Primary Teacher UK

KS1 Results show continued high achievment

The Government have announced that the "results for KS1 reveal that high standards have been maintained with nine out of ten children achieving the expected level 2 or higher in mathematics and 84% reaching the expected level or higher in reading."

Since 1997 results for seven year olds have shown sustained improvement, with nearly 34,000 more children now reaching the expected level 2 or above in mathematics.  The statistics show:

• 90 per cent of seven year olds are reaching the expected level or higher in mathematics, the same as last year, and a 6 percentage point increase since 1997;
• reading results at level 2+ remain constant at 84 per cent, the same as last year, but a 4ppt rise since 1997;
• there has been a fall of 1ppt in writing results since last year, but 80 per cent of children reached the expected level 2 or above;
• 89 per cent are now achieving the expected level 2 or above in science, a 4ppt increase since 1997.

Well done KS1 and foundation! :) 

Schools facing closure are over half full

Pupil numbers for more than a third of schools in Edinburgh earmarked for closure meet or exceed an occupancy guideline level used by a watchdog.  Pupil numbers for more than a third of the 13 primaries and 3 secondary schools in Edinburgh earmarked for closure meet or exceed an occupancy guideline level used by a watchdog.  Six nursery schools and four community centres are also to be shut. 

According to figures released by the local authority, primary schools such as Abbeyhill are currently sitting at 91% capacity, with St Cuthbert's on 82%, Dalmeny on 84%, Stockbridge on 89% and St Catherine's at 72%. Drummond High School is at 79% capacity.  All well beyond the 60% occupancy guideline used by Audit Scotland.

It's strange really that we, as teachers, as desperate to have smaller classes so that we can provide an even better education to the children we teach.  Why does no-one else seem to see this and help.  KS1 is 30 and under but KS2 classes just seem to be getting bigger and bigger.  This has already caused quite a vocal feedback on the BBC website from people in Edinburgh.

Useful Grids for Learning

Having taught Key Stage 2 for eleven years, I am now moving to Key Stage 1, which is a move I am looking forward to. However, I have very few personal resources specifcally designed for Year 1's. Whilst spending many hours trawling the internet over the summer, I found that the 'Grids for Learning' for many LA's have got some really useful teacher resources, not just for Key Stage 1, but for the whole of the Primary age phase.

One resource which I found particularly useful was Marking Ladders for writing, published on Lancashire Grid for Learning. They provide a great way of allowing the children to self-evaluate their own writing. (Download MarkingLadders.doc)

Their Literacy and Numeracy sections are also probably one of the best available.

Many of the them, also have some very good, ready-prepared resources for the Interactive Whiteboard. Kent  has some useful ICT resources, which are very child-friendly and link many areas of the curriculum together.

Northumberland GfL also has some fantastic resources for teaching MFL - how long would it take to make your own Spanish version of Little Red Riding Hood?!

Interview Questions

I've had my list of interview questions on the net now for a while and thought that I would try I would make the file more useful by allowing anyone else to add to. This way we could hopefully build up a more complete list of questions that you may be asked at interviews along with possible suggestions for answers.

The list of questions is now available on Google Docs where it can be viewed. If you would like access to edit the document please email me and I will send you an invitation. Editing the document is just like editing a Microsoft Word file so don't feel like it will be too difficult or you might mess it up.

Let's work together to help each other.

Link: View the Interview questions on Google Docs.
Link: Email to add your own Interview questions.

Has the pre-school input had any impact?

According to Durham University a string of government policies, including the expansion of free part-time nursery places, aimed at boosting pre-school children's educational achievement in England has had no impact. Children's vocabulary, ability to count and name shapes when they start school are no better than they were six years ago, the study of 35,000 children claims.

It also covers the introduction of the Every Child Matters policy which aims to provide more support for the welfare of children.

They looked at how about 6,000 four and five-year-olds in 124 primary schools performed in the tests (known as Pips - performance indicators in primary school) in each of the six years of the study. The children were asked to complete a series of fun activities by their teachers who were prompted by a computer programme. Researcher Dr Christine Merrell said the study aimed to assess the profiles of children starting school in England "during a time of rapid change".

Taking in factors like the number of children with English as a second language and those on free school meals, it found that there was no change in the children's performance in the tests over the period 2001 to 2006. She said:

"While the Pips assessments used in the study do not measure how many children were involved in national initiatives, one would have expected that the major government programmes would have resulted in some measurable changes in our sample of almost 35,000 children."

However, she did acknowledge that it may be too soon to assess the impact of some of the policies. Children's Minister Beverley Hughes said:

"The government has invested over £21bn on early years and childcare services since 1997 as part of an unprecedented expansion of provision for young children and families. Early indications are that this investment is improving outcomes for children. However, as the author of this report acknowledges, it is still too early to measure this with any great authority."

She said Sure Start Children's Centres were underpinned by research which suggested high quality, inclusive early education, leads to positive effects for children, families and communities, particularly in areas of disadvantage.

"This research also shows that two years of high quality early education can give young children a four to six month advantage at entry to reception class - and help those from poorer backgrounds to catch up."

Continuing from this OFSTED revealed that there has been a drop in the proportion of childcare settings in England judged to be good or outstanding. Ofsted said of the estimated 500,000 children cared for in the settings inspected this year, 285,000 were receiving "good" or "outstanding" care. Childcare was rated as "satisfactory" or better in 96% of settings. Some 3% of childminders were rated inadequate for overall care compared to 4% of day-care settings, such as nurseries. About one in 12 crèches were judged "inadequate". And childcare provision in 7% of extended schools - which run after-school clubs and childcare - was also rated "inadequate", despite a major drive from the government to expand this sector. Ofsted have not said how many individual children were being cared for in inadequate settings.

There is more discussion on this article on the Independent's website.

Where does your child go?

According to the Independent about 1,200 children will start this term without a place at a school.   A total of 351 children in the 45 authorities who replied to the survey still did not have a school to go to.  If the figures are representative of councils in England as a whole, it would mean about 1,200 children will be at home when they should be at school.

The Independent survey comes after figures released by the Government showing a 10 per cent increase in the number of parents of children of primary school age dissatisfied with the school allocated to them - from 13,600 in 2004-05 to 14,930 last year.

The percentage of successful appeals rose in both sectors, prompting the Schools minister, Jim Knight, to say: "Parents now have more choice of good schools than ever before thanks to rising standards and unprecedented investment."

Also announced today was the fact that 7,000 schools are now offering access to extended services –exceeding the milestone set two months ahead of schedule and that a survey showed that there are more day care places, after schools club and holiday club places than ever before.

Findings show that there are now 263,900 places in holiday clubs, a 117 per cent increase, 260,100 after school club places, a 58 per cent increase and 544,200 full day care places, a 26 per cent increase, all since 2003.

School Uniforms to be made cheaper

There have been more calls for schools to allow children to wear cheaper "off the peg" uniform. Some parents are complaining that uniforms are too expensive and that their schools insist they buy them from particular shops or suppliers, bumping up the cost.

An online survey of 1,000 people by the Citizens Advice Bureau, found nine out of 10 said they had to buy uniforms from a particular supplier. UK schools were given warnings on uniforms by the OFT earlier this year. The Office of Fair Trading said uniforms should be reasonably-priced and readily available and that schools could lay themselves open to prosecution if they forced parents to buy over-priced uniform. Schools should not enter into exclusive agreements with retailers, it said.

The OFT published the results of an investigation last year which suggested primary school parents could save £9 a year and secondary school parents £27 a year if they were able to buy uniform at supermarkets. The OFT's report said 84% of schools with a uniform insisted that some particular items had to be bought from a designated supplier or the school itself. Following the report, the government published new draft guidelines for schools in England, telling them to make sure uniforms were freely available and affordable. The guidelines are out for consultation at the moment and are due to be formally published in the next few weeks.

It's interesting to note that ADSA currently has primary children's uniforms at £4.25. This consists of a polo shirt, cotton sweatshirt and trousers!

Mind you I doubt that these cheaper uniforms will have any of the advanced features such as 'tracking bugs' or knife protection!

First days back at school...

There's a fun article by Cassandra Jardine in the Telegraph this week about the first days back at school. Here's a few quotes from the article that I think ring true with primary teachers:

"..while some are busy making sure they have the latest fashion footwear for the occasion, others are clearly dreading the return to the classroom. "

"The worst symptoms are to be found in those starting a new school. That, I know from experience, can take months of adjustment."

"By half-term, the nerve-strain of too much novelty will have led to regular headaches and even requests for days off school. "

"Sharing a playground with six-foot teenagers, finding their way around, making new friends and remembering the right books and equipment threw all of my children, even the confident ones. "

"And each year, at just this time, I promise myself we will get into the habit of early bedtimes and early rising a week before term kicks off, so that there isn't a panic at the last minute.

What's funny to me is that although this article is written about children starting school somehow it just seems to ring true with teachers starting as well!

My Abodo

Here's an environmental game called MyAbodo you may be interested in.  The site is sponsored by Defra, Schools Council, Tomorrows Climate, Todays Challenge, Delib and NAEE all of which have more useful links to greener schools.   It allows you to change living factors in a house and see the environmental impacts, as well as showing  'greener' initiatives to be more eco-friendly.   It's a good example to show children how little changes can have a big impact on their environmental footprint.

Link: http://www.myabodo.com/

Collaboration: database of teaching ideas

Hi everyone,

Andrew invited me to join so I thought I would say "hello"! 

I teach a Y4 class in the northeast of England and am very excited by the potential for sharing teaching ideas and resources over the internet. (Some of you may have seen my teaching links website, which Andrew commented on last week.) 

There are many websites with teaching resources and links, but far fewer that focus on teaching methods and activities (with notable exceptions such as http://www.teachingideas.co.uk).

So...  This is an open invitation to anyone interested in collaborating to produce a shared file of teaching methods, activities and games.  The aim is to create a very quick reference guide of ideas that can be used successfully in all or most  subjects.

I've created the (very) basic format as a Google document and, if enough of us contribute, I can imagine it being much bigger and better.  There is an RSS feed to help you follow the changes / discover new ideas.

The set-up requires that I invite people to contribute but will invite anyone who's interested if they email me at my teachinglinks address: teachinglinks@googlemail.com.

Link:  http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=dg3mtjfp_12fq9wkn