Do you know about the work of Doctor Suzanne Zeedyk?

Suzanne Zeedyk is currently Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology at Dundee University. Suzanne’s work focuses on parent-infant relationships. She is frequently invited to speak to groups of parents and professionals on the importance of such relationships, and how babies’ early experiences influence the development of their brain, bodies and psyche.

Click the links below to find out more:

www.theconnectedbaby.org

http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/earlyyears/prebirthtothree/nationalguidance/conversations/suzannezeedyk.asp

Scottish Youth Work Week Conference & YouthLink Scotland AGM

The Scottish Youth Work Week Conference will take place on Wednesday 2 November 2011 in Edinburgh. The AGM will take place during the lunch break, all members are invited to attend (lunch will be provided).

The format of the conference will include round table discussions in the morning and interactive sessions in the afternoon.

The round table discussions in the morning will take a closer look at using volunteers to deliver youth work programmes, mentoring using a youth work approach and evaluation to demonstrate social return on investment.

The afternoon interactive sessions will focus on a generic range of youth work policy and practice topics.

Interactive Sessions

A list of the interactive sessions on offer at the conferece is now available to view here.

Please note that the top ten sessions chosen by delegates will run on the day.

Booking

Booking online is now available here

The cost for members is £50.00 plus VAT and £75.00 plus VAT for non-members.

Contact: Susan Symington at YouthLink Scotland, Tel: 0131 313 2488 [ e-mail | Online Booking ]

Home Economics Good Practice : Young Chef of the Year

Published Monday 10th October 11

Pupils from five East Lothian secondary schools put their culinary skills to the test in front of distinguished judges – in the final of the East Lothian Young Chef of the Year 2011 competition on Friday.

The nail-biting event was held at Preston Lodge High School, Prestonpans, on 7 October and the ‘home team’ of Shelby Dalgliesh and Abby Douglas lifted the trophy.

A special award for the individual chef ‘most determined to succeed’ went to Rachal Cooper from Knox Academy.

The teams of two S4 pupils had 90 minutes to prepare a two-course meal based on local ingredients, working under the scrutiny of a team of judges. The main course and dessert was prepared from a selected menu, using locally-produced pork, chicken and salmon. Accompaniments for the main course were chosen by each team. The main ingredient of the dessert had to be a dairy product. All ingredients had to be predominantly fresh, East Lothian and/or Scottish and reflect current eating trends.

The competition has been developed to complement and promote East Lothian’s rich history of local produce by involving our young people in an exciting culinary challenge and also introducing them to the idea of a career in the hospitality industry. To read more click here.

Learning about food: down on the farm

One hundred and fifty Primary 6 pupils got their hands dirty down on the farm – but it was all in a good educational cause.
Children from Annanhill, Galston, Hurlford, Silverwood, Barshare and Ochiltree enjoyed a fun Food and Farming Day at Auchincruive Estate last week, to find out about the food they eat and where it comes from, courtesy of the Royal Highland Education Trust (RHET).
Youngsters enjoyed a variety of activity sessions provided by local farmers and by lecturers from the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC). They made butter and ice cream, ground some grain and toured the farm to get a closer look at dairy cows and calves. The children also tried experimental ‘egg magic’ and had some tractor fun, which incorporated basic physics activities.
To read more click here.

International and Citizenship education within early years

Woodacre Nursery School invites practitioners to their newly built school on the South Side of Glasgow in Pollok to share their experiences in gaining full International Schools Award, Green flag status and the ‘Trades House Citizenship Award’. The nursery school has been involved in Global Citizenship Education for the last 6 years embedding many initiatives related to this theme into their curriculum. 

Click the link below to find out more!

https://portal.glowscotland.org.uk/establishments/nationalsite/Early%20Years/Lists/Pages/Sharing%20Practice.aspx

Glow Meet – Global citizenship DROP IN

Every month the DGC team will be available on our new Glow TV channel to answer your questions about global citizenship and to signpost you to resources and ideas to help you embed global citizenship in the curriculum.  This is an informal session open to any school leader or practitioner in Scotland – just drop into the Glow meet to pick our brains, find out what’s coming up or tell us what you’re up to.

The inaugural session will take place from 3.30-5.00pm on Wednesday 26th October.  The theme for the first 45 minutes of this session will be A Games Legacy for Scotland and will showcase how the London Olympics 2012 and Glasgow Commonwealth Games 2014 can be used to create exciting learning opportunities for global citizenship activities and interdisciplinary learning.  Find out how to get free tickets to the Olympics, hear about the Forest Pitch football strip design competition and how the organisers plan to Get Scotland Dancing. 

A general Q & A/open floor session will follow from 4.15pm to 5pm. Put the day in your diary and join us for all, or part of, this event to discuss and share or get help with a particular issue. Visit Glow TV to register and take part on the day: http://bit.ly/DGCdropin

If you can’t make this one then the following drop in session will be on Tuesday 6th December 2011 from 3:30pm – 5pm. The theme will be: Developing a whole school approach to global citizenship.

Parents urged to Play Talk Read

A national road-show launches this week to encourage parents and carers to play, talk and read more with their younger children.
Launched on 6 October by the Minister for Children and Young People, Angela Constance, the road-show will visit all of Scotland’s 32 local authorities as part of the next phase of the Scottish Government’s Play, Talk, Read campaign which focuses on the early years of children’s lives.
In partnership with Scottish Book Trust, the Play@Home scheme and other voluntary organisations, the roadshow kicks-off in key shopping centres across Scotland offering fun and free play and Bookbug stories, song and rhyme sessions in an engaging pop-up area. The Scottish Government’s new Play Talk Read Bus will then take to the streets, visiting towns and cities across the country.

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2011/10/06103646

STEM Central and Education Scotland newsletter

If you haven’t seen the first edition of the new Education Scotland newletter you can find it using this link http://www.ltscotland.org.uk/Images/ESNewsletter_tcm4-674651.pdf. The front page highlights the new STEM Central resource, and the importance of sciences, technologies, engineering and maths for the future of Scotland’s economy. The newsletter also announces the role of Education Scotland in supporting practitioners with the delivery of the new qualifications, with learning resources to be published in spring 2012.

Does skipping breakfast help you lose weight?

There is a large amount of research evidence relating weight status in children and adolescents to eating breakfast. In 2005, a review of the literature found that although breakfast eaters tend to consume more daily calories, they are less likely to be overweight.

A follow-up review in 2009 found that most cross-sectional studies reported that eating breakfast was associated with a reduced risk for overweight or obesity. Routinely eating breakfast is associated with more regular eating habits and exercise patterns, healthy food choices and consistent energy intake in children and adolescents.  Children and adolescents who skip breakfast miss the opportunity to consume a nutrient-rich meal.  In addition, evidence suggests that eating breakfast as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle is associated with children’s health and well-being.

A number of studies show that:

  • overweight or obese children and adolescents eat breakfast less frequently
  • girls tend to skip breakfast more than boys
  • skipping breakfast increases as children age into adolescence
  • parental eating and living in two parent families are positively associated with adolescent breakfast consumption, whilst families are positively associated with adolescent breakfast consumption, whilst socioeconomic deprivation is inversely associated with eating breakfast

 To read the some more from the National Obesity Observatory click here

Iceberg Glow Meet – Responsbility of All

 

This Glow meet took place on Wednesday 28 September 16.15-17.00 – to watch again click here.

This Glow Meet demonstrated a way to provide CPD support to deliver the aspects of Health and Wellbeing that are the Responsibility of All. It was a poplar Glow meet with  an very encouraging 78 people joining in.

They heard about and discussed the Iceberg Model for shared understanding of Responsibility of All.   The Iceberg model helps to mark crucial learning experiences with added activities.    This may support teachers identify the appropriate starting points based on a learner’s prior knowledge.  This potential pathway can help teachers to consider the gathering of evidence of ‘how much and how well’ a learner has learned, when considering assessment in aspects of HWB.   For more information contact Suzanne Hargreaves.

SLF Highlights

Other highlights from SLF included taking a brand new look at Physics and being introduced to Fermi’s ‘How many piano tuners are there in Chicago?’ problem. 

The sessions in the Education Showcase area where pupils presented was always busy, stimulating and fun.  North Queensferry Primary showed how they had created a garden to incorporate food and the environment, it was really engaging and innovative…….and the chocolate and courgette cake went down a treat!

In honour of Strictly Come Dancing starting at the weekend here are some clips that we hope will give you happy feet!

A Scottish dancing flashmob!    This led to discovering this gem from last year it’s the Brain POP robot Moby in a dance off with the Consolarium team – dancing development officers

Finally Sir John Jones at the Scottish Learning Festival reminded us of this uplifting and inspirational bit of dancing.  See Matt Dance!

Health and Wellbeing Network

We recently met with our HWB National Network where strategic leads from across all 32 Education Authorities as well as our NHS and Scottish Government colleagues. We had inputs around Responsibility of All aspects of HWB and skills development.  There was a very enthusiastic response to our proposal to fund staff across a range of authorities to work with us on developing exemplar materials for HWB potentially on areas around assessment, profiling and Responsibility of All.   It was a very productive and positive day as reflected in the evaluations. 

We are going to be out and about meeting with our contact authorities seeking out emerging practice and offering support.

Reintegration and Transitions – Guidance for Local Authorities, Community Planning Partnerships and Service Providers

  This guidance aims to provide an overview of best practice within reintegration and transitions for young people under 18 who offend. As this age group can cross over child and adult services it is important that we recognise this to ensure that the transition process is as smooth as possible and that the service the young person receives meets their age and stage of development.

Website

Getting it right for every child Community of Practice

An online forum for practitioners and managers

If you are a Getting it right practitioner or lead professional, you can find out lots of help and information on Community of Practice. To join you will need to sign up at Community of Practice, and then apply for membership, because this is a private community, designed for practitioners and strategic managers across Scotland who are involved in implementing and embedding the Getting it right approach. Debate is fostered through a forum and a blog. You can also post news, events, shared documents and other resources.

Contact: Getting it right for every child team, phone: 0131 244 7389 Website

Are You Using BLT: The Big Book of Literacies Training?

 The Youth Literacies Network with the support of YouthLink Scotland and Education Scotland produced BLT – a non-prescriptive resource bank to assist youth workers and others embrace literacies work with young people in a variety of contexts and settings earlier this year.

The purpose of the resource is to assist you to better meet the literacies needs of the young people you work with. We are keen to know who is using BLT and in what way. Please get in touch with a brief description of how you are using them and if you have added to them or adapted the original materials.

The Big Book of Literacies Training is available to down load from here.

Contact: Heather McVey at YouthLink Scotland, phone: 0131 313 2488 [ e-mail ]

Meeting needs through Curriculum for Excellence

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Meeting needs through Curriculum for Excellence

 
 
 
 
Meeting needs through Curriculum for Excellence
A conference for special schools, units and bases

 

10 November 2011
10.00-15.30
Stirling Management CentreEducation Scotland is holding a conference for practitioners and managers from special schools, units and bases.  The conference will be opened by Angela Constance MSP, Minister for Children and Young People. 

The key purposes of the day are to:

 

  • Provide a national update on Curriculum for Excellence key messages and expectations

 

  • Provide an opportunity for professional dialogue and reflection around key themes

 

  • Showcase examples of good practice through practitioner led seminars

 

To book a place at the conference here.  A confirmation will be sent to you.Further details and seminar selections will be available shortly.

 

 
 
 
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Nourish Scotland Annual Conference 2011

On Friday 30th September the Nourish Scotland conference was hosted at  the Pearce Institute in Govan.   The theme of the event was  the new food economy: towards a secure and sustainable future for food in Scotland. 

The event was brought to life by the arrival of  Alastair McIntosh, a Scottish writer, academic and activist who made a dramatic entrance carrying a scythe, which considering we were in Govan called to mind the 1986 film Crocodile and the famous line  “You call that a knife?  Alistair eloquently talked about the culture of Govan, now his home and the need for a better food economy for areas of deprivation. 

The event brought together over 150 delegates from all over Scotland and beyond who are highly passionate about the sustainable future of Scotland’s food industry.  There were several keynotes looking at the food economy globally, in Europe and Scotland.   Richard Lochhead, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs and the Environment announced a substantial investment has been awarded to the Food and Drink Division of the Scottish Government.

Health and Wellbeing Event for PDGE Student at Glasgow University

On Wedneday 14th September this event was attended by 300 PDGE students and was very enthusiastically received.  The day included an inspiring input from Suzanne Hargreaves (HWB Team) around putting Health and Wellbeing into context within CfE. 

There were inputs from Head Teachers Teresa Verrecchia of St Dominic’s Primary, Glasgow and Tony McDaid of Calderglen High School, Glasgow.  They regaled the audience with tales from the ‘frontline’ and shared the great joy that comes from meeting the needs of children and their families. 

Finally the day was completed by Alan McLean introducing the students to ‘The Motivated School’, this was an entertaining and at times challenging presentation that encouraged the students to contemplate their future classroom practice.

School open day: Mearns Primary School (East Renfrewshire)

Main focus: Learner voice and Rights Respecting Schools

 Thursday,  13 October 2011,   9.30 am – 3 pm 

 Mearns Primary School, –  this year’s Education Awards in the category ‘Global Citizenship’ -,  will provide you with the opportunity to spend the day in the school to talk to staff and pupils about a high level of momentum and commitment to learner voice across the whole school for years.    This has enabled the school to transform the ethos as well as the overall life and work of the school and to develop rich learning experiences and activities including:

  • Implementing a highly effective pupil participation strategy
  • Developing international education programme through the ‘Connecting Classrooms’ programme (British Council) and links with other foreign schools.
  • Forging strong partnerships with parents and a wide range of local community groups and businesses.
  • Establishing a whole school ethos based on justice, fairness and human rights agenda leading to Rights Respecting Schools accreditation and peer assessor status.

 A focus of the event will be to identify and share the practical lessons and ideas that have helped the school move forward in its journey, and also to reflect on the challenges encountered along the way.  Time will also be set aside for some professional dialogue and exchange of ideas.

 For more information see attached document: Mearns Primary Open day

How to book

To book, please email: globalcitizens@LTScotland.org.uk or

 Phone  0141 282 5172.

Places are limited so please book early to avoid disappointment. 

     This is a free event!

Micro – Tyco Glow Meet

Lots of schools are asking about what they are going to do over enterprise month this year. 

Tune in to the Glow Meet on Thursday at 12.30,1.30 or 3.30 to hear social entrepreneur Mick Jackson talk about the popular WildHearts Micro-Tyco Challenge and how it can engage whole communities in enterprise education and at the same time raise awareness and tackle social injustice.

Click here to visit the Aberdeen City Glow Group for more information. (Glow log in required)

Or better still join the Glow Meet Briefing Room on Thursday 6th October at 12.30,1.30 or 3.30 by clicking here. During the Glow Meet teachers and pupils will have an opportunity to engage with Mick about the Challenge and to ask him any questions you might have about enterprise in general or the challenge specifically.

Developing Resources to support AH Physics

I mentioned before that we are progressing development of resources to support AH Physics. Whilst discussing ideas with a teacher from the West Coast, he mentioned a valuable resource available on the National STEM Centre website  : a series of films demonstrating various practical work in Physics including a demonstration of wave motion using masking tape, jelly babies and wooden skewers. I am reliably informed by the adventurous Scottish science community that it works well for AH and also to amuse your own children on a wet weekend. Don’t forget that for Higher Sciences, revised or traditional, you can find lots of resources on the Education Scotland NQ Higher Sciences site.

World Porridge Day

World Porridge Day on Monday 10th October will see the celebration of a traditional Scottish dish and the chance to explore the work of the charity Mary’s Meals.

 To many in the UK, porridge is a hearty breakfast, but to over 479,000 school children in Malawi who receive a daily mug of maize-based likuni phala from Mary’s Meals, it is a powerful incentive to go to school, and the only guaranteed meal they will have each day.  Mary’s Meals provides a daily meal to chronically hungry children to attract them to school where they can get an education which could lift them out of poverty in later life. It costs Mary’s Meals just £6.15 to provide a daily meal for a child for a whole school year.

200 S1 pupils in Holyrood Secondary School Glasgow will be served porridge at the same time as pupils at the Catholic Institute Primary School in Malawi with a live link via Glow.  Join us and tell us how you are celebrating World Porridge Day and find out exactly what World Porridge Day means to the pupils in Malawi.

Join us for World Porridge Day on Glow TV

Hosted by Holyrood Secondary School, Glasgow

A live link with Malawi

Monday 10th October 2011

 10am

 To sign up for this event on Glow TV click here (Glow log in required).

To find out more about Mary’s Meals visit the Glow Group (Glow log in required).

Modern Studies Conference – Live from East Lothian

Join us live from Musselburgh Grammar School on Friday 7th October from 9.45am to take part in the ‘Higher Modern Studies Conference East Lothian 2011‘. The conference will have speakers presenting on Health and Wealth and also the impact of the media on politics.

We already have Susan Deacon, former Scottish Cabinet Minister and Brian Taylor, BBC Scotland Political Editor as speakers at this event. Susan from 9.45 – 10.45 and then Brian will be speaking at 11am. The full programme is still being finalised so join us on Friday for an exciting morning.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV!

Literacy Team Update 3rd October 2011

CPD
The last of the very successful Literacy Across Learning days are being undertaken over the next few weeks and will be quickly followed by LAL2.

The Primary CPD Support for this session will focus on Learning to read and reading to learn at first and second level.

Both support sessions are currently in development and a wide variety of partners are being consulted in the process. All authorities have been approached to identify dates and the first of these days will take place at the end of October.

It is intended that participants will register there interest and intentions through CPD Central.

ROA
Anna Cartlidge has been doing a power of work with all targeted support teams to develop a resource that will promote ROA. Anna is a Primary Teacher based in Aberdeen and is a very welcome addition in coordinating the teams.

Research update
Great news on the uptake for the survey as part of the Reading research – we have reached 101 responses. This is an excellent rate and will provide a sound backdrop for the interviews. All of these tools will help build an insight into pupil enjoyment of reading. Anecdotally, the clear response from Secondary pupils is that they want to be read to more often.