Principals by CH&CO strengthens operations team with two key appointments
Principals by CH&CO has made two key appointments to its operations team, reflecting its strong growth. Colin Wills and Verity Butcher have joined the team in the roles of operations director for secondary schools and operations manager for London primary schools, respectively, as the specialist state school caterer welcomed 16 new schools to its portfolio for the 2018/19 school year. A qualified chef, Colin Wills brings extensive culinary and operational experience spanning over 30 years, with the past 12 years of his career focused on the education sector. His intrinsic understanding of the challenges of everyday kitchen life combined with his management and operational expertise enables him to create excellent relationships with catering teams and clients, to deliver outstanding food and service experiences focused on creative and innovative solutions and strong results. Colin joins Principals by CH&CO from Pabulum Catering where he was regional business manager. Verity Butcher knows the Principals by CH&CO business inside out. An organised and efficient operator, with a background in food retail management, Verity has worked with the business for the past 12 years, working her way up through the ranks from general assistant within a school kitchen. A qualified Chartered Institute of Environmental Health and ISO auditor, Verity is responsible for monitoring the performance of Principals’ London schools and is their main day-to-day contact. She is an excellent motivator and having worked her way up from kitchen to management, understands every part of school catering. Peter McKenna, sales director for Principals by CH&CO, said: “We’ve had an incredible start to the 2018/19 school year with the addition of 16 schools to our portfolio. It’s great that Colin and Verity have joined the team, their valuable contribution will uphold our reputation of delivering innovative, creative solutions and building genuine partnerships with the schools we work with to be a positive part of each school community. Their excellent operational, management and customer skills will benefit our catering teams, our clients and, most importantly, the children we feed. Principals by CH&CO is in a period of continued growth that is seeing us expand and move into new geographical areas; Colin and Verity are the perfect candidates to support this and help maximise the opportunities.” For the 2018/19 school year Principals by CH&CO opened in 16 new schools. The new partnerships have a total value in turnover of £7.5m for the duration of the contracts and have seen the specialist state school caterer strengthen its foothold in its homestay of Kent and break into London and Surrey. Principals by CH&CO has a strong reputation of developing unique solutions for each school it works with, growing uptake and generating interest in food in the classroom, dining hall and home. www.chandcogroup.com
Cambridge Regional College set to inspire young people with a unique Junior Job Coach training programme
Cambridge Regional College has developed a unique training programme, the first of its kind in the UK, designed to empower apprentices to become coaches and mentors to fellow apprentices. Following a series of ERASMUS meetings (a European Union student exchange programme), with representatives from Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Romania and the UK, six key competences were identified – Engagement, Analysis, Confidentiality/Reliability, Problem Solving, Reassurance/Affirmation, Communication and Personal Development. These form the basis of a Competence Framework, to deliver the most desirable learning outcomes for a student or apprentice in the role of a Junior Job Coach (JJC). Once qualified, a JJC will be able to offer peer-to-peer coaching to fellow apprentices to achieve their own goals, providing leadership direction, setting boundaries and handling information carefully and confidentially. Suitable for apprentices at the end of their first year, or just starting their apprenticeship, the programme is delivered over a 2-day period, with maximum flexibility to suit individual needs. Conceived following a similar successful programme in the Netherlands, the unique Junior Job Coach programme can also be tailored to meet the different national systems throughout Europe. It will be introduced in the UK, via a series of test programmes, in January 2019 before its official roll out in Brussels in March 2019. Trudie McGuinness, Assistant Principal – International, at Cambridge Regional College, said “We are now seeking accreditation in the UK, with a view to expanding the Junior Job Coach training programme across Europe. With employers benefiting from an additional toolkit, at no additional cost, it’s a win-win for everyone and we are very confident that this training programme will bring many benefits to both employer and employee.” www.camre.ac.uk
UK’s Got Legal Talent!
Kingsley Napley LLP is delighted to announce the launch of The Legal Apprentice, a nationwide competition, in conjunction with The Times, which invites year-12 pupils from all 4,168 secondary schools across the UK to compete to win a place as a solicitor apprentice at the London-based law firm. The brainchild of Stephen Parkinson, Kingsley Napley’s newly-appointed Senior Partner, The Legal Apprentice embodies Stephen’s and the firm’s desire to expand legal career opportunities to students from non-traditional backgrounds who are underrepresented in the profession. The competition, will see pupils work together in teams to complete three-rounds of ‘heats’ which will test their legal knowledge, negotiation and drafting skills. Four groups will then be picked by Kingsley Napley to take part in a live final in June 2019, at the offices of The Times’ parent company, News UK. All students in the winning team will receive £500 each and will be interviewed individually by Kingsley Napley for the chance to win a legal apprenticeship at the firm after completing their A-Levels. Stephen Parkinson comments: “Kingsley Napley is keen to spearhead the drive to increase social mobility within the legal profession. There are many highly-talented pupils across the UK who may not previously have considered a life in law, perhaps believing it to be the preserve of the privileged few. I urge all schools to encourage entries from their pupils – the law has given me so much in my lifetime, I want to enable a greater range of students to experience such an enriching career.” Teachers must register their school’s interest by 18 December 2018 via a dedicated web page (https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk/the-legal-apprentice). Once teachers have registered, students from their school will be able to sign up. Kingsley Napley has devised a series of teaching aids, available to all who enter, which are designed to support teachers in educating their students on matters involving the application of both civil and criminal law.
CLOSED – WIN one of FIVE copies of children’s history book
World history author Christopher Lloyd’s new campaign Absolutely Everything! aims to connect knowledge back together. The real world is more amazing than anything you can make up! That’s the message from children’s best-selling non-fiction author Christopher Lloyd as he launches a major new initiative to raise awareness amongst educators, parents and students in the importance of an interconnected, cross-curricular approach to knowledge and education. Christopher Lloyd has kicked off a new campaign Absolutely Everything! with a series of lectures at the prestigious Royal Institution in Mayfair, London. During the talks, Christopher demonstrated how it is possible to guide an audience ranging in ages from aged 6 – 96 through the history of the world in just 60 minutes, using nothing more than a giant timeline, a series of everyday objects and a multi-coloured storytelling coat. Christopher Lloyd says: “For too long knowledge has been chopped up by adults into meaningless chunks through timetables, syllabuses and learning objectives that prevent young people from learning in a more interconnected way. Actually, the real world is not like that at all. Only by connecting knowledge back together again can children learn to think out of the box, develop critical thinking skills and become their own self-learning systems.” Christopher Lloyd’s Absolutely Everything! campaign includes the development of a new curriculum for teachers in the UK that embodies these philosophies – it mirrors similar efforts in the US by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie, who are donating $2 billion to create a new generation of schools inspired by his Montessori education, that will provide a more holistic, contextualised approach to learning. Jeff Bezos, Amazon founder says: “The gift of a Montessori education ultimately enables children to become individuals, who can think for themselves, think of others, and think out-of-the-box,” Said Bezos. “We believe it is no accident that two of the three most successful companies in the world (Amazon and Google) were founded by former Montessori students. Jeff Bezos, Larry Paige, and Sergei Brin were given the opportunity, in the microcosm of their Montessori classrooms, to develop the skills required for success in today’s world.” Christopher Lloyd’s lectures at the Royal Institution were just the start of a multi-layered campaign designed to raise awareness of the value of a more interconnected, narrative approach to knowledge and learning. Also recently launched in the UK and the US is Christopher Lloyd’s new world history book called Absolutely Everything! aimed at all ages 9 upwards that takes readers on a journey through everything from the beginning of time to the present day. The Absolutely Everything! campaign will continue with a range of new initiatives over the coming months. These include: The Absolutely Everything! charitable foundation that offers grants to schools and home learning groups to receive workshops for educators in how to build successful cross-curricular learning strategies as well as inspirational cross-curricular lectures for students. A new Absolutely Everything! Curiosity Curriculum currently being piloted, that takes the existing National Curriculum Key Stage 2 framework aims and objectives and re-organises them into a coherent, narrative structure that provides an alternative cross-curricular, integrated approach to teaching and learning. The publication of Absolutely Everything! (4 Oct 2018), a book for 9+ year-olds that tells the story of the history of the world in a fun and engaging way. For more details on the new world history book Absolutely Everything! please contact Lucy Allen on 01732 464621 or email info@whatonearthbooks.com or visit www.whatonearthbooks.com To enter our competition to win one of FIVE copies of Absolutely Everything!, worth £16.99 each, please click on the link below: a Rafflecopter giveaway *The administrator of this competition is 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. 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. Administrator may be reached by email at socialmedia@euromediaal.com during the Promotion Period. * This giveaway will close at 12.00am, 17th December 2018. * The prize is one How to become an expert in ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING book. 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 ‘How to become an expert in ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING book’ information. 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Protecting Students Online Through Safeguarding Software
Craig Fearnsides, product expert at Smoothwall monitoring solutions, talks to QA Education about the rise in teen suicides in the digital era… The number of teen suicides has risen dramatically in the past seven years. Cyberbullying is clearly more widespread and more impactful than face-to-face bullying. Why do you think this is? “There are a number of contributing factors, however it boils down to a constant access online and potential negativity. Now more than ever young people are in possession of more than one internet connected device and spend much of their social time interacting online, even when in physical proximity to their social groups. What this means is that passing comments or off-hand replies are now permanently accessible to be dredged over and read into, creating an echo chamber of negativity that would not otherwise be possible.” How does RADAR work? “Smoothwall RADAR is an intelligent real-time monitoring solution that alerts safeguarding staff to incidents as they happen. RADAR monitors both online and offline keystrokes, and can capture static imagery, video streaming and webcam activity when activated. The intuitive interface for RADAR gives safeguarding staff a visual picture of incidents in real-time, both during and outside school hours on any supported device.” What is its impact on teens, and have you been able to research on RADAR’s effectiveness? “At Smoothwall we have been building up our monitoring and filtering offerings and incorporating anonymous statistic gathering; these are fed into the Smoothwall Insights programme which informs our product marketing and direction. Although we cannot separate out RADAR from overall monitoring, we do notice interesting trends across the Smoothwall estate.” Is RADAR for use on personal devices or school devices? “RADAR is software based so is designed for use on school owned devices, although with RADAR Lite we are able to plug into the Smoothwall web filter, meaning that we can monitor web traffic and search engine usage without the need to install software.” Does RADAR work with all social media apps? “For Windows and macOS, RADAR monitors all keystrokes typed and content viewed on the screen, including applications such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.” Do teens need to give their permission for RADAR to be used on their devices? “In certain circumstances students do need to give their permission for RADAR to be used, although schools usually include this within their Acceptable Use Policy and don’t allow the use of school resources without accepting it. However, since September 2016, The Department for Education has stipulated that all schools should have appropriate filtering and monitoring in place.” How much would RADAR typically cost for a secondary school to implement? “RADAR is delivered as Software-as-a-Service therefore there are no servers to manage and maintain keeping implementation costs down to a minimum. Deploying the RADAR software is usually achieved with group policy, SCCM, or an MDM solution, all of which are familiar to schools meaning that the software can be rolled out by a school without needing additional resourcing. RADAR is licensed on a per-pupil basis and there are price breaks for all sizes of schools to keep it very competitive within the market.” See smoothwall.com for more safeguarding options.
How online learning can help teachers’ professional development
Ask any teacher and they will tell you that ‘teaching’ is just part of it. There is the responsibility to safeguard children in their care, create an atmosphere conducive to learning, the need to adequately prepare students for examinations… There’s marking, teacher-parent meetings, lesson planning… the list goes on. And on… With so many responsibilities, professional development can seem more like a ‘nice-to-have’ than a feasible commitment. But if Headteachers want to commit their staff to a philosophy of professional development; one that is adaptive and flexible and very much grounded in the practical needs of the classroom, online learning can be a useful, affordable, and measurable way of training staff. It can be standardised across the board for universally important subjects or adopted for more specialist matters. FutureLearn, the social learning platform owned by The Open University, has long allied itself with teachers. Partnered with leading universities and industry bodies, it offers a host of courses that teachers may find useful in helping meet their professional development needs. To see all the courses available, look at the Professional Development for Teachers page on FutureLearn. There you will find courses like the University of East Anglia’s ‘Professional Development for Early Career Teachers’, which helps junior teachers navigate the early stages of their career. The course offers advice and support on improving teaching skills and juggling workloads, and invites newly qualified teachers to reflect on and identify professional development needs. Subjects like behaviour management strategies, pedagogical approaches to teaching and learning, and ways to prioritise workload are all explored. The course can serve as a useful adjunct to physical in-school training, or the very basis of such training. Managing Behaviour for Learning is also accounted for. On FutureLearn, the National Stem Learning Centre has a course dedicated to the subject as part of its STEM teaching programme. The course is applicable to all teachers and explores how individual behaviour influences students, how to control emotional responses and how to interact with students. There are techniques for developing consistency in managing behaviour, recognising positive behaviour and building trust in the classroom. Through the experienced teachers delivering the course, learners will be encouraged to actively reflect on their practice and share experiences as part of the course discussions. Also available are more specialised courses, like the University of Bath’s Good Practice in Autism Education course which looks at the many modalities of schooling for students with autism, including general special schools, autism-specific special schools, autism units within mainstream schools and being in a mainstream classroom.It asks what are the benefits and challenges of these different types of education? What are the implications for inclusion? And what constitutes good practice within autism education? It is easy to sound preachy and somewhat out of touch with the realities of the classroom when talking about professional development — and certainly nobody wishes to undermine the demands already being placed on teachers. But so long as Headteachers and key decision makers in schools have a multitude of competing priorities, it will often be challenging to be fully across everything. Nobody can be the eyes and ears of every classroom, much as they may like to be. Empowering teachers to invest in their own career development is possible however, and online learning offers teachers the means to do this in a way that does not conflict with their many and varied competing priorities. Article by: Nigel Smith, Managing Director, Courses and Learning, FutureLearn
Can mindfulness tackle the mental health epidemic?
World Mental Health Day on 10 October gives us all an opportunity to reflect on whether we are really doing enough to support young people and mental health in an ever-changing world. The statistics are alarming: every year one adult in four, along with one child in 10, will suffer a mental health issue. Half of all mental illness begins by the age of 14, but most cases go undetected and untreated. In fact, according to UK estimates only a quarter of those with mental health problems undergo ongoing treatment. Suicide is the second leading cause of death among 15-29 year olds and is the single biggest killer of men under the age of 45. Helping young people to grow up healthy, happy and resilient is the responsibility of everyone, not least schools, where there is a growing recognition of the importance of building mental resilience from the earliest age possible to cope with the challenges of today’s world. In my experience, for young people suffering from mental health there is a lot bubbling under the surface before symptoms appear, and it is their inability to communicate their feelings that results in actions such as self-harming or even worse. Our approach with 1decision is to support teachers in exploring mindfulness. Children from the age of five have the opportunity to recognise and name a range of emotions including worry, anger and grief, and develop an understanding of their physical effects, distinguishing between those that feel pleasant and those that feel unpleasant or uncomfortable. Within the topics on our feelings and emotions module, there are many opportunities to help students gain the skills to manage their emotions positively and to understand how to seek help in the early stages. Another factor in mental health is the 24/7 online world. When I was at school, any arguments or disagreements were mostly left at the school gate. Now these continue online, often long into the evening. Young people’s likeability today is based on how they feel about themselves and what others say about them on social media – their confidence can be ripped out so easily. Helping children understand the golden rules for staying safe online, and how their online activity can affect others, is another issue we tackle. 1decision has developed supportive materials for teachers suited to 21st century children to explore all of these areas and support children in our media-dominated society. Yet more work needs to be done to build mental resilience. An approach to promoting and protecting adolescent health can help: working on areas such as healthy diet and understanding why we need a healthy mind are crucial. This is where many schools can and do make difference. The outcome of the Department for Education consultation on Relationships, Sex and Health Education, which closes on 7 November, should give schools more direction on this issue. But prevention of mental health begins with better, and earlier, understanding of pupils needs. Hayley Sherwood is creator of 1decision, part of Headway learning resources. For more information on World Mental HealthDay click here.
YHA appoints new Director of Strategy and Engagement
Youth charity YHA (England and Wales) has appointed Anita Kerwin-Nye as the Director of Strategy and Engagement. A highly accomplished charity leader with over 20 years of experience in the sector, Anita will take up her role on 1 November 2018. Within her new role, she will further develop YHA’s charitable focus, partnerships and programmes and strategic communications. Anita has worked closely with YHA for a number of years through her work across education, charities, including the Learning Away consortium of which YHA is a member. Founder of Every Child Should, a campaign to ensure all children can access a rich and rounded set of experiences by the time they are 18, Anita is recognised as a national leader in inclusion and access. Welcoming her to YHA, James Blake Chief Executive commented: “Anita will bring energy, insight and impetus to our work in a number of areas, including the development of our charitable focus, partnerships and programmes and strategic communications. “Her knowledge of YHA through her work with the Learning Away consortium, means she is well placed to drive forward YHA’s ambition to be the leading youth charity, providing life enhancing travel and adventure to young people who need it most.” Anita added: “I am delighted to join YHA at such a formative time in its 88-year history. The opportunity to play a key role in shaping YHA’s next fundraising steps to support more children and young people is one I very much welcome “I believe YHA can play a fundamental role in ensuring that all children born today have outdoor experiences at every stage of their childhood and the associated health, wellbeing and life skills benefits.” Anita is James Blake’s first senior appointment to the companies Executive Team since he took over the leadership of the charity last year. Keen to expand YHA’s charitable impact, Anita will take a key role in working alongside James to reach more young people across England and Wales to deliver measurable life changing experiences. www.yha.org.uk
Dyslexia Awareness Week – how to get involved
Dyslexia Awareness Week kicks off today and runs from 1-7 October. Here, we take a look at some of the events planned by the British Dyslexia Association (BDA) and find out about the organisation’s year-round work… Go Green for Dyslexia (sponsored by Nessy Learning) To kick off the week, on Monday 1 October, organisations and schools including M Shed and Brunel’s SS Great Britain in Bristol and Cardiff Bay Barrage will be lighting up green for Go Green for Dyslexia along with 3,000 children in 150 schools donning green for the day. The activity is originated and organised by Nessy Learning who have been making fun, educational software for children since 1999 and offer the complete dyslexia aware solution with a suite of multisensory products aimed at making learning to read, write and spell fun. No Pens Day (sponsored by Touch-type Read and Spell) Every year, new technology continues to reduce the times we need to communicate our thoughts using a pen. With writing using a traditional pen and paper being something that people with dyslexia find particularly difficult, advances in assistive technology make life much easier – these range from increased access to laptops and tablets to dictation software and communicating using totally visual methods like video. No Pens Day celebrates how far we have come with communication technology by encouraging teachers to get their classes to abandon pens for the day and embrace technology alternatives. Local awareness events Throughout the week, local organisations are hosting events to raise awareness among communities of 21st century dyslexia – including at schools like Newcastle College and Kings Norton Girls’ School, at local authorities Wiltshire and Leicestershire County Councils and organisations like the London Grid for Learning. People will be sharing their events and experience through the week using the hashtag #21stcenturydyslexia. Dyslexia Awareness Week Awards Nominations are open through the week for the annual awards. The BDA is looking for pupils, parents, educational professionals and organisations to make nominations to the four categories at this year’s awards. Free Dyslexia Awareness Week webinars The BDA will be running free webinars during this week, including Realising Potential Through Enabling Technologies by Dr Abi James. Dr James’ webinar will explore why technology can help children and adults with dyslexia. Dr James will introduce some of the best technologies available in schools and the workplace, and discuss the ways to utilise them. To register for this webinar and others click here. About The British Dyslexia Association The BDA aims to bring about a dyslexia friendly society. Since its creation over 40 years ago the BDA has worked tirelessly to develop a network of national and international support for individuals who are dyslexic including the development of local dyslexia groups that work with the BDA to provide parents, educators and individuals with dyslexia access to services, training, information and support. Through its activities the BDA strives to achieve its key goals: To build awareness of dyslexia in all sectors of society. Early identification of dyslexic difficulties for all in society. Availability of effective and appropriate teaching provision for all children and adults with dyslexia. Availability of appropriate assessments for all children and adults with dyslexia. Reasonable adjustments for individuals with dyslexia within all sectors of society (including education, employment, training and the criminal justice services). Information is available for individuals with dyslexia across the age ranges and sectors, and for those who support them including effective strategies to help overcome dyslexia related difficulties, and how to maximise the strengths of those with dyslexia. The training activities of the BDA are a crucial part of their work. For those within an education setting there is a wide range of training from dyslexia awareness and identification through to teaching literacy and classroom support strategies. For employers training is available to assist them in implementing reasonable adjustments for their employees with dyslexia and strategies to empower those individuals. Training is delivered through open courses for individuals, onsite bespoke training for groups and summer schools. BDA training events help to raise awareness of dyslexia in all age ranges and sectors of society. The BDA organises around 400 face-to-face training events per year, with excellent feedback; each one bringing us closer to a dyslexia friendly society. In 2015, the BDA launched its eLearning platform the purpose of which was to enable a wider audience to be able to access high quality training in dyslexia support. ELearning enables the BDA to bring quality training and expertise to individuals who would otherwise be unable to access this due to factors such as time and cost constraints or geographical location. Individuals can work through the modules at their own pace and also when and where it is convenient for them to do so. They can be confident in the knowledge that support with their learning and development is available from highly skilled and experienced dyslexia specialists. For more information on the Dyslexia Awareness Week Awards, click here.