COMMUNITY

The influence of a community is key to helping schools inform a child’s education. Schools often look to outside influences, such as parents and local organisations, to help stimulate new ways of thinking for a pupil. Many organisations and businesses develop an educational outreach programme in order to ensure that key issues, such as nutrition and healthy eating education, are established as an important part of a child’s education, with learnings that will benefit them later in life.

How best to build pedagogic bridges across the world? We recently had a lively Skype conversation with Stewart Cook (Frances Olive Anderson Primary School in Lincolnshire) and Myassar Al Itani (Mohammad Shamel State School in Beirut) on their award-winning, transglobal partnership. The two educators were meeting at a Connecting Classrooms event in Amman, Jordan, and were keen to tell us about the power of such a collaboration….

Haverstock School in Camden was re-built by Kajima in 2004. This was done with a central focus, by the local authority, to make the school a true community institution; operating as an integral part of the local area and fostering a sense of community cohesion. In the 13 years of close collaboration since, the school’s community access has been managed by Kajima Community. The results have been spectacular...

When a school wins twice at one of the world’s biggest education awards ceremonies, the sector takes notice. Here, we sit down with Malcolm Drakes, executive headteacher of The Learning Federation, to see how Broadford Primary School has developed since its 2017 victory.

With the ever-changing growth in technology and Computing, it is clear to see that schools need to move with the times. They must incorporate new skills into the curriculum, in order for students to thrive after school in the workplace. Technology is always evolving, and children require specific skills in order to evolve along with it, to reflect the rapid pace of innovation. However, one major factor often hinders this progress: the edtech needed in order to teach these skills is usually quite expensive, and not always accessible to every child.

When we first speak to a school interested in our software, we ask them what they are using already. Then comes the long list of separate software providers, one for messaging parents, one for parents to make payments, one to send homework... the list goes on. Not only do parents get fed up logging in to multiple systems - your school budget is taking a hit, too.

Just over one year ago, Rocket Fund, the crowdfunding platform for schools, was launched by Nesta, the innovation foundation. Over this time, we’ve learnt what makes a successful school crowdfunding campaign, from creating a project to attracting donors.

All schools are stretched. We know this, but as a brand-new school with only 120 students, our budget is extremely tight - especially when we factor in recruiting experienced staff. At Aureus School in Didcot, through STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Maths) specialism we are not only trying to teach our students how to be more creative. We, as staff, must do this as well in trying to make the budget work.

I spent the first years of my teaching career listening to students and parents talk about UCAS. University was the prime route young people took, and that was primarily because there was a limited understanding on the value of an apprenticeship as the first step into a career.

Want to innovate on a budget? It’s ideal to know where you can find fantastic resources at a low (or no) cost. Here, in no particular order, are 10 terrific places to start...

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