Please have a look through these latest news items for interesting opportunities/announcements.

Authors Live: Oliver Jeffers
Join us in Celebrating Summer of Song and the Olympic Torch Relay in Scotland with award winning author/illustrator Oliver Jeffers. Oliver’s interactive illustration workshop will guide your pupils through drawing characters from his new series The Hueys as well as an exclusive reading of The Hueys!
14th June 2012 @11am Nursery – P3 Ages 3-7
Register here: http://www.scottishbooktrust.com/learning/authors-live/oliver-jeffers

BeXcellent – new website
http://www.bexcellent.org.uk/
Children in Scotland announces that a new website has been launched to bring Curriculum for Excellence to life for young people.
There is also a BeXcellent competition, calling for entries from individual young people and groups which demonstrate excellent learning across a range of categories. Winning entries must be inspiring and innovative. Closing date – 8 June 2012.

MAY Poetry news from the scottish poetry library
for librarians and teachers.
· Hot-off-the-press announcement of the theme for National Poetry Day 2012 and get set to order your poem postcards from June 2012
· Our selection of forthcoming poetry titles for a headstart on ordering exciting new books
· reading for wellbeing– inspiration from Glasgow Women’s Library, The Reader Organisation and the Scottish Storytelling Centre
· And to lift the spirits, you can download a poem poster about Wordsworth’s daffodils
Browse it all right here at http://www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/learn/librarians

Creativity and You – national event
The Creativity and You national event at the Glasgow Science Centre hosted by Education Scotland, Creative Scotland and Scottish Government was full to capacity and featured over 20 presentations and experiences – some of which broke the mould. A small collection of presentations and links from the event are available to participants and anyone who was not able to make it:
http://bit.ly/creativityandyou
You can also follow the discussions on Twitter: #creativityandyou

Edinburgh Castle – school activities
Teachers – why not bring your class to visit Edinburgh Castle and take part in a session specifically designed for Early Years? Learn more about life in a castle with an interactive castle tour and activity session involving handling objects and replica medieval costumes. Give us a call for more infomation and to book on 0131 668 8793 or email hslearning@scotland.gsi.gov.uk

Scottish Book Trust
have launched our My Favourite Place campaign, with a set of great class resources and activities to engage your class!
Would your pupils enjoy writing a story? How about a song or rhyme? Or a short play?
My Favourite Place is about celebrating beloved places in Scotland in writing and we’ve already had some brilliant entries to the main campaign – this is just for adults but under 18s can join in too. Read on to find out how.

EXCITING NEWS: We’re offering teachers two fabulous prizes. The best entry from secondary schools will win 30 copies of The Hunger Games for their class; best from primary pupils wins a hand picked selection of titles for younger readers!
To make it easier for you to introduce the project to your learners, there are loads of inspiring stories, poems, songs and writing tips on our website.
To enter your pupils’ work and be in with a chance of winning, please upload entries to the Scottish Book Trust for Schools GLOW page. Full instructions for doing so are available in the attached resource (on page 8 of the pdf and page 13 of the Word document).
Please ensure you include the following information on each entry:

Name of pupil
Name of school
Class number: (i.e. Class P3b)
Name of class teacher
Deadline for entries for the competition is 30th June 2012. Please see our website for full terms and conditions.
We wish you and your pupils the very best of luck, and look forward to reading your entries!

Tam O’Shanter reboot
The poem Tam o’ Shanter was written by Robert Burns in 1790 and its 224 lines, tradition has it, were composed in a single afternoon. A new challenge has been set to reboot Tam o’ Shanter, bringing it up to date in a new and original version that follows the structure of Burns’ poem but would be relevant in the twenty-first century.
Entries are being sought for Tam o’ Shanter Reboot, a poem about a night out and the return home after a wild and unpredicted experience – of whatever kind! It should be written in Scots or English and be the original work of the author, unpublished and not accepted for publication elsewhere. It should not be under consideration in other writing competitions and should not be a translation of another author’s work.
http://www.slainte.org.uk/news/newsindex.htm

Tablet computer piloting in schools
The potential for mobile devices, including tablet computers, to enhance learning in Scottish schools is to be explored by Education Scotland.
Ten local authorities, almost 20 schools and hundreds of pupils are already using a range of devices, including iPads at Sciennes Primary School in Edinburgh and Android technology at Morgan Academy in Dundee.
Education Scotland will be taking stock of how such schemes are working and will consider how they could be used on a wider scale.
http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2012/05/school-tablet-piloting16052012

This Sucks: The Movie! Featuring a cast of hundreds of nursery pupils
Earlier this year, Glasgow Film Theatre, Starcatchers, Platform and Toad’s Caravan joined forces to produceThis Sucks: The Movie, starring a talented cast of hundreds of children from nurseries around the East-End of Glasgow.

Over two weeks during February, hundreds of children from Glasgow nurseries participated in making the film with directors Matt Addicott and Katy Wilson from Starcatchers and the support of Toad’s Caravan. The film tells the story of Hetty the Hoover and the love of her life — Mike Dust. The concept grew from a previous, highly successful Starcatchers project, This Workshop Sucks, which premiered at the Glasgow Youth Film Festival 2011.

Nursery pupils from Barlanark Family Learning Centre, Helenslea Nursery School, Hullabaloo Children Centre, Sandaig Nursery School and Westercraigs Nursery all took part in the filming. They joined us last week for the world premiere last week at a special ceremony at GFT. Click here to see photos of our red carpet premiere!
The funding for This Sucks: The Movie was made possible by Glasgow City Council’s Area Committee Grants.
You can watch the completed film online now on YouTube: This sucks-the movie

Glasgow Science Festival
is taking place from 5 – 17 June 2012
The festival hosts a full programme of events from workshops to science shows, schools programme and public activities and is suitable for all ages. The majority of events are free.
See events for schools programme online http://www.glasgowsciencefestival.org.uk/ .