Story Book Day is a Literacy project which schools can get involved with, benefitting pupils in the UK and in Africa. Children find out about the life of a boy from The Gambia. They then take part in different Literacy activities and are asked to choose one or two of their favourite story books to donate to an African school.

Jole Rider, the charity organising the project, suggest holding your Story Book Day in the week commencing 5th July, but you can also take part later in the year.

Find out more by reading this PDF, embedded below:

Practical Action (a development charity that focuses on the use of sustainable technology in Africa, Asia and South America) have joined forces with Primary Engineer to offer a Special Leaders Award. The award is available for three ages groups: Primary (5-11), Secondary (11-16) and advanced (17-19).

To obtain the award, students need to provide evidence that they have been actively involved in promoting STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) in their school and to interview someone who works in this area.

For our award pupils need to interview someone working in an area related to the development of technologies, products or services which incorporate sustainability as a key factor. The winners for each group will receive a solar powered media player. The winner of the advanced level will also spend a day working with a sustainable product designer.

This PDF flyer gives more information:

The deadline for interviews and Leaders Award applications (via email only) is 30th June 2010. Find out more on the Practical Action and Primary Engineer sites.

World leaders have promised that all children will have a primary education by 2015 but with only 5 years left to go, there are still 75 million children missing out on an education completely.

1Goal, organized by the Global Campaign for Education, aims to get more children around the world a school place. The theme for 2010 is ’1GOAL’ to link in with the World Cup in South Africa.

www.sendmyfriend.org

There are three simple steps for schools to get involved:

• Make a gigantic 1GOAL supporter scarf,
• Hold a 1GOAL event (or assembly) in your school,
• Make it count! – by sending the scarf to the Prime Minister and adding the number of 1GOAL supporters in your school to the online Scoreboard.

Watch a Youtube video about the project below:

Find out more, and discover lots of useful teaching resources, at the Send My Friend website.

Wrong Trousers Day 2010 asks the nation to wear their pyjamas with pride to school or nursery. This is all to show support for sick children in local hospitals and hospices. This year’s event takes place on Friday 25th June 2010.

www.wrongtrousersday.org

You can find out more by visiting www.wrongtrousersday.org or by calling 0845 6001 924. You will then be sent a free fundraising pack to use on the day. A host of Pyjama party games and activities will also be available to download on the website soon.

Travelling to Teach is an exciting summer travel programme aimed specifically at teachers interested in volunteering and teaching abroad. The project is currently looking for dedicated teachers who would like to use the opportunity to volunteer abroad to really change lives teaching English, Maths, Science, Art or Drama.

What’s involved?

The Travelling to Teach programme works with a number of charity/community schools in India, Nepal and Tanzania which provide education to children from some of the poorest backgrounds.

This is a three week long trip which will see selected volunteer teachers visit and work in a school in India, Nepal or Tanzania educating the local children and working with the existing teaching staff. The aim of the volunteering programme is to provide interactive and interesting lessons to the children, bringing amusement to their classes.

Here is a video where teachers share their experiences from previous trips.

Practical Action are a development charity who are offering lots of free resources for schools, linked to their work in helping some of the world’s poorest people to transform their lives for the better.

www.practicalaction.org.uk/education

The Education area of their site has a wide range of content for teachers and pupils, including:

• Videos showing how designers make their sustainable products (useful for DT).
• A sustainability handbook for teachers of Design and Technology.
• Free posters, homework activities, wordsearches, classroom activities, videos and songs linked to renewable energy.
• A selection of experiments, demonstrations and activities which can be used to support work linked to climate change.
• Cross-curricular videos and lesson activities.

Plan is one of the largest child-centred community development organisations in the world, helping children and their families in 48 of the poorest countries to break the cycle of poverty. In the countries where they work, one out of five children die before the age of five, and the ones who survive often go hungry and have no chance of learning to read and write.

www.plan-ed.org

Plan also offer a comprehensive site for teachers which offers free teaching resources, video clips, photos, fact sheets and more, all linked to the countries where they work. You can also find out about the projects that Plan are supporting, as well as find out how your school can support the work that they are doing.

The Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity are running a week of Peter Pan themed fundraising activities and a Guinness World Record attempt in aid of the charity. The week runs from 26th to 30th April and thousands of people will be taking part in the biggest ever Peter Pan dress up day on Friday 30th April.

www.gosh.org

Visit the site to register, find instructions about getting involved in the Guinness World Record attempt and download a fundraising toolkit for ideas to try during the week.

Cake A Difference is a brand new fundraising initiative for Bliss. Bliss is a charity dedicated to helping premature and sick babies throughout the UK and it is only through voluntary donations and fundraising that they are able to carry out their work.

From 8-14 February 2010, they are asking primary schools to support Bliss by organising cake sales during the week leading up to Valentine’s day. This is a fantastic opportunity to involve teachers, parents and pupils in an event that everyone can take part in. You’ll also be making a real difference to the lives of babies born too soon, too small or too sick.

www.cakeadifference.org

Visit www.cakeadifference.org for more information, to download a variety of Cake a Difference posters or find some more scrumptious recipes.