Primary Teacher UK

Free Book to all Schools

The Institute for the Study of Civil Society (CIVITAS) have teamed up with the Telegraph to supply 5000 free copies of the "Our Island Story" book to UK Primary Schools.  More details can be found on CIVITAS website.  Get one before the stock runs out.

Firefox 1.5 released

For those of you that are using the more safe and secure browser, Firefox, there is an important free upgrade available. Firefox 1.5 is now available for download from GetFirefox.com for most major operating systems or from the mirrors. I've written about why Firefox is a better browser to use in schools (and home) before so if you've not already tried download it and give it a try. I don't think that you will look back to IE once you're using it.

Firefox 1.5 introduces several new features, including an improved software update system, faster Back / Forward page navigation, a new options to clear private browsing data, drag-and-drop reordering of browser tabs, a redesigned Options/Preferences window and more robust popup blocking. Standards support is also improved, with support for Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), JavaScript 1.6 and additional CSS properties. Accessibility is much improved (including new DHTML accessibility features), security has been enhanced and Mac OS X support has also been improved.

Christmas behind bars for parent of truant?

A mother who allowed a 13-year-old boy to skip school could be facing eight weeks in jail this Christmas.

Christine Baker, 40, was handed the custodial sentence at Wolverhampton Magistrates' Court yesterday after pleading guilty to failing to ensure her son attended school regularly.

The case came to court after Ms Baker gave a number of excuses when questioned over her son's truancy.

The court heard that the child went to less than a third of lessons during the last summer term and made it to just a quarter of classes in the preceding year.

Baker, of Wanderers Avenue, Blakenhall, Wolverhampton, was warned in October last year that she could face jail if her son continued to stay away from school.

Writing Targets in Class

Having targets for Literacy and Numeracy in class is something that we all do, but I'm sure that I'm not the only one who sometimes has trouble getting the children to use them in their writing.  Little Miss Teacher has come up with a great way to help encourage the children to use the targets on her blog.

She has used apples as the example but the picture could be anything - Bart Simpson, a computer or even you!  I'm going to get a display up next week with 32 targets, or should I call them writing prompts(?), on a picture velcroed to the wall.  At the start of a writing session I'm going to ask the children to pick a target that they want to work on for that lesson.  I think that randomly allowing the children to pick the target should mean that they can't always work on the same target every day and will hopefully encourage the quality of their writing.  I'll post my targets up here when I've finished them.  Thanks again Deb.

Apartheid in a Primary School?

The TES is reporting that a Blackburn primary school has been accused of adopting an “apartheid” culture for grouping white children together in an entry class.  According to a story in the local paper, two of the three entry classes for 71 starters were exclusively for Asian children, while the third consists of “friendship groups” of seven white and 17 Asian youngsters. 

Head teacher Mary Lewis said the children are only in the reception class for two hours each morning before mixing with all the other pupils for lessons and denies she is operating segregation.

Teaching to the Tests?

According to the Guardian the DfES have finally realised that  “national tests dominated classroom teaching of both subjects (English and maths) in schools for a large part of year six."   They suggest that, “the practise of drilling 11-year-olds to pass the tests was "likely" to have boosted the final outcome. “ and that this “may not help children's longer-term learning and called for further research on the issue. “

The report, Teaching Approaches to Promote Consistent Level 4 Performance in Key Stage 2 English and Mathematics, was conducted by academics at Durham University.   In 1995, 48% of 11-year-olds reached the level expected of their age group in English, compared with 79% this year. For maths, 75% reached the required level this year, also up significantly over the past decade.

It's taken just over 10 years for this to be revealed?  Why not just ask the teachers?  With OFSTED, league tables and Value Added this isn't going to change anytime soon either! In Jersey, KS1, 2 and 3 SATs no longer exist and teacher assessment has taken their place.   Wales has abolished KS1 SATs in 2002 and KS2 and 3 SATs are currently under review. A review published in January 2004 recommended that KS2 and 3 SATs be axed in Wales in the next three years.   Do the government not get the hint?

Win £1000 by taking part in a Scientific Research Study

Laura has now contacted me directly to give you more details on her PhD research program.  Details are below:

I am a PhD student looking for school teachers to take part in a study investigating the effects of written expression on health. The study builds upon exciting new research which has suggested that brief periods of writing can have beneficial effects on people’s health. For example, writing about
various topics for just 20 minutes a day for 3 days has been found to improve people’s immune functioning, recovery from surgery and even academic performance! It is hoped that in the future this research will have real value in improving the well-being of people; particularly those in challenging and stressful occupations, and possibly even those with illnesses such as asthma and arthritis.

By taking part, in addition to contributing to scientific research, you will have the opportunity to win £1,000. All teachers who take part in (and complete) the study will be entered into a prize draw to win £500 for themselves and £500 worth of book tokens for their school.

Taking part involves completing some questionnaires and writing about an assigned topic for 20 minutes, once a day, for 3 consecutive days. NO TRAVEL IS REQUIRED. All materials will be posted to you, completed in your own time at home, and returned using freepost ready-addressed envelopes provided. Teachers from any school in the UK may take part.

If you are interested in hearing more, please e-mail me at l.j.ashley00@leeds.ac.uk. Alternatively, you can telephone me on (0113) 3436694.

Thinking Skills in the Classroom

I've just come across a great booklet (pdf) on the NUT website entitled: 'Teacher research into using the thinking skills appraoches in the classroom.'  Some of the investigations and reports included are:

• Using Thinking Skills to Improve Literacy in Key Stage 2 - Jill Tough & Anne Brunger
• Using Odd One Out as a Formative Assessment Tool for Number - Fay Hartland & Lynn Telford/Hanneke Jones & Angela Steele
• Building a Community of Enquiry to Enhance Children’s Questioning Skills in Key Stages 1 and 2 - Caroline Hodgson & Teresa Laybourne
• Improving Thinking in the Literacy Hour in Year 5 - Sarah Greene & Eve Strasshine
• Using Thinking Skills Strategies to Improve Children’s Understanding of Written Questions and Problem Solving in Year 4 - Katherine Davis
• Using Lessons from CAME to Improve Mathematical Thinking in Year 6 - Helena Hay & Rosemary Todhunter

Mobile anti-bully service begins

The BBC is reporting on a new Mobile anti-bully service which began a few days ago.  This is a text message service which enables bullied children to contact their parents for help.  The system is run by the same company behind KidsOK, a company that can track your child's mobile phone with permission. The Pingalert can be activated by pressing a speed dial button on a child's handset, which can be kept hidden from view.  It sends a text message to the parent's phone with a location description and picture message map where possible.  Unfortunately I can't actually find any extra information, or a direct link to the site at the moment, but I assume that the information will appear on the KidsOK site as soon as it is available.

Help Support...

...Tsumani hit schools.  Schools around the world are continuing to join an international schools-to-schools initiative to establish a link with a school in the tsunami-affected regions of Sri Lanka or Banda Aceh, Indonesia.  More than 100 schools have volunteered to date. Co-ordinators have been appointed in both Sri Lanka and Indonesia to meet school representatives, who are able to visit their partner school and cultivate long term relationships with them.  There are however, still a number of schools in Sri Lanka and Indonesia that need and welcome this support - see the IB website for details. The site also lists ongoing school projects in Indonesia and Sri Lanka.

...a PhD student looking for school teachers to take part in a study investigating the effects of written expression on health.  You even have a chance to win money with this one!  More details on the primaryideas.co.uk blog.