Latest articles from the Innovate My School community.

The benefits of opening up school facilities for community use are manifest. It benefits users such as community groups and sporting clubs by providing them with facilities, while schools can generate vital income and build strong community bonds. Kajima Community works with over 380 schools nationwide to streamline and manage their lettings process. For schools, this can provide a valuable source of income at a time of stricken education budgets. Last year, schools using their BookingsPlus service raised £16.3 million: an average of £43,000 per school.

Greater community cohesion benefits pupils - opening up opportunities for work experience with lettings partners, providing access to specialist coaches and stimulating a sense of community responsibility. Schools are public facilities, and should be a resource for the wider community. With over 15 years of experience in community lettings, Kajima Community works closely with its partners to understand their needs matching them with those of the local community.

For further ideas on how best to embrace Community Partnerships, check out the below content, running all through April and May!

Inspiration (81)

#Teacher5aDay: We Are In This Together!

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.

9 ways to blend tradition with innovation

With a history as long as ours, it won’t come as a surprise that we’ve learnt a thing or two about teaching boys along the way. The past 175 years has taught us much about understanding boys and how to motivate them to perform to the best of their ability. We greatly value our heritage and traditions, and our school motto - ‘Supera Moras’, or ‘Never Give Up’ - ...

A sport for every learner

In January 2017, the UK government outlined its latest plan to tackle childhood obesity. The initiative places importance on children getting active and having more time and quality facilities to participate in sport, with the money from the sugar drinks levy invested into children’s participation in sports. Sport plays a vital role in so many aspects of our formative years, not the least their chances of being fit and healthy.

Year of the Varndean Goat!

It was just over a year ago that Innovate My School published an article about a school in Brighton that had brought in some goats to support their pastoral provision. That was us. Two weeks after Innovate My School made us famous, we were getting up at 4am for our first live TV appearance, on Good Morning Britain, after the TES ran a story on us which was picked up ...

Image credit: www.prodigygame.com. Images below via suppliers.

4 great (and FREE) resources for your school

One of the UK’s leading edu-experts went undercover at this year’s Education Show in Birmingham. Here, they weigh in on a few of their free favourites from the event... In the current climate, cash-strapped schools are still looking closely after their expenses, and may be tempted to look at free resources. As I was strolling around the Education Show earlier this month, a few free apps jumped at ...

3 leading educators on budget-savvy innovation

To make the most of stretched budgets, schools need all the ideas they can get! In the latest Innovate My School Guide, two school leaders and one veteran consultant weigh in on this very issue. Here’s a sneak peak...

Headteacher Bretta Townend-Jowitt with the school mosaic.

“What’s the best price you can do on this?”

In the current climate of budget cuts and financial pressures on schools, it has become a challenge for school leaders and business managers to be as innovative as possible by stretching our meagre resources.

Image credit: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story // Lucasfilm Ltd.

Make change. Be a rebel

Jim Stark: Nobody talks to children. Judy: No, they just tell them. Rebel Without A Cause (1955).

Image credit: Flickr // Global Panorama.

6 ways UK schools can evolve by looking abroad

‘Powerful professional learning helps children succeed and teachers thrive’ is the first message on the front page of the Teacher Development Trust website. Yet when we look at other countries that are seen as successful at education, commentators often focus on issues such as their culture (Finland or Estonia), teaching methods (‘Chinese Maths’ in Shanghai) or use of external tutoring (Japan or South Korea).

6 reasons every teacher needs an accountability partner

Around this time of year, my commitment to my professional resolutions begin to wane. Deadlines, demands and life in general clouds my path to the professional improvement I seek. While my desire and intent are strong, my actions (or behaviors) often fall short or don’t even get off the ground. I find this is most often the case when try to do it all by ourselves, which is the ...

6 ways to carpe diem!

Every teacher surely thinks of Robin Williams’ character, John Keating, in Dead Poets’ Society, who said, “There’s a time for daring, and a time for caution, and a wise man understands which is called for”, who then dreams of standing up on the desk and generally being truly inspirational in an effortless, lesson-plan-thrown-out-the-window kind of way (or is it just me?). That sort of maverick behaviour is perhaps possible ...

The 3 wellbeing hazards schools need to address

We are all different; whatever you are thinking will not be the same as others. In an academic environment where teachers work as a team, not as individuals, there needs to be consistent mindfulness and consideration to others. We will all have those bad days. Your day or mood does not belong to anybody else. We are here to serve young people. Professionalism is imperative in setting high and positive ...