

Click here to view the embedded video.

4) Triptico (shared by Dai Barnes) – This free software currently offer 19 fantastic tools which are great for interactive whiteboard users. The tools include count-down timers, stopwatches, random pupil pickers, magnetic words, scoreboards and more. The program is updated regularly with new features and I highly recommend it!

5) ICT Planning – Ian Addison has created this great guide to ICT for teachers. It has sections for lots of different types of ICT, with information, web links and suggested resources within each section. There are also references to expected levels that children should reach at different age / year groups.

Have you discovered any new resources recently?

Here are five great new resources that I have discovered online this week:

1) 100 Most Beautiful Words (shared by @LibWithAttitude) – This list of 100 beautiful words was chosen by Robert Beard, who has been making dictionaries, creating word lists, and writing poetry for 40 years. It’s a great selection of vocabulary which can be used in a number of ways. You could ask children to try and guess the meaning… or work out how to spell each word… or make flashcards which will help people to remember the definition / spelling… or use it as a starting point for discussing the children’s own favourite words.

2) Red Riding Mood – There are lots of great Internet Safety videos and resources online and I’ve recently discovered a series of three new videos from Facemoods. They highlight key safety messages for people to remember when using Facebook so they are probably more relevant for older pupils (although lots of younger children also seem to have Facebook accounts, despite their Terms of Service stating that under 13s should not join).

Click here to view the embedded video.

3) 25 Superb Optical Illusions (shared by Larry Ferlazzo) – These fantastic optical illusions are perfect for use in the classroom. Can your children see all of the illusions straight away? Can they explain how they work?

4) Online Storytime (recommended by 2sparkley) – This wonderful site has videos of famous stories being read aloud. The stories are all popular books and the videos show the original illustrations. You can also embed the videos, so they could be posted on a school website to share with your pupils and their parents.

5) Polyphonic Kids (created by Chris Leach) – Chris has created this blog to introduce children to a wide range of music… from different styles and artists. It’s a great place to share a variety of music with your pupils. They can also add comments to share their opinions or vote in the poll on each day’s post.

What have you discovered recently?

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

Schools:

• Pupils from a east Hampshire school have found a fun way to start the day which teachers say is also helping them in class.
• A primary school has been condemned by parents for disciplining two seven-year-old boys after teachers ruled playing army games amounted to “threatening behaviour”.
• Up to half of five-year-olds are not ready for school as working parents increasingly abandon traditional games, nursery rhymes, bedtime stories and lullabies, according to research.
• Some primary schools, particularly in London, are starting to voice their concerns about a possible shortfall of places around England.
• Young children in inner-city areas often have to face knife crime in their neighbourhood. This report highlights a primary school who are tackling the issue by discussing it in the classroom.
• Hundreds of private schools are to opt out of the National Curriculum amid claims it sets the bar “far too low” for bright pupils.

Exams:

• An “unfortunate error” meant maths students were set a question that was impossible to answer in an AS-level exam.

Universities:

• Cambridge University academics are joining their counterparts in Oxford by calling for a vote of no confidence against the government’s handling of higher education in England.
• A senior academic says she doubts the Welsh Government can continue to afford to help all students from Wales pay for their university fees.

Other News:

• Three in 10 children in the UK do not own a single book of their own, with alarming implications for their future prospects, according to new research.
• The Nottingham University Samworth academy has a room packed with curiosities and puzzles that stimulate pupils’ imaginations, and generate a sense of wonder.
• The UK could become “yesterday’s country equipped with yesterday’s skills” if education cuts continue, the UCU lecturers’ union leader has warned.
• Friends, family and teachers are much more likely to influence young children than celebrity role models like actors or footballers are, a study suggests.

Due to other commitments with my teaching and my many other Teaching Websites, I am struggling to keep Teaching Events updated at the moment. As I result, I am working on a new, much simpler system, so Teaching Events will be offline for a short time. Sorry for any inconvenience.

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

• Nearly half of children in England are not reaching what teachers consider a good level of development by the age of five, public health experts say.
• Head teachers claim stimulants are being over-prescribed to young children, who they suspect are not sufferers of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). They say unscrupulous parents of troubled youngsters are pushing for an ADHD diagnosis to claim disability benefits.
• A Scottish council has confirmed it may consider introducing a four-day week in its primary and secondary schools to cope with planned funding cuts.
• Almost 12,000 children in England have missed school for at least a month and 1,500 of them cannot be traced, statistics obtained by the Times Educational Supplement reveal.
• A major new survey has highlighted the anger among senior school staff over plans to reform their pensions, with nearly two-thirds claiming they are prepared to take industrial action.
• Baroness Morgan of Huyton has been named as the new chairman of Ofsted.
• Singing in school can make children feel more positive about themselves and build a sense of community, research based on 10,000 children suggests.
• To ensure young people from every background have access to quality music education, Michael Gove has announced that £82.5m will be given to music services across England next year.

Image – Bass Guitar

• Local councils in England could see cuts of up to 10% to their music services budgets when school music funding is shaken up next year.
• The government has been defeated in the High Court over the way it scrapped part of England’s school building programme. The Department for Education responded with this comment.
• A Manchester head teacher, who is the city’s anti-extremism tsar, has criticised free schools claiming they are “divisive”.
• Millions of people in England and Wales who work or volunteer with children and vulnerable adults will no longer need criminal record checks.
• Four in ten schools, nurseries and childminders are failing to deliver a good enough standard of communication, language and literacy teaching for toddlers, the education watchdog has said.
• Almost 60% of five-year-olds in some of Britain’s poorest areas do not reach a “good level” of behaviour and understanding. Statistics from the Department for Education also show that 53 per cent of boys have not reached a “good level of development” by five, compared to 35 per cent of girls.
• A school in Norfolk has overturned the mantra that small is beautiful and found a cheap and effective way of teaching the growing numbers of primary pupils.
• Schools ought to spend less money trying to deliver small class sizes and invest more in teachers’ salaries, a leading independent school head teacher has claimed.
• There are signs are that the great majority of universities in England will raise fees above £6,000 – with most going straight to the £9,000 maximum.
• A new “super university” could be created under plans to merge at least three Welsh universities.
• Schools are facing costs that could run to millions of pounds because of new legislation that could see them “picking up the bill” for the extra services needed by their SEN pupils.
• Every school in the UK should have rules about how teachers use Facebook, a teaching union has said. The National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) said new teachers are having problems because of using social networking sites.
• Reg Bailey, Chief Executive of the Mothers’ Union, is carrying out an independent review to address parents’ concerns about the pressures on children to grow up too quickly.
• A controversial website is continuing to let British children post online messages which campaigners say amount to “vicious” cyber-bullying.

Next week’s Teaching Events include:

• 1st to 28th February – National Heart Month
• 7th February to 14th February – Go Green Week
• 12th February – Darwin Day
• 14th February – Valentine’s Day
• 14th February to 21st February – National Nest Box Week
• 16th February to 23rd February – Mini Pots of Care
• 16th February – Teaching about the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics
• 17th February – Teaching about the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics

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

• The Department for Education published the 2010 performance tables for GCSEs, A Levels and equivalent qualifications. The BBC has reviewed regional GCSE performance, while the results revealed that more than one in five pupils at the worst schools skips at least one day’s worth of lessons a week. Nick Gibb discusses the performance tables in this Youtube video:

• It has been claimed that every council in England is likely to have to close at least one Sure Start Children’s Centre because of funding cuts.
• State schools are ‘wasting up to £1m each every year’ and they will be rated using new price comparison-style data to shame head teachers who waste taxpayers’ money.
• A radical overhaul of the teacher pension scheme that will see individual contributions soar by 50 per cent is to be pushed through within a month.
• More than four-in-10 primary schools and a quarter of secondaries failed to appoint a new head last year.
• A government commissioned report into teaching standards in Scotland has recommended trainee applicants undergo basic literacy and numeracy tests.
• A report in the Guardian asks what is happening to the future of music education.

Image – Happy Notes

• The Education Secretary has been told by Better History group that study of the past in secondary schools is being dumbed down or abandoned.
• Keeping children in school at lunchtime encourages them to eat more healthily and reduces accidents and truancy, according to the findings of a pilot project.
• Increasing the number of school field trips could help improve children’s understanding and knowledge, according to a group promoting science education.
• A community-led group in Suffolk has become the first in England to get formal approval for their plans to open a new “free” school.
• A rural primary school where about half of the pupils are part time has enjoyed a four-fold increase in numbers.
• A £24m super school is set to close less than two years after being opened to great fanfare by Labour.
• More and more teachers are getting abused online – and it is parents, not just pupils doing the bullying.
• Many teenagers are immersed in technology at home – but are failing to translate this into learning technology skills at school, claims Microsoft.
• A BBC Panorama programme has explored how children are growing up in a world which seems more and more sexualised.

How do you feel about this week’s news stories? Leave a comment to share your opinions…

Sing Up is launching a new set of professional development workshops running until February 2011.

The programme of one-day workshops, which are led by the country’s top singing leaders, have already been popular with music and educational professionals. The training aims to build the confidence and expertise of teachers and musicians in leading and supporting children’s singing.

www.singup.org/training

Each session is designed to offer those working with Key Stage 1-3 students practical, insightful and inspiring tips for bringing out the best in their pupils and to make the most of singing across the curriculum. The programme covers a wide range of themes including using singing to support the transition process, relating singing to the curriculum and using singing in SEN settings.

To learn more about these workshops and to book online visit www.singup.org/training. To book by telephone, call 01634 729883.

The BBC have a huge collection of audio resources for primary schools on their School Radio pages. These include:

• Dance and PE Workshops,
• Music activities and audio clips to use in lessons,
• Collective Worship resources,
• History audio clips and more…

www.bbc.co.uk/schoolradio

Accompanying teachers resources are online and many of the audio programmes are available as free podcasts, so you can download and use them in your classrooms straight away!