Primary Teacher UK

Bee Movie game for primary chools

Primary schools across the country will be able to get a free interactive classroom game devised by insect scientists linked to the upcoming DreamWorks animated comedy Bee Movie.

The Royal Entomological Society (RES) has teamed up with DreamWorks to produce a free teacher’s resource which features characters and artwork from the forthcoming film. The game aims to educate children about bees and the important role they play in the eco-system.

The resource, called ‘Into the Hive’, has been developed for Key Stage 1 and 2, and can be played with up to four teams in the classroom. With the teacher acting as the quiz master, children pick a character from the film and follow their path to make it back to the hive before the other teams, answering bee-related multiple choice questions along the way.

RES president Jim Hardie said: “We are absolutely delighted to be partnering with DreamWorks on this project. The bee is a vital pollinator and one of the hardest working insects, and is unfortunately suffering a drop in numbers in the UK. We hope that our interactive resource encourages children to learn more about bees and the insect world”.

The game pack includes an A2 game board, a sheet of counters featuring characters from the film, and 32 bee-related questions for each age group, which have been approved by entomologists. The game also features extension activities and outside learning, and has clear links to the Science curriculum.

‘Into the Hive’ is supported by the DfES Year of Food and Farming and Growing Schools. Teachers can order their free pack by visiting http://www.royensoc.co.uk/welcome_intothehive.shtml and filling in their details, or by calling 01423 567111.

Saving money leads to a 5% payback

It appears that the Government has now made a u-turn on this: "The government has dropped plans to have councils claw back budget surpluses from schools in England. Now ministers have dropped the plan - but warn they may act in future if excessive surpluses are not reduced."

The Telegraph reported last week, along with my headteacher the week before half-term, on how good schools could be forced to hand back thousands of pounds every year under a new Government "tax" on prudent head teachers. Head teachers at some of the best-performing state schools in the country fear they will be forced to axe staff or raid library budgets to finance building programmes instead of tapping into their savings. One accused ministers of a "devious and unprincipled" attack on successful schools, which undermined claims head teachers had been being given greater freedom under Labour.

In a little-noticed move, the Government wants as many as 20,000 primary, secondary and special schools to surrender cash to local authorities. Under the plan, any school with extra money at the end of the year will be forced to hand a share back to town halls. They will lose five per cent of outstanding balances – even if it is being saved for new buildings, playground improvements, sports facilities or drama studios. Ministers insist it is designed to claw back £85 million lying unspent in school bank accounts every year.

The Government said its flagship city academies were not "subject to the same rules". Schools face losing some £255 million over the next three years.

Wind Powered School

Congratulations to Cassop Primary School in Durham which has become the first in the UK to be wind-powered through a wind turbine located in the school grounds. It also became the first to win an award for the country's greenest school as part of the National Teaching Awards. The school's dedication to teaching about the environment, which has led to a host of educationalists visiting from abroad to see what they can learn from it, stems from a biologist, Jim McManners, becoming its headteacher thirty years ago. At that time the local colliery was the main employer. It closed abruptly in 1983 – a year before the miners' strike – on safety grounds because of flood fears. The school introduced measures to save energy years before climate change and sustainability became major issues. It has solar panels on the roof for heating, while the school boiler uses recycled wood chips.

Warning letter if your child is obese

The Times reported last week how parents of 5-year-olds are to be sent official warning letters if their child is found to be obese, as part of a national programme to weigh children in schools. Ministers are bracing themselves for charges that they will stigmatise fat children when they publish proposals next month to tackle rising levels of obesity, The Times has learnt.

Alan Johnson, the Health Secretary, is understood to have been persuaded that it is in children’s best interest if their weight is brought formally to the attention of their parents. The routine weighing of primary schoolpupils was reintroduced in England and Wales two years ago in response to obesity fears. The National Child Measurement programme aims to collect data on every child twice, when they start school and when they leave.

Parents of 5 and 10-year-olds can request the measurements but are not informed automatically, even if the child is severely overweight.

Ministers resisted the plan of warning letters last year, amid fears that they would cause a boycott of the scheme, the main purpose of which is  supposed to be to identify national and regional trends. Mr Johnson is preparing to go farther and insist that all parents are sent the information as a matter of course. He toughened his stance last week in a Commons statement on a report that gave warning that 60 per cent of men, 50 per cent of women and 26 per cent of children and young people would be obese by 2050, based on current trends.

Origami Club

I came across the 'Origami Club' website (http://www.origami-club.com/en/) a while back when I was running a summer holiday club. The Origami Club provides a huge number of origami activities all of which are rated from 'very easy' to 'very difficult' to complete. What I really like about this site is the clear way in which each and every paper fold is explained, both in diagram and animation format.

There's a section on Halloween (http://www.origami-club.com/en/halloween/index.htm), and for those of you that have started thinking about it already, a section on Christmas (http://www.origami-club.com/en/xmas/index.htm).

 

Schools warned off Microsoft deals

The UK computer agency Becta is advising schools not to sign licensing agreements with Microsoft because of alleged anti-competitive practices. The government agency has complained to the Office of Fair Trading.

It says talks with Microsoft have not resolved "fundamental concerns" about academic licensing and about Office 2007 and the Vista operating system.

Microsoft says it wants as many people as possible to benefit from its technology at the best possible price.

Information and communication technology (ICT) is an essential subject in schools, which have to spend huge sums on installing, upgrading and maintaining equipment and software.

The outstanding issues centre on the limitations Microsoft places on schools using its subscription licensing arrangements, the agency says.

Becta's advice to schools considering moving to Microsoft's School Agreement subscription licensing model is that they should not do so.

It reminds schools they are legally obliged to have licensed software, but suggests they use instead what is known as "perpetual licensing".

This gives the permanent right to use the software and requires no ongoing payments beyond the purchase price.

The advantage to schools in using a subscription service such as Microsoft's is that smaller, annual payments are involved rather than a larger one-off cost.

But a spokesman for Becta said the problem was that Microsoft required schools to have licences for every PC in a school that might use its software, whether they were actually doing so or running something else.

You can read the rest of this interesting report  on the BBC website.

Synchronising files between two computers

Working on two different computers can be a real pain.  You try to keep files on both computers up to date so that whichever computer you are using you have the latest version of the policy or planning.  But what's the best way to keep your files in sync? This post will suggest a few options, along with the advantages and disadvantages, and end up suggesting what I found to be the ideal solution for me.

First up the USB Key - the simplest method of transferring files.  You simply copy any files that have changed onto the key and then move the key to the new computer and copy again. Advantages: Cheap. Disadvantages: Time consuming. Must remember files that have changed, can cause conflicts if both files change.

Next Syncronisation Software.  This is software such as PCSync by Laplink and Allwaysync.  These programs install on both computers and keep the files in sync through a comparison program. Advantages: Sorts out conflicts (when the same file on both computers has changed), can be relatively cheap depending upon software bought Disadvantages: Both computers need to be on, and connected to each other through a cable or network at the same time.  Time has to be put aside to physically run synchronisation program.

My final suggestion is Microsoft Groove. This is a program that I came across on a free magazine CD (or download a demo from the Microsoft Site) earlier in the week by accident.  This programs fits everything I needed for me and works like a dream.  It's really as easy as 1, 2, 3.

1. You install the software onto any computers you want to synchronise and set which individual files or folders which you want to be synchronised.
2. You allow the first computer to analysis the files.
3. You switch on the second computer and the files become synchronised.

For me what I really like is that I can work on my desktop computer and, as long as I save me files in the folder I selected for synchronisation, I know that when I turn on my laptop and connect to the internet they will be there. And of course vice versa. I work on my laptop at school. Return home, turn on my desktop and any files or folders changed during the day, magically appear updated!

Using Microsoft Groove for this is really only touching on the features available.  View the website for the full details of what can be achieved with this program. There are of course disadvantages - cost for one. It's hardly the cheapest program, but for me once the trial runs out I'll certainly consider purchasing it.  Another problem is the fact that for it to work internet access is needed, although not a fast connection if you are transferring on documents.

For me Microsoft Groove fits my needs perfectly.  If you have any other suggestions feel free to suggest them in the comments below.

A reading 'revolution'?

The BBC has today published a 'revolutionary' new and forward thinking idea - get children to read at home as well as school !? Isn't this something which we have been encouraging parents to do for years, recording comments in reading diaries or journals?

There needs to be "a national revolution" in children's reading at school and at home, says England's Schools Secretary, Ed Balls.

A book at bedtime should be as much a part of the daily routine as brushing a child's teeth, Mr Balls said.

Just 10 minutes of reading a day could make a difference to a child's future by instilling a love of books, he said.

Launching the National Year of Reading he called for a focus on events outside the school gates as well as within. 

Not wanting to miss out on the media bandwagon, Richard and Judy have lent their arm to the campaign, by forming a children's version of their Channel 4 Bookclub. Personally, I would love to see the new version of Jackanory back on the BBC, instead of consigned to the store rooms of 'Auntie', after all, fostering a love of stories and tales, utimately leads to children wanting to read it for themselves!

What Money Means

What Money Means has been created by pfeg (Personal Finance Education Group) as an ambitious five year programme to increase the quality and quantity of financial capability education in primary schools.

The programme is supported by HSBC with an investment of £3.4 million and involvement from up to ten thousand volunteers from across the organisation. HSBC staff will share their expertise and assist schools in their local communities to help children improve their understanding of personal finance, working alongside teachers in the classroom where appropriate.

What Money Means will bring pfeg, local authorities and educationalists together to develop resources and approaches that will help primary school teachers feel more confident teaching money skills to younger children. It will build on pfeg’s successful secondary school programme, Learning Money Matters.

Primary age pupils have considerable awareness of money and a strong savings instinct but by the time they reach their late teens many have already experienced debt. What Money Means is designed to help meet the needs of individual schools, while making lessons relevant to children’s everyday lives.

It includes action research projects in local authorities that will provide the basis for developing educational tools and techniques that are tailored to the specific needs of both teachers and children, embodying creative, evidence based and integrated approaches that complement existing lessons and will not overburden already busy teachers.

What Money Means has been successfully tested in schools with the assistance of local authorities from Bolton, Cambridgeshire, Coventry, Essex, Hartlepool, Hertfordshire, Medway and Tower Hamlets. This work included:

• exploring social and moral dilemmas around money through literacy and oracy by using a poet-in-residence
• working with extended school clusters to develop children’s and family learning in financial education
• developing classroom activities for years 1 to 6 using examples of children’s work to illustrate financial education in practice.

By 2011, 36 local authorities will be part of What Money Means, embedding a new way of teaching money issues at primary level and creating a bank of personal finance teaching resources and techniques that can be used by all 17,500 primary schools. 

Schools begin free-meals pilot

Primary pupils are starting to receive free school meals as part of a pilot project in five parts of Scotland.

The scheme for all children in the first three years of school is under way in Glasgow and West Dunbartonshire.

They will be followed in the coming days and weeks by schools in East Ayrshire, Fife and the Borders.

The Scottish Government has invested £5m in the pilot scheme, with about 8,500 additional pupils expected to take up the offer in Glasgow alone.

The city already has free fruit, milk and mains-fed water coolers in its schools.

The six-month pilot has been set up to see if providing a nutritious lunch for all children could help improve their diets. According to the report, children will be encouraged to choose a three course meal, including soup, bread, yoghurt and milk or water. I wonder how long before this could be rolled out across schools in England and Wales?