Category Archives: Primary schools

Competition, Creativity, Literacy and English, News, Opportunities, Primary schools, Secondary schools

500 words competition!

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BBC Radio 2 competition

If you’re aged 13 or under, what are you waiting for? Get writing!

We want you to send us something mad, magical, mind-blowing or mysterious…

You could win yourself a pile of books as tall as Chris Evans, and 500 books for your school library!

Calling all teachers and librarians

Download our free 500 Words Resources pack which is full to the brim with ideas to encourage children to read and write.

 Plus download our posters using the links below and help spread the word! 
PDF Download Enter the competition poster (1mb) 
PDF Download Become a judge poster (1mb) 

Find out more from the official website

Creativity, News, Primary schools, resources, Secondary schools

Creativity in Learning:FIFE

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Fife’s Creative Learning Network have published Creativity in Learning: FIFE an e-zine resource to highlight the impact and benefit of Creativity in Learning which showcases some of the excellent creative learning work being delivered in Fife within the context of Curriculum for Excellence.

Missed out on having your creative learning experiences being added to the magazine?  Don’t worry, you can showcase some of your work on the Schools Showcase Section on the FCLN Glow Group

Creativity, Funding, News, Opportunities, Primary schools, Secondary schools

FREE transport costs for schools…don’t miss out!

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Fife’s Cultural Partnerships Team is delighted to announce their Seedcorn Transport Scheme for 2013.  The Scheme will run from January – March 2013.

We recognise that transport costs are a real barrier to schools participating in creative and cultural opportunities.  This Scheme offers schools the opportunity to apply for transport costs which support children taking part in creative and cultural activities out with school and which also support creativity in learning within the overarching context of Curriculum for Excellence for the long-term benefits to learners.  We are keen that this scheme allows maximum participation and will take numbers benefiting into account when assessing the application.

Additionally this year we have enclosed a  Calendar of Activities which highlights some of the exciting activities on offer from members of Fife’s Creative Learning Network (FCLN), running from January – March 2013 (in case you are stuck for ideas!).

Conditions:

  • The Scheme is open to schools who wish to attend creative and cultural opportunities which they would not otherwise have the capacity to attend.
  • Activities must take place between January – March 2013.
  • Applications must be made using the ‘Seedcorn Application Form 2013’.
  • Support is available up to a maximum of £250.
  • Only one application will be considered per school.
  • No retrospective applications will be considered.
  • An evaluation form must be completed and returned no later than 4 weeks after your activity takes place.  Applicants who fail to return the evaluations will not receive seedcorn support for future funding rounds.

Your planned activity should meet at least one of the following Actions from Generations of Change – A Strategy for Culture in Fife 2011-13 (www.fifedirect.org.uk/culture):

Action 2 Identifying the barriers to cultural participation and ways of overcoming them.

Action 3 Encourage communities to maximise cultural opportunities to celebrate their strengths and their heritage.

Action 5 Increase access to participation in cultural activity and creative learning opportunities.

Please note that financial support is limited and applications will be assessed on a first come first served basis.

Should you have queries, please do not hesitate to contact us on 01592 583255.

Creativity, News, Opportunities, Primary schools, Scotland Colleges, Secondary schools

Youth Music Theatre (UK) Auditions!

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Youth Music Theatre (UK) will be touring the country this January and February searching for talented young performers and musicians, aged 11-21. We invite all dancers, singers and/or actors to come along to an audition and take part in one of our group workshops. No need to prepare anything!

Our musicals are fully residential and take place around the UK for two weeks over the summer holidays. You can also gain a Grade 8 Trinity Guildhall Certificate in Musical Theatre by taking part (Grade 8 is the highest grade, equivalent to A* at A-level).

Audition for what?

Kick-start your career in performing arts and audition to perform in musicals including Great Expectations, The Salsa Sisters, Terry Pratchett’s Soul Music, the Dark Tower and a feature film, The Vanishing Place. Read more online

About your YMT audition
Auditions are workshop based and last around 2.5 hours. They are good fun and led by a team of industry professionals.
We run around three workshop sessions over an audition day (depending on the city) slots are 9:30am-12 noon, 12:15pm-14:45pm and 15:45pm-18:15pm.
Watch some previous years’ YMT YouTube footage from inside the audition room and see what it’s all about.
Book your audition
All you need to do now is book your audition and come along! Book your audition online or by calling us: 0844 415 4858. Workshop-auditions are £35 (inc. VAT).
If you are a musician or if you are interested in working backstage, please call the YMT office to book your audition/interview slot. Musician auditions and backstage interviews are free of charge.
We look forward to seeing you at your audition.

Good luck! YMT

Creative Partners, Creative practitioners, Primary schools, resources

Creative Partner:Fife Contemporary Art and Craft – Buttercups-primary

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100_Buttercups_Education_Pack_(Primary)_May_2011

The 100 drawings that make up the book were made by Fife based artist Laurie Clark. The book was published by artist David Bellingham and from his own press WAX366 with help from Fife Contemporary Art & Craft (FCA&C).

 The pack aims to encourage older primary school children (P5 to P7) to develop an appreciation of the aesthetic through observation and creative exploration. By using observational drawing – the exercise Laurie undertakes so well – as a starting point, the art & design projects can be expanded to make links across the curriculum. Laurie describes her drawings as ‘portraits’ of the flowers because each is unique just as we are unique. The following projects explore the concept of things which seem to be the same but on close observation are individual.

Possible CfE Expressive Arts Links

 Art and Design

Possible CfE Curricular Links

English and Literacy LIT2-04a, LIT2-07a, LIT2-16a, LIT2-20a, LIT2-24a, LIT2-26a, LIT2-31a
Social Studies SOC2-01a, SOC2-04a
Science SCN2-01a, SCN2-02b, SCN2-14a, SCN2-14b
Technologies TCH2-04a, TCH2-15a, TCH2-15b
Maths and Numeracy MNU2-09a, MNU2-09b, MNU2-09c, MNU2-11b
Creativity, Expressive Arts, Music, News, Opportunities, Primary schools, Secondary schools

Extra £1 million for musical instruments

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Scottish schools will be provided with an additional £1 million to buy musical instruments for their pupils, the Scottish Government has announced. The move has been made by Minister for Learning Alasdair Allan who has also formed a new group to address the issue of how music tuition is delivered, including the question of charges for pupils sitting SQA music exams.

Click here for more info

Curriculum for Excellence, Education Scotland, News, Parents, Primary schools

Foreign languages in primary schools

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An inquiry into the teaching of foreign languages in primary schools was launched on Friday 14 December by the European and External Relations Committee of the Scottish Parliament.

Earlier this year, the Government recommended that children should learn a second language from Primary 1 and that learning of a third language should start no later than Primary 5. The Committee has determined that it wants to look at this policy aim, the capacity within the curriculum for this, and the role of languages in supporting the economy.

The Committee would welcome views from parents, teachers and pupils for its inquiry. 

A call for views has been published at the Committee’s website here.

Issues to be explored in the Committee’s investigations include funding (including use of EU funds); the skills base and teaching resources available for language tuition; the capacity within the curriculum to accommodate greater language study; the choice of languages for teaching; and the role of languages in economic development.