Little Troopers charity launches new course for primary schools
Military Child Wellbeing: Little Troopers charity launches new course for primary schools Military children’s charity, Little Troopers, has launched a new resource for primary schools to support service children. The Military Child Wellbeing Course is the first of its kind and is designed to encourage children in the military community to explore the unique challenges they experience while their parents are in the armed forces. The comprehensive pack features all the resources needed for the child-friendly, interactive course, which is made up of seven sessions. Topics covered include how to cope with separation, deployment, house moves and living abroad, as well as the personal themes of belonging, identity and mindfulness. The course has been created by a group of experts, including a cognitive behavioural therapy specialist, creative arts psychotherapist and play therapists, alongside Little Troopers founder: army veteran and military parent, Louise Fetigan. There are more than 75,000 children in UK schools who have parents connected to the military.* These children can experience life very differently from their civilian peers due to frequent house and school moves, as well as regular separation from their serving parent (or parents) due to deployments, training exercises and other service commitments. Any separation, however long, can cause children to feel unsettled, anxious or struggling to feel a sense of belonging. The aim of the course is to provide children with the tools to manage these feelings when they arise. Louise Fetigan explains: “Mental health is a hot topic at the moment and we often hear about the importance of wellbeing in relation to serving personnel and veterans, but we rarely discuss the impact of military life on our British Armed Forces children. “Of course, many children thrive in the military community and enjoy meeting new friends, travelling around the world and embracing the opportunities that military life can bring, but with the highs can come lows. These same children can be faced with other challenges that their civilian classmates are often not familiar with and find it difficult to relate to. “The aim of the Military Child Wellbeing Course is to acknowledge that service children do sometimes need additional support and to provide a safe space in which to open up these conversations and help children navigate these challenges in positive ways, be that now or in the future.” The Little Troopers course has been designed to be delivered to small groups of children ranging from 6 -11 years olds, making the material just as relevant to schools with two service children as to those with 100 or more. Currently there are four schools trialling the course; Wolvey CE Primary School in Leicestershire, Hythehill Primary School in Lossiemouth, Brunei MOD School and St Faith & St Martin CE Junior School in Lincoln. The course complements the Little Troopers existing Primary Resource Pack. Each school purchasing the course will receive a USB with all of the course materials included so they can be used time and time again. All profits from the course will go back into the Little Troopers fund to continue creating resources, initiatives and events to support military children.
Majority Of Education Professionals Want To Move Jobs
Majority of professionals working in education want to move jobs, but won’t because of low salaries A new study from the UK’s leading independent job board, CV-Library, reveals that despite the fact that 86% of professionals working in the education industry are considering moving jobs right now, 62% aren’t doing so jobs because they believe the salaries on offer aren’t high enough. Indeed, according to further analysis* from CV-Library, pay for new education jobs is currently 8.9% lower than the UK average. The study of 2,000 UK professionals and 200 UK employers also found that while 94.4% of the industry’s employers feel confident about their hiring efforts, just under a third (30.3%) of education professionals aren’t confident about applying to move jobs right now. Alongside this, 50% of the industry’s professionals worry that they don’t have the right experience for the jobs they want to apply to, while 30% are concerned about the current economy. Lee Biggins, founder and CEO of CV-Library, comments: “Searching for a new role definitely requires commitment; after all, you need to tailor your CV and cover letter to every role you apply to and spend time practising common interview questions. While it may seem like an arduous task, putting in the hard work now will definitely lead to rewards later down the line. “Plus, despite a tough economy there’s an abundance of education jobs available right now and employers are confident about their hiring efforts. This means that now is a great time to search and apply for jobs. Also, remember that there’s always room for negotiation when it comes to pay – so don’t let lower salaries put you off and do your research so you can use this evidence as leverage.” Alongside the above, 38% of the industry’s professionals are worried about losing their current job, despite 94.4% of the sector’s employers stating that they’re confident about retaining employees over the next six months. Biggins concludes: “If you are concerned about the future of your career with your current employer, it’s definitely worth speaking to your manager or HR about the options available to you. You never know, it may give you the push you need to look for a new job!”
The value of recent school leavers as role models.
It’s a positive step that the benefits of bringing employer volunteers into the classroom are now much more widely recognised and shows the value of recent school leavers as role models. Gatsby benchmark number 5 highlights multiple encounters with employers and employees as one of the eight core measures for good careers provision in schools, and bringing back school leavers (alumni volunteers) to share their career experience is an integral part of any good school or college careers curriculum. Yet in meeting such guidance, it is easy to presume all alumni volunteers must be well established in their careers to offer useful support. The benefits of bringing younger volunteers, and specifically younger alumni, back to the classroom can be easily overlooked. Recent research into the effect of near peer role models suggests that volunteers who are closer to students in terms of age can help with building crucial life skills such as resilience. Future First staff often see this in practice. We recently facilitated a world of work day for year nine students at Witchford Village College in Cambridgeshire. Amongst former student volunteers of all ages working with students on the day was an alumnus who left as recently as 2016. Alumni Programme Officer Natalie Grindey, who facilitated the event, said “…he was a great role model for the students. He talked to them about the fact he only started trying in year ten and because of that found leaving school hard, so wished he’d started earlier.” Such a valid message has much more weight for current students when delivered by someone not too distant from them in age or life experience. But it’s not just in sharing key employability skills like resilience that younger alumni can be beneficial. Pakefield High School near Lowestoft, for example, invited two recent school leavers to speak to year eight students as part of their preparation for choosing GCSE courses. Pakefield’s careers advisor said that following the event: “I have had feedback from many who have expressed they now have a clear career path to focus on as they choose their GCSE options”. Research by the Behavioural Insights Team also suggests the power of younger role models in giving current post-16 students knowledge and information on university education. Future First’s work with the National Collaborative Outreach Programme focuses specifically on building alumni communities to support greater participation in Higher Education (HE) in areas where it is currently lower than expected. This enables current students to access role models with a very recent understanding of the challenges of progressing to HE, and current undergraduates are especially keen to support students at their old school follow in their footsteps. Future First’s own ststistics suggest there is a keen appetite for volunteering amongst younger alumni. In 2017-18, 44% of active alumni volunteers were aged 16-25. These young people see the benefits of getting involved in supporting their old schools for themselves as well as for current school and college students. Participating in workshops and class discussion, for example, can give volunteers with little work experience more confidence in public speaking and an opportunity to reflect on their own skills. Some schools and colleges even hold events where younger alumni can network. East Norfolk Sixth Form College in Gorleston-on-Sea, Norfolk held an alumni network evening where recent leavers could meet more experienced alumni, enabling them to access networks to support their own future careers. It seems bringing back a mix of volunteers is key to offering opportunities for all alumni to offer their support and for current students to have a rich and varied experience. Adam Killeya, Head of Careers for Key Stage 5 at Saltash.net Community School in Cornwall recently ran two Sixth Form alumni panels at his school on ‘thinking about careers’ and ‘surviving the real world’. He explains “…in both cases the real life experience and advice that the alumni have been able to bring has made for a much livelier interesting session than we can otherwise do. It’s been particularly great to get a mix of recent leavers who students can closely identify with, and alumni with a rich vein of experience.” So inviting both more experienced alumni and recent leavers has definite benefits. It’s worth reflecting though that you don’t always need lots of life or career experience to give back and we shouldn’t discount the support recent school leavers, undergraduate students and early career alumni can offer. For further information on how Future First can support teaching staff to involve alumni / school leavers in the school curriculum and meet the Gatsby Benchmarks contact www.futurefirst.org.uk or call one of the team on 0207 239 8933
Is your school fully stocked with first aid this summer
A great British summer can be somewhat unpredictable when it comes to the weather. One day we are being bombarded with rain, whilst the next could see us basking in record breaking temperatures. With UK temperatures set to rise in the coming days and Europe in the grips of a heat wave, it is essential to ensure that your school’s stocks of ice packs and vomit bags are topped up, ready for active children who haven’t recognised the early signs of heat exhaustion. Eureka! Direct has been specialising in providing schools with essential first aid supplies for nearly 20 years. Included within its extensive portfolio, the organisation offers a wide range of children’s instant ice packs and vomit bags specifically designed for safe and hygienic containment and disposal of vomit should a child be sick. Hot and cold therapy from a brand you can trust Undoubtedly one of the most popular brands of children’s ice packs is KoolPak. Considered the UK’s leading manufacturer of instant ice packs, the quality of KookPak products and their adherence to ISO quality standards and requirements of the European Directive on Medical Devices, makes them ideal for use in schools. Eureka! Direct stocks a range of sizes and designs suitable for children of all ages. Easy and safe to use vomit bags CareBag vomit bags, also available through Eureka! Direct, are supplied with an absorbent core which eliminates the risk of any splashing and leaking of liquid. The bags are easy to hold by children and will rapidly turn up to 450ml of bodily fluid into an easy to dispose of gel. A simple drawstring closure minimises the risk of staff contact with vomit and the design of the bag reduces nasty odours. As well as offering high quality first aid supplies, Eureka! Direct also offers schools free next working day delivery to UK mainland addresses on orders placed before 4.30pm, and 30 days instant credit—enabling the acquisition of supplies with only a purchase order number. To find out more and place your order of essential summer supplies, visit www.eurekadirect.co.uk or call 0800 358 0085.
Birmingham Teachers Unite to Make Schools More Active
Nike, Youth Sport Trust & Discovery Education host event for Birmingham Primary Schools as part of nationwide Active Kids Do Better programme Teachers from across Birmingham came together at a special event last week to help the region’s primary schools. Hosted by Nike, The Youth Sport Trust and Discovery Education, “The Power of an Active School” saw 22 teachers from around the city gather at Greet Primary School in Sparkhill on Thursday 20th June, where they shared ideas and heard from experts about building a culture in Birmingham’s primary schools. The event was part of Active Kids Do Better, a nationwide programme to increase children’s movement and play. Today in the UK, only one in five kids gets the recommended daily 30 minutes of physical activity throughout the school day. Active Kids Do Better gives teachers and parents simple tools, ideas and activities to make this goal achievable, such as short-burst classroom activities and games to motivate and energise children. Teachers attending Thursday’s event heard about the benefits of creating an active culture and shared ideas for reducing the time children spend sitting during lessons. Led by children’s charity The Youth Sport Trust, the group also learned how to meet the Government’s new Childhood Obesity Plan. Keitesha Chambers, a Year 4 Teacher at Benson Community School said: “The event was very informative. It was good to talk to other professionals and see what they do in their school. I’ll be taking the activities back to our school to use in the classroom.” Matt Haydon, ICT Co-ordinator at Greet Primary School said: “I enjoyed talking to other teachers and sharing ideas for increasing activity throughout the day. There was a lot of discussion about what it means to be active. The most important thing for me is how we encourage every child to take part.” Christine Major, Director of Educational Partnerships at Discovery Education said: “Every child should enjoy the life-changing benefits that come from play and sport, and from simply being more active. It was great to meet so many teachers who are committed to building an active culture in their primary schools. I’m sure that pupils across Birmingham will soon benefit from being more active not just in the playground, but throughout the day.” Launched in February 2018 by Nike and Discovery Education, Active Kids Do Betternow reaches thousands of teachers in hundreds of primary schools across the UK. Some of the schools taking part have received special visits from Nike Olympic athletes, and in July 2018 over 3,000 parents, teachers and children were invited to attend the Muller Anniversary Games as part of the initiative. The Power of an Active School Birmingham was the second in a series of nine professional development events taking place across the UK this year. Details and booking here: https://www.activekidsdobetter.co.uk/events Find out more about Nike and Discovery Education’s Active Kids Do Better programme. Visit the new website and register your school here: www.activekidsdobetter.co.uk
How edtech creates edgeless learning
Paul Westmore, IT Director at the University of Plymouth, explains how a single sign-on digital learning environment has helped the institution create an edgeless edtech learning experience for its 20,000+ students… Plymouth’s ambitious digital strategy describes our goal of becoming an edgeless university – our vision that students and staff can experience university entirely digitally if they want to. In order to achieve this vision, we decided we had to replace our existing module-focused virtual learning environment (VLE) with something more dynamic and flexible: something that was mobile-first, housing a range of resources and systems all behind a single sign-on. The new digital learning environment (DLE) would become an online hub where students and staff could access all content such as lectures and course materials, submit work, receive results, and interact with each other through one online system. We have a large student body with ever-changing wants and needs. The University of Plymouth is home to more than 20,000 students and almost 3,000 staff. A further 17,000 students are studying for a Plymouth degree at partner institutions in the UK and around the world, making Plymouth the UK’s 15th largest university. As such, we wanted to create a learning environment that was the sum of all the components that go into Plymouth’s student experience. We asked CoSector – University of London to implement and support the hosting of Moodle, a traditional VLE based platform. However, one of the constraints of Moodle is that ordinarily documents cannot be shared with different programmes so CoSector – University of London set up a bespoke solution where the documents are held in a different system, creating one learning asset which is shared between multiple programmes. Year-long edtech rollout pays off During a year-long project, we rolled out the DLE across multiple sites. Today, Plymouth’s DLE brings together a number of systems integrated through Moodle as the hub. The new functions included timetable information, coursework submission, e-assessments, quizzes and ‘minimum module information’ consisting of details of each module, electronic reading lists, past exam papers, forums and wikis – all to help students make more informed decisions about their learning journeys. Single sign-on technology provides easy integration and movement between systems such as Talis Aspire (reading lists), PebblePad (ePortfolio), Panopto (content/lecture capture), Turnitin (originality checking), in addition to a range of excellent tools including formative and summative testing, submission and feedback. A subscription to LinkedIn Learning provides a wealth of online video-based courses for staff and students to enhance their courses or develop their own skills. The uptake and use of the system have been unprecedented. Around 13,500 students access the DLE on a daily basis and 90% of the Mobile with Plymouth App usage is now related to teaching and learning activities. Usage of the DLE continues to grow year on year and in 2018 serviced 6,000 module sites, hosted 1,200 formative quizzes, contained nearly 30,000 embedded learning resources and supported over 8,000 eSubmissions. Students accessed over 25,000 hours of captured lecture content, viewed over 170,000 LinkedIn Learning videos and generated over 350,000 originality reports via Turnitin. Following the integration of the new system, we received a very positive response to the National Student Survey (NSS). Some of the student feedback included; “The DLE is a fantastic and easy to use resource…” and “Resources available in the library and DLE are great, with a good range of books, articles, online seminars, etc.” The centrality of having a single-integrated user experience has been really crucial to the success of the project. The University of Plymouth’s DLE has now become a portal into the teaching and learning community of the University.
Age of Revolution launches animation competition
The Age of Revolution national educational project has teamed up with historian, broadcaster and author Dan Snow to launch an animation competition for primary and secondary schools. Open to entries until February 14th 2020, the Age of Revolution invites schools to submit a short animation using the title ‘What Does Revolution Mean to Me?’ The animation can be influenced by a revolutionary invention, event, idea or person from the Age of Revolution (1775 – 1848), however, it could also be something revolutionary from another time, inspiration from students’ local history or in their own lives or wider world today. The Age of Revolution also encourages schools to involve objects and artworks from museums, galleries or archives in their animations. This could be achieved through our extensive online Revolutionary collection. A winner and a runner-up for both Primary and Secondary sectors will be chosen in March 2020 by a team of expert judges, including Dan Snow, award-winning Casting Director Kate Rhodes-James, BBC Animation Producer Barry Quinn and Anra Kennedy, Partnerships Director at Culture24. The judges are looking for imaginative, creative animations, which genuinely reflect students’ own ideas and thoughts about ‘Revolution.’ Animation prize for winning schools Winners will be announced at the end of March 2020. The winning entries will be showcased on History Hit TV. The winning schools will also receive £500 to support further cultural and digital learning. The Age of Revolution project aims to inspire and support learning in schools about the extraordinary people, events and ideas of the time and to connect these to the lives of children and young people today, working actively with more than 2,000 UK schools. The project provides bespoke educational materials, multimedia technology and educational and cultural partnerships for children at all Key Stages. Victoria Nielson, CEO for Waterloo 200 says: “The revolution in Europe saw seismic change and upheaval, extraordinary ideas and innovation and radical new ways of thinking, living and working. By asking schools to think about the period in a new way – through the lens of a modern medium like animation – we hope to inspire a new generation of teaching and learning about this important piece of history. Ultimately, we are looking to create a broad and varied collection of learning resources and inspirational work, created from and by, children.” Dan Snow, historian and ambassador for Waterloo 200 added: “We know that children can make some amazing observations, and this competition will allow us all to see an important period of history through a new lens. We’re looking forward to finding out how they see revolution, and how key moments in history are impacting on their lives today. This competition will encourage children, who may have never really thought about revolution before, to talk about it, to appreciate it and to learn from it.” Schools can find out more about the competition and how to enter at The Age of Revolution website. And, to provide food for thought, The Age of Revolution has worked with a primary school to produce an inspirational animation, which showcases what can be created in the classroom. For further information on the animation competition visit www.ageofrevolution.org The Age of Revolution resource brings together objects and artworks from museums and galleries across the UK, together with fascinating facts, information and curriculum-linked ideas to help bring this extraordinary period to life. The Age of Revolution is an educational legacy project from Waterloo 200 – the official body recognised by the UK government to support the commemoration of the Battle of Waterloo during its bicentenary in 2015 and beyond.
Road safety highlighted by primary children’s march
Schoolchildren took to the streets today in a national day of action to raise awareness of road safety, as horrifying statistics surrounding traffic deaths and injuries were highlighted. More than 63,000 children of primary age took part in Brake’s Kids Walk with Shaun the Sheep, as 45 children are killed or injured every day on roads across the UK. The national project, in partnership with the Ocado Foundation, saw Shaun and his flock help youngsters learn key road safety messages and call on grown-ups to make roads safer, so more children can enjoy the health and CO2-saving benefits of walking. Shocking road safety figures Road safety charity Brake highlighted the true extent of child casualties on the nation’s roads. Latest official figures show that 16,566 children were killed or injured on roads in the UK in 2017. On average, that means 45 children die or suffer injuries as a result of road crashes every single day. Department for Transport (DfT) figures show that 14,226 children were killed or injured on roads in England in 2017, while Welsh Government statistics reveal there were 577 child road casualties during the same period. Transport Scotland says that 899 children were killed or injured on roads in Scotland in 2017, and numbers were similar for Northern Ireland, which reports 864 child road casualties in the same year. Nearly 400 schools and nurseries took part in Brake’s Kids Walk, calling for five measures to help keep children safe near roads: footpaths cycle paths safe places to cross slow traffic clean traffic Short, supervised walks are taking place today and all week at or around schools and nurseries. Children will walk in a crocodile formation and hold hands to highlight the importance of being able to walk without fear or threat from traffic. Some schools are teaming up with their local fire service or police. Schools were also urged to run special road safety-themed assemblies, lessons and activities, using free resources featuring Shaun the Sheep and his friends. Funds were also raised for Brake, which supports families who have lost loved ones in road crashes. Dave Nichols, community engagement manager for Brake, said: “Every child should be able to walk in their community without fear of traffic and pollution. Unfortunately, many kids are unable to do so because they don’t have access to simple measures such as footpaths, cycle paths and safe places to cross. “Many more must contend with fast traffic and pollution from vehicle emissions. If we want children and their families to walk, we need to make sure their journeys are safe. We’re delighted that so many schools and children across the UK agree with us on this and are taking part in Brake’s Kids Walk. Together we can raise awareness about the issues that matter to them and help make their roads safer.” Dorothy Pegg, assistant head at Seven Sisters Primary School in Tottenham, said: “Our school is delighted to take part in Brake’s Kids Walk with Shaun the Sheep and help raise awareness about how we can all make our roads safer. We’re passionate about encouraging our children to live healthy lifestyles, which includes walking in their local community. That’s why we support Brake’s call for footpaths, cycle paths, safe places to cross, slow traffic and clean traffic to help keep children safe near roads.” Stuart Reid, Interim Director of Vision Zero at TfL, said: “We completely agree with these children – death and serious injuries on our roads is unacceptable. Children should be able to walk to school, play, and enjoy London without worry. We are committed to making streets across London safer, as part of our Vision Zero ambition, by improving dangerous junctions, implementing our new bus safety programme and working with schools on Junior Roadwatch.” For more information on how your school can make getting to school safer, see brake.org.uk
Can apprenticeships close the UK’s STEM skills gap?
A lack of workers with the correct STEM skills is reportedly costing the UK economy around £1.5 billion per annum. But could improving and developing STEM apprenticeships be the solution? Apprenticeships are becoming more popular than ever before, which is encouraging. But more still needs to be done to close the STEM skills gap. Perhaps due to their focus on offering hands-on and practical learning processes, apprenticeship programmes are ideally suited to the STEM — science, technology, engineering, and maths — sectors. But is there a way to boost the uptake where STEM apprenticeships are concerned? How big is the problem? To address the shortages, it’s important to understand the scale of it and what the future could hold if not dealt with efficiently. According to a response by the Royal Academy of Engineering, more than half of engineering companies say they have had problems recruiting the experienced engineers they need. Despite what many people may think, workforce ageing does play a significant role in the problem. As skilled and experienced engineers retire, it is increasing vacancies across thousands of engineering roles. Putting a more exact figure on this is EngineeringUK, which — through detailed analysis — has determined that there are annually 29,000 too few workers with level 3 skills and an even greater shortage of more qualified engineers — 40,000 of those with level 4 and above skills. Although we’ve passed the Brexit deadline and are still currently in the European Union, it continues to remain a problem for STEM businesses. As uncertainty remains, the UK’s exit from the European Union could create an even bigger headache for those in STEM sectors. To close the gap, more businesses are looking to become more inclusive. At present, under 10% of the engineering workforce is female, while those from minority ethnic backgrounds make up just 6% of the workforce. But, could apprenticeships be the solution? An insight to apprenticeships across the UK Traditionally, young people would leave school with a job waiting for them. Nowadays, students have a wealth of opportunities to choose from, whether it’s A-levels, BTECs or apprenticeships — and the latter is growing in popularity. Interestingly, over 491k young people started an apprenticeship in 2016-17. Each month, an average of 23,000 apprenticeship opportunities are listed on the government’s Find an Apprenticeship site, while organisations — such as WISE, which campaigns for gender balance in science, technology and engineering — are continually driving initiatives to help grow the number of apprentices in these sectors. However, between May and July 2017, parliamentary statistics show that only 43,600 people began an apprenticeship, which is a 61% reduction from the 113,000 that started in the same period in 2016. This has been largely accredited to an apprenticeship levy that was introduced in April 2017, which every employer with a pay bill of more than £3 million a year must adhere to if they want to employ apprentices. Has this had an impact on STEM-related businesses? Apparently not. In 2016/17, 112,000 people started a STEM apprenticeship — up from 95,000 in 2012/13. This growth is impressive and may be a sign that STEM employers are taking on board the warning that they must be creative with their recruitment processes. “The traditional recruitment pool is diminishing at the same time as work-based learning routes are facing increasing competition from alternative post-16-year-old provision. Employers wishing to attract quality applicants in sufficient numbers to meet their skills requirements have to look beyond their traditional sources” was one comment by Rod Kenyon, former director of the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network. Should we be looking at the demographics of those who become apprentices to close in on the gap? Overall, women account for 50% of all apprentices in the UK. However, for STEM apprenticeships, they make up just 8% — encouraging this group of people could be the answer. It’s time to bring women into STEM positions. According to WISE, 5,080 women achieved a Core-STEM apprenticeship in 2016/2017, while 62,060 men accomplished the same in the same period. What makes this statistic even more concerning is that, according to an Apprenticeships in England report published by the House of Commons Library, 54% of overall apprenticeships starts were women in 2016/2017. Evidently, women are opting for apprenticeships in different fields, which means that STEM industries are missing out on thousands of potential workers if they don’t try to make their apprenticeship programmes as attractive to women apprentices as they clearly are to men. Reducing the gap By 2020, the government wants to place three million apprenticeships. Apprenticeships in STEM industries must be advocated and discussed in schools in order to instil a sense of enthusiasm from a younger age. Career advisors should make it clearer to kids that a university degree is not the only avenue to success and that the same level of fulfilment and opportunity is available with STEM apprenticeship programmes. Perhaps this means a stronger relationship between STEM firms and educational establishments, which can grant more opportunities for schoolchildren to get first-hand experience of how these companies work in practice prior to having to make an official decision. There are a lot of incentives for working in this industry too. The Institution of Engineering and Technology, otherwise known as IET, offers around £1 million in prizes, scholarships and awards. Hopefully, positive initiatives like the IET’s will help encourage participation in STEM apprentices and ease the pressure on these sectors’ skills gap – before it’s too late. This article was brought to you by Houghton International, industrial pump repairs specialists.