Category Archives: Languages and Literacy

Shakespeare Schools Festival – down to our final spaces – register before the Easter break to avoid disappointment!

The Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) is the largest youth drama festival in the UK and offers a non-competitive, supportive and celebratory opportunity for young people to perform Shakespeare in a local professional theatre. On one night, four schools come together to perform four different half-hour plays and, by doing so, widen their horizons and discover for themselves what they are capable of achieving.

It allows teachers to develop drama skills and new ways of teaching through doing, and gives primary, secondary and special schools a novel way to raise their profile within the community.

“They (the students) have seen all staff and pupils become part of one whole happy team, sharing goals, up keeping expectations and working really hard.” Lizzy Rose, Teacher, Robert Gordon’s College Junior School

Registration includes:

-A Teacher CPD day

-A workshop at your local professional venue for the cast in September

-Access to 21 abridged scripts and resources on staging Shakespeare

-A day in a professional theatre with all the technical and directorial support needed to run a technical and dress rehearsal, and to perform in October/November

-Continuous support from your Regional coordinator

SSF is for all teachers in Scotland regardless of their level of experience in directing and for all young people – whether they think Shakespeare is boring or find it difficult to engage in the classroom, or are high achievers and love acting.

“The whole experience was immensely rewarding for everyone: it built confidence with Shakespeare’s text; it made our pupils feel ten feet tall when they performed alongside much, much larger schools.  We enjoyed the workshops and the experience of performing.  Our marketing team loved the chance to plan and sell a product. We would do it again in a heartbeat.” Mandy Tevendale, Teacher, Mallaig High School, Inverness-shire

Registration costs £750 + VAT. As a charity we raise an additional £900 towards the cost of participation for every school.

SSF is supported by OCR, AQA, Edexcel and Arts Award.

To register or find out how your students can grow through performing Shakespeare on stage alongside three other schools, please call us on 0207 601 1814 or go to our website www.ssf.uk.com

2013 Songs for Social Justice Festival

The 2013 Songs for Social Justice Festival was launched in November 2012 and all Scottish secondary schools were notified of it in December 2012.


http://www.stuc.org.uk/files/Songs%20for%20Social%20Justice/2013/Songs%20for%20Social%20Justice%20Festival%20Information%20Booklet%20No2.pdf

Schools are invited to confirm their intention to participate in the Festival by Monday 3 June 2013, and to submit a maximum of two songs per school by Friday 1st November

The Festival will showcase one entry from each school at a Showcasing event on Friday 29 November 2013 at the STUC Centre, Glasgow.

All participating schools will be presented with an Award Certificate.

For more information and contact details, please read the information booklet.

Glow Meet – Careers in Theatre Days

Careers in Theatre Day – Front of House and Box Office, 26 February 10.00 am http://bit.ly/156FnDY

In our first session find out how the operational side of the Traverse Theatre works with representatives from our Front of House and Box Office teams. This workshop will explain and explore how we go about creating the best possible experience for our customers/audiences before and after they have been to one of our shows.

Careers in Theatre Day – Technical Theatre, 26 February 12.00 pm http://bit.ly/Yol4vs

During this second event find out more about a day in the life of a theatre technician, with Graham Raith, Head of Electrics at the Festival and King’s Theatres. Including on stage visit to see Scottish Opera’s set of Massenet’s Werther.

Careers in Theatre Day – Acting and Directing, 26 February 2.30 pm http://bit.ly/136AZ9n

Careers in Theatre Day is the Festival Theatre Edinburgh, The Lyceum Theatre and The Traverse Theatre’s unique interactive one day careers event.  During this session learn more about acting and directing in a Producing Theatre, whilst meeting some of the people involved in Time and the Conways. A great chance to find out how to make a career as an actor or director.

Scotland’s Still Singing, 27 February, 2.00 pm http://bit.ly/XghwPD

After our very successful events at the end of last year we are delighted to bring to you another opportunity to join in with a national singing lesson. Join Maeve Mackinnon and Innes Watson as they entertain us with Scots and Gaelic songs.

For full details of these and other events, please log in to Glow and view the current schedule:

https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/GlowTV/tvpages/Schedule.aspx.

(Glow login and password required)

Register now to take part in the 2013 Shakespeare Schools Festival


The Shakespeare Schools Festival (SSF) is the largest youth drama festival in the UK and offers a non-competitive, supportive and celebratory opportunity for young people to perform Shakespeare in a local professional theatre. On one night, four schools come together to perform four different half-hour plays and, by doing so, widen their horizons and discover for themselves what they are capable of achieving.

It allows teachers to develop drama skills and new ways of teaching through doing, and gives primary, secondary and special schools a novel way to raise their profile within the community.

“They (the students) have seen all staff and pupils become part of one whole happy team, sharing goals, up keeping expectations and working really hard.” Lizzy Rose, Teacher, Robert Gordon’s College Junior School

Registration includes:

-A Teacher CPD day

-A workshop at your local professional venue for the cast in September

-Access to 21 abridged scripts and resources on staging Shakespeare

-A day in a professional theatre with all the technical and directorial support needed to run a technical and dress rehearsal, and to perform in October/November

-Continuous support from your Regional coordinator

SSF is for all teachers in Scotland regardless of their level of experience in directing and for all young people – whether they think Shakespeare is boring or find it difficult to engage in the classroom, or are high achievers and love acting.

The whole experience was immensely rewarding for everyone: it built confidence with Shakespeare’s text; it made our pupils feel ten feet tall when they performed alongside much, much larger schools.  We enjoyed the workshops and the experience of performing.  Our marketing team loved the chance to plan and sell a product. We would do it again in a heartbeat.” Mandy Tevendale, Teacher, Mallaig High School, Inverness-shire

Registration costs £750 + VAT. As a charity we raise an additional £900 towards the cost of participation for every school.

SSF is supported by OCR, AQA, Edexcel and Arts Award.

To register or find out how your students can grow through performing Shakespeare on stage alongside three other schools, please call us on 0207 601 1814 or go to our website www.ssf.uk.com

Could your language project inspire others and win a top prize?


http://www.cilt.org.uk/home/valuing_languages/european_language_label_2012.aspx
Applications are now open for the 2013 European Language Label, and schools from across the UK are invited to apply. This year’s theme is ‘Innovation in Language Teaching and Learning’, and the Label is open to schools in the Primary and Secondary sector, as well as FE and HE institutions. This award is a great opportunity for the innovative work being done in languages in Scotland to be recognised across the UK and Europe.

The European Language Label (ELL) is an award for innovative language-learning projects. It rewards creative ways to improve the quality of language teaching, motivate learners and make the best of available resources. Winning projects may use European Language Label on stationery and websites and, in addition, all winners receive prizes of books, vouchers or teaching materials from the Label sponsors. The awards are presented at a prize-giving ceremony on European Day of Languages, 26th September.

For more information, including the online application form, please visit the ELL website or contact idjouadj@cfbt.com.

The application deadline is Sunday 21 April 2013.

Previous winners from Scotland have included St Roch’s Secondary School in Glasgow in 2011 and Mid Calder Primary in 2009.

Paper Creativity Challenge – Scratch

31 January, 10.00 am http://bit.ly/XHTusN

https://blogs.glowscotland.org.uk/glowblogs/eslb/2013/01/25/paper-creativity-challenge-building-with-paper/

Join Derek Robertson and pupils from Newburgh Primary School, Fife for an introduction to Scratch and to learn about the launch of a Scratch Glow TV channel.
Scratch is a programming language that makes it easy to create your own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art – and share your creations on the web

Glow Meet with Julia Donaldson – Running on the Cracks

29th January at 1.45pm

The Tron Theatre will stage an exciting new show Running on the Cracks , an adaptation by Andy Arnold of the Julia Donaldson book of the same name. This new show will be staged in February 2013 and is a co-production with Pilot Theatre Company, York. Running on the Cracks is a fast moving new play about runaways, identity, survival and how friendships can develop in the strangest situations.

http://bit.ly/runningonthecracks

Join Julia Donaldson, children’s laureate for a Glow Meet live from the Tron for this exciting event. Julia will discuss her inspiration for the book and will answer your questions. Don’t miss this opportunity to speak with one of the UK’s leading children’s author.