posted by Andy Garnett, Active Schools Lead Coordinator

A whole class health and wellbeing resource.

Food, nutrition, health eating and lifestyle balance.

Looking for new ideas and resources for your primary health education?
Free Primary Staff CPD
Monday 22^nd February 2016 4.30-6.30pm at Angus House Forfar
Sign up on CPD online using course code LTG47-15/16

Fun Fit Tayside schools programme has been designed by local teachers and NHS Tayside staff to explore the key health and wellbeing topics of food, nutrition and healthy eating and make links with physical activity. Children are taken on a ‘healthy lifestyle’ journey that begins with exploring energy balance and the 1,2,3 message.  1 hour of physical activity, no more than 2 hours of screen time & 3 healthy balanced meals per day.

Aim of the CPD opportunity:

• Provide an overview of the Fun Fit Tayside programme with an opportunity to become familiar with the session plans and supporting resources.
• View examples of activities, themes and work schools have previously developed to assist delivery of Fun Fit Tayside.
• Highlight NHS Tayside POST service.

 Outcomes:

• Enhanced understanding of the programme structure and resources.
• Familiarisation with examples activities and materials.

 √  A Flexible learning tool suitable for P1-7 (there are 2 distinct programmes)
√  Planning time is kept to a minimum (a range of lesson plans & supporting activities within           resource)
√  Links with relevant Curriculum for Excellence outcomes (health & Wellbeing & others for             each activity)
√  Link with home and family life (Children encouraged to share their learning using homework     sheets)
√  Easy to access and use the full range of materials (Teachers who attend this CPD                           opportunity will be issued with a usb memory stick packed full of materials and resources)
√  Regognised & established resource (Since 2011, over 180 teachers across Tayside have                 attended CPD and at least 4500 children have experienced the programmne)

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

We have an event coming up which usually attracts schools to bring S4-S6 pupils, or for teachers to attend if they are available.

The event is Discovery Days at the University of Dundee. It will take place on Thursday 14^th and Friday 15^th January 2016, and is open to all, including the general public and high schools.

As part of the 13th annual Discovery Day lectures in January 2016 the University’s newest professors will be highlighting their research in a series of short talks.

The day is broken up into discrete sessions featuring three or four speakers followed by questions, with breaks between sessions for coffee and lunch.

This is a tremendous opportunity to hear some of our newly-appointed professors and winners of teaching awards talk for 15 minutes each about their area of work. The event provides a great snapshot of some of the cutting-edge research and teaching that the University is engaged in. At Discovery Day 2016, we will be welcoming a further ten new Professors, talking on subjects as rich and varied as Child Dentistry, Law, Forensic Anatomy and Teacher Education., plus plenty more. You are welcome to come along for a single session, several sessions or a whole day.

All presentations will take place in the main lecture theatre at the Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, University of Dundee. Free tickets for Discovery Days 2016 are available by calling 01382 386660, emailing RevealingResearch@dundee.ac.uk or collection from Tower and Dalhousie Building Receptions. For more information and to book your tickets online, please visit www.dundee.ac.uk/discoverydays

The main details are:
Event: Discovery Days 2016
Venue: Dalhousie Building, Old Hawkhill, University of Dundee
Date and times: Thursday 14^th January 2016, 1.30pm – 4.40pm and Friday 15^th January 2016, 9.30am – 4.20pm

This event is free, everyone is welcome and booking is advised. You can book tickets online at Eventbrite here.

Please click on the link below to view the event programme:
Discovery Days Programme

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