Category Archives: Literacy and English

National Poetry Day

Scottish Poetry Library have announced National Poetry Day will take place on Thursday 3 October 2013.

The theme for this year is ‘Water’, and they are delighted to be working in partnership with Scottish Water to provide a great range of teaching resources to support.

Online resources are now available free on www.scottishpoetrylibrary.org.uk/learn and include:

·         a set of teaching notes for each poem

·         a pdf poster of each poem (doubles as a larger print text) to download and print

·         a pdf poster to advertise National Poetry Day

Scottish Water’s updated education materials, including a range of activity-based modules all about water for early, first, second, third and fourth level are now available free onwww.scottishwater.co.uk/education

Edinburgh International Book Festival / ScottishPower – Calling All Writers Of The Future

A search is on to find the school with the most creative minds.  The annual Story Generator competition is a national writing competition which invites young people across Scotland to collaborate and create their own stories.

The school that has written the best book will win a collection of books from the Edinburgh International Book Festival, with a printed copy of their Storybird online book included. The Pupil who devises the best page wins a Kindle which will come loaded with their own online book.

To find out more and to register your school, visit www.storybird.com/scottishpower

Inspired? Get Writing! Creative Writing Competition 2013/2014

Enjoy writing but need that little bit of inspiration and a goal to get started?

Why not enter this years Inspired? Get writing! competition? You can write in prose or poetry about anything that has inspired you from our permanent collection: drawings; paintings; prints; sculpture; photography; installation. There are five categories for school pupils and adults. Four volumes of Inspired? Get writing! have been published, featuring winners from previous years, so you can check out the standard. For full details download the rules. There is also a resource pack which you might find helpful.

There are 5 categories:

•           Under 12 years

•           12 – 14 years

•           15-18 years

•           Adults prose

•           Adults poetry

Entries should be submitted by Friday 17 January 2014.  Results of the competition will be announced by Thursday 17 April 2014.

For more information click here.

Listening Project at the Edinburgh Festival

BBC Learning is coming to the Edinburgh Festival 2013, with The Listening Project, an ambitious new partnership between BBC Radio 4, BBC local and national radio stations and the British Library. The Project aims to capture the nation in conversation and is asking people to share an intimate conversation with a close friend or relative, to help to build a unique picture of our lives today. Some of these conversations will be broadcast across BBC radio and archived by the British Library, preserving them for future generations.

On Monday 19th August, groups of all ages will be invited to attend a Q & A with Tony Phillips who is Editor of the Listening Project and Fi Glover who is the presenter of the Radio 4 show. On Friday 23rd August, groups from the Monday session will be invited back to have a chance to record their stories with staff from BBC Radio 4/Radio Scotland. The Q & A will take place at the BBC Festival Pink tent and the recording will be done in a Radio Studio not far from the Festival site. There will be provision for thirty two people to have a chance to record their story on 23rd August.

Spaces on these workshops and shows are in high demand, so if you would like to register interest contact Aleister Mayer on aleister.mayer@bbc.co.uk or www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00vyngt.

Learning Experiences Catalogue now launched

Education Scotland has announced the launch of the Learning Experiences Catalogue which aims to develop a sustainable programme of relevant, engaging and challenging learning experiences for children and young people aged 3–15 within a broad general education.

Learning experiences have been designed to support children and young people to learn to create, collect, code, animate, bake, garden, build, tell stories all set within contexts and many of them are interdisciplinary.

The catalogue provides learners with a brief description of each learning experience which they can read or can be read to them by clicking the audio file beside the LearnCat icon. Graphics have been designed to support learners in understanding where the learning will take place, which curriculum areas they will learn within and who they will learn with. Educators are provided with more information about each learning experience and planning guidance.

Each academic term a new collection of learning experiences will be launched. The autumn collection of learning experiences will be live from September 2013.

Explore the Learning Experiences Catalogue today.

National Literacy Network Event – James Robertson Keynote, 12 June, 09.45

Join Scottish author James Roberson as he discusses The Testament of Gideon Mack, one of the Scottish texts at National 5 English.

During this keynote presentation James will give a brief autobiography, will explore significant elements within the text such as plot, setting, characterisation, structure, stylistic devices and theme.

He will also suggest learning and teaching ideas and resources.

To sign up for this event click here.

Join the ‘Commonwealth Class’

The BBC, the British Council and the Commonwealth Secretariat have joined forces to bring you Commonwealth Class, an exciting new opportunity for schools.

Commonwealth Class is a special initiative that provides teaching resources, online debates and interactive activities for schools to mark the run-up to the 2014 Commonwealth Games. It celebrates the values of the Commonwealth and connects schools and young people as they learn about how to be active, responsible global citizens as part of the Commonwealth family.

The Commonwealth Class education pack is an exciting resource designed to teach young people about Commonwealth values such as rights and responsibilities, protection of the environment, respect for others and what people need to lead healthy lives free from poverty.
Produced by the British Council, the resource pack contains cross-curricular activities, short films and discussion guides with learning outcomes that link to key skills, curriculum subjects and Commonwealth values. Activities include what qualities you need to be a successful Commonwealth athlete, and an exploration of the route of the Queen’s Baton Relay which will visit all 71 countries and territories taking part in the 2014 games.

Get set for 2014 and download the British Council Commonwealth Class education pack today.

BBC online debates
Commonwealth Class partner, the BBC, is hosting a series of monthly online debates commencing this summer. The debates are intended to create a platform for schools in the UK and Commonwealth countries to teach and learn together.
The first debate in the series will take place on Thursday 13 June.
Visit Schools Online and sign up to Commonwealth Class for more resources and interactive activities that support lesson planning and teaching across the curriculum
And a week before the first debate you can visit the BBC’s Commonwealth Class website to find out how you can take part!

YMT’s course for writers and composers – submission deadline closing soon

Would you like to be the next Andrew Lloyd Webber or Stephen Sondheim?

YMT have an incredibly exciting opportunity for young people (aged 16-23) who are passionate about writing and/or composing.  Their week-long Young Writers and Composers Course is led by Olivier Award winning script-writer Stephen Clark (Martin Guerre, Zorro, Love Story and The Far Pavilions) and Arts Foundation award winning Conor Mitchell.

This course will take place at the start of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival at Fettes College, Edinburgh (pic above); thought to be the inspiration for J.K Rowlings’ Hogwarts.

Apply by completing the application form and submitting an example of your writing or music by 1 July 2013 –  course places are limited and a small group of writers and composers will be selected.

Contact richardcross@ymtuk.org to register your interest and for further information.

If you are selected onto the course, save £50 by quoting ‘ZORRO