Monthly Archives: August 2012

CfE, Expressive Arts

Spotlight on Theatre

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Festival Theatre Edinburgh, The Lyceum Theatre and The Traverse Theatre are holding a unique interactive careers event on Tuesday 11th September. Places to attend have already been booked up, but if you are interested in finding out more, and watching the sessions you can now join in on Glow TV.

The event is aimed at 5th and 6th year pupils interested in pursuing a career in the theatre, and will also act as a CPD session for Drama, Guidance/Support Teachers and Career’s Advisors. In addition pupils in upper primary and lower primary may be interested in many aspects of the day.

It is a busy day with lots to join in with:

Directing and Writing for Theatre live from The Traverse Theatre – 10 – 11.30am
As Scotland’s New Writing Theatre the Traverse prides itself on the close relationships they have with our writers. Join our Associate Director for a practical workshop that explores the relationship and journey of a playwright and director. Sign up and join us for this event in Glow TV.

Acting live from The Lyceum Theatre – 12 – 1.30pm
Take part in an acting skills workshop with our Drama Artist and learn all about careers in Acting and the routes and courses which can lead to them. There will also be a Q and A session with a professional actor – so have your questions ready! Sign up and join us for this event in Glow TV.

Marketing, Press, PR and Programming live from the Festival Theatre Edinburgh – 2.30 – 4pm
An introduction to careers in arts administration, focusing on marketing, press, PR and programming. Our experienced staff share their tips for the top in promoting and selling theatre to diverse audiences across the central belt of Scotland, but beware – it’s not all paparazzi and showbiz glamour! Sign up and join us for this event in Glow TV.

CfE, Young people, children & families

Be at the heart of your child’s learning

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Today sees the launch of a national campaign which aims to help parents and carers develop a better understanding of Curriculum for Excellence and how they can become more involved in their child’s learning.

Children do better when families support their learning. From reading together; spending time talking and listening through to finding out about their day and helping them prepare for exams – involvement makes a world of difference.

Curriculum for Excellence is raising standards of learning and teaching across Scotland. It is preparing children and young people with the skills and qualifications they need for a fast changing world. 

Parentzone is a website dedicated to providing parents and carers with the most up to date information about their child’s education. It provides practical advice and ideas of how parents and carers can be involved in their child’s learning as well as essential information on features of Curriculum for Excellence.

Get involved today by visiting www.educationscotland.gov.uk/parentzone.

 

CfE, Literacy and English

Daily What Newsround – It’s Back!

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The Daily What News eds return after the summer break with an action-packed round-up of the site’s latest stories.

With fun games such as the latest stories in numbers and discussion topics that would engage even the most reluctant participant, Louise and Melissa return on Friday 31st August at 11am LIVE from Glow TV’s Glasgow studio.

We think these news girls are just fab and their approach to the show is likely to be light-hearted and fun, whilst introducing some inspiring opportunities for classroom discussion and ideas about how to use the news site’s stories in school.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV!

Expressive Arts

Standards for Registration

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GTC Scotland have been working on a revision of the Professional Standards, and will publish drafts of each of the revised standards this month for consultation, with a view to publishing the Standards at the start of 2013. As part of this consultation you are invited to find out more and air your views on the three new sets of Professional Standards through Glow TV events. The first of which is the Standards of Education which will take place on Thursday 30th August at 4pm.

The draft revised Standards for Registration incorporates the Standard for Provisional Registration and the Standard for Full Registration. The Standard for Provisional Registration outlines what is expected of a teacher at the end of their Initial Teacher Education and the Standard for Full Registration outlines what is expected of of a teacher at the end of their probationer year, as well as what all teachers are expected to maintain and enhance over the course of their career. By including these two standards in one document, we have attempted to demonstrate the expected progression at the start of a teacher’s professional learning journey.

This session will be led by Mairi McAra, Education Adviser at GTC Scotland, and will explore the thinking behind the revision of this standard, as well as some of the planned content.

Other events include The Standard for Career Long Professional Learning on 5th September and Standards for Leadership and Management on 13th September with a final session on all three standards The Revised GTCS Professional Standards on 27th September.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV for an opportunity for you to have your say on Standards for Registration.

Health and wellbeing

Join us on the Cooking Bus

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On Friday 31st August at 9.15am Glow TV will be coming live from Glasgow Caledonian University with the Focus on Food Cooking Bus.

Throughout the year Focus on Food Cooking Buses are at work across the UK visiting schools and communities. Sessions cover key aspects of food education from food preparation skills to nutrition, food safety and hygiene. All ingredients and equipment are provided, a session at the on the bus leaves behind expertise, enthusiasm and skills. The Cooking Bus supports the continued implementation of the experiences and outcomes within the health and wellbeing framework of Curriculum for Excellence.

Tune in to meet the team who tour Scottish schools on the Focus on Food Cooking Bus.

· Find out what happens when the bus visits your school.

· Find out how the bus can build confidence around practical cooking in the classroom.

· Find out how to request a visit from the bus for your school or cluster.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV or request further information from Kerry Crichton – kerry.crichton@educationscotland.gov.uk

Health and wellbeing, Young people, children & families

Teachers Urged to Report Missing Pupils

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Teachers across Scotland are being asked to be look out for any pupils who don’t return to school after the summer break for fear of being at risk of a forced marriage.

A new booklet with advice and practitioner guidelines are available to all teachers to provide them with practical help on how to deal with a pupil that may be under threat of forced marriage or at risk of physical or mental abuse associated with this.

With experts at the UK Forced Marriage Unit predicting over 350 young people across Britain will be forced into marriage when they go abroad over the summer, the Scottish Government has teamed up with support agencies in Scotland to develop the booklet which includes information on forced marriage and how to get help locally.

Of the estimated figures collated through support agencies in Scotland, it is believed that almost 20 per cent of the 59 people who contacted support agencies were under 18 and concern both boys and girls.

Teachers are key to the campaign to raise awareness of forced marriage and the protection offered by the legislation, so they can help those under threat of a forced marriage. School or college may often be the only place where the potential victim can speak freely.

To help teachers recognise potential forced marriage victims, the Scottish Government has identified a number of important warning signs to look out for. These include:

• a student being anxious about talking about school holidays
• surveillance of a student by cousins or siblings at school or being met by family at the end of the day
• a student is prevented from going on to further or higher education.

Other equally important signs to consider include: persistent absence; requests for extended leave; decline in behaviour, performance or punctuality; not being allowed to attend extra-curricular activities or sudden announcement of engagement to a stranger.

If you are concerned about forced marriage yourself or worried about someone in your care, help is available. For advice, support and protection, call 0800 027 1234 in complete confidence or visit yourrightscotland.org.

Practitioner guidelines are available to view or download on the Scottish Government’s Forced Marriage web pages which can be viewed on the Scottish Government website.

Assessment, BtC5, CfE, CLD, MCMC/16+LC, Senior Phase, Young people, children & families

Get to Know the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award in Scotland Seminar

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Wednesday 14 November 2012

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award is holding a seminar on Wednesday 14 November from 5pm to 7pm at their offices at Rosebery House in Edinburgh. The aim of this seminar is to:

  • Provide an overview of the charities structure and work;
  • List current partner organisations that are delivering DofE;
  • Provide an overview of the DofE programme and it’s uses in different settings;
  • Look at how the DofE is delivering on local and national outcomes;
  • Look at opportunities to deliver the DofE as a licensed organisation.

This FREE event is aimed at anyone with an interest in delivering the DofE whether that be a practitioner, manager or volunteer.

Contact: Sarah Hayden at The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, phone: 0131 343 0920  e-mail

Mathematics, Sciences, Technologies

If you could be an engineer…what would you do?

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Engineers touch every aspect of our lives but frequently we do not recognise who they are or what they do. To inspire young people to become engineers we must first help them to understand what it is that engineers do, what inspires them and what it takes to become one. Engineering as a rich, stimulating and challenging context for learning in sciences, technologies and maths is the basis of Education Scotland’s STEM Central resource.

Today saw the launch of a challenge for learners in primary schools in Scotland. Scottish Engineering and The Leaders Award for STEM are challenging learners to become Leaders for STEM in their schools by considering what they would do if they were an engineer.

Engineers will visit schools and answer questions from learners, hoping to inspire a generation with their experiences.

Learners are challenged to draw or write ‘What I would do if I was an engineer in Scotland.’ Competition closing date is 30th November 2012 with winners announced on the 7th December 2012 and all shortlisted entries displayed in The Barony Hall at the University of Strathclyde  Glasgow on 15th and 16th December.

For more information how to enter visit: www.leadersaward.com.

Leaders Award co-ordinator: Susan Loxley susan.loxley@leadersaward.com

CfE, Health and wellbeing

Outdoor learning at the Scottish Learning Festival

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We are taking learning outside at this year’s Scottish Learning Festival and are delighted to be able to announce that some of our creative partners in outdoor learning will be offering free events and workshops across the Clyde on the Glasgow Science Centre site.  Please visit the Getting Outside Blog to find out more about the programme, which includes free workshops from Grounds for Learning, Creative Star Learning, Fruitful Schools, Forestry Commission Scotland and Cairngorms National Park Authority/Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority.

Our grateful thanks to the Glasgow Science Centre who have given us their grounds and their café space for our various activities. Registration for these free events and workshops is not available through the main SLF site, so please register early with the individual organisations offering them, using the links provided on the blog. Places are offered on a first come, first served basis. For more information, please contact julie.wilson@educationscotland.gov.uk.

Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Mathematics, Social studies

Dennis the Menace becomes a global citizen

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Who’d have thought it? Dennis the Menace becoming a global citizen and the Bash Street Kids growing their own vegetables and getting their 5-a-day!

In the forthcoming special edition of the Beano, primary school pupils will get to see a very different side of their favourite characters. Scottish Business in the Community, a charity that actively encourages businesses from all sectors to improve their impacts on the economy, environment and society, has teamed up with one of its members, DC Thomson, to support the creation of a special edition Beano designed to engage young people in environmental and societal issues in a positive and fun way.

Sent to every primary school pupil in Scotland, the free special edition Beano will incorporate the key themes core to SBC and central to creating a sustainable future for Scotland including: 

  • Environment / visioning the future
  • Health & wellbeing / growing your own veg
  • Employability and soft skills
  • Responsible citizenship and community

 This special edition Beano is supported by a teachers information pack linking to Curriculum for Excellence.

 Dr Alasdair Allan, Minister for Leaning, Science and Scotland’s Languages, is very supportive of the initiative saying, ‘I welcome the opportunity afforded to schools to use resources such as this to engage the children in positive and more importantly, fun learning experiences.’

 Comics will start arriving in schools towards the end of August.

BtC5, CfE, CLD, Early Years, Responsibility of All

Skills in Practice

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Education Scotland has recently published a practical guide to support the development of the key messages surrounding Building the Curriculum 4: Skills for Learning, Life and Work. It will provide teachers and other practitioners with support to help them ensure that skills development is an integral part of learning throughout the Broad General Education stage of Curriculum for Excellence.

 

Highlights include:

  • Examples of innovative practice from a variety of educational establishments
  • Short film clips providing practitioner, employer, parent and learner perspectives on skills
  • Downloadable CPD activities to support practitioners to reflect and develop their practice
  • A focus on developing thinking skills with activities and film insights with Keir Bloomer (Chair of the Higher Order Skills Excellence Group)
  • Activities exploring planning and progression in skills through the Experiences and Outcomes
  • Links to a range of GLOW resources including Watch Again GLOW Meets

 

Find the Skills in Practice resource here on the Education Scotland website:

http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/resources/s/skillsinpractice/introduction.asp?strReferringChannel=educationscotland&strReferringPageID=tcm:4-615801-64

Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Responsibility of All, Sciences, Senior Phase

Advice and Guidance to support National Qualifications in Sciences

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Yesterday, we published new advice and guidance associated with National 5 Biology associated with Inheritance.

There are a number of areas in this advice and guidance which would lend themselves to discussion in the classroom. What does this look like? What is the difference between learners talking, and discussing? Arguing and debating? What tools and approaches can be used to ensure learners are developing their skills in discussion, argumentation, and debate?

The teacher’s handbook from the English-Speaking Union (ESU) Scotland may be of use in planning for learning and teaching for the senior phase. 2012 is the year of the ESU’s Speak up Scotland! Science Debating project. Within the easily digestible, practical teacher’s handbook are a range of techniques and approaches which can be used to structure debate within the science classroom, and include all learners within the class. It explains how to plan and structure a formal debate, if that is what you are looking for, including how to structure a speech, a format for judging the content and skills of the participants – useful for teacher observation or peer evaluation. Other approaches described include balloon and role play debates. Exemplification is given for role playdebates in bio-prospecting and badger culling.

The booklet also contains starters for debates such as:

“this house would ban research on embryonic stem cells” – ties in with the National 4/5 qualifications in Biology and our published advice and guidance on Health and Disease.

Each section includes “fast facts”, and suggested questions to ask – does an embryo have human rights? how do we know how old the universe is? how do we control nanoparticles in our environment; or artificial organisms we create?

All of this is also available on the project website where you can find out how schools are using the debates and the feedback from learners.

If your learners need support in building confidence to speak in front of others, why not look back to our Debating in Schools resources published in 2007 which include Building Speaking Confidence: Guidance for first-time speakers.

CfE, Social studies

Special Delivery: The William Wallace Letters

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The National Records of Scotland (NRS), in partnership with the Scottish Parliament, is mounting this exhibition in the Parliament from Wednesday 15 August – Saturday 8 September 2012.

Join us live from the Parliament on Thursday 30th August at 2pm when pupils will get an opportunity to explore the exhibition and quiz the experts – Dr Alan Borthwick, Head of Medieval Records, National Records of Scotland and Dr Fiona Watson, independent researcher and author of ‘Under the Hammer: Edward I and Scotland, 1286 – 1307’.

A short film about the exhibition will be uploaded onto Glow and available to view from Monday 27th August – we recommend your class watches this before the event to get ideas about what questions to ask.

More information, including a timeline putting events into a historical context, is available online on the Scottish Parliament website.

The centrepiece of the exhibition will be two surviving original documents with a direct link to William Wallace.

The first is the so-called Lübeck Letter, issued by Wallace and Andrew Moray as Guardians of Scotland after their success at the Battle of Stirling Bridge in 1297.

The second document is a letter of 1300 from the French King Philip IV to his agents at the Papal Court asking them to assist Wallace in his business before the Pope.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV!

CfE, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Sciences, Technologies

SLF 2012: Forensic Rookies, Transition and the AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust: Scottish Islands and Mainland ICT and Science project

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We’ve been keeping you up to date with this inquiry based science project since last December. Don’t forget that you can find out more by joining us at session N1A at SLF 2012, presented by Professor Susan Rodrigues and Neil Taylor. A vodcast overview of the project can be found on the scienceedresearch channel on YouTube.

The workshop will share the findings of a recent project involving 3 pairs of primary & secondary schools from several different local authorities, and the sustained impact in those local authorities where this project is being rolled out further. Learners and practitioners views and feedback will be shared. This project was supported by funding from AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust and led by Professor Susan Rodrigues and Neil Taylor as part of the suite of ‘Partnerships in Primary Science’ (PIPS) CPD projects.

The workshop will include an opportunity for delegates to have hands on experience of the six investigative tasks, using the kit provided to schools, funded by AstraZeneca Science Teaching Trust. There have been a series of videos made using learners and practitioners which will be used within the session, and these will are also available via the ScienceEdResearch channel YouTube.

The individual vodcasts for each school:

Brae High; Blairgowrie; Coupar Angus; Inveralmond Community High; Urafirth; Westfield

Visitor registration for SLF 2012 is now open!

Health and wellbeing

Choices for Life the Next Evolution – Advanced Viewing for all Teaching Staff

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Last year Choices for Life successfully moved from the large scale concert style event delivered to Primary 7 children at venues around Scotland to an online environment delivering live webcasts to pupils in Primary 7 through to S6 on substance misuse issues and making positive lifestyle decisions. A key feature of the live webcasts was short TV-style dramas highlighting the difficult choices faced by young people and the possible consequences of substance misuse.

So that the messages of Choices for Life can reach a larger audience and help get the information out in a way that people can access at a time and place and in a manner that suits them, the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency (SCDEA) and Young Scot are developing a new Choices for Life website which will be a one stop shop for young people, teachers, parents and carers and youth workers to gain relevant and credible information and advice on various topics including tobacco, alcohol, drugs and internet safety.

The website will be fully launched on the 12th September from the Glasgow Science Centre and will be broadcast live on Glow and YouTube to give as many people as possible the opportunity to view it.

However you can have an advanced preview of what the new website looks like here live in Glow on Wednesday 29th August at 4pm. Find out what the site has to offer you and your class and how you can use it to take forward Curriculum for Excellence plans in your school in the new session. Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

Sciences, Technologies

STEM Central Games context and a festival of games in Dundee

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If our recently published STEM Central Games context, celebrating Scotland’s position in this diverse and creative industry, has sparked your interest, an ideal opportunity to find out more this weekend at the three day computer games festival in Dundee. Running from today until Sunday 12th August, this event at Dundee’s Caird Hall provides an opportunity for visitors to try out some games, including those developed especially for the games.

CfE, Health and wellbeing

SCCYP- Your Shout – Right Now

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Join Tam Baillie, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, on Monday 3 September from 11 to 12pm for a Glow Meet hosted by pupils from Trinity Academy. Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

We are asking you to make a two minute presentation on one or more of the speech bubbles on the right. These were the four areas which you told Tam were the most important things he should be working on when you voted in a RIGHT blether.

For example do you think everyone is:

  • Included in your school?
  • Have you got things to say about children and young people being respected in your community?
  • Is everyone treated fairly with opportunities to learn and develop or do some children and young people face barriers?
  • Do you feel safe and secure in your home or are there things that you would like to change?

Let us know what you think could and should be done in one of these areas and we will show as many presentations as we can during the Glow Meet. As well as presentations there will be time to discuss and debate with Tam and everyone who joins in on the day.

Send your presentations to cathy.begley@sccyp.org.uk or shelley.smith@sccyp.org.uk by Friday 31 August and we will load them on to the blog. For more information about the four areas go to : http://www.sccyp.org.uk/what-were-doing/right-now

CfE, Literacy and English

Glow At The Edinburgh Book Festival

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The highly acclaimed Edinburgh International Book Festival begins in Charlotte Square on Saturday 11th August and runs until the 27th August and Glow will be there for one week bringing to you a selection of some of the best of the children’s events!

Join us from Monday 20th August at 10.30am where we start our week with Twists, Turns and Thrillers with Ally Kennen as she introduces her teen novels including her latest, Bullet Boys, a gripping, thought-provoking story filled with twists, turns,guns and danger. She shares how she goes about researching her novels and describes what inspired her to start writing. Bring plenty of questions! (Suitable for S1-S3)

On Tuesday 21st August join us again at 10am as Steve Barlow & Steve Skidmore present Action Dogs! In addition to being prolific writers of books for children, Steve Barlow and Steve Skidmore have entertained audiences worldwide with their crazy double act for over two decades. Their events are always fun so make sure you get involved if you are P4 -7.

Wednesday 22nd August sees a double session coming live from the EIBF the first at 10.30am being suitable for P4 -7. Join International Rescue with Sally Grindley for a lively, interactive event all about International Rescue, her brand new series of adventure books written in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London. Meet the Brook family and hear about their exciting travels globe as they strive to save endangered animals.

The second event on the 22nd begins at 1pm and is aimed at S4 -S6 – Keith Gray on Lord of the Flies. Keith discusses William Golding’s remarkable and provocative novel, Lord of the Flies. Find out how he first discovered the story, how it influenced his own writing and how he believes it has left a lasting impression on a generation of authors writing.

On Thursday 23rd August join us at 10.30am for Rhyme, Rhythm and Rap with Brian Moses. Suitable for P3 -6 to have fun in an exhilarating exploration of the different forms of rhythm and rhyme.There will be musical instruments and some movement too, so come in good voice and bring your dancing shoes!

The week draws to a spooky close on Friday 24th August with Ghosts and Ghouls with Andrew Hammond. A roller-coaster ride through the grim and gruesome history of the world’s most famous cities with the author of the hugely popular new horror series CRYPT. Ghosts and ghouls guaranteed!

As a special finale to our week at the Book Festival we will be returning on Monday 27th August, this time at 10am with Drawing Inspiration with Tony Ross. Drawing inspiration from the Little Princess series and from the weird and wonderful stories that whizz around his head all day, Tony Ross gives you a masterclass in creativity. This is a unique opportunity for you to be inspired by, and ask questions of, one of the most popular and successful illustrators around.

All events are accompanied with Curriculum for Excellence teaching ideas on the Edinburgh International Book Festival website.

All these events will also be recorded so you can catch up later in Glow TV’s Watch Again. Find out more about the events, sign up and join us in Glow TV!

CfE, CLD, Expressive Arts, Young people, children & families

Youth Music Initiative

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Creative Scotland recently announced the launch of the Scottish Government’s £10million Youth Music Investment (YMI) programme for 2012/13.

The YMI programme intends to:

  • Create access to high quality music making opportunities for young people aged 0 – 25, particularly for those that would not normally have the chance to participate;
  • Enable young people to achieve their potential in or through music making;
  • Support the development of the youth music sector for the benefit of young people.

There are 3 investment programmes available for organisations and individuals to apply for investment:

1. School based music making (invited applications from Local Authorities);

2. Access to music making;

3. Strengthening youth music .

For all the information on the investment routes and for details on how to apply please visit here.

CfE, CLD, Young people, children & families

CfE – An Introduction for Youth Work

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A new set of dates for CfE – An introduction for Youth Work training course events have been confirmed. These events are free to attend thanks to support from Education Scotland and Scottish Governement. Thanks also to the four Local Authorities that are hosting them.

Three dates for staff to develeop their skills in linking youth work practice to CfE can be viewed here.

One Training the Trainers date to support you to deliver these courses yourself can be viewed here

Contact steven.greig@youthscotland.org.uk  if you would like to host an additional event. 0131 554 2561

CfE, CLD, Senior Phase, Young people, children & families

Youth Survey from the United Nations

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Youth Survey from UN

The United Nations is developing a System-Wide Action Plan (SWAP) on Youth. This Action Plan will affect the way the whole UN system will work with and for youth in the coming years. The Action Plan will focus on the five priority areas identified by the Secretary General:
Employment
Entrepreneurship
Education, including education on sexual and reproductive health
Citizenship and protection of rights
Political inclusion

Before developing this Action Plan, the United Nations is reaching out to youth, youth-led organizations and others to seek their inputs.

Please take a moment to fill out the questionnaire.

The questionnaire is online here

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/BFKH85W

Mathematics, Sciences, Technologies

STEM Central: supporting you to enhance learning and teaching

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Our STEM Central Electric Transport context is currently aimed at third and fourth level. In the next school year, we will be publishing an extension to the context for second level. Offering opportunities to embed sustainable development and give insight into STEM in everyday life, the second level extension will highlight green buses on Scottish roads. Last year 15 buses engineered at Alexander Dennis Ltd in Falkirk took to the streets of Edinburgh, with partial funding from the Scottish Government’s Green Bus Fund.

The video Electric Vocabulary from TEDEd’s YouTube channel tells the story of how “charge” and “battery” became part of our everyday language of “electricity”. Useful for your own background and understanding, or for learners at second level.