COMMUNITY

The teacher workload crisis is hitting headlines on an increasingly frequent basis. Educators are expected to keep huge amount of plates spinning at all times, so it’s vital that they have everything they need. However, even with all of the most cutting-edge resources around, schools are all-too-often short on arguably the most rarefied asset: time. This is the issue that the team at TrainingToolz is looking to overhaul for good.

Springpad began simply because I loved the learning benefits my students experienced when creating their work digitally. However, I hated the long-winded process of trying to keep this work organised or give effective feedback to it. I wanted to resolve the grinding workload that most teachers face with traditional paper workbooks, such as the difficulty of storing any multimedia and the lack of access for parents. It seems archaic that teachers globally still print reams of paper, cut and stick it inside each of their student’s workbooks. The app improves learning through a seamless, paperless teacher-student-parent workflow.

If you know edtech, chances are you know The Edtech Podcast; the one-stop audio-shop for technology innovation in education. In September, fans of the podcast are in for a treat, as the first Edtech Podcast Festival will be held within the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Hackney, London.

Think safeguarding, and you probably think of keeping pupils safe during school hours, within the boundaries of the school walls. Often, out-of-hours and offsite activities are not tracked in the same way. This is largely down to existing school systems not being set up to deal with the bespoke nature of extracurricular activities - but this doesn’t mean safeguarding is any less important for these types of events!

A few years ago, I began to use Twitter to develop my pedagogy. Looking back, I believe it was one of most significant decisions I have made as an educator. We should not feel confined in our classrooms or institutes. Once I started using Twitter, it proved to be a big game-changer.

After their big win at the 2017 TES Awards, we wanted to discover just how Manchester Communication Academy (MCA) capitalises on the city’s rich culture and history. We sat down with principal John Rowlands to find out more, and were soon joined by vice principal extraordinaire Patsy Hodson!

Schools all want to have great communication with parents. They know the value and impact of partnerships which help to meet a child’s needs 24/7. It isn’t always easy to manage, however, as there just isn’t the time in the day, or even the week, to meet regularly with all parents. So what often happens is a stream of information coming from school to home, often with very little coming back the other way, even with the best of intentions.

It takes a village to raise a child. It takes a community to work together to provide support and guidance, resources, and practical help. This is especially important when someone - a child, a family - faces challenges and are feeling lost and alone. Schools are, by their very nature, a community. Built of myriad parts, it has human relationships at its heart: teacher-pupil, SLT-teacher, head-governors, and so on. This community, as a system, when functioning well, has the children, at its core.

At the end of the day, the most overwhelming key to a child's success is the positive involvement of parents.” - Jane D. Hull

The Open Doors programme is a cultural change we affected here at The Kindergarten Starters, with an aim to embrace the wider community and allow learning to flow in and out of our classrooms.

Brockhill Park Performing Arts College is a large Secondary school sat up above the Cinque Port of Hythe, overlooking the English Channel. Every morning Brockhill students arrive at school dressed smartly in blazers and gather in friendship groups, some in the playground, others in the canteen - but that is where the similarities with other schools end.

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