SCHOOL IMPROVEMENT

A UN-partnered Ugandan organisation is seeking teaching volunteers to join them for their education project. Founded in 1987, the Mmanze Centre for Rural Development and Training (MACERUDET) is a community-based organization working with the people of rural Uganda to improve their standards and conditions of living. This project sees British teachers working alongside their Ugandan peers, aiding with both Primary and Secondary pupils’ education in the process.

TeachMeets are free-to-attend events and offer excellent CPD opportunities. Here are just a few such events being held in April 2016; all will likely still be accepting presentations, so be sure to get involved.

Saturday 21st March saw Primary school teachers from across the UK descend upon Medlock Primary School in Manchester for Primary Rocks Live. A huge event planned by a small group of passionate educators, the gathering was the evolution of Twitter chat #PrimaryRocks. Featuring keynote presentations by Hywel Roberts and Stephen Lockyer, #PrimaryRocks Live saw enthusiastic teachers attend a variety of different workshops, taking home a wealth of CPD and resources.

The transformation of our library to a libratory began well before I accepted the position as Resource Center director six years ago. I had been fortunate enough to have taught in the building for 14 years prior taking on the position. I watched how my students interacted with technology and books in the space. I saw overstuffed and inflexible bookcases, cluttered horizontal surfaces and a space that was visually disorganised. The whole space seemed askew - I have always been good with the ‘flow’ of spaces.

TeachMeets are free-to-attend events and offer excellent CPD opportunities. Here are just a few such events being held in March 2016; all will likely still be accepting presentations, so be sure to get involved.

November saw the exhibition ‘Permission to Fail: Sketchbooks of Graphic Designers, Illustrators, and Photographers’ at The School of Design Gallery at Mount Ida College, Massachusetts. When we see exhibitions of art it's always a showcase of final, finished pieces, the highlights of an artist's body of work over a number of months or indeed years. This exhibition is interesting in that it is showing all the 'failures', the disasters, the unsuccessful pieces that went into making those final pieces.

Schools, academies and colleges throughout the UK are using a cloud-based bookings platform to realise the full potential of their resources. SchoolBooking, an international resource and lettings innovator operating from West Sussex, allows both teachers and students to find available resources and spaces. The platform integrates fully with MIS systems such as SIMS, Bromcom, ARBOR and CMIS, helping to avoid double-bookings and streamlining the learning day.

The subject of technology and education is hotly debated. For every evangelist who promotes the benefits of classroom technology, there’s a report like the OECD’s recent study, which claims that investment in edtech does little to improve pupil performance.

Specsavers, City University London and the Tablet Academy have joined forces to offer SchoolScreener EZ, free-of-charge vision screening software to all schools across the UK. This follows a study finding that millions of UK children under the age of 12 have never had an eye test. Thomson Screening, a company formed by the university, has worked alongside Specsavers to roll out this revolutionary new software.

“We are skilled mathematicians... this year we will become more skilled…” This message has helped me to drive home some messages that I hold dear to my educational philosophy and use in my everyday teaching and learning. It has helped develop growth mindsets, positive self-images and, most of all, developed an attitude which helps children to learn.

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