Financial education charity reaches over 100 primary schools in one year
In the first year since launching, The Centre for Financial Capability, a charity aimed at strengthening financial resilience for children and young people, has been working with MyBnk, a specialist financial education charity, to provide crucial financial education lessons to over 100 schools. Research has shown that money forming habits and behaviours begin at the age of 7, so it is vital that financial literacy and capability is included at primary level. Topics include saving and budgeting but the core is to build the confidence, resilience and skills underlying positive money attitudes and behaviours. The Centre for Financial Capability, backed by a coalition of major UK financial institutions, focuses on the provision, delivery and research of financial education in primary schools. The charity was created in July 2021, and since then has reached over 3,500 primary-aged children in partnership with MyBnk. Many parliamentarians, including the Chancellor, have visited primary schools in their own constituencies to see the financial education sessions in action. After a successful first year as a charity, the Centre will continue to support delivery of financial education programmes and to raise awareness of the need for expanded financial capability across the UK. The charity has also been campaigning the Government to direct some of the unclaimed money from the Dormant Assets Scheme to fund primary financial education. Jane Goodland, Trustee of the Centre for Financial Capability, said: “I am delighted with the tremendous successes achieved by the Centre in its first year. Over 100 primary schools across the country have received this award-winning financial education programmes, funded by the Centre. Evidence proves that delivering financial education lessons at a young age can build better financial resilience skills and confidence, and I am proud that the Centre has continued to make a positive impact on young people’s lives. I look forward to the continuous growth and achievements for the second year!” Guy Rigden, CEO of MyBnk, said: “Providing financial education lessons to primary-aged children has a powerful and positive impact on their lives, and the programmes provide a platform to showcase good practice. I’m enthused to continue working with the Centre to deliver these vital lessons and provoke systemic change.”
Coppice Primary School awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag certificate
Oldham-based Coppice Primary School has been awarded the Eco-Schools Green Flag Certification having demonstrated its commitment to encouraging good environmental behaviour amongst pupils and within the local community. The Eco-Schools awards have international accreditation; recognising and rewarding young people’s environmental actions for over 25 years. Their aim is to empower young people to take care of our planet now and throughout their lifetimes. Coppice successfully achieved the bronze award in 2018, silver in 2019, and then began its Green Flag journey in September 2020. The school is now required to reapply for the certificate every two years and to prove that they are running as an eco-school. The Eco-Schools team reported that the school had “clearly taken great efforts to connect your energy/litter and healthy living projects happening across the school and embedding work into the curriculum and everyday school life in a really impactful way.” Eco-initiatives across the school over the academic year included ‘Switch Off Fortnight’, ‘The Big British Spring Clean’, the ‘Big Battery Hunt’ and a new ‘healthy snack’ policy. The children also enjoyed improving the local environment through litter picking; creating habitats for mini-beasts; learning about the wider environment and current global issues. Andrew Hulmes, Headteacher of Coppice Primary Academy, said: “Working towards the certification has been amazing fun for the students and staff alike, they have all embraced every aspect of working towards the award. “There were some real highlights over the last year including the Big Battery Hunt in June, children were encouraged to bring in used batteries to be recycled, all whilst learning about renewable energy and rechargeable batteries. “A really fun day for the students and teachers was switch off day last year, all classes turned their lights off and teachers used alternative teaching activities which didn’t require the use of energy.” Coppice Primary School forms part of the Focus-Trust – a charitable primary schools trust which is based in the North-West of England and West Yorkshire with a vision of providing great schools at the heart of communities where children thrive, achieve and succeed.
Explosive fun: free virtual trip for students to experience the volcanoes of the Canary Islands
Schools across the UK are being invited to sign-up for a free virtual and interactive lesson to round-off the summer term and ‘whisk’ students to experience the volcanoes of La Palma, Canary Islands. The immersive lesson aims to bring geography and the work of scientists to life in the classroom, as students get to meet a local volcanologist and hear about his important work keeping people safe. The online lessons will be delivered live over Zoom by immersive learning resource, Lyfta, and will take place on Wednesday 6th July and Friday 8th July with sessions to suit older and younger learners. The session incorporates a human-centred short documentary film and interactive learning environments so students can virtually explore and take in the sights and sounds of an active volcano, the scientists’ control room and the local church. Students will need to tread carefully as they walk in the shoes of the volcanologist and his team, learning about key geology concepts such as why volcanoes erupt, rock cycles and what causes volcanoes to appear in certain parts of the world. Despite a career in science offering incredible variety and opportunities to make a positive impact on the world, many young people are unaware about the career options in the industry. Part of the challenge is a lack of accessible work experience opportunities, particularly for young people living in remote and disadvantaged regions in the UK. For example, research by the British Science Association found that 29 per cent of young Londoners would consider a career in science, compared to just 17 per cent of young people in the North East. Without these opportunities to experience the world of STEM, it is difficult for young people to aspire to a career in the science field. Serdar Ferit, co-founder and co-CEO at Lyfta, said: “Our aim is to provide experiences that give every student equal opportunities to experience new things and develop their cultural capital, no matter their geographic location or background. Through immersive storytelling, students can virtually travel to the Canary Islands and experience a day in the life of a science professional, ask questions and find out more about volcanology.” “The free, immersive lessons provide teachers with a fun way to supplement geography content and bring learning to life for students, particularly those who might be curious about what a scientist does and how they started in the field. Being able to apply theory and knowledge to real-world scenarios is essential if we want to inspire the next generation of brilliant science thinkers and innovators.” The free, immersive lessons will take place on Wednesday 6th July for primary schools and Friday 8th July for secondary schools. For more information and to register a class for the live, “We live amongst volcanoes” lesson, please visit: https://www.lyfta.com/blog-storage/end-of-term-primary-activities
Scottish government proposes reduced use of restraint in schools
The Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) has welcomed the publication of the Scottish Government’s public consultation on draft guidance on the use of restraint in schools, Included, engaged and involved part 3: A relationship and rights based approach to physical intervention in Scottish Schools. The RRN said the consultation represented a significant step forward. It said amongst the UK nations, Scotland leads the way in promoting best practice and seeking to reduce the use of restraint including enforced isolation in schools. A spokesperson said: “We applaud the Scottish Government’s commitment to upholding the human rights of children and young people through their commitment to incorporating the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) into Scots law. “However, the Restraint Reduction Network supports calls for the guidance to be made a statutory requirement. In England, the Mental Health (Use of Force) Act 2018 has demonstrated the impact statutory guidance has on promoting culture change in the use of restraint. “While practice in education has not evolved at pace with practice in mental health and social care, we believe the publication of the consultation and draft guidance is an opportunity for the Scottish Government to move to enshrine in law the need to safeguard the rights of children and young people within schools. “Too many children and young people, often autistic children or those with learning disabilities, experience inappropriate restraint within educational settings – settings where they should be supported to thrive. We know that children with additional needs are more likely to experience restraint and enforced isolation than other pupils. “The Scottish Government draft guidance itself notes that the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities stated the UK must “adopt appropriate measures to eradicate the use of restraint for reasons related to disability within all settings. “The current consultation represents an opportunity for the Scottish Government to lead the way for all UK nations to mandate guidance, improving practice and reducing the use of restraint.” The RRN said it welcomed a number of important inclusions within the guidance: Recognition that behaviour is a form of communication, and that distressed behaviour may indicate an unmet need. Clear differentiation in the definitions of pupil-led withdrawal and types of enforced isolation. The requirement that all forms of restraint in schools must be recorded. Acknowledgment of the need for post-incident support. The RRN has developed a Post-Incident Debriefing Toolkit, commissioned by NHS England, to improve specialist children and young people’s inpatient mental health, autism and learning disability services. It continued: “In our response to the consultation, the RRN will make the following suggestions: That the guidance should be a statutory requirement That, for transparency, definitions of restrictive practices within the guidance should be described separately from their justification for use The guidance could go further in preventing enforced isolation, in line with children’s homes and social care more broadly The guidance could have gone further (as is the case with NDIS in Australia) in banning certain types of physical restraint.” Quality Assurance in Training At the RRN Conference in 2021, Children’s Commissioners from all four United Kingdom nations voiced support quality assurance in restraint training used on children and young people. Regulating restraint training is essential; not doing so risks commissioning inadequate training, focussed on technical skill, restraint and use of force without sufficient focus on prevention, de-escalation or recovery. Ultimately this leaves vulnerable children unprotected. We welcome the recommendation that, where restraint is a foreseeable possibility, schools use restraint training that is certified as complying with the Restraint Reduction Network (RRN) Training Standards. The RRN Training Standards are a set of ethical training standards designed to protect human rights and support the minimisation of restrictive practices. The Mental Health Use of Force statutory guidance puts a statutory requirement for training and training providers to be certified as complying with the RRN training standards. There is a clear need for the Standards to be adopted as a statutory requirement in the devolved nations and within the education sector. Beth Morrison, RRN Trustee, said: “It is more than 7 years ago that I submitted my petition to the Scottish Parliamentary Petitions Committee, which resulted in the Children and Young Person’s Commissioner’s investigation. “Whilst the guidance represents significant progress, I am bitterly disappointed that the Scottish Government has refused to protect our most vulnerable children and young people, like my son Calum, in law. I fear guidelines will be ignored and children will continue to be physically and emotionally harmed. Why is this not statutory?” The RRN is optimistic that this moment provides an opportunity for the Scottish Government to demonstrate a lasting commitment to safe-guarding the rights of children and young people in schools and we call on them to make the guidance a statutory requirement. A strong stance in Scotland would lead the way for governments across the UK to follow suit.
Survey reveals generosity of teachers on Public Service Day – 23 June
New research released for Public Service Day has revealed that more than half (59%) of teachers joined education to make a positive difference to the lives of others and 53% have been involved in their local community since they started their career. The survey, carried out by Opinion Matters and commissioned by public sector and civil service membership club Boundless, painted a picture of public service workers as not only serving the country with distinction but also being the cornerstone of communities. The survey also revealed that the challenges everyone faced since March 2020 have brought communities together and made Britain feel more united as a society. Nearly a third of us (28%) think the effect of the pandemic has seen a sense of community grow. And it was the UK’s teachers, healthcare professionals and police officers who helped the nation through the difficult times. Other statistics included: • Nearly 1 in 5 (18%) of teachers have looked after their neighbours during their careers • More than a third (32%) of those in education say their workplace gives them a sense of community spirit • 1 in 10 teachers run sports teams for kids in their spare time Darren Milton at Boundless said: “Community spirit is clearly alive and well and growing across the country with our teachers and other public servants at the very heart of it. “People in public service roles routinely go the extra mile. In fact, the survey also revealed that more than half, 59%, of teachers joined up specifically because they wanted to make a positive difference to the lives of others.” That community spirit carries over into their personal lives, too, with 53% of teachers working voluntarily, helping neighbours and devoting time to charitable initiatives – a revelation that makes Public Service Day on Thursday 23 June even more poignant. As an example, Marva Rollins OBE has spent the last 40 years doing voluntary work outside of her roles: “I worked with the Sickle Cell Society, at a time when many of the doctors and nurses didn’t even know about sickle cell. We were trained to go into hospitals and people’s homes, and my phone number was the one that the hospital had, so 2o’clock in the morning I might get a call from a parent saying ‘I need help’. “At the moment, I’m a trustee for Success Club, which is a charity which goes into schools to help children with mindfulness. I’m also a patron of the Reach Society – the only female patrol, because it started out as an organisation for black professional males to coach young black men, but now it’s open to all people. “I’m still a governor of three schools, including a special school and one for neurodiverse children – many of which have very complex needs. I also work on a hotline for people working in education who are in distress, as things are not always good in education. I also help people to prepare for interviews. “I do a lot of volunteer work, it’s just who I am…you’ve got to keep busy.” Public Service Day was officially launched by the United Nations in 2003. Boundless began campaigning in 2019 for more national recognition and support for those working in the sector. For more information on Public Service Day, plus inspirational stories and tips on how to get involved, please visit www.boundless.co.uk/psdand engage on social media with @bemoreboundless using the hashtags #ExtraordinaryPeople and #PublicServiceDay.
New careers website tackles outdated stereotypes about careers in geography
Esri UK has announced a new Careers with GIS website, designed to inspire more students to study geography and GIS at GCSE, A-level and degree level, by highlighting the rewarding and exciting careers that these subjects lead to. Containing stories from real professionals working with GIS (Geographical Information Systems), from drone pilots and engineers to those tackling climate change or conserving wildlife, the website dispels the outdated stereotypes about which careers are open to those with geography qualifications. The rich variety of jobs included demonstrates how geospatial technology skills are currently in growing demand across many different sectors, particularly within the sustainability and environmental industries. Content on the site includes videos and interactive story maps to be used by teachers, parents/carers, careers advisors and students, to give inspiration when choosing subjects, helping people realise that studying geography and GIS is the first step towards a fulfilling career. Using filters, the site allows students to narrow down different job profiles which they are most interested in. Profiles include GIS experts working at Costain, Sustrans, The Rivers Trust, Plantlife International and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. “Teachers tell us that students face pressure to drop Geography because the huge range of well-paid and fulfilling jobs connected to the subject are invisible from the classroom. Careers with GIS has been created to reveal what’s out there, break down outdated stereotypes of what geographers do and who can be a geographer,” said Katie Hall, Education Manager, Esri UK. “The geospatial sector is currently crying out for new people – particularly with the growth of environmental and climate change related industries. Learning geography and GIS skills can help students find fulfilling careers, empowering them to make the world a better place.” For geography undergraduates thinking about future careers, the site gives advice on what skills they’ll need to gain during their degree to apply for a growing range of jobs. Other useful resources include links to job vacancies, the GeoMentor scheme, plus industry sites including the Royal Geographical Society, Black Geographers and Women in Geospatial. Steve Brace, Head of Education and Outdoor Learning, Royal Geographical Society, said: “From flying drones to working across Government, analysing Britain’s rivers or creating a new map of Qatar’s roads – Esri UK’s career materials illustrate the wide range of roles open to those who can apply their geographical expertise and GIS skills in the workplace. These jobs are helping businesses and governments achieve more and addressing the key challenges facing our societies and environment. So, if geography students want to see where GIS might take them, the Royal Geographical Society encourages them to find extra inspiration in Esri UK’s career profiles.” Simon Holland, Head of Faculty for Geography, Bilborough Sixth Form College, Nottingham, commented: “GIS is such a big growth area for careers and lots of our students progress to this industry, often finding out about these careers after studying geography at university. Therefore, it’s invaluable to have such an exciting GIS careers resource which features a diverse range of people, job roles and backgrounds, for use at an earlier stage in their careers journey. ‘Careers with GIS’ is an excellent resource for integrating careers into teaching and for enabling students to explore in more depth the diverse and exciting world of careers with GIS.” “The new website is different to other geography-related careers resources as it focuses on careers which use the technology and skills of GIS, which today includes interactive mapping, artificial intelligence, digital twins, drones and mobile apps,” concluded Hall. “The site is a long-term project which will see the content continue to grow – we’re now on the look-out for more professionals to feature on the site to help enthuse future GIS experts.”
Two-thirds of teachers doubt reliability of this year’s SATs
Teachers are so concerned about ongoing disruption to children’s education, the transition to secondary school and the reliability of last month’s Key Stage 2 SATs that they are going to extraordinary lengths to plug gaps in learning and skills, according to a new survey. The study of more than 1,000 teachers found that three-quarters of teachers (75%) are worried that incoming Year 7 students will be unprepared academically, while almost four-fifths (79%) are concerned that they won’t be ready emotionally or socially for secondary school. The sample was evenly split between primary and secondary teachers. The majority are particularly concerned about those children’s basic classroom skills (60% of respondents), behaviour (54%), and reading and literacy skills (52%). And significant minorities think pupil confidence (39%) and numeracy skills (38%) have also been affected. As a result, most schools (71%) are putting in place an extraordinary programme of measures to address gaps in learning and basic classroom skills, says the formative assessments provider GL Assessment who commissioned the research. Just under a half of teachers (46%) say their schools are planning to offer more pastoral or emotional support, a third (33%) plan to implement a more comprehensive reading programme and a quarter (26%) aim to broaden the curriculum to plug any gaps in students’ knowledge. Additional measures involve devoting more time to developing classroom skills (cited by 24% of teachers) and numeracy skills (22%) as well as putting on additional early morning or after-school classes (20%). Teachers overwhelmingly think that disruption to the education system will affect children’s performance in this year’s Key Stage 2 SATs and make the results less reliable. Two-thirds (65%) think this year’s SATs will be less reliable than in pre-pandemic years and four-fifths (82%) say pupil performance will be affected by the disruption caused by serial lockdowns. Only one in five (19%) think this year’s results will be as reliable as before. Primary teachers are even more concerned than secondary school teachers – 71% of the former think SATs will be less reliable this year compared to 58% of their colleagues in secondary schools, and 88% of them think pupil performance will be affected (versus 77% of the secondary school teachers). So concerned are school leaders, that a fifth of them (20%) are considering drafting in specialist or primary expertise to help students tackle any learning needs. If anything, school leaders are even more worried – they tended to register higher concerns on all issues than more junior colleagues. Geoff Barton, ASCL General Secretary, said: “The research findings show that school leaders and teachers, in both phases, have deep concerns for pupils making the transition this year, both in terms of the impact of the disruption to their learning and their emotional and social preparedness. This reflects what our own members have been telling us, particularly in relation to the pastoral support that leaders are finding huge demand for across all key stages. “But the findings also highlight the work that schools and trusts are proactively doing to address many of these issues with the cohort transitioning this summer. It illustrates the determination leaders and teachers have for ensuring that these children have the best possible start to their secondary education.” Graeme Duncan, Chief Executive of the charity Right to Succeed, said: “In this post-pandemic era, now more than ever schools need to collaborate to meet the increasing cognitive, social and emotional needs of children and young people. We’ve seen amazing results when schools work collectively on key themes such as literacy, inclusion and wellbeing in places like Blackpool and North Birkenhead. To support this collective working, a shared measurement framework like those offered by GL Assessment can help to understand where the needs are, demonstrate impact and help schools in better supporting their children and young people.” Crispin Chatterton, Director of Education at GL Assessment, said: “Schools are going above and beyond to tackle any lingering consequences of the pandemic. But we shouldn’t be under any illusions that this year’s transition to secondary school will be anything other than extraordinarily challenging for many students and teachers. “Most schools have moved swiftly to bring in additional support where they can. And if there are issues – from gaps in student literacy and numeracy to worries over children’s emotional resilience and classroom skills – schools can use standardised assessment to understand the needs of the new cohort and spot which children might need additional support quickly and reliably.” Teachers can find out more on GL Assessment’s dedicated website – ‘The Transition Conversation’ – from 13 June 2022: www.reports.gl-assessment.co.uk/the-transition-conversation YouGov surveyed 1,006 primary and secondary school teachers in England online for GL Assessment. Fieldwork was undertaken between 14-26 April 2022.
The ‘Netflix’ of education software launched by The Access Group
One of the UK’s leading education software providers, The Access Group has launched Education Demand, bringing award-winning video content and digital learning tools to schools across the country. Described as the ‘Netflix’ of education, the video content and assessments available via the platform have been developed to engage learners, improve confidence and accelerate progress. Education Demand users benefit from access to GCSEPod, a learning and revision tool that’s proven to help users achieve one grade higher on average than non-users. Covering 28 GCSE/ IGCSE subjects, the GCSEPod content and assessments are accessible both in the classroom and at home, providing learners more flexibility and freedom when it comes to managing their revision. The GCSE Resits bundle for Maths and English Language offers access to 12 modules per subject, with each of these modules containing 3-5 lessons covering key elements of the topic. These lessons are delivered using a mixture of video, assessment, and workbook-based tasks. Nearly 30,000 subscribers used this package in 2021. Commenting on the launch Simon Baines, Managing Director, Access Education said: “Education Demand has been designed to bring together three key elements – content, assessments and data and we’re hugely excited to be launching the product to schools across the UK. We know the past few years have been incredibly challenging for schools and our software has proven to reduce teacher workload, easily integrating with SSO, Microsoft Teams and Google Classroom, enabling teachers to focus on the job in hand – teaching.” The Education Demand tool has already been extensively trialled and is already having a positive impact on schools, as Mairi Godley, Principal Teacher Pupil Support, St Margaret’s Academy said: “Our students have thrived using Education Demand, it’s extremely engaging. Used in school or at home, students can practise their key skills to better prepare themselves for assessments. This way of learning is the future, and we highly recommend it.” Schools using Education Demand can also access detailed reporting, allowing teachers to pin-point knowledge gaps and identify areas of low confidence, providing the data needed to develop personalised intervention plans. To find out more visit: https://www.theaccessgroup.com/en-gb/education/software/education-resources/
The headteacher urging kids to ditch the revision this bank holiday weekend
“Put down the revision and enjoy the jubilee.” That’s the message from one headteacher who believes there is much to be gained by enjoying the festivities despite the looming exams. While you may think that teachers would be advocating that the upcoming Bank Holiday weekend is the perfect time to get some extra revision hours in, Lawrence Tubb, headteacher of online independent school Minerva’s Virtual Academy, says it’s time to put down the textbooks and make the most of the Jubilee celebrations. “We can’t get away from the fact that the last few years have been incredibly hard for young people, who have faced huge amounts of disruption and have had to adapt incredibly quickly to the world of the virtual classroom,” he said. “This year we’re in a situation where thousands of students will be sitting formal exams for the first time and so, it’s no surprise that there’s so much exam-anxiety amongst the class of 2022. “Revision is so important, not only to make sure you’re up to speed with everything but that you feel confident going into the exam hall and ready to tackle whichever questions are placed in front of you. But, that’s not to say that it should take over your life entirely, especially not when we’re about to celebrate such a moment in history. “Think of it this way. When you’re 70 years old, telling stories to your grandchildren, it will be the memories of where you were and what you were doing for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee that you’ll remember, not the fact that you missed out on all of the fun because you were revising all weekend! Ultimately, a couple of days where you can let your mind completely switch off from exams could do you the world of good and it certainly won’t derail your whole exam season.” But if a four-day weekend revision free seems as panic-inducing as the thought of the exam itself, Lawrence says there’s a few things you can do to keep on top of your studying this weekend without missing out on any festivities. “When it comes to revision, think quality over quantity. Our brains tend to take on board more information when we learn in shorter bursts rather than one long stint. So if you’re wanting to get some revision in without missing out on the rest of the weekend, try setting aside 15-30 minutes in the morning to focus on one of your priority topics. “Your family wants you to do well so why not try roping in some willing family members to help quiz you on the topics you might not know quite as well. Quickfire questions that make you think on your feet are a great way to test your knowledge and identify if you’ve got any gaps that you could focus on. A couple of quick pop quizzes over the weekend will give you a more engaging way to revise and you’ll have plenty of time to enjoy the celebrations too. “Or, how about making the most of the royal connection and revising topics that link with that theme? Whether it’s learning a few key quotes from Henry V ready for your English exam or having a think about how the Queen has contributed to the making of modern Britain, a spot of royal revision could be just the ticket – and it might help make it more memorable as well!” For more tips on revising effectively or for more information on Minerva’s Virtual Academy, visit www.minervavirtual.com