KidZania London STEAMs into October
Launching Friday 5 to Sunday 7 October, KidZania London – the indoor city run by kids at Westfield London, Shepherd’s Bush – will be hosting an action-packed STEAM Week, inspiring kids to develop their skills across science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics. With 2018 seeing the launch of the government’s Year of Engineering campaign, of which KidZania is an official partner, there has been an increased focus towards recognizing and celebrating STEM subjects and careers spanning science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. However, KidZania also recognises that the demand for arts resources has also rocketed, as teachers are increasingly championing the importance of creative thinking and visual learning in the classroom. The three-day STEAM festival will look to merge these disciplines together, demonstrating that no matter where children’s strengths are, whether its number crunching or a way with words, there are careers and opportunities out there for everyone to explore. From STEAM-themed world record challenges with Guinness World Records Live, to slimy Jelly Belly X-ray operations with PDSA and structure building workshops with Engineering Development Trust, there will be fun and educational workshops to bring the school syllabus to life – whether that’s on a school trip or a weekend visit with the family. Eddie Kemsley, CEO at KidZania comments: “Embracing creativity through the arts is something we positively encourage at KidZania – whether through our Book of The Month Activity with Little Tiger, inspiring even the most reluctant book worms, to our music academy and dance studio. We are hugely excited to be incorporating this into our existing STEM focus, to really demonstrate the wide variety of subjects and career opportunities out there. She continues: Not everyone can be great at numbers or science, but as some of the most innovative engineerable solutions have been developed by creative thinkers, it’s important for us to be able to showcase the importance of arts subjects too.” Exciting partnership activities include: Take the Guinness World Record Challenge 5th – 7th October Does your child have what it takes to be the next Guinness World Record Holder? KidZania’s Guinness World Record Live event will put kids to the test with one of three STEAM-themed world record challenges. Jelly Belly Operation at PDSA – Saturday 6th October Join PDSA for a fun and interactive Jelly Belly Operation. Examine X- rays and find the foreign bodies in our pet patient’s slimy stomach! Design and Build with the Engineering Development Trust 5th – 7th October Come and get involved in one of our fun ‘hands on’, design, build and test challenges with the Engineering Development Trust.. KidZania believes in ‘Learning by Doing’. By bringing the classroom to life in the city, it aims to boost children’s curiosity and imagination through curriculum-based real-life activities. To book tickets for your school trip now, please email schools@kidzania.co.uk or call 0330 131 3335. See KidZania.co.uk for more details. Twitter – @KidZaniaLondon Instagram – @KidZaniaLondon Facebook – /KidZaniaLondon Pricing: Access to all additional activities is included in the entrance price £14 per child. Reduced pricing available for schools with a high Pupil Premium level Learning outcomes: KS1 – KS2 Science KS1 – KS3 Maths, Art, Design & Technology and PSHE About KidZania London: At KidZania London, children can take part in real-life adventures. Spanning across 75,000 square feet, KidZania is an amazing indoor city built just for kids! KidZania provides children with the opportunity try out a variety of real life role-play activities from being a firefighter, journalist to a surgeon. Each role-play is developed to teach kids essential life skills including financial literacy, teamwork and independence. Designed to empower and entertain kids, KidZania gives them the chance to challenge themselves and gets children thinking about which career they may pursue in the future. KidZania is a unique role-play experience for 4-14 year olds, blending learning with reality and entertainment.
KidZania London partners with UK Parliament Week in November
KidZania London, the indoor city run by kids, has teamed up with UK Parliament Week to host a series of exciting activities and workshops for schools, supporting the provision of Key Stages 1-3 PSHE learning. Designed to teach students about the world of politics, debating and current issues, the KidZania’s Parliament Fair will run on the 14th to 16th November 2018. Bookings are now open for schools to book class visits during the autumn term. UK Parliament Week is an annual festival that engages people from across the UK with Parliament, explores what it means to them and empowers them to get involved. As part of KidZania’s involvement in the fair, the two-day roster will include a number of special parliament-focused activities, designed to educate school children about political system in the UK and excite them about the host of interesting careers available in the world of politics. The roster includes: Learn to be a political journalist with Shout Out UK Shout Out UK is a multi-award winning independent youth news platform that provides young people with the tools necessary to engage in politics and a platform to shout out and be heard. Two journalists from Shout Out UK will be running an exciting workshop across the two days where children will learn what it takes to report on the latest political news. Children will select news stories from the agenda that day, write them up, and then react like a real newsroom when a breaking story comes in. Usborne Books: Politics for Beginners workshop Usborne is the UK’s leading specialist children’s book publisher: an independent, family business, which creates engaging, innovative, accessible books for children of all ages. Inspired by the best-selling children’s book, Politics for Beginners, KidZania will be running a workshop on behalf of Usborne, teaching children all about debating, canvassing and the voting system. What’s more, schools who book a visit on one of the two days will also receive five copies of Politics for Beginners for their school. The KidZania Ballot Box Over at the KidZania polling station, children will get to vote on a variety of political issues, demonstrating how the UK voting system enables their voices to be heard on topics that directly affect them. KidZania will also be using the ballot box to get feedback from real children in order to make positive changes to the city. Take a politics degree in the KidZania University Updated to focus on the UK political system, children can take the KidZania University Degree to broaden their knowledge and earn extra KidZos at the same time! KidZania London offers 4-14 year olds exciting real life activities, spanning across 75,000 square feet. Blending learning with reality and entertainment, each career at KidZania is developed to teach kids essential life skills including financial literacy, teamwork and independence. Designed to empower and entertain kids, KidZania gives children the chance to challenge themselves and explore the world of opportunities. If your child has ever dreamt of becoming a pilot, a firefighter or the next award-winning actor, watch the excitement on their faces as they try out real life activities! The concept effectively gives them their first taste of independence and gets kids thinking about what they might want to be in the future. To book tickets for your school trip now, please email schools@kidzania.co.uk or call 0330 131 3335. See KidZania.co.uk for more details. Twitter – @KidZaniaLondon Instagram – @KidZaniaLondon Facebook – /KidZaniaLondon Learning outcomes: KS1 – KS3 PSHE ECONOMIC WELLBEING AND BEING A RESPONSIBLE CITIZEN • To research, discuss and debate topical issues, problems and events that are of concern to them • Why and how rules and laws that protect them and others are made and enforced Pricing: Access to all additional activities is included in the entrance price £14 per child. Reduced pricing available for schools with a high Pupil Premium level About KidZania London: At KidZania London, children can take part in real-life adventures. Spanning across 75,000 square feet, KidZania is an amazing indoor city built just for kids! KidZania provides children with the opportunity try out a variety of real life role-play activities from being a firefighter, journalist to a surgeon. Each role-play is developed to teach kids essential life skills including financial literacy, teamwork and independence. Designed to empower and entertain kids, KidZania gives them the chance to challenge themselves and gets children thinking about which career they may pursue in the future. KidZania is a unique role-play experience for 4-14 year olds, blending learning with reality and entertainment.
Why modular construction might hold the key to delivering more school places
Anthony Langan, director and education sector lead at architecture and building consultancy practice AHR, explains why modular construction might hold the key to delivering more school places. With growing pressure for school places across many parts of the country, the expansion of school infrastructure, and indeed the creation of new schools, is a key consideration for educational establishments, local authorities and the Government. This issue of increasing demand for school places is compounded by constrained public-sector budgets. Faced with this challenge, the ability to harness the benefits of a modular approach to deliver more school places is attractive. Is modular a viable solution for construction in the education sector? A modular approach drives considerable efficiencies in the construction process – allowing high-quality new-build infrastructure to be delivered in a cost and time-effective way. One of the key features of a modular approach is that a large part of the construction can take place off-site, in a controlled factory environment. This minimises opportunities for disruption to the construction process, such as poor weather, and allows for work to be completed much more quickly. This, in turn, leads to less time required on-site, which reduces the disruption to pupils and teachers when compared to traditional construction methods. We are currently using these techniques to deliver a batch of new primary schools in London, Sussex and the Midlands as part of the Priority Schools Building Programme Modular Batch B Framework. Adopting a modular approach to the construction of four new primary schools means manufacturing efficiencies are gained through the scale of the project. The first step in achieving this was the creation of a digital building information modelling (BIM) as part of the early design process. BIM creates a data-rich visualisation of the school buildings, which provides key insights into the dimensions and materials required, helping to reduce waste, improve environmental sustainability and keep reworks to a minimum. A clear and shared understanding of the requirements for each of the schools then allowed for certain aspects of the construction process to be standardised, making it possible to create repeatable elements which allowed for considerable time and cost efficiencies in the manufacturing process. In this case, the modular solution was used to build on very constrained sites thus minimising the use of temporary accommodation. Today, decision-makers in the education sector are increasingly aware of the benefits of modular construction and have begun to understand that the high-quality infrastructure this approach can now deliver differs drastically from the stereotypical prefab units of the mid-20th century. Modular projects are now capable of enhancing influential places for pupils through design that is sympathetic to its surroundings. That is why there is a growing consensus that modular has a crucial role to play in delivering the learning spaces we need for the future. For more information about AHR please click here
A Level Results Day: “School leavers think apprenticeships are for underachievers”
As school leavers across England and Wales collect their A level results, it seems misconceptions remain regarding one of the most dynamic post-school career options available – apprenticeships. New research from Arch Apprentices has suggested that negative perceptions about apprenticeships are still rife among Britain’s exam students. Specifically among females, the supposed lack of academic credibility is still a worry, despite apprenticeships allowing many avenues for adding to qualifications and credentials. Similarly, among both male and female leavers, there is a belief that apprenticeships are only for manual jobs, such as brick-layers, electricians and plumbers. However, apprenticeship schemes have come a long way since with careers in media disciplines, IT and management among a wealth of opportunities currently on offer. Perhaps most surprising is the idea that apprenticeships are only for those who cannot afford to go to university, suggesting a lack of progression in talking to younger people about anything other than university being available as their next career step post A levels. With an overwhelming 89% of school leavers also admitting they would have some reservations about choosing an apprenticeship over university, worries also included not having a colourful social life (21%), being unable to secure a top job (28%) and not making their parents proud of them (19%). Jason Moss, CEO Arch Apprentices said, “Over the past 10 years, the change that apprenticeships have gone under has been drastic and incredibly exciting. From being traditionally associated with certain trades to now being at the heart of some of the UK’s largest media, digital and technology businesses, apprenticeships are no longer the second option for school leavers. For some companies, it’s the exclusive path for schools leavers to access their entry-level positions. “At Arch, we like to think we’ve been at the forefront of the change, with our digital-first approach to delivering apprenticeships. Our learners aren’t stuck in a classroom, focusing on just the theory, they are in real jobs, with real pay and are putting into practice all of their learning via our multi-touch learning tools and techniques. They have proven to be an invaluable asset for the companies they work for.” Case study: Alim Jalloh, 22 Alim started an apprenticeship with Channel 4 through Arch after starting a degree course and finding it wasn’t quite for him. He says, “I applied for university during college because that’s what you do at college – write a personal statement, apply for uni and start a degree. I wasn’t too confident about going to uni and when I got there, it wasn’t what I expected. I felt it wasn’t actually what I wanted to do.” So Alim started looking for his next step and saw a friend who was on an apprenticeship, working in the city, getting paid and doing lots of exciting on-the-job training. Alim adds, I started looking at the Government’s apprenticeship website and then found an apprenticeship with Arch which was exactly what I wanted to do – social media and marketing for a company I loved anyway, Channel 4.” Alim is on a 14-month apprenticeship and, in the future, would like to stay on with Channel 4 – although he has had two job offers from other companies while on the apprenticeship. He says, “That just shows how incredible apprenticeships are. More opportunities can present themselves while you’re working. Apprenticeships are ideal for people who are creative and want to work in digital, media, finance etc while getting paid.” For more information on apprenticeships, see archapprentices.co.uk
Trybooking – putting the spotlight on ticket sales
How many hours have your staff spent organising events, selling tickets, collecting cash, giving refunds, explaining the details of the events to parents, all during the school’s busiest periods? Trybooking is a service which does all the legwork for staff and can be used from parents’ evening to the Christmas concert – and some of the service is free. Here, managing director Joan Lind answers QA Education’s questions on how it works… Where did the idea for Trybooking come from? Trybooking was founded in Australia and was designed to solve the problem of too much paperwork, admin time and cash handling when putting on any size or type of school event. We were parents in Sydney who enjoyed the ease of booking online with Trybooking from any device and then immediately receiving emailed tickets. Be that for concerts, fundraising events, sports camps, parent teacher meetings etc. When we returned to the UK, we launched Trybooking in 2014 to schools and other community-based organisations – for example charities, choirs and amdram. What does Trybooking offer in terms of booking, tickets, notifications etc? Trybooking enables any type of event to be easily booked online with all details easily completed be that a simple concert with a chosen seat, or a parent-teacher meeting with individual time slots for each teacher, or open days, school trips, exam papers, courses and conferences. All booking confirmations are fulfilled with an automatic email and emailed tickets and booking confirmation which have both barcodes and QR Codes, so great for scanning if required. For example, a concert in a venue outside of the school. Additionally the school can set up various notifications so they get an email when a booking is made, or they can email all ticket buyers at any point to advise new information like a change of venue or start time. They can also set up an email that is sent at the same time as the automatic email, with tickets from them showing further details like a map. Do schools buy a one-off product or a subscription to your service? Neither, it is a simple pay-as-you-use approach. They can use us as regularly or irregularly as they wish. All clients open a complimentary account. We only get paid when the school is being paid for an event. All free events are free to manage via Trybooking. Details of our transparent and simple pricing approach are on our website. How many schools offer Trybooking? We work with hundreds of schools, colleges and universities as well as educational associations, across a mix of independent, state and grammar schools. Because we are not a software solution, but a cloud-based solution, we sit nicely alongside other software solutions in schools to enable much easier event management of bookings and ticketing. There are so many nuances to events be it registration forms for trips, dietary requirements for a fundraiser or time slots for parent-teacher meetings. And of course easy and quick payment means improved cashflow for the school. Is Trybooking suitable for primary as well as secondary? Yes it is, but we find most of our schools are secondary as primary schools don’t always see it as relevant, as they think they are too small. This is not the case, and those primary schools who use us find it incredibly valuable and saves staff time, as well as making it easier for parents. Primary schools mainly use Trybooking for parent-teacher meetings, fundraising events and concerts, especially the Christmas nativity, to manage numbers. So if they have a smaller hall, they can limit tickets per family or show it over two nights and parents book their preferred evening. What kind of feedback have you received from staff and parents? All positive! Before Trybooking, Holly from The Hollywood Studio of Performing Arts in Kirkby Lonsdale spent countless hours sorting registrations, collecting data, selling tickets and chasing payments and less time doing what she loves. She needed a solution that would work quietly in the background and enable her to focus on teaching. She came to Trybooking and found everything she was looking for and more. Holly said, “TryBooking has been the best experience for selling tickets that we have tried. It’s so simple to use and easy to operate.” They now have a new virtual staff member that works 24/7, collecting registration details and payments. The Haberdashers’ Aske’s School for Girls are currently hosting several events with us, including an open-air cinema in September, and other schools we work with include Kingston Grammar School and Cardinal Vaugham Memorial School Concert (Sunday Times State School of the Year). See trybooking.co.uk for details.
GDPR two months on: best-practice tips to help the education sector achieve compliance
Nigel Peers, Security & Risk Management Consultant at NW Security Group, looks at the lay of the land since the GDPR enforcement, discussing how schools can gain & maintain compliance… With months of speculation behind us regarding the many complexities and intricate details of the EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the conversation has now shifted from raising awareness of the practicalities of its implementation, to giving actionable advice that will help schools, colleges and universities achieve and maintain compliance. It’s been almost two months since the May 25th deadline passed, and while the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) has given reassurances that it isn’t going to start immediately handing out large fines to every school that remains non-compliant, it is important that facilities can show a desire to adhere to the regulation to protect staff and students’ data. That is because breaches within the sector are continuing to soar. In 2017 data breaches rose an astounding 103% compared to the previous year – schools, colleges and universities must do all they can to not become the next statistic. The concern is only exacerbated by the recent finding that only 16% of educational institutions currently realise they’ve fallen foul of a data breach. This begs the question; do they have the internal awareness to identify what a breach is? Improved training is clearly paramount. In our conversations with schools post-GDPR, two queries are commonly raised regarding how the new legislation will impact schools, colleges and universities. Firstly: ‘do we have a lawful basis for storing data?’; and secondly: ‘should we appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO)?’. As the guardians of confidential and private information regarding both students and staff, it is important that facilities quickly get up to speed on how the legislation may affect them. These are our top tips to help navigate the journey to compliance: What is a lawful basis for storing data? The first question educational institutions have been pondering is: what is a lawful basis for storing data and do we have it? When it comes to data collection and storage, all institutions must have a lawful basis to record Personally Identifiable Information (PII). Anything that can identify an individual is classed as PII, whether that be physical or cyber, so schools, colleges and universities must take a close look at the data being stored and ensure they do have the right to do so. A lawful basis includes contractual uses, compliance with legal obligations, and the interest of the data subject – such as safeguarding welfare. It is also important to keep in mind that PII stored for marketing purposes, such as e-mail marketing databases, can only be stored with the consent of the data owner, which must be given freely and kept up-to-date. To achieve compliance, the lawful basis for processing data should also be identified and documented within a school by updating its privacy policy and notices. Undertaking such an audit might sound like a daunting prospect but doing so will clean up databases and ensure consent to store and process PII is gained going forward. This is important as it has been our experience that, while many institutions believe they are protecting PII and have effective policies in place, these haven’t been documented adequately, leading to non-compliance. Do I need to appoint a DPO? The second area of uncertainty among many educational facilities is whether it’s necessary to appoint a Data Protection Officer (DPO). This has been a grey area for many educational institutions, as the GDPR states a DPO must be appointed by all public authorities and any organisation carrying out systematic monitoring of individuals on a large scale. It’s open to interpretation whether schools and academies fit these criteria, but the need for somebody to take responsibility for data protection is clear. This is because our recent survey found that 70% of respondents didn’t think they could evidence that the correct procedures were in place if they fell victim to a breach. Furthermore, over half (51%) of those responsible for the administration of an access control system were found to be not trained in data protection. Best practice would be to appoint somebody to take responsibility for ensuring compliance, but the issue for many is then who to appoint, as a DPO must have the right skills and experience. This can present quite a challenge for many schools, because guidance states that the position cannot be filled by someone with a conflict of interest, ruling out those who work within the school in a senior management role or closely with the data being stored or processed. Perhaps that is why our report found that 22% of respondents already outsource their DPO to an external expert. This is a logical solution and one that we would recommend – as such it’s a figure we expect to rise. It’s important to highlight that there is still time to get it right. GDPR compliance may seem like a regulatory burden, but it has given the education sector a great opportunity to ensure their security procedures are fit for purpose, and the PII of staff and students won’t end up in the wrong hands. Expert GDPR support is available from qualified practitioners who can help you every step of the way as you overhaul your data protection practices. For information on the security consultancy and training services we can provide, visit: nwsystemsgroup.com Nigel Peers, a qualified Data Protection Practitioner with full teacher training status, brings vast strategic security expertise as a previous co-founder of a successful workplace compliance training company, responsible for security site surveys, vulnerability assessments and Security Industry Authority (SIA) training courses. Working in close partnership with board and trustee-level stakeholders, Nigel is responsible for helping organisations understand the latest regulations and ensure risks, threats and vulnerabilities are correctly identified. Through strategic planning support, Nigel optimises security solution delivery from mitigation to implementation, risk and incident management to business continuity and recovery. About NW Security Group Established in 2004, NW Security Group provides
EducationCity host best PlayLive Challenge Week ever!
The EducationCity annual PlayLive Challenge, which took place between the 17th and 22nd June, was a phenomenal success, with a record number of children taking part. All in all, over 7,340 students participated in the two-day competition. The aim of the week was to crown the PlayLive Maths and English Champions for the year, as well as boost excitement and engagement surrounding Maths and English, and to this end, the company opened up the competition to all schools, not just their subscribing schools and schools already taking a trial with them. Individual PlayLive Maths and PlayLive English competitions were run for each year group, with the two UK-based schools and two international schools gaining the highest score overall being given the PlayLive Maths and English Champion title for their geographic area. EducationCity is delighted to announce that the winners for each year group are as detailed below: PlayLive Maths Results UK Schools (scores in brackets) Year 1 – Powick Church of England Primary School, Worcester (17) Year 2 – St John The Baptist RC Primary School, Lancashire (43) Year 3 – Magherafelt Primary School, Magherafelt (51) Year 4 – Lady Royd Primary, Bradford (48) Year 5 – Eastgate Academy, Norfolk (52) Year 6 – Beeston Hill St Luke’s C of E Primary School, Leeds (62) International Schools Year 1 – GEMS Al Barsha National School United Arab Emirates 57 Year 2 – Harrow International School, Hong Kong 55 Year 3 – Scholars International Academy (SIA), United Arab Emirates (49) Year 4 – British School of Ulaanbaatar, Ulaanbaatar (51) Year 5 – Aloha College, Spain (41) Year 6 – Aloha College, Spain (45) The overall 2018 champions for PlayLive Maths are Beeston Hill St Luke’s C of E Primary School in Leeds and GEMS Al Barsha National School. PlayLive English Results UK Schools Year 1 – Grasslot Infant School, Cumbria (40) Year 2 – Seaton School, Aberdeen (68) Year 3 – Latymer Prep School, London (89) Year 4 – Abbotskerswell Primary School, Devon (114) Year 5 – The Divine Mercy RC Primary School, Lancashire (190) Year 6 – Crawley Ridge Junior School, Surrey International Schools Year 1 – Scholars International Academy, United Arab Emirates (34) Year 2 – Al Mamoura Academy, United Arab Emirates (38) Year 3 – Scholars International Academy, United Arab Emirates (70) Year 4 – Repton School Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates (66) Year 5 – GEMS Founders School Dubai, United Arab Emirates (39) Year 6 – GEMS Founders School Dubai, United Arab Emirates (73) The 2018 champions for PlayLive English are The Divine Mercy RC Primary School in Lancashire and GEMS Founders School Dubai in the UAE. The 2018 champions for PlayLive English are The Divine Mercy RC Primary School in Lancashire and GEMS Founders School Dubai in the UAE. “We are absolutely delighted by the number of students who took part in our PlayLive Challenge Week this year, especially given how busy schools are at this time of year,” says Richard Whalley, Managing Director of EducationCity. “It’s great to see, and fantastic to be part of. We love to throw down the gauntlet with this challenge and are always amazed by the students’ speedy recall and input. It’s really tough to get 190 points in just 60 seconds!” Upon hearing of their win, Matt Livesey from Beeston Hill St Luke’s C of E Primary School was delighted and quick to endorse the use of EducationCity in the classroom. He said: “EducationCity has become a staple of our learning here at St Luke’s. When it’s mentioned the first reaction from the children is always, ‘Can we go on PlayLive?’ The pupils have a level of engagement that is unparalleled and we can see the results in their work.” The PlayLive Maths challenge included challenges dedicated to addition, subtraction, division and multiplication. The PlayLive English challenge is a word-formation challenge where the objective is to make as many words as possible. EducationCity is an award-winning online teaching and learning resource, used in schools in over 80 countries across the world. Founded in 1999, EducationCity’s online teaching, learning and assessment resource is designed to support the teaching of students aged 3-12 years in English, Mathematics, Science, Computing, French, Spanish and English as an additional language. Follow EducationCity on Twitter @EducationCity and see www.educationcity.com
Tackling staff absence in schools, academies and colleges
A total of 2.16 million days were lost due to teacher sickness absence in 2015/16 according to the latest statistics from the Department of Education[i]. Other figures from the Liberal Democrats[ii] this year revealed that one in 83 teachers is now on long-term leave of one month or more for stress and mental health issues in 2016/17 – up 5% on the previous year. Adrian Lewis, director at Activ Absence says that sickness absence not only costs schools money, it can also impact staff morale and recruitment and retention, which can affect the pupils’ education. Lewis says, “Tackling absence is essential given schools operate on tight budgets and are workplaces where absences will be immediately noticed. If a teacher is frequently off sick it will either add to supply teaching costs or the workload of other teachers and affect teaching standards. “To address this situation, a growing number of educational establishments including primaries, academies and colleges are looking to drive efficiencies and reduce absenteeism levels by investing in absence management software to better manage their sickness absence. “A good absence management system will let teachers log on to alert school managers they are sick, making it easier to plan the day and sort out cover in time for lessons. It can help reduce key skills shortages as well as support the return to work process. “Having a system where you can see clearly who is off and when, whether this is for meetings, sick leave or holiday leave all in one place that is simple and easy to use, with zero training needed can be hugely beneficial. “This software can also help uncover the root causes of sickness absence and pick up trends such as someone often off ill on a Monday which could indicate stress, a growing problem in British schools,” adds Mr Lewis. A NASUWT union survey[iii] last year highlighted that one in ten teachers are taking anti-depressants to cope with work stresses – with heavy workloads and staff shortages being blamed. Having staff off sick is only adding to this problem. “By gaining insight into absence trends managers can spot patterns of sickness which can bring mental health issues, such as stress and anxiety, to light more quickly. This enables managers to offer support and help teachers who may be struggling,” adds Mr Lewis. Schools like the John Port Spencer Academy in Derbyshire are already getting the benefits of using this technology. Jeannette Topham, HR Officer says, “We started using Activ Absence in October 2017. We were looking for a system that streamlined requests for planned absence and one that also helped us to manage the sickness absence process. Staff have adapted to the new system really well and the online forms and email prompts are really useful for keeping everyone informed about what they need to do. “The system keeps the School Leadership Team informed about staffing and the cover supervisor knows what requests are being made in advance to help anticipate any cover needs.” Louise Varner, HR Administrator at Bootham School in York finds the system simple to use, highly intuitive with information easily accessed and clearly displayed. She says, “Reports can be customised to deliver management information as and when required and scheduled to run automatically. “I have set up various alerts within the system which trigger e-mails to me, the HR manager and line manager if certain criterion is met. We use this information to inform positive interventions, as line managers are able to discuss any issues with their staff as soon as a pattern of absence emerges. This has had a positive impact in reducing absence and reflects the supportive ethos of the school. “The online return to work form gives a coherent structure for line managers to follow when conducting interviews with staff and prompts them to fully explore any adjustments that may be needed to facilitate a phased return. The system also sends a reminder if the return to work has not been completed which is invaluable in ensuring that records are up to date and that we, as an organisation, are looking after the wellbeing of our staff.” Mr Lewis concludes, “For schools, academies, colleges and universities thinking ahead to the new academic year and planning IT budgets now, investing in technology could be a game changer for reducing and managing staff absence effectively. Absence management software can bring efficiencies and savings, as well as help schools look after the wellbeing of staff their staff.” For more information visit: www.activabsence.co.uk
Alex Quigley on Closing the Vocabulary Gap
Renowned education writer Alex Quigley answers QA Education’s questions on his latest title, Closing the Vocabulary Gap… What challenges do teachers face in terms of children having a poor vocabulary? The issue of children having a limited vocabulary is quite challenging in scale and subtly different from child to child. With the new bigger and harder curriculum at both primary and secondary school, the increased vocabulary and reading comprehension demand has risen considerably. Many children simply cannot access the full curriculum. In the early years, children can struggle to read at the same level as their peers, whereas at secondary school, many students are simply turned off by school after facing failure countless times daily as they cannot access the academic curriculum of school. How can a better vocabulary improve work in subjects other than reading? A broad and deep vocabulary is integral to every facet of learning. Take science. In primary school, children need to grasp the unique language of science to describe the phenomena, from forces to food chains. When you possess a broad vocabulary any new or unfamiliar idea or term you come across is more likely to be linked to what you know and therefore better understood. Vocabulary is like mental Velcro – the more you know, the more ‘hooks’ you have to hook onto new words. I quote E. D. Hirsch in my book who states that vocabulary is a great proxy for lots of general knowledge in the sciences, the humanities and the arts. Do teachers have time to implement more approaches to reading, or should they replace existing practices? Successful reading is so fundamental to all learning that we have to ensure our approach is as effective as it can be. For many teachers, this may mean dropping some existing strategies so that pupils can a well understood and well practiced array of reading strategies. Explicit vocabulary instruction shouldn’t be some time-consuming bolt on in the school week. Instead it should be woven into our explanations, our teacher and student talk, in the act of reading and more. Ensuring our pupils access, and confidently use, the academic language of school is essential and needs time in the school week. How is spelling linked to vocabulary usage? We too often fail to teach spelling – we simply test spelling. Weekly spelling tests are ubiquitous across the country. The problem is that this is a limited and inefficient strategy that relies pretty much on children simply improving with age. We can instead combine vocabulary instruction with the teaching of spelling in meaningful ways. By teaching new and unfamiliar words by unveiling their parts (morphology) and history (etymology), by making links to word families, synonyms and antonyms, we get to deeply know a word – along with the how and ‘why’ of its spelling. If you want a pupil to remember how to spell ‘ghost’, tell them how it was a ghastly 500 year old mistake. You want to find out too don’t you? Why is it important that children understand etymology? The roots and parts of words unveil meaningful knowledge about their origins. If you are teaching mathematics or science, you are drawing upon language with the same Latin and Greek roots. This offers lots of useful mental hooks to understand not just the origins of words, but to deepen your understanding of their meaning. Knowing that the root of ‘scop’ means to see/watch gives lots of mental hooks when a child faces new or unfamiliar words like ‘microscopic’, ‘scope’ or ‘horoscope’. Should secondary schools and even colleges still be promoting the use of a wider vocabulary? How can this happen? I think we should and we can with not too much difficulty. First, teachers need training in teaching vocabulary and the gaps many of our students face with academic language. Then we need to work as subject experts identifying the crucial subject specific vocabulary, whilst also paying attention to the sophisticated language of school – what Isabel Beck and her colleagues term ‘tier 2’ vocabulary. Words that litter our academic talk and writing, like ‘inefficient’, ‘phenomena’ or ‘sophisticated’. We can gift students with independent word learning strategies too, so that whenever they read they have the tools to more readily access the meaning of a given text. For more information on Alex, see The Confident Teacher. To buy Closing the Vocabulary Gap (Routledge), RRP £16.99, see Amazon.