posted by Chris Thompson, Schools and Projects Coordinator

Hello,
Nearly December already – where did 2015 go? 

We’re delighted to see so many schools walking to school with Living Streets’ WoW and have managed to hit a record 1/3 million journeys logged in Scotland during November – thanks to all your hard work enrolling and continuing to enthuse schools.  

And here’s something that will help keep participation high throughout December – the Festive Walk of Fame.

Simple to take part and easy to administer; If you’d like your Travel Tracker schools to take part just reply to this message and let us know which days you’d like to be sent the Walk of Fame top ten graphic for your LA area (any range of dates 1-18^th December). Please indicate if you would like any schools omitted from your LA top ten calculations.

You’ll receive a top ten graphic (similar to the one shown here) for your LA area in your inbox after each selected day to share with your schools as you wish; for example by email or posting on your website. A poster is attached to help you promote to your schools.  

Orders for the Spring term are now completed and will be dispatched mid-December, in plenty of time for the new term. Please remind schools to look out for the badges and to keep them somewhere safe until the end of January.

All the best,
Chris Thompson

Schools and Projects Coordinator
chris.thompson@livingstreets.org.uk T. 0131 243 2648  M. 07702 717541
Living Streets Scotland, 5 Rose Street, Edinburgh EH2 2PR
T. 0131 243 2645   www.livingstreets.org.uk/scotland  @LStreetsScot 

posted by Isabelle Gall, PT Curriculum, Modern Languages, Carnoustie High School

Carnoustie High School received the Young Ambassadors’ Trophy from the Carnoustie – Maule Twinning Association on Friday 30^th October, following a unanimous decision by the committee that Carnoustie High School was the local school which had done the most to further twinning links with the town of Maule in France in the last year. Mr Donald Currie, Head Teacher, accepted the shield from Mr Max Fordyce and Mr Roger Jeffrey of the Twinning Association.

Over the last year, the Modern Languages Department in Carnoustie High School established links with Mme Virginie Ernoult, Coordinator of English Teaching in the secondary school Collège le Mauldre  in Maule. The result was that over 180 pupils and four teachers took part in letter and information exchanges.  The pupils were motivated to write about their lives and very excited to receive their cards and letters.  Discussions between the schools on a two-way pupil visit are in the initial stages.

The Modern Language teachers in the High School are very happy that the twinning link is providing opportunities for the young people to correspond with French pupils of the same age. Young people become motivated to learn languages when they discover the excitement of communicating with a potential friend.

Mr Donald Currie, Head Teacher, accepting the shield from Mr Roger Jeffrey of the Carnoustie –Maule Twinning Association.

posted by Pauline Stephen, Head of Schools & Learning

Three Sleeps until the Angus Learning Festival 2015!……………………Connect, Collaborate & Aspire

This Thursday sees the first Angus Learning Festival.  I say first, as depending on the feedback as to the success of the event we may well look to how we make it a regular feature in our annual calendar.  There are over 1000 teachers in Angus.  The wealth of experience, talent and skill in a group that size is vast.  We need to look for more opportunities to share and hear about each other’s practice and then consider how it would work in our own context.  One of the key messages coming from the newly launched How Good is Our School 4 is that you can only be excellent if you collaborate. 

So we are looking forward to welcoming nearly 400 Angus teachers over the course of the day to come together to consider the national education drivers and our collective attainment challenge.  We will hear about established and emerging practice from primary and secondary colleagues in Angus Schools. Facilitated workshops will consider how we move forward with growth mind-set approaches, how teachers really do make the difference, how to embed a language of learning across a school and how to plan and assess for quality learning.  We will also be joined by colleagues from the Winning Scotland Foundation and Midlothian Council to explore practices from other areas.  Maybe see you there!

Please follow our progress on Twitter using #ALF2015

posted by Shabnam Wasim, Public Engagement Assistant, University of Dundee

The Margaret Harris Lecture on Religion
‘Veils, Values and Voices: Religion and the Public Space’ – Professor Mona Siddiqui OBE

Venue/Address  Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee
Date and time    11 November 2015, 5:30pm – 6:30pm

Event/activity/description
At a time when much of the western world is trying to understand and situate the role of religion in the public sphere, Islam has probably become one of the most easily identifiable images of religious life in our urban societies. Yet the visibility of Islam has become problematic for many who see the faith and its followers as being opposed to the freedoms of liberal democracies. The diversity of religious belief systems co-existing in society requires an active commitment to certain values. Diversity should not mean that as a society, we hold nothing in common. 

Admission price      Free
Contact for further information    Events Office
Telephone No          01382 385108/388154
Email                          events@dundee.ac.uk
Online ticket registration        http://uod.ac.uk/1QmfhmW
Website         http://www.dundee.ac.uk/externalrelations/events

World Cultural Council Special Lecture
‘Building stars, planets and the ingredients for life between the stars’
Professor Ewine F. van Dishoeck, Leiden Observatory, Leiden University, The Netherlands

Venue/Address       Dalhousie Building, University of Dundee
Date and time         18 November 2015, 1pm – 2pm

Event/activity/description
One of the most exciting developments in astronomy is the discovery of planets around stars other than our Sun. More than a thousand exo-planets have now been detected, but how do these planets form and why are they so different from those in our own solar system?  Which ingredients are available to build them?  Thanks to powerful new telescopes, astronomers are starting to address these age-old questions scientifically.  In this talk, an overview will be given of how stars and planets are born in the extremely cold and tenuous clouds between the stars in the Milky Way.  These clouds also contain water and a surprisingly rich variety of organic material. How and where was the water formed that is now in our oceans on Earth? Can these organic molecules end up on new planets and form the basis for pre-biotic material and eventually life?

Prof van Dishoeck is winner of the World Cultural Councils’ 2015 Albert Einstein World Award of Science, which was created as a means of recognising men and women whose exceptional scientific and technological achievements have brought progress to science and ensuing benefit to mankind.

Admission price      Free
Contact for further information      Events Office
Telephone No       01382 385108/388154
Email                       events@dundee.ac.uk
Online ticket registration        http://uod.ac.uk/1NSKjp4
Website                  http://www.dundee.ac.uk/externalrelations/events

World Cultural Council Special Lecture
‘Being an ambassador through music’
Professor Milton Masciadri, Hugh Hodgson School of Music, University of Georgia, USA.

Event/activity/description
Winner of the 2015 World Cultural Council’s Leonardo da Vinci world award of Art, The recognition is for Professor Masciadri’s extraordinary and multi-faceted career as a performing artist, cultural ambassador, educator, international leader and author. In particular, his contributions towards disseminating culture as a UNESCO Artist for Peace and his extensive work mentoring and teaching new generations of young musicians.

In this exciting event, Milton Masciadri will talk about his life and work and give a recital on the double bass, accompanied by Dr Martha Thomas on the grand piano.

Admission price      Free
Contact for further information      Events Office
Telephone No          01382 385108/388154
Email                          events@dundee.ac.uk
Online ticket registration        http://uod.ac.uk/1WhXKQY
Website                     http://www.dundee.ac.uk/externalrelations/events

The Dundee Christmas Lecture
‘Ian Rankin in conversation with Professor Sue Black’

Venue/Address    Dalhousie Building
Date and time       28 November 2015, 6pm – 7pm

Event/activity/description
The Dundee Christmas lecture is a joint lecture with Dundee City Council, a tradition which started in 2007. This year, we bring you Ian Rankin who will be discussing his life and work with our very own Professor Sue Black. Ian’s latest book, Even Dogs in the Wild which hits the shelves early November will be available to buy after this exciting event – bag yourself a signed copy for an extra special Christmas gift!

Admission price        Free
Contact for further information        Events Office
Telephone No            01382 385108/388154
Email                            events@dundee.ac.uk
Online ticket registration        http://www.dundee.ac.uk/tickets
Website                       http://www.dundee.ac.uk/externalrelations/events

posted by Lesley Watson, Business Liaison Officer

BBC News School Report gives 11-16 year-old students across the UK the opportunity to research and produce their own news reports for a real audience.

Last year, more than 1,000 schools across the UK took part in this diversity award-winning project.  Students reported on a range of issues, from social media addiction to why dancing is not just for girls and how Muslim women can wear the hijab. Some even interviewed leading politicians.

Using lesson plans and materials from the BBC’s supporting website, teachers help their pupils develop students’ journalistic skills so they can report on the stories that matter to them and make their voices heard.

The main aim of BBC News School Report is to interest young people in news of all sorts, and the world around them, by giving them the chance to make their own news.

It is also an opportunity for students to inform a real audience, via BBC programmes and web pages, about the stories which are important to them.

The project culminates on School Report News Day – this year to be held on 10 March 2016 – where all schools taking part produce stories and publish them on their school websites.  The BBC links to each school webpage, providing a real audience for the reports. Some schools will also get the chance to work with BBC staff and see their work appear on television, radio or the BBC website.

For further information, visit the website at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport
Twitter: @BBCSchoolReport