Subject: Weekly news update 17
This week..... apologies for the
lateness of this weekly news - the snow caused chaos to many of the region’s
schools with
over 80 closing on Monday. Here at SCHOOLS NorthEast the
hard-working Communications Officer was left to hold the fort
(that’s me!),as our Director was stranded at Heathrow airport
and Development Manager was laid-up with the flu. Things can
only get better...
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News and Events
Last chance! Funding Advice surgery
Last Thursday SCHOOLS NorthEast held the first of the funding
advice surgeries where delegates were offered 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. Representatives from School Fund
Finder and the NCPTA were on-hand to discuss how to develop
your own strategic fundraising framework, identify key dates and
processes and make the most of your PTA. A market place was
also set up for delegates to gather further information and
network with their peers. To reserve your place at the next and final
surgery on the 12 February at Carmel RC College, Darlington,
8.00am for 8.30am start until 11.00am, please call 0191 280
5037 or email – info@schoolsnortheast.com.
Educational Excellence – making it work in the North East
SCHOOLS
NorthEast, CBI North East, Universities for the NorthEast and Business in the Community
get set to host an event
bringing
North East business and education Leaders. The aim to create momentum behind a
collaborative approach to education in
the
North East and develop practical initiatives to help achieve the educational
outcomes necessary for the future success of the
region
and its people. This event provides an opportunity to celebrate the many
innovative and impressive examples of good practice
already
evident across the North East region.
(There is still time to submit case-study examples from your
school! – call 0191 2805037)
FAO: KS4 Maths Co-ordinators
Talk Maths
This
free half-day development event offers Maths Teachers an opportunity to ‘talk
Maths’ and take away practical content for
their
lessons. The event includes entertaining and informative presentations with
Maths experts Rob Eastaway, Andrew Jeffrey
and
Simon Singh, with lunch and networking opportunities. Held on Tuesday 17
March in Newcastle, there are limited places for
this
event so book one for your school now.
For more information or to reserve a place go to - www.ocr.org.uk/events.
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News round-up
Local news
·
Closure
shock for schools (Sunderland Echo)
·
Several
North East schools still closed today (Chronicle Live)
·
Prince
Edward in the spotlight at junior school press conference (The
Northern Echo)
·
Nunthorpe
School's zero tolerance policy sees scores of pupils sent home (The
Northern Echo)
·
Gateshead
primary schools cash revamp
(Chronicle Live)
·
Westfield
School pupils design new uniform (The Journal)
·
Children
play a role in Blackhall Primary School’s first award (The
Northern echo)
·
Education
bosses say crunch won’t stop school scheme on Teesside (Gazette Live)
·
Pupils'
Christmas play back by popular demand (Sunderland
Echo)
Cost of State Education
·
Rising
cost of education 'increases demand for secondhand uniform' (The
Telegraph)
·
Schools
warned on parental costs (BBC News)
·
Cost
of 'free' education rises above £10,000 (The Independent)
·
Trips
and uniforms add £10k to 'free' education (Times online)
·
Sending
a pupil to state school costs £1,200 a year (Daily Mail)
Academies
·
Teachers
strike over academies (The Independent)
·
Ofsted
intervenes at new academy (BBC News)
·
Academy
pay-offs total millions (The TES)
·
Academies
could create two-tier system (The TES)
·
Non-teacher
head quits after just five months (The TES)
·
New
leaders for failing flagship academy (The Independent)
Speed-delivery learning
·
The
answer to GCSE success: three lessons - plus basketball (Monkseaton
School in The Guardian)
·
Pupils
pass GCSE module after an hour of teaching (The Telegraph)
·
One
hour: time it took Year 9 to crack GCSE science (The
TES)
·
Speed
GCSEs could revolutionise classroom (Times Online)
·
GCSEs taught in 60
minutes (The TES)
SATs
·
New
school tests to replace Sats 'too complex', warns Lord Sutherland (The
Telegraph)
·
Sats
exams firm 'should have been Googled' (The Telegraph)
·
Officials
should have Googled Sats test row firm, MPs told (The
Guardian)
·
Constraints
on time risk repeat of Sats tests disaster (The TES)
Young, Gifted and Talented
·
Brightest
children failed by state schools (Daily Telegraph)
·
Young
and gifted 'failures' prompt reform (The TES)
Diplomas
·
Diploma
courses 'are mired in confusion' (Daily Mail)
·
Flagship
diplomas 'not suitable for pupils going on to higher education' (The
Guardian)
Music in schools
·
Too
few schools are hitting the high notes in music (Ofsted)
·
School music lessons
'inadequate' (BBC News)
·
Pledge of
music classes for all pupils has backfired in many primaries, says Ofsted (The Guardian)
·
Ofsted:
Half of schools provide 'inadequate music teaching' (Telegraph)
Other educational news
·
Fury over
school closures as weather eases its grip (The Guardian)
·
Schools
face admissions spot checks (The Guardian)
·
Ofqual:
A-levels 'should be toughened up' (Daily Telegraph)
·
Millions
wasted on school build bids (Children and Young People Now)
·
How Edward de Bono's ideas are transforming schools (The
Independent)
·
Legal
action looms in faith school row (The TES)
·
Teaching
of phonics receives boost (The
Guardian)
·
Funding for phonics training (Children
and Young People Now)
·
Learning
difficulties: Urgently needed, two major inquiries (The Guardian)
·
Male
teacher: a most wanted man (The Telegraph)
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Star pupil
Speed-delivery
lessons – Could 20 minute ‘burst’ lessons
interspersed with a bit of basketball be the key to GCSE success?
Year 9 pupils are
Monkseaton School, North Tyneside tested out the ‘revolutionary’ new memory
technique teaching method
and passed a science
GCSE with grades D and above after only an hour!
Could do better
Music lessons – Following a three-year study of music
scholarship and teaching in 84 primary and 95 secondary schools around
the Country, Ofsted
claims that schools are still failing to hit the right note when it comes to
teaching music, and that initiatives and
funding for the
provision of music were not always reaching the schools and teachers that
needed them most.
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Unfortunately this week’s Head
was snowed in! The next weekly news will feature a Primary
Head from Hartlepool.
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
Get Set in the North East - 2012 Opportunities for schools
Sign your school up to ‘Get Set’, the official London 2012
education programme for schools and colleges, and give your students
access to the ‘Get Set’ website, an interactive resource which
provides a range of flexible tools which can be used in classroom and
includes interviews with young Olympic and Paralympic athletes
and games. ‘Get Set’ resources have been developed across eight
themes: internationalism, communication
collaboration & citizenship, practical learning, sport and PE, enterprise,
sustainability and
regeneration,
culture and creativity and healthy, active lifestyles. Projects to get involved
with include ‘Young Ambassadors’, ‘Make
your
Mark Challenge’ and EDF Energy’s ‘The Pod’. If as many schools as possible within each
local authority in the North East
sign up before the 16 February, they get the chance to
win a visit from an Olympic athlete. On your marks, get set, go!
Got to - www.london2012.com/getset
or email - hugh.muckian@london2012.com for more information
FAO: Primary Schools / Year 5 Teachers
Win a visit from the Climate cops!
Npower is offering 100 primary schools that teach Year 5 pupils,
the chance to win a visit from the Climate Cops Academy, an
exciting and interactive workshop designed to inspire Year 5
pupils to become more environmentally aware and make a difference
to their school and community. Pupils will experience hands-on
activities, video presentations and team challenges to learn about
such issues as energy efficiency, renewable energy, sustainable
living and climate change.
To find out more or to enter
your school into the competition, visit – www.climatecops.com.
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State of the Nation
Half of the UK’s workforce are not qualified beyond level 2: 5
GCSEs
Business in the Community: Time
for Action
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Wise words
‘I not only use all of the brains I have, but
all I can borrow’
Woodrow Wilson
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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