Subject: Head Teachers - Weekly news
update 16
This week.....there are only three
days left to get your school involved in the Future Leaders programme. We have
already
had a great response but are still keen to hear from more schools,
particularly those interested in project 3 - How can my
school inspire, motivate and guide young people to make informed
choices about their career that fulfil their potential and meet
the needs of the UK economy in the future? and project 4 - How
do we attract the best talent to work in our school and how do
we keep them? For more details go to - http://www.schoolsnortheast.com/content/news.html
Don’t forget to celebrate Chinese New Year this week with today
marking the beginning of the Year of the Ox. The Chinese
believe that it will be a year in which success will escape
without a sustained, mindful effort and discipline, and that it is not the
time for unruly behaviour or taking short cuts. Spread the word around
your school!
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News and Events
Book a place today - Funding Advice surgeries
Gain practical tips on producing successful funding applications
and writing winning bidding letters from national and regional
funding bodies including the Big Lottery and Lloyds TSB.
Find out about developing your own strategic fundraising framework
and identifying key dates and processes. Discover how to
make the most of your PTA, maximise the opportunities presented
by Gift Aid, and exceed funders’ expectations. You can also explore
the market place before and after the event to network with
your peers and gather further information. Choose from two
dates:
29 January – Burnside Business
and Enterprise College, North Tyneside. Time: 8.00am for 8.30am start – 11.00am
12 February – Carmel RC
College, Darlington. Time: 8.00am for 8.30am start – 11.00am
To reserve a place/s at one of
the surgeries, please email – info@schoolsnortheast.com or call
0191 280 5037
Media Surgery
We held our introductory Working with the media surgery
last Thursday with ONE NorthEast’s PR team and Karen Thomas
from Tyne Tees offering tips of the trade to help prepare a
school for PR activity, deal with bad press and get the media onboard
to receive good press. Getting schools involved in the regional
image campaign and making students passionate about their region
also featured on the agenda. We would like to thank all of the
delegates who joined us at the event and would ask that anyone
interested in attending an event like this in the future to let
us know at –
info@schoolsnortheast.com. You can download the
presentation: ‘PR – A practical guide’, shown at the event, on
the SCHOOLS NorthEast website from tomorrow.
FAO: Science co-ordinators
Transform your Key Stage 3 students into film-makers!
With the Newcastle Science Festival launching in March,
Newcastle Science City are offering all Key Stage 3 students across the
North East the opportunity to take part in a film-making
competition, and represent the region at the National Planet Sci Cast Film
Awards. Students will have until the end of May to submit their
two and a half minute movie about anything to do with science and
can work in groups of up to 5. Winners will be announced in June
and will receive a VIP red-carpet ‘Oscars’ reception at the Tyneside
Cinema, arriving in true Hollywood style in a stretch limo being
dropped off at the red carpet for fizzy non-alcoholic cocktails before the
screening. More information will be available on the Science
Festival Website on the 12th February.
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News round-up
Local news
·
Blyth
School pupils welcome Hollywood writer (The Chronicle)
·
North
East parents think twice about school fees (Northern
Echo)
·
Pupils
act as ambassadors to potential future school friends (Northern
Echo)
·
Prince
to launch school's centenary celebrations (Sunderland Echo)
·
Go-ahead
for plans to merge Durham schools (Sunderland Echo)
·
North
East businesses boost school science (Bdaily bulletin)
·
Saltburn
youngsters share school playground with hens (Gazette Live)
·
Gateshead
pupils strut their stuff on catwalk (The Chronicle)
·
Schools
celebrate making progress (Northern Echo)
BSF and the recession
·
BSF
schools say they lack resources (Children
and Young People Now)
·
Builders
'struggling' in £45bn schools project (The Independent)
·
School
building project could grind to a halt (The Guardian)
·
Banking 'threat'
to new schools (BBC News)
·
School
building programme hit by economic crisis (Times online)
·
Pay
schools to let teachers advise on new buildings, says report (The Guardian)
Diplomas
·
New
diplomas not suitable for bright pupils, say teachers (Times online)
·
Most teachers
do not see diplomas as valid route to university (Children and Young People Now)
·
University doubts over
Diplomas (BBC News)
·
Diplomas
could divide pupils, says survey (The Guardian)
SATs
·
Children
should face multiple choice tests instead of 'joke' Sats (The
Independent)
·
'Make
SATs multiple choice' says report (Times online)
Specialist schools
·
'No
evidence' specialist schools perform better (Daily Telegraph)
·
Specialist schools'
value queried (BBC News)
·
Specialist
schools not working, claims report (The Guardian)
Other educational news
·
£72million
'splurge': Ed Balls under fire for doubling his budget on consultants (Daily Mail)
·
Teachers
leave Britain to find rich life abroad (The
Guardian)
·
Grammar
schools: parents could face new application restrictions (Daily Telegraph)
·
White
working class 'losing out' (BBC News)
·
Four
is 'too early to start formal school' (Daily
Telegraph)
·
Bids
requested for free school meal pilots (Children
and Young People Now)
·
More
than 80 per cent of pupils find school 'unexciting' (Children and Young People Now)
·
The
neighbourhood effect (The Guardian)
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Star pupil
The Fox trot, Tango and Cha-Cha-Cha – a
new initiative has been launched to tackle childhood obesity and help Children
dance their way to
fitness. The ‘Essentially Dance’ Programme, developed by Strictly Ballroom’s finest, is already
underway in
schools in Salford,
and is proving a great success in helping children learn
concentration and improve co-ordination. Mr Motivator
also continues his
campaign for fitness, visiting schools across the UK - including our very own St-Benet Biscop RC Voluntary
Aided High School in
Bedlington last Thursday. So come on...get motivated and get your students
salsa-ing around the school!
Could do better
Schools overseas – With the lure of competitive contracts and exotic lifestyles, a
record number of Teachers are leaving the UK
to work in International schools across the globe, raising fears that British schools will be left understaffed and in crisis.
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Head to Head
Hilary French has been Head Teacher of Central Newcastle High
School for the last three years. Before this, Hilary was Head
Teacher
of Teesside High School in Eaglescliffe, Stockton.
Last week was as interesting, challenging and rewarding as every week because
we are dealing with people.
The two best things that happened last week were 1) The whole
School Assembly led by a girl in Year 11 who had us all
spellbound as she talked about her family’s experiences of the
Holocaust. 2) Reaching National Finals in Netball in three age groups.
The biggest disappointment at school last week not getting any girls
elected to the Youth Parliament in Newcastle.
The funniest thing that happened in school last week was ringing a home to
be asked by a young child to ring back because
they were in the middle of supper – parent rang me back within
two minutes absolutely mortified!
One thing that would have made my job easier last week would have been 48 hour
days!
Top of my to-do list for this week is to congratulate two girls who
helped at the Holmes Lectures at Newcastle University.
My hero of last week was Barack Obama – hope he remains a hero!
My villain of last week was the charity Edge for their research saying many teenagers
find lessons boring.
If
I was not a Head Teacher I would like to be an architect.
My
question for next week’s Head is: Which one thing would you change in your school to have the
biggest impact on the children
in
school?
If you would like to take part
in our regular ‘Head to Head’ feature and tell us all about your week, please
contact the team at
info@schoolsnortheast.com
or call us on 0191 2805037.
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Funding and opportunities
Is your school a ‘School of Creativity’?
Creative partnerships are looking for 30 new schools to become
involved in their ‘Schools of Creativity programme and join in their
ongoing mission to inspire students, teachers and parents across
England. If you are interested in developing creative learning and
practices in your school, and leading school networks in your area,
get your application in to Creative Partnerships before March 6
2009. Applicant schools must imagine what they would do
with £20,000 a year, an education consultant and creative agent to develop
and promote creative learning.
Go to – www.creative-partnerships.com/schoolsofcreativityapply
for more information or to apply.
Support for Leaders in behaviour and attendance
The National Strategies on behalf of the DCSF offer a
professional development programme open to all school staff working with
Behaviour, attendance and Social and Emotional Aspects of
Learning (SEAL). The National Programme for Specialist Leaders in
Behaviour and Attendance (NPSLBA) is a year-long programme to
help you implement change and make a difference.
Email – support.npslba@nationalstrategies.co.uk
or call 0118 918 2555 for more details.
Fill up your school library
Sign your school up for the Books for Schools promotion
launched by Times and Sunday Times, and help fill up your school
library with hundreds of thousands of new books. Collect Books
for schools tokens from the newspapers everyday (get your
students and parents to help) and then exchange the tokens for
free books.
Register before the 31 January
at – www.freebooksforschools.co.uk
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Education around the globe
High school fees, irrelevant curriculums, super-sized classes and
boy preference, mean 1.1 million children drop-out from primary
school each year in rural China.
China Daily, 2005
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Wise words
It does not matter how
slowly you go as long as you do not stop
Confucius
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SCHOOLS NorthEast is your network. Please get in touch
with your ideas, concerns, views and experiences- email: think@schoolsnortheast.com
....and don’t forget, if you’ve missed any of our previous weekly
news updates, you can find them at:
http://www.schoolsnortheast.com/content/new-resources/weekly%20news.html
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update, please email us at – info@schoolsnortheast.com
Have a good week!
SCHOOLS
NorthEast Team
Katie
Stonehouse
Communications
Officer
SCHOOLS
NorthEast
Tel: 0191 280 5037