posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer 

1 – Education Scotland Food & Health support on the NIH – Our Food & Health resources and support have moved to the National Improvement Hub.

• Who can help food education in Scotland?
• Better Eating Better Learning
•  Learning for Sustainability using food as a context
• STEM Central 

2 – Scottish Education Awards 2017  – Celebrate the hard work and success which takes place in Scottish education. Nominate your school or staff member here by Wednesday 15^th February 2017

3 – ASSIST FM Better Eating, Better Learning Award 2017 – Following on from the success of Busby Primary School and Stirling High School receiving the inaugural Better Eating, Better Learning Awards, applications are now open for schools to demonstrate creative and innovative practice in implementing Better Eating, Better Learning. Schools can apply using this link. (enter link here) Entries are open until the end of February.

4 – International School Meals Day Thursday 9^th March 2017 – Emphasise the connection between healthy eating, education and better learning. This year’s theme is ‘Food Culture and Heritage’.  http://www.internationalschoolmealsday.com/ 

5 – Food & Drink Federation Scotland (FDFS) – FDFS Scotland have created a new resource to help Scottish teachers and pupils understand food labels.  The resource is available here

6 – FDFS / College Development Network – Improving Food & Drink Career Pathways SRUC Aberdeen Wednesday 22^nd March 2017 1pm – 6pm For more information and to sign up, click here

7 – BNF Healthy Eating Week 12^th – 16^th June 2017 – To register for BNF Healthy Eating Week and receive lots of free resources and support for your school, click here

8 – BBC Food Awards closing date for entries Sunday 29^th January 2017 – Celebrate the unsung heroes of food in your school. Details of how to nominate can be found here

9 – RHS

• Receive your free welcome pack Join the Campaign and receive support to develop a sustainable garden for young people’s learning, health and wellbeing.
• School Gardening Awards Progress with your students through 5 levels of gardening challenges designed to develop skills & encourage a healthy relationship with gardening.
• Training courses & events Find and book school gardening training courses or events in your area.

10 – Young Pea Chef of the Year (primary & BGE) – Win £500 of cookery equipment for your school. Enter your best pea recipe by 3^rd April 2017. Details on how to enter can be found here

11 – REHIS – Where to find Elementary Food Hygiene Courses in Scotland, http://www.rehis.com/community-training/courses/course/elementary-food-hygiene

Questions or queries about food education? Please contact lorna.aitken@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk

Got food news to share? Share you pics and stories on Twitter @EducationScot

#FoodEdFriday

posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer

LGBT Education Network Newsletter January 2017

Apologies, the previous newsletter contained a broken link to the LGBT History Month resources. This has been rectified. 

Welcome to the January newsletter for teachers, educationalists and everyone interested in LGBT inclusion in education in Scotland. 

Happy New Year! 🙂

I hope you all had a lovely festive break and are enjoying the new term. 

As next month is LGBT History Month, we’re linking you in with resources and assemblies to use in your schools. There are differentiated lesson activities, a history month quiz, a timeline activity linked to the new LGBT History month poster, and two assemblies – one for primaries one for secondaries.  

In this Newsletter there is also a link to the new Life in Scotland for LGBT Young People survey. This is a chance for LGBT young people to let us know about their lives, their health and their education amongst other topics. Please share this far and wide. 

There will be a follow up email at the start of February with additional Purple Friday activities – remember, this is Friday 24th February this year. 

As ever, if there’s anything you’d like to see more of, please get in contact at info@lgbtyouth.org.uk

LGBT History Month Resources

LGBT Youth Scotland have created resources for schools and teachers to use in order to celebrate LGBT History Month. 

The resources reflect the theme of this year’s history month: Heritage. There are activities looking at important events in LGBT history and also exclusive new poems by Rachel Plummer. These re-imagine Scottish myths and legends to include LGBT identities and themes. 

Additionally there are assemblies, a quiz and an activity matching the events on the poster with the years they occurred. 

Enjoy these free resources and let us know how you got on using them! 

You can download resources here.

Purple Friday

On the last Friday of LGBT History Month we celebrate Purple Friday – a day to stand up against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia and show our support for LGBT young people.

This year we’re asking schools across Scotland to get involved on the 24th February 2017. There are lots of different ways you can take part, from wearing purple to flying the rainbow flag, so we’ve developed a handy information pack to get you started.

The pack contains information about why your school should get involved, as well as some great tips and ideas on what you could do on the day. You can also order your Purple Friday resources by emailing fund@lgbtyouth.org.uk, we’d ask you to do this as soon as possible so we can make sure your order is with you in plenty of time to get involved.

The pack with all these link can be found here. 

Life in Scotland for LGBT Young People

Having listened to what young people said in our last Life in Scotland survey, we are now launching our Life in Scotland survey 2017. We will be using it to see what changes have occurred since the last survey and what effect these emerging issues have had on LGBT young people.

We want to hear from as many LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender) young people, between the ages of 13-25 as possible. This will help us gain a full and accurate picture of LGBT young people’s experiences and understand the ways in which LBGT young people’s lives have changed in the last few years.

We want to know more about young people’s experiences of community, safety and health, education, and ‘coming out’ to help us continue to influence decision makers and to continue to keep LGBT young people’s issues on the political agenda.

Our 2012 Life in Scotland Survey has helped us produce reports which were used to influence politicians and policy makers to make decisions which improved the lives of LGBT young people in Scotland, including in these areas:

• Education – young people shared their experiences of the way that LGBT issues are treated in education, showing that homophobia, biphobia and transphobia are still issues for many young people within education.

• Safety – the report focussed on young people’s awareness of rights under hate crime legislation, confidence in the police and criminal justice system, and their feelings of safety in the community.

• Community – young people told us that being accepted in the community improved their confidence.

• Health – the reports showed to what extent LGBT young people are affected by both physical and mental health problems.

Young people can find out more about our Life in Scotland survey 2017 and take part [HERE]. When young people enter, they will be in with the chance of winning a £50 voucher.

Please help us spread the word to your networks and the young people you work with:

Download our promotional image (and this one too) and sample social media posts.

Book of the Month: Primary

Every month we highlight a book for use in schools and suggest activities which can be used to include LGBT voices and identities across the curriculum.

This month: Sissy Duckling by Harvey Fierstein

Content:
This is a heart-warming tale about learning to embrace the special qualities we possess. Instead of building forts and playing sports like other boy ducklings, Elmer wants to bake cakes and put on the halftime show. He is great a big sissy. But when his father is wounded by a hunter, Elmer proves that the biggest sissy can also be the greatest hero.

Suggested Activities:
Another book which looks at both gender stereotyping and what it is to be special.
Scientifically you could use this within a sequence about migratory birds and discuss what really would happen to ducks left behind.
You could also use it to unpack the bullying incidents in the story and the resolution to the relationship between Elmer and Drake – is it realistic?
You could also use it to look at father/son relationships.

For a full list of books for primary schools with LGBT voices or identities, contact info@lgbtyouth.org.uk

We’d love to hear from you!

Let us know what you think of this newsletter – what content would you like more of? Do you have any questions about LGBT inclusion? Do you have events, or resources, you’d like to share?

Get in touch: info@lgbtyouth.org.uk

posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer 

This e-bulletin is aimed at teachers and professionals who are looking to engage schools in activities relating to flooding, extreme weather, climate change and other community resilience issues.  Please forward to those who may be interested.

• SEPA’s Floodline Kids website has information for teachers and children on preparing for floods
• The Scottish government are holding climate conversations.  Resources have been developed to help people take part
• Geography undergraduate Cameron Mackay has created climate change resources ·
• By 2032 greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 66%, new target from the Scottish government ·
• Aberdeenshire council is organising a community resilience networking event on Friday 10^th March at the AECC for  teachers and resilience professionals in Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Moray.  Contact gavin.penman@aberdeenshire.gov.uk for more information.

If you would like to share your news or stories or get advice and support for community resilience then please contact me on the email Eilidh.Soussi@educationscotland.gsi.gov.uk

posted by Alita Spink, Schools and Learning Support Officer

Young People’s Transitions: Dimensions, Difficulties and Diversity Multi-Disciplinary Conference University of Edinburgh, 21 April 2017

On April 21, 2017 the University of Edinburgh’s Childhood and Youth Studies Network and the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships will be holding a free, one-day conference for youth researchers, policymakers and practitioners. Young People’s Transitions: Dimensions, Difficulties and Diversity seeks to explore, illuminate and interrogate the complexity of young people’s lives today and ask questions relating to the myriad factors that shape the youth phase.

Keynote speakers for the event include:

•  Divya Jindal-Snape, Professor of Education, Inclusion and Life Transitions, University of Dundee speaking on, ‘Multiple and multi-dimensional transitions of young people with additional support needs’; 
• Andy Furlong, Professor of Social Inclusion and Education, University of Glasgow speaking on, ‘Young people, work and the new economy: surviving and thriving under precarious conditions’; and
• Naomi Eisenstadt CB, Independent Advisor on Poverty & Inequality to the Scottish Government and Senior Research Fellow at University of Oxford, speaking on ‘Life chances of young people — policy questions’.

The conference themes are:

Inequality and Its Impacts – How does inequality manifest itself in the multiple transitions of young people, and what are the impacts?

Who or What is in Control – How do the structural determinants of society interact with the agency of young people as they make transitions in this life stage?

Find Out More-Conference Programme

Register for The Conference

posted by Lesley Eaton, School Travel Administrator

We’re happy to announce that one lucky event will earn themselves an amazing stunt show from The Clan absolutely free in 2017 by entering here: http://clanstuntshow.com/win/

Why? We’ve noticed good causes finding it harder and harder to fund an amazing performance like ours. This is very important to us because putting on shows to help generate money for social enterprises, raise awareness of cycling and promote healthy living has been such an important part of our work over the past decade.

Something as amazing as The Clan is never going to be cheap and whilst we can’t do this for everyone (as much as we’d love to!!!), we thought we should at least offer one event this amazing opportunity.

This competition is open to charities/social enterprises/community groups schools(i.e. not for profit groups) so please even if this doesn’t fit your event, share this with your local community and help us find a great cause!

posted by Alita Spink, Support Officer – Schools and Learning

News from the Commonwealth

What does ‘belonging’ mean to you
What does it mean to belong to a community or country? What does it feel like to be part of a group of people with similar interests or a shared background?

It’s time to get ready for the first Commonwealth Class debate of 2017, which will take place on Thursday 26 January. Join us in discussing what it is that gives your students a sense of belonging and makes them feel appreciated by the world and people around them.

We have all the tools and materials you need to steer your class through this thought-provoking topic, so make your way to Schools Online and prepare to share your students’ thoughts with their peers all around the globe.

The debate will start at 9.30am GMT on Thursday 26 January and will be facilitated live until 11.00am GMT, but you will still be able to post your comments on Schools Online until 2 February.

Prepare for January ‘s debate

Winners of children’s writing competition announced

We are delighted to announce the winners and commended entries from the Commonwealth Class story writing competition for children. Get your students prepped and ready for the next debate by reading some of these compelling short stories and illustrations on the theme of belonging (and maybe inspire a few to put pen to paper themselves). Click here to take a look at the winning entries.

The importance of young people in the Commonwealth 

Did you know that the Commonwealth’s 52 member countries have a combined population of over two billion, and that more than 60 per cent are aged under 30? Prepare for the next debate by exploring how the Commonwealth works to make young people feel valued. Brush up on the value here.

Roll up, roll up: latest edition of First News out now

This month’s edition of First News is about celebrating the achievements of young people around the Commonwealth, the crucial role they play in their countries’ development – from activists, and entrepreneurs, to champion chess players and youth workers; we’ve got their stories covered.

Click here to download the resource for your students in preparation for
the next debate.

Latest Commonwealth resources and opportunities

New science resource now available  

How can we feed our planet’s growing population? Say hello to our new teaching resource on the topic of global food security. Created in collaboration with the Royal Society, the resource is packed with lesson plans and suggestions for cross-curricular activities. The accompanying video is also the perfect way to kick off a lesson or discussion on this pertinent issue. Take a look at the materials.

Overseas postings available for UK teachers

Are you a UK teacher looking for professional and personal development? How does a 12-month post-to-post exchange overseas sound? The Royal Commonwealth Society is currently accepting applications from UK-based teachers for exchanges with colleagues in Australia and Canada. Click here to find out more about the programme and application process.