Reflect Theatre in Education
Reflect Theatre in Education provides personalised performing arts’ projects and applied drama techniques in schools across the capital and South East. Working collaboratively with schools, we produce engaging and inspirational theatrical productions involving students in Key Stages 1, 2 and 3. We also use drama techniques to produce a wide range of curriculum-enrichment programmes and workshops which support key government strategies for learning and enhance the National Curriculum. At Reflect Theatre in Education we always set high standards for ourselves and all participants. Expectations are clear and our working environment is respectful, positive and motivational. Drama, in its own right, is an invaluable tool in unlocking creative potential, developing communication skills and increasing confidence. When used alongside the National Curriculum it is an engaging and inspirational way of approaching traditional topics and stimulating the interest of all students. Reflect TIE sessions aim: • To develop confidence and self-esteem • To encourage teamwork • To promote positive communication skills • To stimulate creativity • To stimulate topic interested and impart curriculum information Confidence and Self-Esteem Our Workshops and Projects promote opportunities for children to build confidence and self-esteem. Children are given regular opportunities to reflect on their own progress and abilities, to identify areas/skills that they would like to focus on further and develop. Our sessions are great for offering naturally confident young people a creative outlet, as well as helping to increase confidence in those children who may need to assistance in developing this. Teamwork In all aspects of life, individuals will be required to work as part of a team. Our sessions promote teamwork, through various activities and the shared collaboration of putting on a performance. Communication Skills Communication skills are one of the most important areas that Reflect TIE works to develop. Communication skills are a vital part of all aspects of life, at school and within the working environment. Drama is well known for helping children to articulate more clearly and to listen in addition to developing a wider vocabulary. Creativity Taking part in creative experiences such as drama helps children to express, and cope with, their feelings. Creativity also fosters mental growth in children and helps them to acknowledge and celebrate uniqueness and diversity. Imagination equips children to solve problems by helping them to think through different outcomes to various situations and enabling them to role play ways to cope with difficult or new circumstances. Imagination also encourages a rich vocabulary. Telling and hearing real or made-up stories, reading books and improvising, help children learn and retain new words. Topic/Curriculum Information Our Workshops and Projects can provide children and young people with topic related information and help to lift the curriculum off the page. This helps to stimulate interest and to improve connection with and retention of material. Reflect TIE offers: • Foundation, KS1, and KS2 Curriculum Topic Workshops: These popular workshops use drama, role-play and improvisation to explore a topic further. These workshops are available for a wide range of topics each linked to the National Curriculum. • Staging Shakespeare Projects • Professional Productions • PSHE and SEAL workshops: These workshops are based on the Primary National Strategy document Excellence & Enjoyment: Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) and also look at topics under the umbrella of Personal, Social, and Health Education for all key stages. This Autumn, as well as running our popular stand-alone curriculum and story-telling workshops, our Directors are also busy working with Groups of Students in Years 5 and 6 to stage performances of ‘As You Like It’ in schools across London. By introducing Shakespeare, at primary level, we help children to experience Shakespeare’s charm at an early age. This means that, when they begin to study a Shakespeare text as part of the national curriculum, students have already been introduced to the bard correctly and positively. We have a series of Shakespeare’s greatest stories which have been adapted to run under at an hour – making it less daunting and more manageable. These plays still maintain Shakespeare’s language but have been reduced and tailored to make them more accessible to the primary age-bracket – in their simplicity, they are adapted to work for kids, without losing any of the beauty or power of the original play. Children work with professional directors, from the auditions, right through to a fully-staged performance, with lights, sound, costume and props. All practitioners have plenty of experience in directing children’s theatre and every child has a speaking part. Throughout the process, each student involved learns valuable lessons about team-work, concentration and commitment as well as gaining great comprehension of the play in question and a sense of self-confidence and achievement. Staging Shakespeare, as with all Reflect TIE’s projects, is extremely inclusive and can include children with special learning/care requirements. www.reflect-tie.co.uk
Safe Hands Training Services
At Safe Hands Training Services, we believe it is vitally important to remove stigma from talking about emotional wellbeing and mental health. Mental Health is still seen my many people as embarrassing or a sign of weakness. We want talking about mental health to be as everyday as talking about physical health, by doing this we can encourage our young people to talk to us and change the alarming but sadly true statistic that Suicide is the most common cause of death for boys and girls aged 5 and 19 in England and Wales. Young People today are faced with multiple, often complex, challenges exacerbated by our fast-paced world. With it becoming increasingly difficult to access mental health services for young people educational settings are being relied on to deal with the country’s mental health epidemic in-house. Its fair to say that “schools have a significant role to play in the safeguarding and mental wellbeing of their pupils”. The impact and reality of mental illness means schools can no longer separate the pastoral from the academic so much so that one of the eight principles of Ofsted’s updated framework (September 2019) is on Wellbeing !! NICE guidance recommends that: head teachers, governors and teachers should demonstrate a commitment to the social and emotional wellbeing of young people. They should provide leadership in this area by ensuring social and emotional wellbeing features within improvement plans, policies, systems and activities. We believe high quality training is key to safeguarding our Children, Young People and Staff. Training is an investment in people and one of the biggest incentives a company can offer to not only recruit staff, but also retain them, with the National charity Education Support Partnership stating over a third of education staff are expected to leave the profession by 2020, it is paramount we provide staff members with the best training possible to support them in their ever increasing role. we provide highly interactive, informative and 100% relevant specialist training all over the UK. Utilising trainers who are not only specialists within their own fields, having experience in their sectors, but are also accredited through numerous awarding bodies. We offer an all-round flexible package tailored to meet your needs. Starting with a free telephone consultation with our lead trainer, having over 15 year’s experience working with looked after children and delivering training to Schools and Children’s services across the UK. We take an holistic approach to our training recognizing that our learners, just like the young people they support and teach, are all individuals and have their own learning styles. With this in mind we will work together with you to create a high-quality learning experience allowing for learners to continue their CPD. Our aim at Safe Hands Training Services is for our clients to leave the classroom feeling competent and confident to go out into the community they work within and deliver an outstanding service. Our courses are packed full of practical activities and demonstrations alongside the theory which underpins the learning. We offer in house training, train the trainer courses and open courses across the UK, whatever the requirement we offer all the compliance training you need to help prepare you and your staff for every eventuality. Please see below the list of courses we currently deliver across the UK. • SAFEGUARDING CHILDREN • ATTACHMENT THEORY • PEOPLE MOVING AND HANDLING • MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS 4 HOURS • MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID LEVEL TWO (1 DAY) • MENTAL HEALTH FIRST AID LEVEL THREE (2 DAYS) • CONFLICT RESOLUTION, BREAKAWAY AND SAFEHOLDING • PAEDIATRIC AND ADULT FIRST AID AT WORK • OUTDOOR FIRST AID • MEDICATION ADMINISTRATION • TRAIN THE TRAINER COURSES • FIRE SAFETY Safe Hands Training Services can work with a wide range of sectors including Local Authorities, Emergency Services, Health Trusts, Education, business and Industry. For all bookings and new enquiries please call us on 0333 22 44 333 and we will be more than happy to help. Please visit our website www.safehandstrainingservicesltd.co.uk to see our full list of courses and customer testimonials. QA Education readers can get 10% off their first booking with Safe Hands Training Services! Just quote QA Education!
Storytelling is key to engaging youngsters in the natural world
Geology “rock star” and TV presenter professor Iain Stewart is urging teachers across the nation to become storytellers in a bid to engage more young people in the natural world. The BBC presenter, best known for his science shows such as ‘Men of Rock’ and ‘How the Earth Made Us’, said geography teachers and other experts in environmental subjects needed to start selling the ‘wonder’ of being outdoors. Speaking at the Field Studies Council’s Vital Nature of Field Studies conference held in London recently, the University of Plymouth professor of Geoscience Communications, said: “We need to create a sense of ‘that’s cool’ and demonstrate that being in the field is something good to do. “It’s about wonder and finding amazing things right on our doorstep. It’s about capturing geo-poetry of the world and the things that got us, as academics, excited about the natural world in the first place. “Scientists are fixated with facts but by themselves they are pretty boring. There needs to be less emphasis on the facts and more on communicating the bigger picture stories of our natural world.” The leading geologist was among several keynote speakers at the conference* held by UK outdoor education charity the FSC to celebrate its 75th year. Attended by environmental academics and experts from across the UK, the event addressed some of the key challenges facing the UK’s teaching sector when it comes to outdoor learning and subjects such as geography, environmental science and geology. It also highlighted key opportunities for promoting the importance of field studies and residential trips – the FSC’s area of expertise having welcomed 165,000 students to its network of educational centres last year. FSC chief executive Mark Castle used the conference to announce the charity’s strategy for the next five years. In setting out the charity’s vision, he warned there was a real risk that children were missing out on opportunities to learn outdoors. “There remains a need to provide high quality environmental education that is accessible to all, not just those who can afford it,” he said. “Those that are likely to benefit most are often the least able to take advantage of the opportunities that first hand experiences in awe-inspiring places can provide.” He added that residential experiences away from home were not guaranteed for every child and practical fieldwork was often squeezed out of a busy school timetable despite the fact it was these experiences which often made subjects memorable and fun. “A residential experience in a stunning location is the perfect way to immerse people in the story of a landscape and their place in it. It promotes curiosity and understanding and from that comes knowledge and passion.” The new FSC strategy is focused on inspiring everyone to be curious, knowledgeable, passionate and caring about the environment and over the next few years the charity will be focused on developing new outdoor learning opportunities for all ages. It will take its skills and expertise to local communities to engage a wider audience as part of its pledge to ‘do more and reach more’. The conference can be viewed via YouTube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En3pGWKjLCk&t=6151s For additional information on the FSC and the courses it provides visit the website https://www.field-studies-council.org/
Revealed: Education sector among best industries for hiring in 2020
If you’re looking to expand your team this year, then you are in luck! The latest report from CV-Library, the UK’s leading independent job board reveals that job applications in the education sector have increased by 5.1% in the last year. The report from CV-Library analysed job market data throughout 2019 and compared it with statistics from 2018. It reveals that the education industry saw the tenth biggest jump in applications year-on-year, with the top 10 including: Hospitality – job applications up by 28.8% IT – job applications up by 28.6% Construction – job applications up by 23.4% Design – job applications up by 16.7% Property – job applications up by 15.3% Legal – job applications up by 14.5% Engineering – job applications up by 13.4% Marketing – job applications up by 12.9% Finance – job applications up by 8.5% Education – job applications up by 5.1% A key driving factor behind the jump in applications may well be the fact that average pay in the education sector rose by 1.33% in 2019. Lee Biggins, CEO and founder of CV-Library commented: “Despite severe political and economic uncertainty over the last year, it’s positive to see that the education sector has continued to grow. The fact that this is an ongoing trend across several industries should instil confidence in employers who may have put their recruitment plans on pause in the run up to the election; especially as January is consistently one of the best times to hire.” The report also shows that businesses in the education industry were advertising fewer roles in 2019, with the number of job adverts decreasing by 0.7%. This trend spells good news for employers in the sector as it means less competition to secure top talent. Lee Biggins continues: “The combination of a decrease in job adverts and an increase in job applications, is great news for businesses looking for new talent. Don’t wait to take advantage of this growth and start advertising your latest job roles now. “If you’re not sure about how to attract the best candidates in the industry, don’t panic. You can still make the most of this influx of applications by posting your vacancies to job boards and working with suppliers to ensure your roles are a cut above the rest. Start searching for your new hire now.”
iSpace Wellbeing
iSpace is the Wellbeing Curriculum for schools, developed by its founder and creator, Paula Talman. It is designed to give children the tools to develop their whole selves, providing a whole-school approach to mental health and wellbeing for children aged 4-11 and 11+. iSpace uses a language that is clear, child-friendly and positive. Through its toolkits and online portal, it establishes an environment where teachers, parents and healthcare professionals can help deliver a progressive method of learning that sits along each child as they move through their school years and into adulthood. Together, through this proactive approach, we can help children to live life well and to be ready for life’s challenges. Paula Talman a registered paediatric and adult nurse who is now a director of compliance, health and welfare within the education sector. The idea for iSpace was launched into schools in 2016. The curriculum is now in schools in Sussex, Kent and London and the iSpace community continues to grow strong as more and more schools join. Taught through the PSHE timetable and themed around a galaxy of wellbeing planets, iSpace encourages children to talk about their wellbeing. Through the iSpace language, its tools and life-skills children are able to build an emotional first aid kit for themselves. Year 7 and 8 pupils have now been introduced to their own programme, #iWonder, a wellbeing curriculum for teens that focuses on understanding their emotional, physical, social and mental health. Teachers have reported the positive impact made by iSpace through improved relationships amongst pupils and between pupils and teachers. They report improved behaviour and access to learning. Parents are encouraged to be involved in this whole school approach through iSpace talks and workshops. They too are reporting signs of change that leaves them hopeful of a better future for their children. Children at iSpace schools are talking about their mental health and wellbeing as a normal part of their everyday life. Our hope is that by being empowered today, our children will be ready for tomorrow. www.ispacewellbeing.com paula@ispacewellbeing.com
Singing competition will see one lucky school perform at the WellChild Awards
School singing competition will see one lucky school perform for the stars at the WellChild Awards. An exciting singing competition is now open to choose pupils from one lucky primary school in the UK to display their singing talents in the company of a host of celebrities and perhaps even royalty at the 2020 WellChild Awards. Register your school now at www.wellchild.org.uk/schoolchoir WellChild is launching the fourth WellChild School Choir of the Year competition for primary schools across the UK to see who can perform the best version of Can You Feel The Love Tonight, from Disney’s The Lion King. The winners will perform their version at the WellChild Awards, which is regularly attended by WellChild’s Patron HRH the Duke of Sussex and a host of celebrity guests. Visit www.wellchild.org.uk/schoolchoir to register your school and find out more. Schools need to find 20 of their best musical stars and send WellChild a video of them singing their rendition of Can you Feel The Love Tonight. Schools can be as creative or as classical as they want, it’s up to them. The competition will culminate in a live public vote from 26th May to 26th June 2020. The five schools with the most votes alongside the five with the highest fundraising total will qualify for the final judging by a panel of musical experts. The winner will be crowned WellChild School Choir of the Year and will win the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to perform at the prestigious WellChild Awards regularly attended by the Duke of Sussex and a host of celebrity guests. The winner will be announced on 1st September 2020. Last year’s winners Star Primary School from Canning Town, London, opened the 2019 WellChild Awards in front of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and celebrity guests with their show-stopping performance of the classic song Lean On Me by Bill Withers. WellChild Chief Executive Colin Dyer said: “This is a fantastic opportunity for schools across the UK to get involved in a fun musical competition with a great prize while at the same time helping WellChild with our work supporting seriously ill children and their families. We would love to see as many schools as possible singing their hearts out with their version of Can You Feel The Love Tonight so please get recording your entry now!” To get your school involved in the competition simply visit the WellChild website: www.wellchild.org.uk/schoolchoir About WellChild WellChild is the national charity for seriously ill children and their families. More than 100,000 children and young people are living across the UK with serious or exceptional health needs. Many spend months, even years in hospital simply because there is no support enabling them to leave. Meanwhile those who are at home face inconsistent and inadequate levels of support. Through a UK-wide network of children’s nurses, home and garden transformation projects and family support services, WellChild exists to give this growing population of children and young people the best possible chance to thrive – properly supported at home, together with their families. Visit www.wellchild.org.uk to find out more.
Understanding Eating Disorders
tastelife Youth Track: Understanding Eating Disorders A robust, sensitive, high-quality resource for use in secondary schools and youth groups. The three interactive sessions are designed to equip young people with a healthy awareness and understanding of eating disorders: why they develop, how they affect somebody’s life, and how those battling them can be helped. Understanding Eating Disorders is educational, but ultimately preventative too. Eating disorders so often begin in adolescence; young people of this generation are facing unique pressures and are falling easy victim to what is becoming a hidden epidemic. The tastelife Youth Track is an innovative way to help teachers and youth leaders tackle this taboo topic, so that young people can be more mentally healthy. Designed to work within a PSHE context, the three hour-long sessions are accessible for any teacher to deliver, and any student to engage with. It’s suited best for those aged between 11-14 at KS3 but can be adapted to suit older secondary-age pupils. Meeting the PSHE Association’s 10 Principles of Effective Education, as well as covering a range of objectives within its programme of study, this resource enables teachers to deliver relevant, forward-facing sessions that would complement a whole-approach to PSHE. For £50, each user will be able to download the Youth Track and access: • Three detailed session plans for facilitators • Three PowerPoint presentations • Video content including real life recovery story • Facilitators’ tutorial • High-quality worksheets and handouts for all sessions • Certificates of attendance for all participants Our pilot feedback: From Young People: ‘It has made me understand what eating disorders really are and how they can affect normal people.’ ‘It’ll make me look out for others, to identify and support people with disorders.’ ‘I will be more compassionate.’ ‘It will give me knowledge for the future so that if me or someone around me was to be ill with an eating disorder, I would know exactly what to do.’ ‘It will make it easier to talk about eating disorders.’ From Facilitators: ‘Very clear. Could easily be used by any teacher, whether trained or untrained in eating disorders.’ ‘The resource appears professional and is presented in an accessible way for young people’ ‘The lessons were all very good and informative, the students responded well to them and the PowerPoint was clear and easy to follow…’ ‘I could not think of a better resource to educate young people around eating disorders’
Firefly Yoga Wales
We provide workshops that train teachers, TAs, playworkers etc to run our signature ’15 minutes to happy, healthy kids’ program. This simple yet effective yoga and well-being program. can be easily adapted and weaved into your current everyday class routine. Our program meets many points in the Healthy Schools, ESTYN & Welsh Curriculum guidelines. Training provided throughout the South Wales Valleys. For more information and to book visit www.fireflyyogawales.co.uk/mini-me-yoga For those outside South Wales visit www.minimeyoga.com to find a rep near you.
To Touch the Hearts of Those Entrusted to Our Care
St. Cassian’s Centre, Kintbury, West Berkshire, lies within the North Wessex Downs – an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. It is a Lasallian Retreat Centre for Young People under the patronage of the De La Salle Brothers, whose Founder was French priest St. John Baptist de La Salle who dedicated much of his life to the education of poor children, pioneering many lasting educational practices. He is the Patron Saint of Teachers. The vision of St. La Salle is lived out every year at St. Cassian’s – also known as The Kintbury Experience – as a residential community, including young volunteers, continuing to share the Brothers’ vision for a new apostolate; a place of Welcome, Awareness, Reconciliation and Good News. St. Cassian’s is a safe and welcoming place for young people, where they can take time to reflect on their lives, with Christ as their Guide and St. John Baptist de La Salle as their inspiration. Our daily challenge is to be ambassadors and ministers of Jesus, to motivate and lead young people on their life journey. We are constantly reminded that our retreat work here is to touch the hearts of those entrusted to our care. Our young volunteers are engaged in an invaluable peer ministry that has an influence on the lives and development of young retreatants. We seek to be creative and authentic in our inspiration, nurturing and support of all young people in their faith development, so as to integrate their particular faith with every aspect of their lives. Fundamentally, our work is a ministry of Evangelisation. We do this by creating a space of warm hospitality in which God may speak to our young people. Our retreat programme, devised to meet the needs of people from different backgrounds, has a full scope and sequence that builds upon itself; designed to be developmentally appropriate for each year group in school as they cultivate their spirit of faith along with their skills of reasoning, highlighting the relevance of Lasallian Charism and of our faith to life and contemporary culture. Our Senior Team, as instructed by the Director, are involved in the planning, development, delivery and evaluation of programmes in accordance with the foundational inspiration of the De La Salle Brothers and the Lasallian Identity Framework, which incorporates a vision of the Christian and Lasallian character. We also offer Adult, Parish and Confirmation Retreats, with availability of Conference facilities.