Ideas, Practices & Personal Insights

Live blogging from the field

Yesterday Priory Geography got back from the FSC’s Juniper Hall, a residential field centre near Dorking. The Ernest Cook Trust supported this year’s venture, allowing us to provide bursaries for students. The Eco Challenge (as it’s become known) is all about getting urban children out into rural areas, using traditional skills and exploring conservation techniques that can be used back home. Part of the project involved live ...

Schools responsibility for career guidance

The new statutory guidance for schools was published on 26th March 2012 and provides guidance on delivering impartial careers guidance in schools. With this new responsibility on headteachers and school staff, we take a look at the implications. New duty for schools The Education Act 2011, established late last year, places schools under a new duty in terms of providing careers guidance for pupils in years 9-11 in England. Schools will be ...

107 favourite iPad apps for learning

Tablet computing and mobile devices promise to have a dramatic impact on education. A growing number of schools across the world are jumping on the digital bus and embracing iPads as the latest tool to teach literature in multimedia, history through games and simulations, and maths with step-by-step animation of problems. In my school, we have been rotating one set of iPads this year and it gave me an opportunity ...

Tips for managing mobile learning in the post-PC world

Earlier last month, Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook, marked the launch of the new iPad by declaring that we live in a ‘post-PC world’. Regardless of whether you agree with Cook’s statement, it would be difficult to deny that ICT in schools has moved far beyond desktop computers. Tablet PCs, MP3 players and even handheld gaming devices are being used increasingly in UK schools to deliver learning in engaging, ...

The basics of good classroom management part 2: Dealing with misbehaviour

In my previous article I discussed ways of minimising misbehaviour and creating a positive classroom climate. But, like an English summer, even the most temperate lesson is prone to showers. The following tips are designed to help you prevent a drizzle of mischief becoming a deluge of disobedience. Keep the lesson flowing. When dealing with misbehaviour, always start off with the least intrusive intervention possible. For example, a pupil is ...

Writing with a purpose

Letters, newspaper reports, arguments, recounts, sets of instructions, stories and much, much more. Children are writing every day, but who gets to read their finished pieces? Today’s learners have at their fingertips the opportunity to not only write for a genuinely global audience, but also to be the audience for somebody else’s work. Take a look at some of the exciting ways that your children can find a ...

Seasonal approaches to RE for Early Years and KS1 pupils

Religious Education for our younger pupils is often associated with exploring festivals but, with a bit of imagination and some good resources, RE can be much more than that. Spring is the perfect time to make the most of the outdoor learning environment. With many nursery settings and KS1 classes enjoying topics linked to the natural world at this time of year, it is important to recognise that religious education ...

Evaluating the impact of CPD

What do schools do to measure the impact of CPD? We link to guidance from the TDA, a Teaching Expertise article and to school policies with ideas on how schools can evaluate the impact of CPD. We also refer to a National College article on how schools can ensure that CPD is effective. TDA guidance on evaluating the impact of CPD Guidance from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (...

The growth of mobile technologies in the classroom

The use of mobile technologies in the classroom certainly divides opinion amongst teaching professionals. Having worked with schools across the UK, there are clearly two distinct camps when it comes to the use of consumer-technology in the classroom: those who use it and those who don’t. For those who use technology, the benefits seem endless, but for those who don’t, the arguments they present are numerous too. I ...

School fundraising – where do I start?

Your school has decided to turn its hand to fundraising, but you are unsure about where to start. Getting started is one of the most difficult aspects of fundraising and it challenges all of us – from fundraising beginners to seasoned experts embarking on a new venture. These initial feelings of uncertainty are easily managed with a planned approach to fundraising. It begins by answering two simple questions: why are you ...

Is the laptop dead?

Looking around the stands at the BETT Show in January, it was clear to see that some of the bigger companies - like Apple and Google - are changing the way in which education, in and out of the classroom, is being delivered. The gradual dissolution of Local Authority support and guidance brings new challenges for schools. With IT budgets constantly shrinking, schools have to figure out new ways to ...