Information for Schools

Information for Schools

This page consists of useful information, links and resources for schools.

Please see information below from Microsoft about their upcoming UK DigiGirlz Event:

“

UK DigiGirlz x GirlGuiding Day”

“We are holding our next UK DigiGirlz event on the 18th February 2022 from 10am – 1pm GMT.

The DigiGirlz Program aims to breakdown the stereotypes associated with careers in technology by giving young people the chance to experience first-hand what it is like to develop cutting-edge technology.

We are primarily aimed at girls, but are open to all! We’re creating a space where girls aged 10-16 feel comfortable and excited to create using technology.

This event is in partnership with GirlGuiding, but all are welcome to attend.

Sign up here: aka.ms/DGxGGFebSignUp

Teams meeting link: aka.ms/DigiGirlzxGirlGuiding

Please feel free to share with any parents, educators or students in your life!

If you have any questions, please reach out to ukdg@microsoft.com

When you join this event, your name, email address and/or phone number may be viewable by other session participants in the attendee list. By joining, you’re agreeing to this experience.”

“The youth who grasp today’s tech will change tomorrow’s world. Right now, women lack a clear pathway to technological experience and resources. At Microsoft DigiGirlz, we’re helping girls across the globe—and especially those in under-represented communities—learn the skills they need to realize their passions in a tech-filled future.

https://www.microsoft.com/digigirlz”

As part of Cyber Scotland Week, TryHackMe will be running a “Capture the Flag” event aimed at S3 pupils.  TryHackMe will be delivering live lessons to pupils in the run-up to Cyber Scotland week so they have the skills required to take part in the Capture the Flag event.

There will also be a teacher information session on Thursday 3rd February.  Teachers can register for the session here.

Please see information from Education Scotland below about their Annual STEM Professional Learning Practitioner Survey for 2020-21.

“Annual STEM Professional Learning Practitioner Surveys 2020-2021

 Help shape the future of STEM professional learning by completing our 10 minute online survey by Monday 20 December 2021

Education Scotland is inviting you to complete our Annual STEM Professional Learning Practitioner Survey for 2020-21. The information you provide will help us improve the access that practitioners in relevant sectors, and in various geographical locations, have to high-quality professional learning that meets their needs. It will also help us to track improvements in the provision of professional learning over the lifetime of the STEM Strategy (2017-2022) and will enable us to identify where further support may be required.

Your individual response will not be shared with other organisations. However, the anonymised analysis from the survey will be shared widely to help STEM partner organisations align their programmes to your priorities.

 Who should complete this surveys?

Separate surveys have been developed for specific sectors. You should only complete one of the surveys below:

Practitioners in early learning and childcare, primary, additional support needs, secondary (all subject areas including those not normally associated with STEM) are asked to complete this survey:

https://forms.education.gov.scot/i/STEMPractitioners2021

School-based technical support staff should complete this survey:

https://forms.education.gov.scot/i/STEMTechnicians2021

Community learning and development practitioners should complete this survey:

https://forms.education.gov.scot/i/STEMCLD2021

Did you know?

We would be very grateful if you could take a few minutes to complete our online survey to help us get the STEM professional learning offer right for you and your setting.”

Please see information from Education Scotland below about an opportunity for teachers to be involved in national research with the Micro:bit Educational Foundation:

“National Technologies Network – Opportunity for teachers to be involved in some national research

Primary digital skills research opportunity with the Micro:bit Foundation

 

The Micro:bit Educational Foundation are looking for primary school (Second level) teachers from Scotland to take part in a piece of research about their experiences in primary education and the teaching of digital skills. Teachers who take part will be entered in to a prize draw with multiple prizes of £50 and £100 and a top prize of £500 to be won!

The research will help inform a programme of activity, delivered by the Micro:bit Educational Foundation, to support UK primary school teachers teaching digital skills, including free CLPL and classroom resources. Your input in to the research is crucial to ensure the programme gives teachers across Scotland the support they really need.

We are looking to recruit teachers who are willing to take part in a short (10 min) online survey in late September/early Oct 2021 and then again in December 2022 (estimated date) and June 2023 (estimated date).

It’s important that we hear from teachers across the UK and so your contribution to the research will be extremely valued.  Please sign up here:https://form.jotform.com/212093636436052”

Education Scotland has been working with Edina at Edinburgh University to provide Single Sign On for Noteable, a product which can be used for delivering aspects of computing science and possibly in future mathematics, data science and social subjects. Local authorities can now request access to this via Glow for learners and teachers.  The following post provides a lot of the information you will need to complete your DPIA: Noteable – DPIA Information

Below is information from Education Scotland about the Northern Alliance Connects resource, which contains information and resources to help colleagues connect with others and support remote learning:

Northern Alliance Connects with new online resource


In addition to our regional improvement collaborative’s main website, the team has set up a Northern Alliance Connects online resource to support teachers and practitioners during this particularly challenging time and beyond. It is a source of information and resources to help colleagues connect with others and support remote learning, wherever you are across the Northern Alliance.

There’s an option on the site to share examples of practice you are finding works particularly well and offer food for thought to others, as well as give feedback on what you would like to see added.

The resource is primarily for colleagues within school who are delivering remote education, and many aspects of it will be useful as children and young people head back to school too.

It includes resources and materials practitioners can pick and choose from to support the delivery of learning and teaching, hints and tips to support remote learning pedagogy (regardless of the platform), an overview of the National e-Learning Offer as well as how to use and access this, lessons learned, wellbeing materials, digital support to help you make the most of Glow and access to regional networks as well as signposting local authority support services.

Streamlining and signposting of resources is included in Education Scotland’s National Overview of Practice in Remote Learning document as something practitioners would find helpful.

Northern Alliance Quality Improvement Manager Kathleen Johnston said: “We recognise there is a lot of information out there, at local authority, regional and national levels, and this new site offers bitesize pieces of information colleagues can then see at a glance what may be of most benefit to them.

“It features pedagogical pointers to practitioner-generated practice (now there’s a mouthful). All content is hosted with the aim of supporting high quality learning and teaching to improve outcomes for children and young people within a remote learning context.”

Visit the new Northern Alliance Connects online resource. For more information about the work of the Northern Alliance more generally, including a raft of new professional learning opportunities, visit: https://northernalliance.scot/ or join the team and networks via the SharePoint site within Glow.

Important Information about Groups and Teams in Glow/Microsoft Teams: The Digital Learning Team would like to remind all staff that Groups and Teams in Glow/Microsoft Teams should have the correct sharing permissions.  Groups containing any sensitive or confidential data should not be shared as public groups.  Please ensure that any Groups or Teams you own have the correct sharing permissions, or are deleted if they are no longer needed.

Below is information from Education Scotland/National Technologies Network on the do your :bit challenge:

Do your :bit brings together the micro:bit and the UN’s Global Goals to provide inspiring activities for your school or club .  Young people aged 8 – 18 can get involved in this global project.

Micro:bit Educational Foundation and the British Council are working together to offer UK schools the opportunity to link up with overseas schools and develop world changing tech solutions for the do your :bit challenge.

The ‘do your :bit’ challenge is an international competition produced by the Micro:bit Educational Foundation in partnership with the British Council and World’s Largest Lesson. Young people are challenged to use tech for good and come up with solutions that work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

Connecting Classrooms through Global Learning, run by the British Council in partnership with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), supports schools to connect with schools overseas to collaborate on sustainable development learning.

The do your :bit challenge and Connecting Classrooms programme are fantastic ways to integrate global learning and the development of digital skills and so we’re working together to support teachers to bring the challenge and global learning to life.

Teachers (from UK schools) who sign up to the challenge along with Connecting Classrooms will be offered a virtual micro:bit training programme alongside the support, funding and resources needed to help pupils learn together with schools around the world.

Teachers will receive:

  • Virtual training programme that introduces the micro:bit and builds confidence to enable those trained to design and deliver creative classroom workshops for the do your :bit challenge.
  • A donation of 30 micro:bits to use in their workshops.
  • The opportunity to link up with another school in Nepal or Tunisia and support to apply for partnership grants to develop solutions together through the Connecting Classrooms partnerships grant offer.
  • The Connecting Classrooms programme offers support, funding and resources to help pupils learn together with schools around the world.

To register your interest, please email schools@britishcouncil.org with the title ‘Connecting Classrooms & do your :bit’.

  • Deadline for sign up – 16thApril 2021
  • micro:bit training to take place in June 2021.
  • The do your :bit challenge is open now and closes for entries in July 2021. There are free resources, including videos, available to support teachers to run the challenge.
  • Places are limited for the micro:bit training and donation and will be allocated on a first come, first served basis.

CISS has shared the first details regarding their National 4, National 5 and Higher offer of live-streamed Mandarin classes for the upcoming 2021-22 session.  The following document contains more information and a link to register your school’s interest: NQ Mandarin

Take part in the first year of the Creative Thinking Qualification, ideal for Craft, Design & Technology departments, as well as Art departments; read more and register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/creative-thinking-level-5-and-6-the-pilot-programme-tickets-132959542571

The Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS) can help higher education students find the right information, support and funding.  Those who live in Scotland and meet eligibility criteria will have tuition fees paid directly to their college or university by SAAS. Fees paid are non-repayable if you study in Scotland, but you must remember to submit an application every year. SAAS also offer loans and bursaries to provide support with living-costs.

You can apply from April, as soon as you know the course you want to study (you don’t need to wait for exam results – if you don’t get on the course you want, you can change or cancel your application online).  For more information, please refer to the following document: Student Awards Agency Scotland (SAAS)

Education Scotland’s digilearn site contains a catalogue of upcoming webinars covering a range of subjects relating to digital learning and computer science: https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/digilearn/webinars/upcomingwebinars/

It is also possible to view past DigiLearnScot webinars at the Digital Skills YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCzFsp7PF70TMlqVM4nCsxSg

One of these past webinars in particular looks at Code Clubs and how your setting can run one, including remotely with both synchronous and asynchronous delivery: https://www.youtube.com/watch?edufilter=NULL&v=0INKYsAZTMI

The University of Edinburgh has created a pack of 30 cards with COVID-19-related words and images, which can be used to help discuss, explain and share experiences about the pandemic with children as they return to school.  The cards can be used by themselves or as part of a game of “STEAM charades”.  The pack also contains instructions and background research information.

You can freely download the cards at: https://www.de.ed.ac.uk/steamcharades_covid19

You can also purchase hard copies of the cards via a link from the page; however, if you email claire.sowton@ed.ac.uk  explaining how you plan to use the cards and an offer to feed back, there may be some sets remaining which they can send.

If you are using Glow to store or share information, please refer to the following links on Glow Connect regarding Office 365 Groups, sharing and permissions within Office 365.  You should ensure that the location where data is saved in Glow, and the data itself, is not accessible to a wider audience than intended (especially private or sensitive information such as SQA estimates or personal information regarding staff or learners).  It is also important to check that you have not inadvertently shared information with all users in Glow.

Please also see the following guidance document from the Digital Learning Team regarding data sharing in Glow: Guidance on Data Sharing in Glow

Please refer to the following link for Education Scotland’s latest guidance for practitioners on the delivery of online learning and teaching: https://education.gov.scot/improvement/learning-resources/delivering-learning-and-teaching-online/

Significant changes to Glow’s identity matching are coming on October 28th 2019, which will affect teachers transferring between local authorities.  These changes are being made to ensure correct data handling by Glow in accordance with current legislation.

For full details, please see the information below from Education Scotland:

“When is this happening? The expected release date of this updated functionality is October 28th.

Who will be impacted? From the 28th October all teachers who move to a new position in a school in a different local authority will receive a new Glow account rather than continue to use their existing account.  Their new account will have a different username and password.  Access to old content will be removed along with their old account.

Non-teaching staff accounts are not currently matched as they move between local authorities and therefore they will see no change. Pupils will continue to be matched.

Teaching staff who currently have an account that is manually transferred between 2 schools, allowing them to use the same username and password to access more than one school, will no longer be able to do this if their accounts are in different local authorities.  When the identity matching is removed, their username and password will allow them access to one school only, whichever school was their establishment on the 28th October.

What do you need to do? Please update the teachers in your local authority to ensure they are prepared if they are moving to a school in another local authority after the 28th of October.

If their access is still to their old school then they need to ensure that their RM Unify administrator manually transfers their account to be linked to their new school. If the work record in the old school is closed then this will happen automatically but if not it will require a manual transfer to be completed.

What about the future after the 28th October? Teachers who move between local authorities will need to remember that the content that they currently have access to via their existing Glow account will not be accessible once they start their new role in their new local authority.

We have posted a news item on Glow Connect: https://glowconnect.org.uk/2019/09/27/important-news-for-teachers-using-glow/

Glow account guidance has also been updated to reflect the changes: https://glowconnect.org.uk/glow-account-guidance/”

Following discussions earlier this year involving CALL Scotland, the Scottish Voice website now provides child and teenage voices, which are licensed for schools and learners and can be downloaded and used on school machines.  The child voices have been developed primarily for use in communication aids, but should also be of benefit to learners in primary schools, using applications such as Clicker (note that Immersive Reader does not currently support the voices).

You can get the voices from the Scottish Voice website: https://www.thescottishvoice.org.uk/home/

The Daydream Believers site launched recently, which aims to provide skill development through bringing together creative professionals and secondary school pupils.  It provides useful resources for craft, design, engineering and graphics (CDEG) departments looking for resources to deliver BGE.

Click on the following link to view the site: https://daydreambelievers.co.uk/

CyberFirst courses will be taking place in Paisley this summer, organised and funded by the National Cyber Security Centre as part of their CyberFirst programme.  There are three courses taking place, all of which are free week-long residential courses.  The courses give young people the opportunity to learn cyber security skills and get an insight into cyber security careers. Completion of the courses, which are residential, will earn participants Scottish Credit and Qualification Framework credit points (including a certificate), and the learning can count in part towards completion of the SQA National Progression Awards at SCQF levels 4, 5 and 6.  You can click on the links below to view information about the three courses:

The Scottish Parliament’s Education and Skills Committee is undertaking an inquiry into STEM, particularly the STEM experiences of 3-7 year olds in school education and childcare.  You can find more details, and information on how to submit your experiences and views (by Monday 13th May), here: https://www.parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/111655.aspx

Link to a cybersecurity audit for UK schools from LGfL (London Grid for Learning) and the National Cyber Security Centre (now closed): https://www.lgfl.net/cybercloud/securityaudit

Letter from Police Scotland for parents and guardians about “money mules” (a money mule is someone coerced into helping criminals launder money, even unintentionally): Parent Guardian letter from Police Scotland

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