posted by Sonia Swankie, P4/5 Teacher, Inverkeilor Primary School

Children from P3-P7 at Inverkeilor recently enjoyed a week of cycling during their first Bikeability training.  Mrs Swankie worked in partnership with  Angus Cycle Hub in Arbroath, to ensure that all children who wanted to take part were able to.  We were delighted that 29 children achieved Level 1, with 24 now being recommended for Level 2.

The children spent their lunchtimes learning how to control their bike, use brakes correctly, change gears and complete a safety check.  It was wonderful to see how much more confident they had grown by the end of the training.  To end the week, they enjoyed an afternoon applying their skills on the skills track and obstacle course and were delighted to welcome Active Schools Cyclists who were completing a challenge for Sports Relief.

The partnership with Angus Cycle Hub was very successful with leaders that were engaging and motivated the children using growth mindset and restorative approaches that mirrored those used in school.  “We only get better by keeping trying!” was an important message throughout the week!  Mrs Swankie is now working with Angus Cycle Hub to arrange dates for them to return to deliver Level 2.

posted by Rodger Hill, Service Manger, Schools and Learning

I’m delighted to let you know that registration for SLF 2016 is now open.  Please consider attending as well as encouraging your colleagues and contacts to come along to SLF and participate.

It would also be great for you to promote SLF 2016 via any communications channels you have within your organisation for example, newsletters, email bulletins, websites, blogs etc.

Those who attend SLF have access to:

– inspirational keynote speakers,
– lively Professional Discussions,
– a conference programme with over 100 professional development sessions,
– opportunities for discussion and professional networking with peers and colleagues,
– the largest education exhibition in Scotland.

We are also delighted that the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills will give the opening address.

In addition, there will be keynote speeches from the following internationally renowned speakers:

• Dr Yong Zhao, Presidential Chair and Director of the Institute for Global and Online Education in the College of Education, University of Oregon
• Prof Carol Campbell, Associate Professor, Ontario Institute of Education, University of Toronto
• Mark Beaumont, TV presenter and broadcaster, record-breaking round the world cyclist and ultra-endurance adventurer

As well as professional discussions focussing on:

• Early learning and childcare
• 3-18 curriculum pathways
• The Scottish Attainment Challenge.

The full programme of speakers and seminars along with details of the range of additional activities and online registration are now available on the SLF website.

posted by Rodger Hill, Service Manger, Schools and Learning

We are planning a new release on Glow Blogs in July. This will consist of some improvements to the service, fixes and updates. I hope to post more details soon.

As part of the release we will be removing some themes that are currently disabled. These include the old e-Portfolio themes and 4 Woo themes.

This will have an impact on some existing sites. Sites that using these themes will switch to the TwentyFourteen theme.

We would suggest that it will be better to manually switch themes before the release.

e-Portfolios cam switched to another theme and updated to use the new e-portfolio plugin.

There is help for converting an old them to a new one on the help blog:https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/glowbloghelp/?p=1470

and

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/glowbloghelp/?p=1453

Of the four Woo themes the only one with more than a very few sites is Spectrum News.  There is a page on the help blog with notes on converting a Spectrum News site to using the TwentyFourteen theme:

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/glowbloghelp/?p=1226

Please get in touch if you need more information.

I will be sending Key Contact a List of Public blogs using the Spectrum News theme for their LA shortly.

Cheers

John Johnston
ICT Development Officer : North Lanarkshire Council, Learning & Leisure Services
ICT & Technical Services
Towers Road, Airdrie, North Lanarkshire ML6 8PG

posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer – Schools and Learning

Dear Colleague

I have recently been appointed to work with the Scotland’s Enterprising Schools team and I am keen to  draw your attention to Scotland’s Enterprising Schools – a new resource available for schools to inspire enterprising and entrepreneurial learning across the curriculum.  The resource was developed in partnership with Education Scotland and the Scottish Government and key features include:

• Practitioners have the opportunity to join the professional learning network where they can take part in discussions about enterprise education and collaborate with colleagues to share ideas and resources.
• A professional reflection tool helps practitioners gauge where their school is on its enterprise journey and will support the self-evaluation process.
• The resources and ideas highlighted will be very useful when curriculum planning and will help schools embed Building the Curriculum 4 and Developing the Young Workforce agendas as part of their development plans.
• Any number of teachers from your school can join the professional learning community and members of the network will receive an “Enterprising Schools Proud Member” badge for use on the school website

You will be aware that the newly introduced Career Education Standard (3-18), as part of the Developing the Young Workforce, has enterprise/entrepreneurship embedded throughout and I hope you and your staff will find Scotland’s Enterprising Schools a tool to support you.

Please contact me if you would like any further information.

Anne Malcolm
Scotland’s Enterprising Schools Programme Manager
07901507455