North Devon’s professional outdoor centreÂ
Skern Lodge has been using the outdoors for adventure activities and people development since 1976 and are committed to the highest standards in all aspects of their business. Situated on the north Devon coast in 22 acres of their own grounds, they are in the perfect location. School groups use Skern Lodge for a variety of reasons, especially its talent for creating a course that suits your requirements. No two courses at Skern Lodge are the same. With a wide variety of exciting, adventurous outdoor activities on offer and an experienced and dedicated staff team to deliver a tailored programme, it’s easy to see why they were awarded the best outdoor activity and sporting experience in the Southwest. The centre has been providing multi-activity experiences for schools for more than 40 years. Its friendly office staff are on hand to help you at all stages of your booking and in preparation for your course. Their aim – excellence in courses and services – is made easier to achieve because the full Skern staff team is on site with you at the Lodge. On your arrival, one of their staff team is allocated to be your Course Director, co-ordinating all aspects of your course with you. You have available at Skern, the full management team to ensure everything runs smoothly and to help with any problems. There is plenty of space on site for games in free-time, boundaries are clear, accommodation is easy to supervise and there is 24-hour duty cover. The residential experience at Skern Lodge develops young people’s personal and social skills and can be great fun! Team building, problem solving, communication, working and living together, combined with the range of exciting activities, gives young people the best experience they can have; skills not only invaluable in the classroom, playground and on the sports field, but also in later life at work. At Skern Lodge they pride themselves in not only providing you with an experience that you will remember for life, but also paying attention to the domestic arrangements so you will be warm, dry and well fed. You won’t find many places where the food is as good. Their domestic team are outstanding, providing superb meals and services with care and good humour. To arrange your Skern residential experience follow the link to their website. www.skernlodge.co.uk
Quality First Aid courses delivered on your premises
SPA Training (UK) was established in 1995 and has been successfully running first aid training courses since then across the UK. The key to our success has been reliability, flexibility and the quality of delivery plus our 200+ trainers strategically placed across the country. We all know how important it is that your staff are fully trained in subjects such as food safety and first aid – for your own peace of mind as well as your customers. The costs associated with poor food safety are both financial and social and can affect both employers and employees. Similarly, accidents can happen, even in low risk organisations with few employees. Having the correct first aid provision in the workplace is not only a legal requirement, it is incredibly important for the safety of you and your employees. As a minimum, a low-risk workplace such as a small office, should have a first aid box and a person appointed to take charge of first aid arrangements such as calling the emergency services if necessary. Workplaces where there are more significant health and safety issues are more likely to need a trained first aider. A first aid needs assessment will help employers decide what first aid arrangements are appropriate for their workplace. At SPA Training (UK) Ltd, our comprehensive list of courses means we can help to ensure that you have the right provision of first aid in the event of an accident or illness in your workplace. SPA delivers the essential training required such as first aid, health and safety and food safety to all levels at very competitive rates. Courses are delivered on your premises at times to suit you and we are happy to include any site specific information if required. All courses are certificated by recognised awarding bodies such as Highfield Awarding Body for Compliance and Qualsafe Awards. Our trainers are all fully qualified in their respective fields and have a wealth of experience within the commercial sector. At SPA we provide the best possible training, advice and guidance to enable your staff to improve their personal skills and knowledge and gain the most appropriate qualifications to help them succeed in the workplace. Contact us for full details of the courses we run or visit the website – spatraininguk.com and take a look at what we have to offer. Contact: Jules Hutchings – 01579 324116 – jules@spatraininguk.com
The Coquet Shorebase
The Coquet Shorebase has a history of providing educational watersports going back nearly 70 years. Originally a Nautical Training base run through the Coquet High School at Amble, on the Northumberland coast, it is now a Community Watersports Centre providing affordable watersports training and recreation for the local community. As a registered charity, our aims reflect the social and education benefits these activities can bring to participants. Our main activity base is Ladyburn Lake, part of Druridge Bay Country Park, where we run sailing, canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding, windsurfing and raft building activities. What can we offer to schools? You may just want a fun end of year session or a series of skills training sessions leading to a certificate. However, all our sessions will have an emphasis on team-work, confidence building, problem solving and water safety, not forgetting enjoyment, challenge and getting to know each other better, appreciating everyone’s strengths and weaknesses. Let us know your aims and objectives and we will tailor our sessions to these. For example, the most popular activity for a half-day session (up to 24 pupils), particularly with First Schools, involves splitting the group into two, and giving them 50 mins in sit-on-top kayaks and 50 mins on the big Stand up Paddleboards, swapping over half way through the session. It’s a lot of fun, really boosts water confidence and emphasizes teamwork and helping others. (Cost is £280). We can also offer improvised raft building (suitable for the older age group), and sailing or windsurfing for smaller groups. Activities really are for everyone. We work regularly with people with a wide range of physical and mental disabilities; our facilities are wheelchair accessible and we have Sailability and Paddle Ability approval status. It isn’t just about introductory sessions. We have three affiliated clubs (for Canoeing, Windsurfing and Sailing), which can use all our equipment, and provide a low- cost means of continuing activities for those who live locally. Many of our enthusiastic instructors are drawn from club members. Our other facility is situated at Amble, on the banks of the Coquet, which offers a more challenging environment for more advanced paddling or sailing activities. Both centres have changing rooms and hot showers. Wetsuits, cagoules and buoyancy aids are provided. We are licensed by AALA, an RYA training centre and hold the British Canoeing Quality Mark. See our webpage for more details about The Coquet Shorebare: click here Or contact us info@coquetshorebase.org.uk to discuss your ideas.
Customised Activity Weeks & Holidays on a Private Cornish Beach
Big Green Surf School is the sole activity provider on the stunning, National Trust managed, Crantock Beach in Cornwall. We provide expert tuition in surfing, bodyboarding & stand-up-paddleboarding to all abilities and would love the chance to work with your school. SURFING – Surf lessons for all abilities from complete beginners up to competition level. Crantock has amazing waves without the crowds of nearby Newquay. BODYBOARDING – Ideal for younger students or those less confident in the water. Often a first step towards stand-up surfing and very accessible for those with different needs. STAND-UP-PADDLEBOARDING (SUP) – We offer enclosed water beginner sessions, technique coaching and coastal exploration as well as fun and games on our 10-person “Monster SUPâ€, all under the supervision of our incredible coaches. BEACH SAFETY & AWARENESS – We provide dedicated, bespoke training and advice on key concepts that promote safety in a beach environment. We can introduce students to scientific principles that govern waves, current, sediment, tide and weather, linking in to National Curriculum objectives or lesson content provided by your school. Experience & Education We are proud to work with a lot of schools from all over the world, each with different requirements and preferences. From small groups of 10 students for an afternoon away from school, right up to groups in excess of 200 students on a dedicated activities week. We’ll customise a package to your requirements and aim to complement key concepts being taught in the classroom in-line with National Curriculum objectives if required. Safety & Insurance All staff hold full Beach Lifeguard Qualifications, nationally and internationally recognised coaching qualifications as well as DBS checks as a minimum. We conduct regular in-house training as well as enhanced training with the RNLI to ensure the safety of our clients. Big Green Surf School is a National Trust authorised activity provider, accredited by Surfing England and holds a licence from AALA (Adventure Activities Licensing Authority). All of our Risk-Assessments, EAPs & policies are available in PDF format to all schools and we hold insurances in excess of the standard requirement. Special Needs & Disabilities We have extensive experience working with students with a range of differing needs; including behavioural disorders, learning difficulties and physical disabilities. Our coaches are passionate about ensuring all students have the same opportunity to enjoy the ocean. We look forward to hearing from you and helping to plan your school’s next adventure! Find out more
Calibre Audio Library
Calibre Audio Library is a national charity that brings audiobooks to those unable to access print because of dyslexia, sight loss or another disability that prevents them from holding a book. Our library has around 11,000 audiobooks; all are unabridged, recorded by professional actors and broadcasters and available for unlimited borrowing by our members. Do you need key texts in audio? One in ten have dyslexia*, and this can create additional strains and challenges throughout their education and beyond. Calibre is here to support these students. We know how important it is for children to keep up with their peers, enabling them to contribute in class, and it is vital we reflect this in our library’s catalogue. So Shakespeare, Dickens, Hardy, Bronte? We have them at the ready. Meera Syal and Kazuo Ishiguro? Their books too. William Golding and George Orwell? Of course! Birdsong, Atonement, The Great Gatsby, Rebecca, The Go-Between… the list goes on. The love and importance of reading is not limited to those on the curriculum, and nor is our library. We are constantly adding new titles and we have worked hard to ensure we offer the books that English teachers and students alike have told us are unmissable, such as these: • Wonder • The Fault in Our Stars • The Penderwicks • Never Let Me Go • The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas • The School of Good and Evil • One • Of Mice and Men • Anne of Green Gables • To Kill a Mockingbird • Little Women • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings And of course, any library would be incomplete without such staples as the Harry Potter series, Veronica Roth’s the ‘Divergent’ Trilogy and Malorie Blackman’s ‘Noughts & Crosses’. Calibre Audio Library Our audiobooks are grouped by key stage and study level for guidance, but members can browse and borrow across all categories (restrictions are in place on unsuitable material for children). Books can then simply be streamed online or downloaded on Calibre’s free app – or they can be borrowed by our free postal service on MP3 CD and memory stick if preferred. We offer a group membership package for an annual fee of £18 per student (inc. VAT). Alternatively, if you feel it better meets your needs you can buy individual lifetime memberships for a one-off payment of £20 per child (£35 for adults). To join or for more information contact our membership services team on 01296 432339 or visit our website, www.calibre.org.uk. *www.bdadyslexia.org.uk/about
The top construction skills needed from tomorrow’s workforce
With the global construction industry forecast to hit $8 trillion by 2030 – and the UK driving industry growth in Europe – it’s an attractive career for young people seeking versatility and progression. Here, Liz Scott, Head of HR at Actavo Direct, offers advice on the construction skills needed to help young people thrive in their chosen career. Communicating clearly Many associate the construction industry with just the physical work, however, most critical tasks are completed in the planning stage. Research shows 85 percent of construction projects experience delays, making strong communication skills key. When unexpected disruptions occur, ensuring your team knows its responsibilities – while also managing client expectations – is vital. Strong written and verbal skills are demanded in such a time-pressured industry, with project details, safety messages and more needing to be communicated clearly and concisely. Risk management Health and safety will be the foundation of any construction career, whether your work as an individual on-site or are responsible for managing a team. All employees should understand the importance of hazard perception and be able to perform a risk assessment for any project. This involves evaluating a site, building or office for every potential risk. Health and safety basics also include understanding the role of personal protective equipment (PPE) and how to dress appropriately for every environment. Those looking to gain knowledge of health and safety best practice can check out the bank of content on the government’s dedicated website, while those interested in a career more focused on regulations in construction could explore an apprenticeship in health and safety. Use your initiative Construction projects are constantly subject to disruption – from adverse weather to deadline movements – making a proactive attitude invaluable. With clients waiting and projects running to tight deadlines, employees need to make decisions on how to best manage tasks and time. If rain delays a project, are there tasks you can progress in the downtime to prepare for when the weather clears up? Even those looking to pursue physical roles are advised to learn project management basics to improve decision-making and initiative skills. Keeping pace with tech Technology is set to shape the future of the construction industry, with innovations like digital mapping, 5D modelling and the Internet of Things (IoT) revolutionising surveying and site management. Tech-literate employees will thrive as technology continues to play a greater role. Fluency in tools like Excel will set employees up for site management tasks like project tracking and budgeting. For more information on construction skills, see Actavo Direct
CLOSED: Win a set of Gadgets, for your classroom, worth up to £180!
Learning Resources is the number one manufacturer of educational toys in the UK toy market. Founded in 1994, Learning Resources UK provide high-quality educational toys and games to schools and homes. The range supports both academic learning and learning through discovery, play, and exploration. Their mission, to help kids love to learn. We’ve teamed up with Learning Resources® to give away a fantastic bundle of education toys especially for you and your classroom! You could win three must-have products from their 2019 product range; Artie 3000â„¢ – the coding and drawing robot, Botley® The Coding Robot and Activity Set and a 5-in-1 Outdoor Measure-Mate. Enter now for your chance to win these innovative educational toys designed especially to support learning and provide hours of endless fun! For more information about Learning Resources please click here Just a reminder of the amazing prize… You could WIN: Botley® The Coding Robot Activity Set Artie 3000 5-in-1 Outdoor Measure-Mate Please enter the competition below and good luck! a Rafflecopter giveaway *The administrator of this competition is the QA Education Magazine (“administrator”). By participating in the competition, each Entrant unconditionally accepts and agrees to comply with and abide by these Official Rules and the decisions of Administrator, which shall be final and binding in all respects. The administrator is responsible for the collection, submission or processing of Entries and the overall administration of the competition. Entrants should look solely to Administrator with any questions, comments or problems related to the Competition. The administrator may be reached by email at socialmedia@euromediaal.com during the Promotion Period. * This giveaway will close at 12.00am, 3rd June 2019. * The prize is A set of Gadgets, for your classroom, worth up to £180 from Learning resources. The prize is non-transferable, non-refundable. There is no cash alternative. * Open to UK residents aged 18 or over, excluding employees of the Administrator, the sponsor, their families and anyone else professionally connected with this promotion. * There is one compulsory entry which requests that to enter the competition you answer a question based on the throw. Additional entries are available. * The prize winner will be asked to provide their email address so that contact can be made to arrange prize delivery, and their name and county be published in the next issue of the magazine * By entering the competition, you grant the Administrator permission to add your details to the mailing list, share your email address and any other personally identifiable information with the other competition Entities for the purpose of administration and prize fulfillment, including use in a publicly available Winners list. * Entries will only be accepted as instructed and any entrant that does not complete the qualifying requirements will be disqualified * The winners will be chosen using the random entry selector built into the widget. * The winners will be informed by email within 5 days of the closing date, and must respond within 5 days to claim their prize. If there is no response within the 5 days and new winner will be drawn at random. *This prize draw is governed by English law and the courts of England shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute arising in connection with it. For further T&C and our privacy policy please see here Euromedia Associates Ltd: Privacy Policy https://www.iubenda.com/privacy-policy/66331438/legal
Financial literacy learning is as important as maths, English and science
Julian Wright, Head of Education Expansion at RedSTART, writes about the need for financial literacy teaching if we are to become a money-savvy society… Rarely a week goes by when a story appears in the news detailing one of the many ways we as a nation are in some way personally in debt. Whether this is the spiralling costs of housing, the amount of debt students are leaving university with, or the amount sitting unpaid on our maxed out credit cards. The general message seems to be that as citizens of the UK, we do not understand how money works and our financial literacy is poor at best, and non-existent at worst. However, despite these constant warnings about the damage to the UK economy, and individual lives, this ‘financial ignorance’ causes, there still seems no appetite to rectify this. Despite calls from various charities, financial education remains all-but absent from the national curriculum. One of those charities is RedSTART, an organisation committed to providing key financial education to young pupils in schools. Their focus is on primary schools, as it is generally recognised that children develop their saving and spending habits early on – by the age of seven. Although financial education is not on the primary school curriculum, this doesn’t prevent teachers from integrating it into existing lessons. The bitesize ‘Money Matters’ lesson plans provided by RedSTART integrate a lot of the PSHE curriculum into its topics, allowing teachers to deliver key financial understanding as part of the school day. However this also doesn’t need to be limited to these sessions. By understanding the key elements that underpin financial literacy, teachers can contextualise and adapt existing curriculum items to deliver the same message. For example, it is a statutory requirement within the year 5 programme of study within the maths curriculum that pupils ‘recognise the percent symbol (%) and understand that percent relates to ‘number of parts per hundred’. When teaching this and other elements of percentages, there is no reason this cannot be contextualised to show how interest rates work. If you had a savings account that paid 5% interest per year (we wish!), and you had £500 in that account, how much interest would you earn in a year? Alternatively: If you had a credit card that charged 5% interest per month and you had a debt of £1000 on your card, how much interest would you pay in a month? And having introduced the concept of ‘interest’ as a percentage, it is only one very important step to teaching ‘compound interest’ – “He who understands it earns it, he who doesn’t pays it†(Albert Einstein). Opportunities to contextualise financial literacy are available throughout the curriculum, once the key concepts such as risk, reward, borrowing, lending, budgeting, goal setting and of course, compound interest have been taught. If pupils aren’t learning financial literacy in the home then the classroom is the most appropriate place to break that cycle. RedSTART Educate’s financial literacy resources can be found at redstarteducate.org and Julian can be found on linkedin.com Photo: Learning about financial literacy with RedSTART at The Oak Bank.
Longmoor Primary School wins Shine a Light communication award
Longmoor Primary School in Liverpool, which is dedicated to developing their pupil’s communication skills, has won the coveted Primary School of the Year Award at the 2019 Shine a Light Awards organised by Pearson, in partnership with The Communication Trust. The awards were presented by British comic actress and writer, Sally Phillips with special performance from Britain’s Got Talent winner Lee Ridley (Lost Voice Guy). Longmoor Primary School started an initiative in 2011 to address the very low communication and language skills of their youngest pupils and due to the team’s hard work and dedication, Longmoor Primary has now become a ‘trailblazer’ in their local authority! The school has developed a bespoke diagnostic assessment for pupils on entry to early years so they can specifically tailor interventions to individual needs. This has formed the basis of provision that has been so successful, it has been expanded throughout the whole school to improve the language skills of every child. The Shine a Light judges were blown away with the level of importance the school places on communication. It is at the forefront of everyone’s mind and the school has a dedicated oracy team and a communication specific teacher performance management target. In addition, Longmoor Primary has joined the nationally recognised Voice21 project and a dedicated section about speech, language and communication within their annual school improvement plan. The high priority of oracy is also reflected in the school’s curriculum planning documents and despite school budgets being squeezed, a portion of Longmoor’s budget is directed to the development of oracy for staff training and purchasing specialist equipment. They have also employed a specialist drama teacher and invested in a new communication and language tool, Stoke Speaks Out. It wasn’t just the senior leadership team and staff room activity that grabbed the judges’ attention, it was also the support they provide their children. Following assessment for speech, language and communication needs (SLCN), a provision map and pupil profile is created for each child requiring additional support, working with their experienced Communication and Language Assistants to ensure progress. On a wider, whole-school level, the school is constantly looking at ways to promote and support communication in a fun and interactive way. They have introduced themed weeks with an oracy element and encourage participation in whole-school/public performances with their spelling bees, Poem a Day, choir, orchestra and productions at Christmas and over the summer. Longmoor Primary has even created specific roles and clubs that prioritise communication including school councillors, playground buddies, play leaders, debate team, public speaking club and press gang. As if all that wasn’t enough, the staff take the time to extend their support to parents, working closely with them to promote speech and language skills via parental training, oral motor and health sessions and stay and play sessions. They have also created a weekly Lego Club for parents of children with special educational needs (SEN), particularly those who have SLCN. Longmoor recently worked with the Ethnic Minority and Traveller Achievement Service team in Liverpool to develop a programme for new-entrant pupils, who have English as their additional language, and their families to support integration into school, assessment of their language needs and appropriate provision. The school performance results are testament to the school’s amazing work in promoting communication. Just 10% of their pupils are at the ‘expected’ level for communication and language (C&L) upon admission to the nursery. By the time the children leave, they are articulate, fluent and confident speakers. Summer 2018 results showed 94.9% of children were at expected level in C&L come the end of Reception. By the end of Key Stage 2, 93% of children were at expected level in reading, 88% in writing and 91% in EPGS (English, grammar, punctuation and spelling). For more information on the Shine a Light Awards visit shinealightawards.co.uk and follow on Twitter: #awards_SAL