Subject:                                     Weekly news update 26

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This week.....

 

This week.....take advantage of the early bird discount and book a place for you and a member of your team on the SCHOOLS

 NorthEast Summit.

............................................................................................................................................................................................................

News and Events

 

North East Women Leaders Conference

Last Friday around 400 young female pupils from schools across the region descended on Newcastle Business School @

Northumbria University to be inspired by the region’s leading ladies. The north east women Leaders conference, part-organised

by SCHOOLS NorthEast, proved a huge success, with speakers including Margaret Fay, Chair of ONE NorthEast, Sarah Green,

Regional Director of the CBI and Lorna Moran MBE of NRG leaving a lasting impression on all who attended. The day attracted

great attention from the Media with The Journal producing a six-page supplement on the conference. The Entrepreneurs Forum

carried out Parkinson-style interviews with female entrepreneurs and leaders, and ‘New’ women leaders were created by the students

in workshops. SCHOOLS NorthEast received wonderful feedback from the schools who took part and we look forward to next

year’s conference.

 

FAO: Secondary and special schools

Leadership in the community

The NCSL brings you an event which looks at how local secondary and special schools have addressed the issue of leadership

within the community. You will have the opportunity to network with local schools and share practical solutions. Free for all school

leaders. Two sessions to choose from:

Date: Tuesday 9 June from 10am-2.30pm at Stockton Education Development Centre

Date: Tuesday 16 June from 10am-2.30pm at the Dryden Centre, Gateshead

To reserve a place call – 0115 872 3857.  If this will be the first Leadership Network event you have attended, complete the online registration

form - https://www.ncsl.org.uk/session-timeout?urlParams=servid=35

 

‘Expect Respect’ training event

Send a member of your staff along to the Assembly rooms in Newcastle this Wednesday for a free training programme to promote

the new Expect Respect' Education Toolkit, an easy-to-use online resource developed by teachers in partnership with Women's

Aid, to help promote healthy relationships with the school curriculum and effective responses to children affected by domestic

violence. At the event you will receive a free toolkit which consists of year and age-appropriate lessons plans which meet PHSE,

SEAL and Every Child Matters targets and outcomes. The initiative is supported by The Body Shop so expect a little pampering

from Body Shop staff. Date: Wednesday 29 April at The Assembly Rooms, Newcastle from 10.00am-3.00pm

For more information or to book your free place, contact Katie Ross - 01179 837121.

 

North East School Awards – nomination deadline this Friday!

The deadline for entries into the 2009 North East School Awards if fast approaching. Be sure you get your nominations in before

Friday 1 May to be in with a chance of winning an award in one of the five project and/or individual categories. Winners and runners-up

will receive cash prizes with the winners of a project category receiving a bursary of £1,000. There is also a prize for overall North East

School of the Year, which is selected by the judges based on entries to the competition as a whole. Don’t forget that anyone is allowed

to nominate a project or a member of staff.

Entry forms can be downloaded at www.journallive.co.uk/schoolawards.

 

Inspire your pupils to be passionate about languages!

Did you know that the North East has the poorest uptake of Modern Languages at GCSE, AS and A‐Level in England? Through

a mixture of roadshows, language days, masterclasses, taster sessions and linguacasting, Routes into Languages North East,

have been trying to change this. You are invited to Modern Languages: "Influencing the Influencers", a seminar to engage

the region’s Head Teachers in a much needed discussion about the value and future of Modern Languages in the North East.

Date: Wednesday 13 May from 4.00pm – 5.30pm at The Sage, Gateshead, with the German Consul General from Edinburgh

as host. As Newcastle University (Lead institution in the NE Consortium) celebrates 50 years of German Studies, the seminar

will be followed by an evening of Mozart, Tchaikovsky and Mendelssohn from Northern Sinfonia, starting with a hot buffet at

5.30pm and a pre-concert talk on British-German music relations. Inspire yourselves and inspire your students!

Go to www.schoolsnortheast.com/events to sign up.

 

FAO: Enterprise Coordinators

Get buzzing at the Bees conference

Interested in finding out more about business, ethics and enterprise in schools? Want your students to be involved in social enterprise

and your school to be more engaged with business? Sign up for the Bees conference to explore the role social enterprises can play in

schools. Learn how to work more effectively with employers and broaden your understanding of ethical businesses and co-operatives.

The conference will be hosted by Wendy Gibson and all delegates will receive a free Enterprise Education resource kit.

Date: Thursday 25 June 2009 at The Sage, Gateshead from 9.15am - 4.30pm. Cost: £195+VAT per person.

For more information, contact Lyndsey Archbold – archboldl@benetenterprises.co.uk, 0787 87 99 444 or go to our website –

http://www.schoolsnortheast.com/content/events.html to see the full programme and download the booking form.

...................................................................................................................................................................................................................

News round-up

 

Local news

·         Split-site school in Durham rolls into one (Sunderland Echo)

·         Middlesbrough primary school caretaker shot in head with airgun (Gazette Live)

·         Tyneside pupils turn the clock back for a bard tribute (Chronicle Live)

·         Blyth Spartans skipper helps pupils to get cooking (News Post Leader)

·         Tyneside pupils build science skills (Chronicle Live)

·         Region’s schools join the great plant hunt (Journal Live)

·         Northumberland special school gets green light to double place numbers (News Post Leader)

·         Eaga back North East School Awards (Journal Live)

·         Healthy reward as kids bike to school (Gazette Live)

·         Sunderland pupils see results of art project (Sunderland Echo)

·         Darlington pupils help police with crime scene in school grounds (Northern Echo)

·         Sats success at Witton-le-Wear Primary school (Northern Echo)

·         Enterprising Tees Valley pupils take on a challenge (Northern Echo)

 

SATs, GCSEs, A’ Levels

·         Balls rejects Sats accusations (BBC News)

·         Ex-Sats chief: fresh marking fiasco on cards (TES)

·         Balls warned of new A-levels disaster (Guardian)

·         Crisis for new exams designed to replace GCSEs and A-levels (Daily Telegraph)

·         Brightest pupils are baffled by 'easy GCSEs' (The Independent)

·         SATs tests (Observer)

·         SATs exams fiasco (Guardian)

 

 

Sex education plan

·         Compulsory sex education plan (BBC News)

·         Schools must teach pupils about babies, Aids and sex (The Independent)

·         Pupils aged 11 to learn about gay sex (Times Online)

·         Compulsory 'lifestyle' classes in primary schools to be announced (Daily Telegraph)

·         Sex education to be compulsory in schools (Children and Young People Now)

·         Sex education 'to be compulsory' in all state schools (Daily Telegraph)

 

Primary Academies

·         Tories plan to create thousands of primary academies (Guardian)

·         Tories plan 'primary academies' (BBC News)

·         Tony Blair's education adviser urges Gordon Brown to adopt Tory 'primary academy' plan (Sunday Telegraph)

 

Budget 2009 and education

·         Budget round-up: what does it mean for the children's sector? (Children and Young People Now)

·         Which government departments will suffer from the budget cuts? (Guardian)

 

Faith schools

·         Faith schools free to preach against homosexuality (Guardian)

·         Faith schools 'lead to greater segregation of children' (The Independent)

 

Other educational news

·         Swine flu: schools told to review pandemic guidelines (Guardian)

·         LSC office closures to cost £42m (Guardian)

·         Digging for victory: Schools back gardens plan (The Independent)

·         Rose report: key features remain intact (TES)

·         Racist bullying rife in schools, says poll (TES)

·         First year primary pupils need good teachers (Professor Peter Tymms in the Sunday Times)

·         Delay school diploma scheme - plea (Gazette Live)

·         Pupils to be taught to speak properly amid growing 'word poverty' (Times Online)

·         Children to be taught how to speak properly (Daily Telegraph)

·         Art lessons fail to stimulate creativity warns Ofsted (Daily Telegraph)

·         Girls make boys worse at English, says new study (Guardian)

...........................................................................................................................................................................................................

Star pupil

Gardening

With numerous gardening campaigns being launched, vegetable patches being dug and trees being given away, the world of

education has got very green-fingers this week. Following the success last year of the Royal Horticultural Society’s Campaign

for School Gardening (over 8,000 schools signed up!), The Independent on Sunday and RHS have teamed up this year to

launch the Let Children Grow campaign which aims to get all primary schools in the UK to provide some form of practical

gardening for pupils. The Royal Botanic Gardens have also launched a £2m educational project to celebrate the 200th

Anniversary of Charles Darwin which will see all state maintained primary schools receiving plant ‘treasure chests’ to

participate in the Great Plant Hunt. As testament to the benefits of gardening, Witton-Le-Wear Primary School in Bishop

Auckland featured in the Northern Echo on Saturday as it celebrated its best SATs rating ever, an achievement Headmaster

Mark Stephenson partly attributes to the creation of a school vegetable patch and gardening club.

 

Could do better

Picasso, Monet, Matisse

If it’s not one thing (music) it’s another. Art is the latest subject to come under fire from Ofsted with a report published last week

stating that lessons are not being taught in an imaginative way and are failing to stimulate pupil’s creativity. A study by Ofsted

claims that it is not only secondary pupils who are being put off the subject, many of whom drop art before GCSE’s, but also

primary schools who ‘shun’ the subject to create more time to prepare pupils for literacy, maths and science tests. Ofsted have

suggested more trips to local galleries and school visits from artists are in order. Rolf Harris’s number anyone?     

..............................................................................................................................................................................................................

Head to Head

 

Enid Fairbrother has been Head Teacher of Whitburn Village Primary School in South Tyneside for the last 4 years. Previously

she worked in a small Church of England Primary school in South Tyneside where she spent 4 years as Head Teacher and 7

years as  Deputy Head. Enid is also a SCHOOLS NorthEast Board Member.

 

Last week was hectic and quite emotional (possibly not much different than usual then!).36 of our pupils, 2 staff and a volunteer

went to the Local Authority outdoor education centre at Coniston water on Monday. Though that meant it was quieter in school I

was to share responsibility with one of our T.A’s for organising and teaching the remaining 18 Y5 pupils for the week. This is no

mean feat when most of their class mates are canoeing and climbing mountains. We’d also got some special visitors coming in

and the Head Teacher interviews (to appoint my replacement) were taking place mid-week. I will be leaving the school in June to

take up an appointment with the local authority as a school improvement officer. Obviously I have mixed feelings and I will miss

children and staff but I’m also quite excited about the new role. I did feel very unsettled on the interview day –maybe it’s like moving

house-you want somebody to like it as much as you have but not necessarily to be worried about the redecoration needed!

The two best things that happened at school last week were: 1) We had a lovely coffee morning on Wednesday. Parents

and the local community had been invited in to share their special memories of the school as part of our 50^th birthday celebrations.

The cookery club had made some biscuits for the occasion and Y5 would “meet and greet” and interview visitors. In a moment of

madness I’d also agreed to make this a joint celebration about “Anzac” day so it became a kind of coffee morning / tea dance.

(The story of local hero and donkey lover John Simpson Kirkpatrick who’d joined the Australia and New Zealand army in World

War 1. The Anzac society sent us tea bags and a huge box of Anzac biscuits (apparently only 65 calories per biscuit!). Year 5

dutifully learned a Waltz for the occasion. We did try the Cha Cha but it was a bit fast and with only two days to practice we chose

the safe option. Some parents had made cakes for us to sell with proceeds going to the Anzac (British legion) charity. The children

had been working with a writer in class to compose a school birthday song so she came along to help with interviewing skills. The

local Mayoress also came. She had been one of the first children to attend the school when it opened 50 years ago. She was able

to talk to a few old friends, had a tour of the school and gave a little speech about her own school days. The children were fascinated

with her chains of office and delighted to be able to talk to her about how school has changed. 2) Another “best thing” was seeing the

Nursery children discover the seeds they’d planted had sprouted into vegetables. Their excitement and enthusiasm was just infectious.

The little group who took some of their produce along to Linda our cook looked so proud of themselves.

The biggest disappointment at school last week was that there weren’t more people at the tea dance. It had been advertised well

but the turn-out was disappointingly low. However the children had a great time and got such a lot out of it.

The funniest thing that has happened at school last week...difficult to say really –it could be the attempts at bread making or the

sight of staff and children trying to follow the on-line demo of the Cha Cha. Interestingly enough the children were really keen to show

off their dancing skills at the coffee morning.

One thing would make your job easier last week would have been if people stopped delivering equipment and housing it temporarily

 in my office. It might mean I can get in there and do some work!

Top of your to do list for this week is tidying my office (almost every surface is covered with files and books!) and try to finish off

my 09/10 budget before the clerk to the governors rings up asking for paperwork for the finance meeting.

My hero of last week would be Margaret the teaching assistant, who has helped with the class, organised the cookery club, got

parents to help her decorate the hall and just generally worked her socks off to make sure that everything has gone well. My secretary

Pat comes joint first really as I don’t know what I’d do without her support. Actually everybody has pulled together really well.

How do I achieve a work-life balance?....That’s difficult as I tend to thrive on being busy! I do like to spend quality time with my family

at weekends and during holidays and I read a lot. My husband thinks I like retail therapy a bit too much and he’s probably right.

My question for this week’s Head is: If the postman was to deliver something special to your school today what would you

like it to be?

 

 

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.

......................................................................................................................................................................

Funding and opportunities

 

FAO: Schools in Northumberland, Newcastle and Gateshead

Creative Partnerships Northumberland, Newcastle / Gateshead - Enquiry Programme Applications

Creative Partnerships is the Government's flagship creative learning programme that aims to develop the creativity of young

people, teachers and schools, transforming their aspirations and achievements. The application process is now open for the

Enquiry programme for the 09/10 school year. This offers your school the chance to explore, over the course of the year, how

a creative approach can address a particular aspect of your school improvement plan or other need.  £3000 funding is available,

matched by a £1000 contribution by the school. The Creative Partnerships Northumberland programme will be managed by the

North East Regional Museums Hub, which has been contracted by CCE (Culture, Creativity and Education) to deliver the

programme. The deadline for applications is 5pm on Monday 1 June.

For further information, contact Claire Smith - clare.smith@twmuseums.org.uk, 01670 528060 or to view examples of previous Enquiry

Programmes, go to - http://www.creative-partnerships.com/programmes/enquiry-schools/enquiry-schools,24,LAN.html

 

FAO: Science Teachers

Calling all budding science communicators!

If your school and pupils are passionate about science and are keen to get this message across, enter your school in the RSC

science competition - an exciting science communication competition for schools. Cash prizes will be awarded to the best

entries (£500 to the schools and £100 to the students) at an awards ceremony in London in the Autumn term. The competition

is judged in two categories: primary school and secondary school. This year there is no theme for the competition – your school’s

entry can focus on any aspect of science that you find interesting. All formats will be accepted, for example: posters, PowerPoint®

presentations, school magazine articles, information leaflets and work from a science or after school club. The closing date is

22 May 2009. Go to - http://www.rsc.org/Education/BillBryson/index.asp for more information or to enter your school.

 

FAO: Primary schools

Help your pupils be smart in the sun

The Sunsmart Campaign and competition, organised by Cancer Research UK’s, is open to pupils aged between 5 and 12

years old from schools across England. The competition aims to raise awareness of the five key messages of the SunSmart

code and is split into two different parts:

·         Create a SunSmart me - Key Stage 1/P1-3 Competition entry instructions

·         The SunSmart Code Challenge - Key Stage 2/P4-7 Competition entry instructions

Both competitions are fun and involve activities that can be easily run in your school. Running the competition in class can also

support your delivery of a ‘Creative Curriculum’. As well as covering points on the PSHE syllabus, being SunSmart can link into

many subjects and learning stages such as science, literacy and more. There are twelve fantastic shade structures up for grabs,

worth over £3000 each. The canopy can be erected in school playgrounds or fields to provide essential shade for break times

or outdoor classroom activities. Each canopy will be erected during the summer term at a time convenient to the winning schools.

For more information on how to enter, go to - http://info.cancerresearchuk.org/healthyliving/sunsmart/schools/competition/  

 

Get your pupils gardening...

The Independent on Sunday is working with the Royal Horticultural Society to encourage the nation’s children to get gardening and

support schools to develop and actively use a school garden. As part of the campaign, the RHS will provide teachers with resources

through their website and an extensive programme of CPD days. Join the Campaign for School Gardening and reap the benefits

for your school which include:

• Free start-up kit following registration on this website.
• Rewards and certificates for your progress on the new benchmarking scheme.
• Regular news and items of interest sent to you by e-mail.
• Discounted rates on RHS CPD days.
• Free seeds from the Schools Seed Distribution Scheme once a year.

To register your school today, go to - http://www.rhs.org.uk/SCHOOLGARDENING/teachershome/default.aspa

 

Free Trees!

The Tree Council's two grants programmes, the ‘Trees for Schools' and ‘Community Trees' funds are available for schools and

community groups within the UK who are able to show that children under the age of 16 will be actively engaged in the planting

projects. The Tree Council's National Tree Week (this year from 25 November to 6 December) is the focus for these projects

and successful applicants organise their planting events in conjunction with our annual celebration of the new tree planting season.

The Tree Council are able to fund projects between £100 and £700 and successful applicants will receive up to 75% towards their

planting costs. To apply for the 2009 grants, go to - http://www.treecouncil.org.uk/?q=node/23

 

FAO: Primary schools

Make IT happy!

Why not get your school involved in the third annual UK-wide technology challenge for Primary schools? This exciting competition,

organised by the Parliamentary Information Technology Committee (PITCOM), e-skills UK and the Sector Skills Council, challenges

schools to use technology to describe how they would change an aspect of their local community for the better -  to make a positive

difference to people’s happiness. Pupils can use audio-visual materials, web pages or interactive posters to complete their project

Cash prizes are provided by the Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) and the British Computer Society (BCS).

For more information or to enter your school in the competition, go to - http://makeithappy.cc4g.net/Make-it-Happy-2009/   

 

Open your school up and inspire future teachers....

The TDA is currently looking for more secondary schools in England to participate in the Open Schools Programme to offer those

Considering a career in teaching the chance to observe a day in school. Typically, visitors may sit in on lessons, observe a pastoral

session (eg. an assembly or tutor period) speak to a member of the senior management team and talk to teachers about what the

job is really like.

If you are interested, complete the registration form on the TDA website or call the Teaching Information Line on 0845 6000 998. You will receive

further details on receipt of your registration form.

.................................................................................................................................................................................................................

Wise words

 

'Leaders are 'canny outlaws', system benders, creative and responsible rule breakers. They have to succeed because... the deck is

stacked against creative, imaginative and entrepreneurial teachers.'

 

Thomas Sergiovanni

.............................................................................................................................................................................................................

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

 

 

To unsubscribe to this weekly 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

www.schoolsnortheast.com