Livingston is celebrating its 50th anniversary as a new town in 2012 and plans are underway to mark the occasion. It is expected that a number of official and community events and activities will take place in spring 2012. In preparation for the anniversary pupils at Livingston schools are being invited to enter a design and art competition which will result in the winning art works being displayed in a special exhibition at Howden Park Centre next April. Pupils are being asked to design a special logo which will be used to identify Livingston’s anniversary events. It is planned that the logo will be reproduced on all information which is printed or promoted on websites.
Musicians to meet up for Highland Music Day
It’s a year since the inaugural Highland Music Day and this year’s event on Thursday 6 October will see 570 young people from all over Highland arrive in Inverness to participate in a day of workshops and group playing for musicians of all levels of ability who attend Highland primary or secondary schools.
Seven different venues throughout the city will be used to host activities for young musicians of strings, brass, woodwind, bagpipes and pipe band drumming, traditional music and percussion.
http://www.highland.gov.uk/yourcouncil/news/newsreleases/2011/October/2011-10-03-04.htm
Education Scotland Learning Blog
Education Scotland’s development officers share good practice and current events as they work with practitioners across Scotland. This blog includes the latest news from all the teams, with links to our website, Glow Groups and good practice.
CPD from the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
STEMNET and Dundee Science Centre
Dundee Science Centre has been awarded a contract to enhance science education in secondary schools throughout the North East of Scotland.
As part of its commitment to 60 local authority schools in Dundee, Perth and Kinross, Angus and Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire, the Science Centre will help teachers improve the way they teach science subjects and steer pupils towards science-related careers. Dundee is the only Scottish Science Centre to secure one of the four STEMNET (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) contracts in Scotland.
As part of the four-year contract, Dundee Science Centre will recruit and manage voluntary Ambassadors to provide expertise and support to teachers, thereby enhancing lessons and adding a new dimension to projects, showing how STEM relates to the world of work and the many careers it can potentially open up. With 470 already recruited, from scientists and engineers to gamers and environmentalists, these Ambassadors are then matched up to schools. Ultimately, all schools will have access to free of charge, vetted, trained role models who can support teachers, assist with STEM activities and help promote positive images of STEM to young people.
Louise Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Dundee Science Centre said, “We are delighted to secure the STEMNET contract for North East Scotland which fits with our objectives to deliver to the whole community, as well as the thousands of visitors who flock to Dundee Science Centre each year. It’s essential that we widen the perception of science and its relevance in our schools and that’s where these Ambassadors, who are truly passionate about their cause, play a crucial role. Science is not defined by a lab coat and, indeed, pupils are often intrigued when a STEMNET Ambassador visits their school dressed in jeans and a t-shirt but is, in fact, a computer games expert educated to PhD level.”
As part of their induction, the new Ambassadors undertake a science communication module entitled ‘Create and Inspire’. Led by Dundee Science Centre’s Science Learning Institute, the module helps Ambassadors understand and communicate to varying age groups, and explain their particular field in a fun, informative and relevant way.
Ambassadors can contribute both to regular lessons or participate in extra-curricular activities such as STEM Clubs, Careers Days and visits. STEM Ambassadors open the door to a whole new world for young people, helping them to see STEM subjects and careers with a fresh perspective and engage their interest and imagination in new ways.
The Science Centre will also run the STEM Advisory Service which helps teachers inspire students in science technology, engineering and mathematics by helping to identify and access enhancement and enrichment activities which can benefit the school curriculum, providing Ambassadors, links with local businesses and supporting STEM Clubs.
STEMNET works to ensure that future generations are able to appreciate and understand the role of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects and careers in the world around them and that more young people in the UK make a choice to enter careers from, as well as in, STEM.
For more information, visit www.stemnet.org.uk <http://www.stemnet.org.uk/> or contact ambassadors@dundeesciencecentre.org.uk <mailto:ambassadors@dundeesciencecentre.org.uk> .
Children In Europe Arts publications
Picture This Set
Two arts titles for just £6. Both explore the important role of creativity and the arts in children’s lives.
http://www.childreninscotland.org.uk/html/pub_tshow.php?ref=PUB0358
Pupils’ Creative Writing Published
http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6113046
A book written by primary children has been showcased at the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Julia Horton reports
Creative Scotland Funding Deadlines
Check out the latest funding opportunities – many of which are targeted at young people:
Big Dance Schools Pledge 2012
Big Dance 2012 will happen across the UK with a series of mass participation events led by our Regional Partners through Get Scotland Dancing (more information to be posted soon on www.creativescotland.com). The next Big Dance will take place across the UK from May – July 2012.
Big Dance Schools Pledge 2012
Login to sign up for Schools Pledge 2012 here
To sign up for the pledge you first need to login into your Profile or create an account.
The Pledge will be back in 2012! which coincides with the start of the Olympic Torch Relay in the UK. Renowned choreographer, Wayne McGregor, will be creating the choreography.
Big Dance School pledge
The School Pledge mass participation event for schools across the UK and around the world will take place with a world record attempt at 1pm on 18 May 2012 the day that the Olympic torch arrives in the UK. Big Dance is about showing lots of different types of Dance in unusual places. In 2011 260 schools worldwide signed-up to take part in the Schools Pledge 2011.
The choreographer for Big Dance 2012 is Wayne McGregor the multi award-winning British choreographer, renowned for his physically testing choreography and ground-breaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science. He will create a piece of dance which will be available on the website and supported by resources.
The choreography for the schools pledge will be available online from January 2012 here Big Dance 2012 – Official Site – Big Dance 2012 but you can register there from September for news.
Katy McKeown | Dance Officer
Creative Scotland
T +44 330 333 2000 D +44 131 523 0076
F +44 131 523 0001
Waverley Gate 2-4 Waterloo Place Edinburgh EH1 3EG
katy.mckeown@creativescotland.com
www.creativescotland.com
Design a football strip for Forest Pitch!
Education Scotland and Forest Pitch are working in partnership to offer all primary age children in Scotland an opportunity to design the football strips for an exciting project connected with London 2012.
Forest Pitch is the only Scottish project in Artists Taking The Lead, a major part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, and is also part of the London 2012 Festival, the culmination of the Cultural Olympiad. The Cultural Olympiad uses art and culture to welcome the world, to inspire young people and to create a lasting legacy.
Scottish artist Craig Coulthard, supported by funding from Creative Scotland will be creating a full size football pitch hidden deep within woodland in the Scottish Borders. In July 2012, two games will take place on this pitch, one between men and one between women. The players will all be amateurs, resident in Scotland, over the age of 18. In addition they will all be people who have become British citizens since the year 2000. After these games, the pitch will be left to grow back, and become a living relic of the events that took place in the woods.
The project explores a range of themes: national identity and belonging, what it means to be a citizen, how personal and shared memories and myths are created, the power of sport, diversity in nature and society, and sustainability.
Forest Pitch is looking for your creative designs for the football strips which the players will wear. As there are 4 teams (2 men’s and 2 women’s) Craig is looking for 4 winners.
The competition is for primary-age pupils and is designed to enable children to express themselves openly and freely and to encourage critical thinking and creativity. They will be able to express their own ideas, thoughts and feelings by exploring the themes of Forest Pitch and then creating a football strip design.
To find out more and enter the competition click here.
For further information contact michael.farrell@educationscotland.org.uk
… and don’t forget to register with Get Set and use Forest Pitch as part of your application to the Get Set Network. This will provide even more opportunities and resources for learning linked to London 2012 – and free tickets through the ticketshare scheme. Over 1100 Scottish schools are registered for Get Set and over 170 are now on the network.
