May 22, 2013

Learn to Munch a Healthy Lunch

schoollunch

School is where children go to learn to read, write and add up – and in Lancashire, increasingly, it's where they go to learn important life skills, such as how to make healthier food choices. Opportunities that help young people learn about food, where it comes from and how to cook it have an important place in the classroom. This is particularly important when we live in a world where cooking know-how can be limited to putting together meals or snacks from pre-prepared, processed ingredients, and unhealthy food choices surround us. Astonishingly, … [Read more...]

Neuroscience and Education – A Natural Partnership

brain

Words: Dr. Carol Goldfus Neuroscience and Education should be a natural partnership; both seek knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis and finally evaluation of knowledge learned. Neuroscience is an area of greatly accelerated research but traditionally there has been a time lag between the research and its application in the classroom. Through this delay, some teachers will have only little knowledge of how the brain functions and how learning occurs and why their students succeed or fail. Yet it is important for teachers to … [Read more...]

A FREE Helping Hand with Hygiene Education

School-Hygiene

This Spring sees the launch of an innovative and FREE curriculum linked hand hygiene education programme, fronted by a new animated character called Professor Albie. Professor Albie, along with a comprehensive support package and animation from Albany Healthy Schools, will teach and inspire pupils (aged 4 – 11 years old) how to clean their hands in a fun and interactive way, helping them learn life-long skills. The resource provides a valuable tool to help reduce the risk of infection and the number of school days lost to illness, which ultimately … [Read more...]

News Update: Teachers to strike over pupils’ bad behaviour

darwen vale

Featured Guardian Article: Teachers at a Lancashire comprehensive will go on strike today  in protest at the unruly behaviour of their pupils. The teachers of Darwen Vale high school say pupil behaviour has become impossible to deal with and that students are pushing them, challenging them to fights, and threatening to film their lessons and post them online. Some 70 of the 80 staff at the school will not turn up to take lessons. They argue that senior teachers at the school are not giving them enough support to deal with poor discipline, … [Read more...]

Funding for Phonics Teaching to Improve Children’s Reading

phonics

Schools Minister Nick Gibb today announced a matched funding scheme to help primary schools teach systematic synthetic phonics and drive up reading standards. Primary schools will be able to claim up to £3,000, if they match that funding, to spend on materials which meet the Department for Education’s criteria for an effective phonics programme. A list of approved resources – including phonics products for teachers and pupils and training for teachers – will be published by the Department by September although some products and training … [Read more...]

Government Gives Teachers New Powers To Improve Discipline

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Today the Department for Education announces new and clearer guidance for teachers on how they should deal with bad behaviour. The Department is also appointing a new Expert Adviser on Behaviour – headteacher Charlie Taylor – who has a track record in radically improving behaviour in some of the most troubled schools. Behaviour in good schools is not a serious problem but overall it remains a big concern for parents. Evidence shows there is much to do. For instance: Nearly 1,000 children are suspended from school for abuse … [Read more...]

English Heritage Throws Open The Doors For a Teachers’ Weekend

englishh

Teachers and their own children are invited to enjoy a free weekend of fun and exploration at English Heritage sites throughout the country on Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 May as abbeys, castles and historic houses open their doors for the first ever English Heritage  Teachers’ Weekend. Lucia Crothall, Education Marketing Manager for English Heritage explains, “We know how pressured teachers are today, and how hard it can be to find new places to take the children to  so we’ve thrown our doors open at the weekend so they can combine a day … [Read more...]