With the warmer weather approaching - and the prospect of enjoying the great outdoors becoming more of a reality - schools need to be helping children prepare for the season ahead. Thankfully, Boots are once again bringing their Soltan Sun Ready Schools programme to UK classrooms - minimising workload and budget concerns, while maximising pupil health. This year, the leading pharmacy chain are even going so far as help fund school trips!

In September 2017, the world’s imagination was captured by the ‘monster fatberg’ - considered the world’s biggest - that was found blocking the sewers in Whitechapel, London.

If you’re looking for an inspirational and educational school trip, you might not know that vertical wind tunnels provide the perfect opportunity to engage your class in STEM topics with a thrilling, hands-on learning experience!

Richard Fulford is head of Biology at The Latymer School in Edmonton, North London. He introduced the online learning program Tassomai while working at Invicta Grammar in Maidstone, helping them to significantly improve GCSE Science grades through exciting new methods. Richard explains further:

Dinosaurs in the Wild is a new time-travelling educational adventure that whisks visitors back 67 million years to an incredible research station, TimeBase 67, where they come face-to-face with living dinosaurs. Dr Darren Naish - zoologist, author and illustrator - explains how the show uses the most recent discoveries in palaeontology to create a truly immersive experience for Primary school pupils.

In the digital age, it is a challenge for teachers to ensure that their lessons keep up with the increasingly creative and vibrant media-led society in which we live, as well as to ensure that students are kept engaged in their education. It is even more important to engage students at a young age, so as to engender a love of learning early in life.

Back in 2010, the United Arab Emirates launched the Vision 2021 project, which addressed key development issues across the nation. As part of this, the Emirates have implemented the ‘First-Rate Education’ plan, with the aims to implement dramatic reforms to the curriculum, improve teaching through professional development and encourage schools to develop the 21st Century skills young people need to succeed.

In today’s climate of rising nationalism, closing borders, and increasing tension in the world, the need for education around cross-cultural awareness and understanding is greater than ever. The advent of social media and other technology means collaboration between classrooms around the world has never been easier. So how can we, as educators foster, this vital skill of global competence? The concept of global competence ‘articulates the knowledge and skills students need in the 21st century’. One approach we can take to develop this competence is through global collaborations and projects, and in this post I will explore some of the ways in which teachers can get involved to help their students become more globally-competent citizens.

Three students from Bredon Hill Academy in Evesham, Worcestershire, won the BP Ultimate STEM Challenge at an event today at the Science Museum in London. The three girls – Amelie, Cathryn and Hattie – were praised by the judges for the way they took inspiration from flying animals to find solutions to an engineering design challenge.

“It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.” - Albert Einstein

Millions of pupils around the world enjoy BrainPOP’s animated videos every day, building their knowledge and understanding. A well made video can capture a pupil’s attention and deliver effective learning in a few minutes. And making animations to introduce curriculum concepts is something we’ve worked hard at perfecting over the years.