Report reveals pressure on Academies to generate their own income
Academies are increasingly under pressure to generate their own income to overcome a shortfall in grant funding, according to a new study of the Academies sector from Xeinadin, the UK and Ireland-based business advisory and accountancy group. The group’s Academies Benchmarking Report reveals that as funding and budgets tighten up, on average primary schools are spending just over £5,400 per pupil per year with secondary schools recording a figure of just under £7,800. Multi-Academy Trusts (MATs) recorded a figure of £6,200 – representing their mix of primary and secondary schools. Xeinadin, which provides a wide range of consultancy, audit, cloud accounting and payroll services for academies, says these figures are higher than the average level of grant funding in each category, meaning an academy must generate an element of its own income to subsidise a shortfall in grant funding. Income The majority of income to academies comes in the form of Government Grants provided through the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA). Predominantly, this is the General Annual Grant (GAG) and Pupil Premium. With funding and budgets becoming increasingly tight, there has been a need for academies to generate their own income, generally in the form of Trading Income. In the primary schools and secondary schools surveyed, this represents 5% and 4% of total income respectively compared to 3% in Multi-Academy Trusts. Academies often have sizeable estates that can be used out of school hours to generate lettings income as well as a staff base that can provide services to other schools for a fee. The study argues that many primary schools have become part of Multi-Academy Trusts in order to share Trust governance and senior leadership team (SLT) costs, which can be extremely challenging for smaller schools, particularly in the primary sector, as the majority of funding is provided on a per pupil basis. Xeinadin says that primary schools receive on average around £4,000 Grant Income per-pupil compared to just over £6,300 per pupil for secondary schools. On this basis, a primary school with 150 pupils would have an annual grant income of around £600k. Alex Ffrench, Hub Director at Xeinadin Group, commented:“The importance of self- generated income cannot be overstated for Academies. With ever-increasing pension costs and concerns over the future of funding, it is vital that Trusts maximise returns on their assets to ensure it is possible to set a balanced budget. For example, in an £8m income secondary school, increasing the Trading Income to 7% of the total income rather than 4% could amount to an additional £200,000 revenue a year.” Staff costs The report finds that unsurprisingly, staff costs account for the majority of academies’ expenditure. Ever-increasing pressures on budgets have resulted in a reducing staff cost base, with primaries averaging 68% of total cost, secondaries 73% and MATs 69%, substantially less than days gone by when staff cost ratios of over 85% were commonplace. Despite MATs also including special and alternative provision schools which typically drive up average staff costs, these are lowered due to Senior Leadership Teams (which tend to have comparatively highly paid members of staff) being split across a number of academies. This structure is evidenced by analysis of staff numbers disclosed in financial statements, which reveals that just 4% of staff in MATs being in management roles compared to 6% in secondary schools and 8% in primary schools. Primary schools incur costs of just over £27,000 per staff member whereas secondary schools show costs of £40,000 per staff member, reflecting the greater number of senior staff within secondary schools. Alex Ffrench continued: “Controlling staff costs is key to successfully managing a Trust’s finances. Timetabling is key to this, and as budgets become tighter, more and more academies are reducing the number of subjects offered, making efforts to reduce agency costs, and carrying out Integrated Curriculum and Financial Planning reviews to help schools plan the best curriculum they can for the funding they have.” As of April 2020, 36% of primary schools and 77% of secondary schools in England were Academies or Free Schools, of which the majority were Converter Academies. Since converter academies were launched in 2010, over 6,000 schools have opted to convert to academy status. In the years since, the Department of Education, along with the Regional Schools Commissioners, have encouraged Academies to form or join Multi-Academy Trusts. Now the vast majority of schools converting to academy status are joining existing Multi-Academy Trusts, where the significant costs of running Trusts are shared. Individual Trusts seeking to compare their data to Xeinadin’s survey results across 10 Key Performance Indicators can do so by visiting https://xeinadin.com/academies-benchmarking- report/.
HALF TERM FAMILY ACTIVITIES!
The first is WEAVING JOURNEYS – free, drop-in creative sessions where visitors can help make a giant woven artwork! After taking inspiration from the paintings and objects in The Box’s new blockbuster exhibition Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters, visitors can choose from a host of different materials and weave them into a massive panel that will be displayed at The Box in early 2022. FREE: Tuesday 26 – Friday 29 October: 10.30am-12.30pm and 1.30pm-3.30pm The second is the HALLOWEEN MONSTER MASH! A spook-tacular Halloween evening filled with music, food, craft activities and lots of fun for all the family – from Halloween DJ playing family-friendly classics, torchlight tours of the galleries, slime-makingsessions with a crazy scientist in the Learning Room and fang-tastic food & drink at The Box Kitchen and Bar. Be sure to wear your most scream-worthy outfit as the best dressed of the night will win the fancy-dress competition! £5, Saturday 30 October: 6.30pm-9pm. THE BOX MUSEUM | GALLERY | ARCHIVE European premiere of award-winning Australian exhibition SONGLINES: TRACKING THE SEVEN SISTERS L-R: Seven Sisters Songline (1994) by Josephine Mick – Ninuku Arts; Yarrkalpa (Hunting Ground) (2013) by Kumpaya Girgirba, Yikartu Bumba, Kanu Nancy Taylor, Ngamaru Bidu, Janice Yuwali Nixon, Reena Rogers, Thelma Judson and Kola Ngalangka – Martumili Artists The world’s oldest continuing culture comes to Plymouth 21 October 2021 – 27 February 2022 TICKETS £10 (£7.50 CONCESSIONS / FREE FOR UNDER 18S) FIRST VISIT FREE FOR PLYMOUTH RESIDENTS “A triumph of 21st-century museology that the world deserves to see.” – The Guardian “Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters is a peerless exhibition of Aboriginal art, thrilling in its breadth and depth.” – The Conversation “The sheer complexity and ambition of this project is staggering… Civilisation begins when we discover the capacity to be thrilled and enlightened by someone else’s story.” – The Sydney Morning Herald The Box is proud to announce the European premiere of the National Museum of Australia’s award-winning exhibition Songlines: Tracking the Seven Sisters from 21 October – 27 February 2022. The exhibition forms part of the UK/Australia Season 2021-22, a major programme of cultural exchange taking place across the two nations. The Box’s presentation of Songlines continues the museum’s track record of collaborating with First Peoples around the world and follows recent exhibitions co-curated with the Wampanoag of North America – Mayflower 400: Legend & Legacy as well as Wampum: Stories from the Shells of Native America. Featuring over 300 paintings and objects by more than 100 artists, this is the first time the exhibition has been seen outside Australia. Originally staged at the National Museum of Australia (NMA) in Canberra and touring to Perth’s Western Australian Museum Boola Bardip, the exhibition has attracted over 400,000 visitors to date. Entirely conceived and curated by a team of First Australians, led by Margo Neale, Senior Indigenous Curator at the NMA and custodial elders from across the Central and Western Deserts of Australia, it expertly combines state-of-the art exhibition and display technologies with art, song and dance in order to share ancient stories from the world’s oldest continuing culture. As an important city in Britain’s naval history, Plymouth’s close ties with Australia go back centuries as a point of departure and mass migration from the UK. Songlines’ timely arrival at The Box comes as societies in the UK, Australia and across the world grasp the urgent need to reflect and embrace cultural diversity and re-evaluate our relationship with each other, our immediate environment, and the planet as a whole. A world-first in scale and complexity, the exhibition was conceived with the ambition of preserving the Seven Sisters Dreaming stories – ancient creation sagas of the Australian continent – for future generations. The show provides an international platform for Indigenous voices to share Tjukurpa or Dreaming stories in new ways with contemporary artworks becoming portals to places in the deserts of the Martu, the Ngaanyatjarra and the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) peoples. Songlines takes visitors on an epic journey that traverses three states, three deserts and some 500,000 square kilometres. The highly immersive exhibition travels from west to east: from the Western Australian coast to the APY Lands in the east, using the power of contemporary art, performance and song to re-animate traditional stories, photography, multimedia and the world’s highest-resolution seven-metre-wide travelling dome. The ‘DomeLab‘ transports viewers to places deep in the desert relating to the Seven Sisters Songlines, including the remote Cave Hill site in South Australia – home to the only known Seven Sisters rock art in the world – as well as showing animated artworks and their relationship to the stars and constellations. L-R: Kungkarangkalpa – Seven Sisters (2015) by Tjungkara Ken, Yaritji Young, Maringka Tunkin, Freda Brady and Sandra Ken – Tjala Arts; Kungarangkalpa walka board by Malya Teamay – Maruku Arts; A performance of the Kungkarangkalpa: Seven Sisters songline inma (ceremony) at the National Museum of Australia, Canberra, 2013 Songlines are a map of the land as well as a pathway for complex spiritual, cultural, political and historical truths or knowledges – and so much more. Songlines crisscross the land, creating a network of stories that ‘map’ the Australian continent by linking narratives to geographical features and serving as vehicles for naming and locating sites critical for survival physically and culturally. It is through Songlines that Aboriginal people can locate and learn from significant sites and pass on laws, ways of living, and moral codes to the next generation. ‘We have brought the song, story and paintings full of Tjukurpa, the creation spirit of the Seven Sisters, to put in our exhibition … so many other people can look, learn and increase their understanding,’ said Inawinytji Williamson, senior law woman and traditional owner of the Seven Sisters songline, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara lands, and spokesperson for the Community Curatorium who worked with the NMA to direct the representation of cultural material in the exhibition. The Box’s showing of Songlines is part of the UK/Australia Season 2021–22, a joint initiative by the
Purdue University, Brigham Young University and RM launch research project to improve student learning outcomes through ‘learning by evaluating’
RM, a leading supplier of technology solutions to the education sector, today announced the third phase of a research project with Purdue University and Brigham Young University to better understand and explore the impact of Learning by Evaluating on student attainment. This research, led by Purdue University’s Polytechnic Institute and Brigham Young University’s School of Technology, will be the largest-ever study using Adaptive Comparative Judgement – which harnesses our natural ability to make more consistent and accurate judgements by comparing pairs of items rather than in isolation. The research is funded by a $1.2m grant awarded by the National Science Foundation, Virginia. This third phase sees students at more than 20 schools per year in DeKalb County, Georgia implement RM Compare – RM’s industry-leading adaptive comparative judgement assessment and evaluation tool – for three years from the start of the upcoming academic year as part of their ongoing learning. While traditional efforts around improving student learning and assessment often centre on teachers as the evaluators rather than the students themselves, the goal of the project is to put the power in students’ hands by allowing them to gain a greater understanding of what good work looks like, stimulating and promoting learning. The first two phases of the research were undertaken in 2019 and 2020 and saw half of the cohort of ~550 undergraduate students given the opportunity to view and evaluate finalised work submitted by a previous cohort through RM Compare ahead of being tasked with an unrelated assignment. The other half of the cohort pursued traditional classroom activity such as sharing work and feedback in a teacher-led discussion. The outcome was that the students who had used RM Compare developed a stronger understanding of ‘what good looks like’ and significantly improved their results, with this improvement in outcomes seen across the spectrum of student ability – which is of particular interest given that few interventions achieve equity of outcome and impact when it comes to more challenging, and harder to reach students. Dr. Scott Bartholomew, one of the projects leads and assistant professor at Brigham Young University said: “Our research has shown significant gains for students engaging in learning by evaluating across multiple grade levels and content areas. We expect to find similar results in our current partnership with DeKalb County School District and look forward to working collaboratively with our teacher-partners who are exploring and expanding the learning opportunities made possible through this effort. While many software tools can facilitate a learning approach through evaluation, RM Compare has the most tools, options, and customisation for assisting both teachers and students in this process.” The Learning by Evaluating project has already received recognition from the industry for its achievement, with it recently being awarded Best Research Project at the 2021 e-Assessment Awards in London. RM Compare is also already being used in many UK universities, helping to improve assessment outcomes. Dr Jill Barber, National Teaching Fellow, School of Health Sciences, University of Manchester said: “While students are very reluctant to assign a mark to another student’s piece of work, our research shows that students are good at judging between two pieces of work and selecting a “winner”. Furthermore, in a peer-assessed exercise carried out in RM Compare, each student receives rich and varied feedback from about 10 of their peers. Student feedback generally contains all the points that staff would make so it is of high value. Students welcome the opportunity to see other students’ work and to learn from it.“ Peter Collison, Head of Formative Assessment at RM said: “This project is the perfect demonstration of how technology can support both students and teachers in the classroom, without taking away from the learning experience. In fact, RM Compare helps turn the assessment process itself into a learning experience, by letting students collaborate with peers and teachers to successfully improve their grades. Beyond this, it also frees up teacher time, allowing them to utilise their expertise in the best ways: facilitating learning, helping struggling students, and guiding and coaching through classroom learning.”
7 ways to reduce deadline panic, according to an education expert
Deadlines can be challenging and stressful in the best of circumstances- especially when your assignments are all due in the same week! We spoke to education expert Richard Evans, founder of The Profs, who outlines 7 ways to reduce deadline panic and ensure effective time management. Do time estimates of all key tasks Deadlines can become troubling when you overestimate how much time you need to complete a task. If it’s too easy, you may procrastinate and put the task off. Then all of a sudden you have worked too slowly and are up against a deadline. On the other hand, if the task is difficult or the deadline is too short, you may feel stressed about completing it from the moment it is assigned. To reduce panic and anxiety, simply assign a time estimate to each task. This way, you will be able to determine how realistic a deadline might be and how long it will take to accomplish it. Break large projects down into tasks Bigger assignments can easily feel overwhelming and too complex to tackle. By breaking them down into more approachable and doable sections, it reduces stress and the propensity to procrastinate. With specific goals in mind, you will work better and be more persistent with the task you need to complete. Identify smaller tasks and set achievable milestones to reach. Ensure you determine a realistic timeframe for each task and follow this schedule to keep to the time limit. Prioritise your tasks Once you have created a realistic schedule, know how much time you’ve allocated to each task and divided your project into smaller sub-sections, you need a plan to tackle them. Project prioritisation is a useful skill that will help you throughout your life. It creates strategic goals, clears all doubts when tackling a task from scratch, and builds an execution mindset. Once you have prioritised your projects, start working! Only by doing tasks will you find out what’s missing from your prioritisation plan. Understand your productivity rhythms Sometimes an hour is enough to blaze through a heavy task, and other times all you can manage is a light task after a few hours work. Productivity rhythms are when we experience heightened energy and focus, making it the optimal time to complete more arduous tasks. When you are aware of the time of day you’re most efficient, you can start building your daily to-do lists around it. Perhaps you have ‘early morning brain’, in which case try starting your routine an hour earlier, or maybe you work better in the evening. Schedule the items that require the most focus at your most productive time of the day. Get the right amount of sleep Consistently getting quality sleep will allow you to stay focused, improve concentration and academic performance. A good night’s sleep is like removing all the unneeded files from your laptop, so you have storage for more important files. If you do not get enough sleep, you are reducing your cognitive performance and learning potential. Sleep deprivation can be problematic as it can lead to an inability to concentrate, impaired mood and mental health issues. When winding down for bed, avoid screen use and sleep in a dark, quiet room. Keep to a regular sleep-wake cycle and try avoiding heavy meals and exercise 3 hours before bedtime. Take social media breaks We go on social media for all the right reasons, but we can stay on it for the wrong ones. If you find yourself getting lost in the social media rabbit hole, it is time to manage this distraction. In this technological age, it is unrealistic to advise completely ditching social media when you’re working towards deadlines. Especially because working towards deadlines can last months. Therefore, integrate social media breaks into your schedule so you don’t feel out of touch, and leave your phone out of reach during study time. Disable notifications or put your phone on Do Not Disturb so your deadlines have your complete focus. Negotiate a more realistic due date Sometimes unforeseen circumstances occur and then it is not always possible to stick to the deadline. Whilst negotiating a more realistic due date or applying for extenuating circumstances can feel intimidating, it is better to get more time for a project instead of providing substandard work. If you have to submit an application, consider whether you are eligible to apply, gather the relevant evidence and wait for approval. Talk to your personal tutor or academic hive team to determine whether this is the best course of action for your particular circumstances. This piece was brought to you by https://www.theprofs.co.uk/
Enjoy Christmas more for less with £245* worth of savings for teachers from Boundless
Civil-service and public-sector membership club Boundless announces four new benefits for members, their families and friends: Kids Pass, Dine, plus complimentary access to Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust (WWT) sites, Kew Gardens and Wakehurst It’s only a couple of months until schools break up, so now’s the time to start thinking about exciting and inventive things to do over the Christmas period. Thanks to a new selection of days out and discounts from Boundless, worth up to £245*, it’s easy for teachers to get the most out of their festive break for so much less. Added to the existing roster of activities, getaways, holidays, group activities and savings are four new deals that promise to inject much-needed affordable and magical moments into everyone’s lives after a tough couple of years for educators up and down the country. Darren Milton at Boundless said: “We’re thrilled to offer teachers fun and inspiring ways to enjoy the precious time they spend away from school and with their families and friends. We want to help people switch off from term-time pressures and make memories with the people that matter to them most.” The four new offers are included in the overall Boundless membership deal, which is open to all public sector employees and civil servants, working and retired, for just £29 a year. They include 12-month access to Kids Pass, which offers 2,000+ savings at a wide range of days out, including zoos, aquariums and all the major theme parks, with ‘kids eat free offers’ too. Members can also get away from it all and enjoy expansive nature reserves up and down the country at no additional cost, thanks to WWT, which offers complimentary family admission, including the member, an adult guest and up to six children. Taking everyone out for a delicious meal needn’t mean forking out over the odds either. Thanks to Dine, there are impressive discounts – such as 50% off and 241 on mains – for all members at thousands of restaurants and coffee shops nationwide, with a focus on local, quality, independent venues. To really ramp up the Christmas vibe, what could be better than a trip to the magical Kew Gardens in Southwest London or Wakehurst in West Sussex? Now, all Boundless members can take advantage of unlimited complimentary admission to both venues, plus 50% off for an adult guest per member and free entry for up to five children. To get ahead with the Christmas shopping, there’s also a 10% discount at the onsite and online gift shops. It’s a wonderful opportunity to explore Kew’s 320 acres of flora and fauna and Wakehurst’s 500 acres of diverse woodland, and to experience the beauty of nature with the whole family while learning about biodiversity and the work that this organisation does to protect the Earth’s delicate ecosystem. For more information on membership and all offers, visit boundless.co.uk/benefits
BYJU’S announces the launch of edtech innovation hub, ‘BYJU’S Lab’
BYJU’S, the world’s leading edtech company, today announced the launch of BYJU’S Lab – an innovation hub based out of the UK in central London, with locations in the US and India. With a vision to shape the future of education, the new venture will incubate new ideas, provide cutting-edge technologies and deliver breakthrough solutions across BYJU’S ecosystem of learning products. Technology plays a key role in empowering students to become lifelong learners, and creators of technology, rather than consumers. The goal of BYJU’S Lab is to work on redefining the role of technology in learning and transforming powerful ideas into solutions, to help further students’ learning in future. The launch of BYJU’S Lab is also in line with the company’s mission to keep students at the centre of innovation and create powerful learning experiences for them by leveraging cutting edge technologies such as augmented reality, AI, computer vision capabilities, gamification and more. BYJU’S launched in the UK earlier this year as BYJU’S FutureSchool, bringing its engaging and fun music, maths and coding courses to students across the UK. The virtual courses empower students with life-long skills and encourage them to build a love of lifelong learning and curiosity. BYJU’S is doubling down on its commitment to the UK market with the launch of its Innovation Hub in London, and is looking to recruit top talent among a diverse set of candidates in the UK, US and India. Creating new jobs in the UK, BYJU’S Lab will create an exciting and fulfilling environment for Machine Learning and AI professionals, both experienced as well as new graduates. Dev Roy, Chief Innovation and Learning Officer, BYJU’S said, “The role of online learning is not just to replicate offline classes in digital space but to make it more interactive, engaging and personalised. By combining the ability of computing, technology, and data, we at BYJU’S Lab, want to explore the power of information to create a more enhanced and personalised learning atmosphere.” “As a global company, we are looking to harness talent across the UK, US and India to build innovative tools and employ new technologies to positively impact the learning experiences of children across the world. As we continue to grow and experiment, we will operate at the intersection of business and technology to make innovation real and relevant for BYJU’S users. We are looking at strengthening our team and look forward to working with bright and curious minds to transform the way children learn,” he added. Innovation has an integral place in education, and BYJU’S Lab, with a highly-talented workforce, will focus on projects with longer gestation cycles that involve deep analysis to gain valuable insights into the learning habits of children. With an aim to make children fall in love with learning, BYJU’S is a pioneer in delivering world-class programs that are contextual and visual. The company is paving the way for geography agnostic learning tools that sit at the intersection of mobile, interactive content, and personalised learning methodology. Learn more: https://www.byjusfutureschool.com/ For more information, please contact: byjus@eatthefox.com
Outstanding ‘residential care’ Ofsted awarded to The Grange Therapeutic School, Leicestershire
New Acorn Education and Care team takes the school’s two residential homes based in Rutland from Requires Improvement to Outstanding in just 18 months The Grange Therapeutic School, Rutland, Leicestershire – an independent residential special school for students who have social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs or high functioning autism – rated Good by Ofsted in its ‘education’ inspection, has just been ranked Outstanding in its Ofsted inspection for ‘residential care’ provision1. Ofsted Inspectors praised its new team – who took residential care provision from Requires Improvement to Outstanding in just 18 months – for “the highly effective services it delivers and its actions that contribute to significantly improved outcomes and positive experiences for children and young people.” Charlotte Niekerk, Head of Care at The Grange, who was appointed in 2020, was also praised as a highly competent leader responsible for “the rapid and marked improvement of the residential provision since the last Ofsted inspection.” The Inspectors said, “The residential provision’s leadership team is inspirational, confident and ambitious for children in their care. Meticulous management systems are in place which provide good analysis of the impact of the care provision and the progression of each child. This ensures that all children are supported to achieve the best outcomes.” The Grange was rated Outstanding for the overall experience and progress of children, how well children are helped and protected, and the effectiveness of the school’s leaders and managers. Inspectors reported that, “Strong, stable and trusting relationships mean that children thrive in the residential provision and are extremely positive about the care they receive.” One child quoted in the report said, “The staff have been fantastic. The team leader is amazing. No matter what I needed it would get done, they have always been there for me.” Another child said, “The amount of support I get is unreal.” The Inspectors went on to say, “Staff help children to regulate their emotions so that they learn to interact well with others. Behaviour management strategies are well thought through and ensure that children receive consistent responses from school and care staff. As children’s behaviour improves, they make significant progress at school. They are able to focus on learning and have fewer incidents. Children who were not engaged in education prior to attending the school are now fully engaged.” They were also impressed by the quality of the relationships between staff and children, stating that they enable clear routines and boundaries to be set, which in turn helps the children to feel safe and secure. They commented, “Staff support children to understand risks at school, at home, in the community and online and a ‘no question too silly’ box in the house enables staff to respond to questions through shared group discussions and peer group learning. Innovative training has helped staff to have a better understanding of safeguarding and child protection and the Head of Care [Charlotte Niekerk] has delivered good-quality training for staff about safeguarding processes. “Governance and external monitoring are also strong and the School Governors’ oversight ensures a high degree of scrutiny and high quality of care provided to children. The Chair of Governors works closely with the Head of Care, empowering her to improve the service. Managers have made a determined effort to improve the skills and knowledge of care staff and have provided staff with extensive training. As a result, staff are highly skilled practitioners who are empathetic and nurturing.” Commenting on the school’s new Ofsted grading, Charlotte Niekerk, Head of Care said, “We are absolutely thrilled to have been evaluated Outstanding by Ofsted – the highest possible rating – and I would like to thank my team for their exceptional work and students for their lovely positive comments about life at the school.” Ofsted conducted the inspection in July 2021 but have only recently published the report until after the summer break when the school reopened in September.
Sport England launches Studio You, a free video platform to help schools drive PE engagement in teen girls
Studio You is the latest initiative from Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’ campaign With 57% of girls aged 13-16 not achieving the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended 60 minutes of physical activity a day and 64% of girls quitting sports altogether by the age of 16-17, Sport England has developed Studio You – a new video-on-demand platform to inspire teenage girls to get active through fun PE lesson experiences. Co-created with teenage girls and PE teachers, Studio You has been designed to give teachers a fresh style of resource to inspire this hard-to-engage audience before they disengage with PE and physical activity completely. The platform will be freely available to all schools in England Powered by Sport England’s This Girl Can campaign (that has inspired nearly 4 million to become active since 2015) Studio You aims to remove the pressure of competition and performance from PE. Instead, it seeks to open girls’ eyes to fun new disciplines and activities such as Combat, Barre, Fitness and Yoga. In line with the This Girl Can ethos, the focus is on enjoyment, community and achieving a sense of personal fulfilment. The site, which has been developed with £1.5 million of National Lottery Funding, will feature over 100 videos, with teachers able to search for lesson content by duration of class or discipline. All video content is curriculum-linked and teachers can personalise the lesson planning experience by saving their favourite classes into their own digital library. Kate Dale, the Campaign Lead for This Girl Can at Sport England comments: “Engaging teenage girls with sport and activity is notoriously challenging. But we cannot allow millions of girls to disengage at such a young age when the physical, mental and social rewards of an active lifestyle are so important. And for some girls, PE at school is the only chance they have to get active – so it’s important to get the experience right for them, “We want Studio You to help teachers increase the confidence of the girls who might otherwise disconnect by enabling them to inject fun, choice and ownership into the PE experience. Studio You’s message is clear: getting active should be an enjoyable part of everyday life for all teenage girls and young women – not just those who excel at sport.” Sport England’s insights show that teenage is the peak time for girls to drop out of school sport and develop deep-rooted negative attitudes to physical activity, that can act as a barrier for life. Research from Sport England’s Secondary Teacher Training programme, shows that only 50% of teenage girls feel confident in PE, compared with 72% of boys. In Sport England focus groups, girls who had disengaged from the school PE experience, used words like ‘competitive’, ‘stressy’ and ‘repetitive’ to describe their lessons, with studies showing that 80% of girls feel they don’t ‘belong’ in sport. As a result of the insights gained from teenage girls, Studio You focuses on non-traditional, non-competitive activities led by relatable young coaches. Content can even be selected by mood with four themes: Energise, Relax, Party and Focus to choose from. Stewart Orton, Director of Sport from Fortismere School, one of a select group of schools trialling the new Studio You content said: “Studio You has totally rejuvenated PE for girls at Fortismere. Traditionally, girls’ participation in PE and physical activity can seriously dip in teenage years. We have found that the lessons and wide ranging activities included in the Studio You package have been a significant factor in retaining our girls’ motivation for PE and for keeping active. Importantly it’s given girls in our school a real sense of pride in what they’ve achieved. “It’s a wonderful resource and we have been delighted to have been involved from the beginning. Now that the resource is going out nationally schools are in for a real treat. It’ll be exciting to see the impact on PE over time.” The Studio You platform has been designed in partnership with leading social impact agency Hopscotch Consulting, responsible for the Department for Transport’s THINK! Road safety education resources and behind high-profile education campaigns and programmes for Vodafone, GSK and Microsoft.
7 Halloween half-term activities, as recommended by an education expert
It is already October, which means that Halloween is just around the corner, and so is the half-term! Although this is exciting news for children, some parents might strive to find the right challenges that will keep their kids engaged and entertained this holiday break. Whether you are a working parent or have overly active kids, some alternative suggestions to the regular half-term activities – with the added spooky twist – will fit in just right. Richard Evans, the education expert at The Profs, shares 7 Halloween-themed activity suggestions to inspire you in getting your children busy while also having fun in the Halloween spirit all week long! 1. Make pumpkin guts slime Save the pumpkin seeds and put them to a good use! You need a container, 5 oz bottle of clear glue, ½ cup water, ½ tsp baking soda, 1 tbsp contact lens solution, pumpkin seeds, and orange food colouring. Pour the glue into a bowl, add the water, baking soda, and stir. Mix a few drops of orange food colouring and add the pumpkin seeds. Next, add 1 tbsp contact solution and keep kneading the slime until it is no longer sticky, and store in an airtight container, and there you have it! A Halloween-themed slime to keep your children entertained for hours. Always supervise your children during playtime to ensure the slime is not ingested. 2. Improvise a pumpkin golf field Pumpkin carving is one of the most popular activities to engage your kids on Halloween, but don’t let the pumpkins go to waste afterwards! Invite your children’s classmates to a competitive Halloween-themed activity from setup to gameplay. First, carve a few jack-o-lanterns with large enough mouths for golf balls. If your child is old enough to carve the pumpkins with you, ensure that you go over the importance of safety precautions when handling knives beforehand. After the pumpkins are carved, bring the mini-golf toy set and spread a red felt runway to create a mini-golf field in the park or your garden. Take extra care in setting up the mini-golf course so it’s not cluttered with extra Halloween decorations that might stand in the way of the little players, and get ready for lots of whiff shots and laughter. 3. Make a Halloween-themed candy wreath Wreaths are not just for Christmas! A Halloween-themed candy wreath is a fun way to offer Halloween sweets to the children coming for trick or treat. Gather the materials you will need for your wreath, including any decorations or ribbon that you want to use, and get your kids to help create it. Let them pick which sweets to use and help them arrange the candy on the wreath to make it look appealing and get ready to hear the doorbell ring all evening. 4. Organise a Halloween scavenger hunt Prepare a mysterious scavenger hunt in your area by enticing your kids to get active in the pursuit of little Halloween-themed treasures. To organise a Halloween scavenger hunt, the first thing to do is to plant the clues. Design the game based on your knowledge of Halloween haunt tales and ghoulish legends that will raise their curiosity to participate. Next, set up the tasks that need to be completed for them to get awarded and prepare the prizes. Make sure that the winner awards are on-theme – think Halloween sweets and spooky toys that your kids would love. 5. Read Halloween books together All kids love a good ghost story because they get the chance to engage their imagination. It’s also a great opportunity for adults and older siblings to read stories together out loud, and you will find that children are not only entertained but also learn a lesson. “Harry Potter”, “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” or “Hansel and Gretel” are perfect for this occasion. Regardless of what books you might choose, you can add a bit of fun by giving each of your children a role and letting them act out the narrative. 6. Discover the origins of Halloween Halloween started as a pagan holiday and evolved into what we celebrate today. Although the traditions vary from one country to another, they are so diverse and captivating that will not only manage to keep your kids entertained but also expand their knowledge. Do some research together about the festival of Samhain in ancient Britain and learn more about the origins of what we now know Halloween represents. 7. DIY your own witch hat ring toss game No pumpkins? No problem. Why not DIY witch hats, decorate them, and play the ring toss game? Crafting your own witch hat this Halloween can also be a fun activity to get your kids involved with, by drawing together and setting up the game. All you need are some sticks, party hats or cones for witches to wear on their heads, and the tossing rings. Who wins gets to eat sweets, who loses gets to wear the hat. Let the Halloween fun begin!