Innovate My School - Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

I’d teach that for a dollar!

It’s June 2018, and we’re due a teaching and learning observation week. Gauging the temperature in the staff room, after a hectic year, I felt that another round of observations from senior and middle leaders would have finished our teachers off! I wanted to boost morale, to create a feelgood factor in our last month. I wanted to encourage all to take risks in the classroom, to observe one-another, ...

The Bett 2019 Blog: Day 3

Arguable the busiest day so far, the Innovate My School and Edtech Impact teams greeted day 3 with energy and excitement. As the coffee and conversation flows, we soak up as much as possible as the final day of Bett approaches.

The Bett 2019 Blog: Day 2

Conversations are powerful, and they fuelled day 2 at Bett. Edtech Impact were joined by the Innovate My School team who, after grasping the sheer scale of Bett, loved every second they had catching up with suppliers and securing more innovative companies for our pioneering Speed Date sessions. The Bett Futures area was absolutely buzzing with people discussing Edtech Impact, which went live on Wednesday. Here are our highlights from Day 2.

Singing is for life, not just assemblies

Take a moment to think about an ideal school environment. You might imagine a calm, well-operating and friendly, happy school, where: children feel welcome, safe and secure children arrive focused, enthused and ready to learn learning challenges are met with determination, optimism and self-belief there is a strong sense of teamwork in each class and across the school among staff and pupils alike children and staff take pride in ...

The Bett 2019 Blog: Day 1

Upon entering The Excel, it becomes clear why Bett Show veterans recommend you plan your day carefully: it takes ten minutes to walk from one end of the hall to the other, with countless curiosities to catch your attention along the way. From dancing robots to discussions with industry leaders, it truly is an action-packed, immersive event for all involved in education. So what made day 1 special for us?

How music can inspire you as a school leader

As I’ve only just dipped my toe into school leadership, I was surprised at just how difficult it has been this year. Simply managing your class, or leading a subject, is a full time, stressful job all year round. Throw the demands of leading a core subject - or the day-to-day demands of managing a school - into the mix, and ‘stressful’ doesn’t describe it. Thankfully, there’s ...

5 underrated strategies for encouraging creativity

Most teachers will say that they are creative every day, citing how they respond to the dynamics of groups and situations which arise. However, it is good to have a reminder about the deliberate use of strategies to promote creative teaching / learning; refreshing our memories, or even meeting new options to give a creative boost to our classroom. Here are five you can use right away: 1. Creative peer feedback When ...

Bett 2019 preview: The trends, challenges and innovations of edtech

Bett will once again be returning to ExCeL London from 23-26 January 2019, giving educators the opportunity to hear from inspirational speakers, find practical edtech solutions for teaching and learning and share best-practice. From 21st century skills and neurodiversity to exceptional pedagogy and classroom resources, Bett will showcase the latest education trends, innovations and resources, and bring to life all the skills that learners today will need in order to thrive ...

Galloping into SEN success

Did you know that horse riding offers tremendous benefits for pupils with severe learning difficulties? This article considers an innovative approach to widening education access to include more pupils, including those who struggle with a real-life horse, and those with profound and multiple learning difficulties (PMLD). To begin with, it is useful to consider the benefits of horse riding. “The therapeutic benefits of riding are numerous and as well as ...

7 steps to help parents support their children's Maths learning

Parental engagement in any subject is key to academic success - some studies show a probability increase of more than 50% for children who are supported by parents in their learning to achieve top grades versus children who receive little or no support. From our experience working with over 45,000 children, families and schools across the UK to provide one-to-one maths tuition, parental support for their child’s maths learning journey in ...

€36 million of Erasmus+ schools funding is reserved for UK schools in 2019

Watch how eTwinning can support your international journey Erasmus+ offers schools funding for life-changing international activities. €36 million is proposed for UK schools in 2019, up from €30 million in 2018. Through the funding: pupils can take part in international exchanges and study experiences to develop new skills, raise their aspirations and gain vital international experience staff can teach, train or job shadow abroad - to develop their professional practice, build ...

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Take your edtech back to basics

“If we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow” - John Dewey. I was first introduced to this quote by Lee Parkinson, and I think it illustrates perfectly how we should think of edtech. When it comes to technology in the classroom, we tend to follow the most up-to-date trends; this has been how I have used technology such as Minecraft and online memes (ideal ...