CfE

Game On Challenge – put your goals on the map!

May 7, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Is your school or organisation planning to mark the Commonwealth Games with a specific initiative? A fun run or sports day perhaps? Getting involved in the Queen’s Baton Relay? A whole school initiative? Or is your local authority running a Mini Games programme?

No matter how big or small your Games related initiatives are we invite you to share them through the Game On Challenge and add to the excitement now building towards Glasgow 2014, the biggest multi-sporting event ever hosted in Scotland.

Benefits of taking the Game On Challenge

Your school/organisation will be showcased on the Game On Challenge interactive map alongside other entries from across the UK and beyond. This will provide others with ideas and inspiration for learning through the Games.
Every school and organisation that takes part will receive an official ‘Game On Scotland’ certificate.
Education establishments may also be eligible for a Game On Scotland plaque in recognition of imaginative ways they have used the Games as a context for learning.
All entries will be in with a chance to win exclusive Glasgow 2014 prizes.
Scottish schools who sign up by the 24 May will be entered into a free prize draw to receive a visit from Clyde, the official mascot for the Games.

How do we share our challenge?

Simply visit the Take the challenge page and complete the form.

Expressive Arts

Glasgow 2014 Athletes’ Village Art Competition – register your interest now!

May 7, 2013 User deactivated 4 Comments

Game On Scotland is asking every school in Scotland to get their pupils to design posters to be placed in the rooms of the Athletes’ Village. We’ll guarantee to every individual school that takes part that their chosen artwork will be displayed in the village – your pupils’ work could end up in the bedroom of Usain Bolt, Tom Daley or any of the talented athletes coming to Scotland from all over the world.

At the end of the Games, athletes and officials will be encouraged to take your art as a gift from the people of Scotland and, excitingly, to write back to you offering their thanks.

Pre-register you interest for the competition now.

CLD, Early Years, Young people, children & families

Children and Families Team Vacancies

May 7, 2013 User deactivated 2 Comments

Education Scotland wishes to appoint two Development Officers on secondment to the Children and Families team. The team supports quality and improvement in early years education and families from the period pre-birth onwards. Key areas of work include inspecting and reviewing pre-school education provision and developing, delivering and supporting aspects of Early Years Care and Education and Family Learning.

You can find more information about these exciting opportunities on our website.

CfE, CLD, Early Years, Young people, children & families

Early Years Matters

May 7, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Have you seen the new edition of Early Years Matters? The new edition can be read online or downloaded from the Education Scotland website.

This edition has a focus on children and families and the articles give a flavour of the wide range of work being undertaken in Scotland. We are extremely grateful to those who have contributed to this edition of Early Years Matters and we look forward to hearing your comments.

CfE, National Qualifications

Major milestone reached in delivery of new curriculum materials

May 1, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Dr Bill Maxwell, Chief Executive of Education Scotland, outlines how a major milestone has been reached in the delivery of Curriculum for Excellence.

‘Today marks the successful completion of a major programme of work designed to help support the ongoing development of the new curriculum in schools as our team in Education Scotland published the latest tranche of materials to support the new National Qualifications. As of yesterday, all of these materials are now available on Glow.

Providing these support materials means teachers have an opportunity to see some good examples of how courses can be shaped and delivered. They provide some examples of materials which teachers can use directly in building their own courses, but we will also continue to encourage and champion the development of practitioners own teaching materials and the sharing of good practice.

We have worked with hundreds of teachers in developing this material. I am confident they will become a valuable resource for many others across the country, as have many of the earlier support materials we have already published.

Local authorities and schools are already making good use of the materials we have already issued and our inspections are increasingly providing us with real-life examples of how schools are rising to the challenge of increased expectations brought about by the implementation of the new curriculum. We will continue to work with teachers and respond to their feedback on these materials to help ensure we are delivering the best support resources possible.

As of the end of April, 95 sets of web-based course materials have been published across the full range of National 4 and National 5 qualifications. This adds to 69 sets of advice and guidance notes which are already available as well as 77 professional focus papers, covering all subjects at National 4 and National 5.

I’m pleased to report this major milestone has been achieved on target as we continue to deliver resource materials in support of the new curriculum.’

Dr Bill Maxwell, Chief Executive, Education Scotland

Expressive Arts, Glow TV, Health and wellbeing, Literacy and English, Religious and Moral Education

Simple Acts for Schools is Back!

April 30, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Simple Acts is back for Refugee Week Scotland 2013 – Get Your School Involved!

The Simple Acts campaign is about inspiring people to use small, everyday actions to change our perceptions of refugees.

For 2013, we have chosen four simple acts, which we think are great ways for the students in your school to get involved. They fit in perfectly with Curriculum for Excellence objectives, the theme of heritage for Refugee Week Scotland 2013, and are great fun too!

These acts will be delivered live through in Glow TV throughout May by Scottish Refugee Council’s Arts & Cultural Development Volunteer Rhea Lewis. Read more on Rhea’s Blog

Glow TV events include:
Share a Story – Wednesday 1 May, 11am
This Simple Act is most suited for P1-P5. A story from another country will be told to students during the Glow Meet, followed by discussion.

Find an object that tells a story of your heritage – Wednesday 8 May, 11am
This Glow Meet is suitable for P6 upwards.During this session the students will explore the meaning of heritage and will be shown objects that reflect as aspect of our heritage chosen by refugees.

Cook a Dish from another country – Wednesday 29 May, 11am
In this Glow Meet students will be able to cook along with the Rhea.The dish will be a simple recipe from another country.

You may also be interested in the Simple Acts 2013 Teacher Pack.

Additional Support for Learning, Health and wellbeing, Young people, children & families

Afasic Scotland

April 30, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Afasic Scotland is a charity that supports children and young people with speech, language and communication difficulties. Afasic is a registered Professional Learning provider for teacher training, partly funded by The Scottish Government to support delivery of training, but it is becoming increasingly difficult to ensure that the course opportunities and supplementary information reaches all of the schools.

They are offering a Spring Training Day entitled ‘Improving Social Communication Development’ on Thursday 9th May 2013 in Dundee. The course is designed to appeal to teachers who wish to develop skills in supporting children with social communication difficulties. The morning session will be built around awareness and skills-building to overcome difficulties and challenging situations in school. The afternoon will focus on practical solutions with some opportunities to share expertise through workshops. The training is suitable for nursery and primary school teachers, classroom assistants, Learning Support teachers and parents.

For more details please download the attached flyer –AFASIC SCOTLAND Training Flyer.
and the AFASIC TRAINING BOOKING FORM MAY2013.

NB Bookings have now been extended until Thursday 2nd May.

CfE, Early Years, Expressive Arts, Glow TV, Literacy and Gàidhlig

Scotland Sings Again

April 30, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Join us once again live from the Glow TV Studio for an interactive sing along session!

This time we will be joined by Jeana Leslie and Siobhan Miller, two talented young singers and musicians recognised as shining stars on the Scottish folk scene. They are both blessed with lovely, natural voices that blend beautifully, and their performances focus strongly on communicating through traditional and contemporary song.

During the session the ladies will be singing 3 songs that you can learn and join in with in your classrooms. We hope that you can join us!!

Assessment, CfE, Literacy, Literacy and English, Mathematics

SSLN Professional Learning Resource

April 25, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy (SSLN) is a sample survey which monitors national performance in literacy and numeracy, in alternate years, of school children at P4, P7 and S2. It also provides information which will inform improvements in learning, teaching and assessment at classroom level. This SSLN was the first to assess literacy, and took place in May 2012. The full report on the survey was published on the 24th of April 2013 and can be accessed via this link – Scottish Survey of Literacy and Numeracy.

The survey is designed to assess the wide range of knowledge, skills and capabilities across learning identified in the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE). The tasks were also designed to reflect some of the CfE requirements that pupils should have achieved in breadth, challenge and application of their learning.
To accompany the report, Education Scotland has produced professional learning resources to support learning and teaching – Professional Learning Resources

The full resource consists of listening and talking: group discussion, reading and writing materials.
The listening and talking: group discussion resource:
• explores and exemplifies key skills
• exemplifies discussion tasks and contexts
• describes effective learning and teaching approaches
• shows group discussions across levels
• provides links to existing high quality materials.

The reading resource:
• explores and exemplifies key skills;
• describes effective learning and teaching approaches;
• exemplifies reading activities; and
• provides links to existing high quality materials.

The writing resource:
• explores key skills;
• describes effective learning and teaching approaches;
• exemplifies tasks and contexts for writing across curriculum areas;
• gives examples of writing from across levels; and
• provides links to existing support materials.

The resource is designed to encourage professional reflection and dialogue.

Once you have used the resources, please let us know what you think by leaving a comment below.

Additional Support for Learning, Health and wellbeing, MCMC/16+LC, Senior Phase, Supporting Learners, Universal Support

Enquire Transitions film launched

April 24, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

New Enquire film launched!

Getting ready to leave school: Making a good transition

In Enquire’s new film, pupils from Woodlands school in Edinburgh share their views on getting ready to leave school and offer useful tips for adults who might be supporting them during this time. We learn about their hopes for the future and how a learning resource, created by Playback ICE, called the Moving On programme has helped them to feel prepared for their next steps.
Launched at the 2013 Enquire National Conference, the film looks at a variety of key themes, including:
• What transition means to young people getting ready to leave school
• What makes them nervous about this time, and what makes them excited
• How additional support needs can impact on a young person’s ability to make a good transition
• How the Moving On Programme has helped them to feel prepared for leaving school
• The skills they have acquired since starting the Moving On programme
You can watch ‘Getting ready to leave school: Making a good transition’ on Enquire’s Youtube channel

(The film was made by Enquire, the Scottish advice service for additional support for learning, and Media Education. Scottish folk singer Karine Polwart kindly contributed the music.)

Glow TV, Modern Languages, National Qualifications, Senior Phase

New SCHOLAR Sessions

April 22, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Glow TV is delighted to be able to offer teachers and students a range of SCHOLAR sessions which will include both Professional Learning opportunities as well as revision sessions for those sitting exams this year.

These begin on Tuesday 23rd April at 7.30pm with a Professional Learning opportunity for Modern Languages teachers entitled ‘Using SCHOLAR to support Higher, Advanced Higher and National 5’. This session will be presented by Douglas Angus, SCHOLAR Online Tutor for Modern Languages. Find out more in Glow TV.

Look out for new homework sessions in May for Modern Languages (German and Spanish) and Physics.

CfE, CLD, Health and wellbeing, Outdoor Learning, Young people, children & families

Festival of Dangerous Ideas 13th – 21st June 2013

April 21, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

The brilliant folks from the College Development Network have put together another wonderful programme for this year’s Festival of Dangerous Ideas. The festival was created to ‘re-establish the importance of dangerous ideas as agents of change in education – to shift the axis of what is possible!’ There is a real focus on adventurous approaches to learning, especially in the outdoors, which fits completely with our work in professional learning and Adventures in Improvised Living. More information about the week and the overall programme of events which are suitable for a range of educators can be found on the CDN website: http://bit.ly/Vw0nzT

There are two outstandingly innovative events which feature outdoor learning prominently. The first is a repeat of the most excellent Edible Edinburgh Breakfast at the Botanics Event which takes place in the Royal Botanic Gardens on 19th June. Check out the details: http://bit.ly/109G01s If you enjoy a stimulating, delicious and nature connected start to your working day, this event is a ‘must’ for you!

The second is a fabulous whole day event at West Highland College UHI in Fort William: Celebrating Failure and Success http://bit.ly/YZLfy1 In the first part of the day, the West Highland Way Walkers who will just have completed their 5 day walk, led by young people from West Highland College will exhibit the dangerous ideas that grew during their journey in the wild. In the second half of the day, Outward Bound will lead a session that will explore how they have used the research on Mindsets to develop their work with young people. Mindset is a model developed by Professor Carol Dweck of Stanford University. At its heart is the distinction between students’ perceptions of their abilities. The belief that you have innate, unchanging capabilities is called a Fixed Mindset. The belief that you can develop your capabilities through hard work and practice is called a Growth Mindset. The implications of these two are significant, and will frame this workshop.

CfE, CLD, Community Capacity Building, Health and wellbeing, Outdoor Learning, Sciences, Social studies, Young people, children & families

Mission:Explore celebrates John Muir with launch of a new ebook

April 21, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

A partnership between the John Muir Trust and Mission:Explore – a group of teachers, artists, activists and adventurers – has launched a free ebook to introduce the great explorer, naturalist, writer, mountaineer and conservationist to a new audience.

Supported by Scottish Natural Heritage, Mission:Explore – John Muir, features a range of activities that reflect the adventures and ethos of the Victorian Scot, whose 175th birthday will be celebrated this month in his adopted homeland the USA as well as in the land of his birth.

It encourages people of all ages – including groups and families – to follow in the footsteps of Muir by taking part in an imaginative set of ‘missions’, which involve looking, touching, walking, exploring, thinking, and even dancing in wild nature wherever they find it.

Suggested activities range from observing how frogs swim to getting windswept, creating a mini-National Park, and staring at the stars.

The book launch ties in perfectly with Year of Natural Scotland 2013 and its theme of celebrating John Muir. There is already interest across the UK and in America.

Your ebook is free to download from Mission:Explore and John Muir Award web pages, and can be used on smart phones, laptops and tablets, or printed off and read in the old-fashioned way.

Link to John Muir Award launch page – http://www.jmt.org/jmaward-mission-explore-john-muir.asp
Link to Mission:Explore launch page – http://www.missionexplore.net/shop

Daniel Raven-Ellison, Guerilla Geographer at Mission:Explore, said: “Mission:Explore and the John Muir Award have much in common. We’re both all about discovering, exploring, conserving and sharing, so making this book together made perfect sense.

“We had a great time making it and we’re sure that our readers will have an even better time doing each of the quirky adventures inside. Good luck!”

“These missions are great, you can really see the spark they’ve generated with teachers.” Carol Walker, South Lanarkshire Outdoor Learning Development Officer

Featuring 20 activities that reflect the adventures and ethos of the Victorian Scot, you can access the free Mission:Explore John Muir eBook or PDF in a number of ways:

• eBook – on-line with Graphicly http://graphicly.com/mission-explore/mission-explore-john-muir/john-muir
• eBook for iPhone or iPad – via ‘Mission Explore John Muir’ in iTunes https://itunes.apple.com/gb/book/mission-explore-john-muir/id627660952?mt=11
• eBook from Amazon http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&field-author=The%20Geography%20Collective&search-alias=books-uk&sort=relevancerank
• Printable PDF version (5.3MB) from http://www.jmt.org/jmaward-mission-explore-john-muir.asp

Find hundreds of other missions on the Mission:Explore website http://www.missionexplore.net

About Mission:Explore

• Mission:Explore is a collection of books created by the Geography Collective, a unique team of over 25 geographers, teachers, educators and artists who work together to help young people explore and see the world in new ways. It makes books full of illustrated challenges that aim to make children a little more confident, happy, empathetic and knowledgeable.They think that learning in the real world, in real places and about real issues are vital to any childhood.

• Mission:Explore has won awards including National Trust & Hay Festival Outdoor Book of the Year 2011, and a Pink Stinks approved stamp for being gender neutral.

About Year of Natural Scotland 2013

• The Year of Natural Scotland 2013 is the latest in a series of themed years for the Scottish Government. It aims to highlight Scotland’s stunning natural beauty and biodiversity, and promote opportunities for visitors and residents to enjoy our beautiful landscapes, wildlife and heritage responsibly. http://www.snh.gov.uk/enjoying-the-outdoors/year-of-natural-scotland-2013

About The John Muir Trust

The John Muir Trust is the leading wild land conservation charity in the United Kingdom, with a membership of around 10,000.

We seek to ensure that wild land is protected and enhanced, and that wild places are valued by and for everyone.

The Trust does this by:
• Owning and managing wild land for conservation
• Assisting others in wild land management
• Campaigning for the long-term legal protection of wild land
• Encouraging people to connect with and care for wild places through the John Muir Award and volunteer conservation programmes.

We take our name and inspiration from John Muir (1838-1914), the pioneering, influential Scots-born American conservationist who dedicated his life to protecting wild places and campaigned successfully for the establishment of National Parks to safeguard vast tracts of wild land, including Yosemite Valley in California.

CfE, Early Years, Expressive Arts, Glow TV, Literacy and English

Authors Live – Polly Dunbar and the Long Nosed Puppets

April 15, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Glow TV and Authors Live is getting ready to set sail on the high seas for a magical adventure on board Arthur’s Dream Boat, with the award-winning team of Polly Dunbar and Long Nose Puppets.

This exclusive performance will combine the magic of Polly’s latest picture book, Arthur’s Dream Boat, with the artistry and drama of puppet theatre.

Register on the Scottish Book Trust website now to book your seats on Arthur’s Dream Boat, and don’t worry, this boat is big enough for everyone! Everyone who registers to watch the event will be automatically entered into a prize draw to win a class set of Polly’s books.

This live webstream event is suitable for Nursery-P3 or ages 4-7.

After watching the live webstream in the morning why not join us for an interactive question and answer session with Polly Dunbar and her Long Nose Puppets live in the Glow TV Studio at 1.30pm. Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

You can ask her whatever you like and hopefully she’ll have enough time to answer as many of your questions as possible!

CfE, Glow TV, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Literacy and English, Mathematics, Sciences, Technologies

Virtual Glow Roadshow

April 15, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Glow is packed full of educational resources and national communities where teaching staff can collaborate with colleagues across Scotland. To showcase some of these great resources RM is hosting a week of Glow Meets featuring a few of these. These 30 minute sessions are being run twice so sign up for the time slot that suits you best!

Twig on Glow – Over 1500 high quality films covering Maths, Science, Geography and Health – complete with support resources matched to the curriculum of excellence levels 2,3 and 4.

Join us either on Monday 22nd April at 8.15am or Thursday 25th April at 3.45pm

Just2easy is an online blogging tool. Children can create, sharing and learn in an esafe environment.
Join us either on Monday 22nd April at 3.45pm or Wednesday 24th April at 8.15am

Scran is a charity & online learning resource base with over 360,000 images & media from museums, galleries, archives and the media. These resources can be downloaded and used copyright free.

Join us either on Tuesday 23rd April at 8.15am or Wednesday 24th April at 3.45pm

The Daily What News is an online news service provided for Scottish Schools supporting the development of literacy and language across the curriculum. The site also provides a wealth of support materials.

Join us either on Tuesday 23rd April at 3.45pm or Thursday 25th April at 8.15am

Assessment, CfE, Glow TV, Languages, Literacy and English, Mathematics, National Qualifications, Senior Phase

Maths and English Exam Revision – Support Online

April 15, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Revision support for NQ English and Mathematics

With the SQA National Qualifications examinations looming, the National Glow Team are pleased to announce the launch of exam revision support for NQ English and Mathematics. Aimed at pupils and supported by teachers, this Glow revision resource will help pupils in their preparation for national examinations by allowing them to post questions and queries into a teacher facilitated Glow Forum. The resource will be open to all pupils and teachers with the potential to become a vibrant self-supporting community.

Find out more here.

CLD, MCMC/16+LC, Senior Phase, Social studies

Be Extraordinary for a Day!

April 11, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

What could you change in a day? Could you challenge yourself to do something extraordinary? Live UnLtd want to back your idea to make a real change!

Be Extraordinary for a Day is for 11-21 year olds who’d like to try their hand at addressing a social or environmental issue in their area over a short period of time e.g. a day to a week. If your application is successful, award winners will receive support and up to £500 to help you turn your idea into a reality. Some people may choose to develop their ideas after this short term award while others will not.

Basic Criteria
Your idea must be a short project that will tackle an issue in your area. If successful, your project must take place in a short timescale (for example, a day or a week) between July and December 2013.
This competition is open to individuals aged between 11 and 21 years only. Clubs and organisations cannot apply; however, applications from individuals within a club/organisation setting are welcome to apply, providing the project is run separately from the club/organisation.
People aged between 11 and 21 can apply for £250-£500. Those aged 11 – 17 must have parental permission, and must work with an advisor to assist in making the project happen (for example, a youth club worker, parent, guardian, or teacher). Cash Awards can only be used to cover project costs and not direct salaries.

Apply now and Be Extraordinary For A Day!
Closing date for applications is Friday 14th June 2013
Winners will be announced on Friday 28th June 2013

Early Years, Senior Phase, Supporting Learners, Young people, children & families

National Play Strategy Consultation Extended

April 10, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Scottish Government has extended it’s consultation about play until 23rd April 2013.

They are looking for individual children and young people and groups aged 3-18 to let them know what they think about play. The views collected will inform into the National Play Strategy which is due to be published later this year.

You can find out more at www.bit.ly/PLAY8129 .

Sciences, Senior Phase

Promoting Computer Science and Technology Careers to Female Pupils

April 8, 2013 User deactivated 5 Comments

she++ is a group set up by female undergraduates at Stanford to try and encourage more young women into careers in computing and technology.

This month sees the launch of their video documentary – visit the site for a trailer. This 12 minute film is intended to interest girls in the exciting opportunities that there are in pursuing a degree and career in computing. It is aimed primarily at the US audience but still has much to say to girls in Scotland.

The video is free but will not be openly available — each site must apply for a screening. This is very straightforward to do – see http://sheplusplus.stanford.edu/film/hostscreening.php for details.

Early Years

Wise Up Wednesday: Children make a splash with outdoor play

April 3, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

City of Edinburgh Council have shared how children in the city’s nurseries are benefiting from outdoor water features. You can read about it on their blog.

How are you harnessing nature to take children’s learning forward in your setting? Let us know in the comments.

Literacy, Literacy and English

Featured community – Literacy

March 28, 2013 User deactivated 1 Comment

A year ago, in March of 2012, Claire Hancox and Hilary Bombart of Education Scotland approached me with their plans for a Literacy Unconference. Taking its lead from TeachMeet and other educator-led CPD models, there was to be minimal talking from the front, lots of impromptu 5-minute slots and ‘co-create sessions’. All participants had to commit to joining an online community and sharing online the impact of the event. And so the Literacy professional learning community on Glow was born!

It now features a grand collection of professional learning and classroom resources as well as:

videos of the all the 5-minute slots at all Literacy events since May 2012
co-created collections focusing on wider texts, critical literacy and research skills
contact details for over 220 literacy champions from across Scotland

The Literacy community now has offshoots such as the National Literacy Network, Librarians and the Moray Literacy hub (but more about these in future posts!)

Claire moves on this week to a new depute post in East Dunbartonshire but she will continue to be active in the #literacy community, and maybe all its various offshoots! I wish her all the best in her new post!

Like all of the PL communities on Glow, colleagues on this community are making their professional learning visible for the benefit of other educators. You can find the community on the drop-down on http://bit.ly/plcommunity or go straight to http://bit.ly/lithome

Early Years, Responsibility of All, Young people, children & families

Wise Up Wednesday: GIRFEC supports UNCRC

March 27, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

A report by Professor Jane Aldgate reviews how embedding the Getting it Right for Every Child (GIRFEC) approach supports implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Read or download UNCRC: The foundation of getting it right for every child.

How are you embedding children’s rights into your provision? We’d love to know. Why not share in the comments below or if you are a GLow user share it with us on the Early Years Professional Learning Community.

Expressive Arts

Featured community – Learning about Scotland

March 26, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Providing Scottish contexts for learning has been the job (and passion) of Jenni Curson of Education Scotland. She was a prime mover behind the Studying Scotland online resource and to complement this resource, she founded the Learning About Scotland online community (aka #lscot)

Many of the members of the community were recruited as result of Jenni’s sessions in schools and local authorities. The community’s Share area features more than 30 free lesson plans for all levels which is the result of a collaboration with Digi-Map. A quick glance at the #lscot Change area shows a number of colleagues intending to bring a Scottish dimension to their practice.

Look out too in summer term for an affiliated community from the Scottish Council on Archives.

Jenni moves on this week to take up a depute’s post in Argyll and Bute but will continue to be active in the #lscot community, so we can look forward to sharing her expertise for the foreseeable future. I wish her all the best in her new post!

CLD, Community Capacity Building, Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Outdoor Learning, Young people, children & families

The National Play Strategy – Consultation with Children & Young People

March 26, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Scottish Government want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up. Making sure that children and young people are able to take up their right to play is an important part of this. The Scottish Government is writing the strategy to make sure that people know about children and young people’s right to play and understand why it is important.
The views of children and young people are important and the Scottish Government would like to know what they think.

If you are a child or young person you can help by filling in an online survey, either as an individual or as a group. The group could be a group of friends, a class at school, a football or hockey team, your Scout or Girls Brigade Group – it is up to you.
If you are a parent or carer of a child or young person who is not able to complete the survey by themselves, you can help by recording their responses for them.
If you work with groups of children or young people, in whatever setting, please help by gathering their views with one of our group surveys.

Just choose the link that is right for you:
For individual 3-5 year olds
For groups of 3-5 year olds
For individual children and young people of primary school age
For groups of children and young people of primary school age
For individuals aged 12 – 18 years
For groups of 12-18 year olds

If you want to print out a PDF of the survey to take along to your group you can download the group surveys here:
NPS Group Survey – 3 to 5
NPS Group Survey – Primary
NPS Group Survey – 12 to 18

Printed copies should be returned to National Play Strategy Consultation, Education Scotland, The Optima, 58 Robertson Street, Glasgow, G2 8DU or emailed to enquiries@educationscotland.gov.uk. Please note that the closing date has now been extended to the 23rd April.

Early Years, Responsibility of All, Young people, children & families

Children &Young People Bill Consultation Response

March 22, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Scottish Government has today published its response to the consultation on the Children & Young People Bill. This sets out the results of the consultation and the next steps. The Bill will be introduced to Parliament this year, with the intention that the early learning and childcare provisions (increase in pre-school entitlement and support for looked after 2 year olds) will start in 2014. Dates have not yet been set for the implementation of other aspects of the Bill.

Read the Scottish Government response to the consultation

Early Years, Young people, children & families

BBC Baby Britain Series

March 21, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Baby Britain Season starts tonight on BBC3. It sets out to explore what life is really like for Britain’s young parents. Tackling everything from post-natal depression to the role of dads in the delivery room, this provocative BBC Three season explores what it means to be a young parent in Britain today.

You can find out more at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p014fwd7/features/about

The programmes are likely to be available on the BBC iplayer for up to a week after their broadcast date.

It will be interesting to see the approach taken by the BBC to these issues. It would be great to hear what you think about these programmes and whether they reflect the lives of the families you are working with.Are there lessons for us to learn about how we support families? What kind of messages about parents and parenting are being portrayed in the media and what is the impact of this on families living in Scotland today?

Remember you can join in the discussion in the comments here or, if you are a Glow user, on the Early Years Professional Learning Community at : http://bit.ly/earlyhome.

Additional Support for Learning, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Supporting Learners, Universal Support

respectme Anti-Bullying Awards

March 21, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

respectme has announced the launch of its first Anti-Bullying Awards.

The awards are designed to recognise the contribution made by children, young people and adults through anti-bullying projects, activities and initiatives across Scotland. There are two categories in this year’s Awards; one for a young person or group of young people, and the other for an adult or adults, who have made a difference for others through their anti-bullying work.

Nominations are now open, and are welcome from groups and individuals from across Scotland. The deadline for nominations is Friday 28 June 2013 and Award winners will be presented at an event during National Anti-Bullying Week in November.

Further information on the respectme Anti-Bullying Awards, together with an application form can be found here

Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Supporting Learners

Wise Up Wednesday: Early Years In Edinburgh

March 21, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Colleagues from the City of Edinburgh Council have shared news from their annual Early Years conference on the City’s Children and Families blog.

Over 300 delegates from Early Years establishments attended the at Hibs Stadium and Lesley McDowall, Quality Improvement Officer for Early Years, introduces a report from the event, with feedback from delegates. Dr Margot Sunderland from the Institute of Child Mental Health in London made a keynote presentation on “Working with Children with Difficulties and Challenging Behaviour” which seems to have made quite an impact judging by the delegate comments.

The conference also saw the launch of new resources to support literacy and health and wellbeing.

You can read the full report and see the photographs here.

Were you there? Why not leave us a comment to let us know what impact the day has had on your practice?

We’d love to hear more about what is happening to support the development of Early Years, Children and Families in other parts of the country. Have you had an event, shared some learning, or developed practice? Why not get in touch and share it with others?

Remember that Glow users can share, discuss and ask for support from other practitioners on the Early Years Professional Learning Community at http://bit.ly/earlyhome .

Glow TV, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Young people, children & families

Forced Marriage in Scotland

March 14, 2013 User deactivated 2 Comments

Figures collated from Scottish agencies, who support victims of forced marriage, estimate that almost 20% of the 59 people who contacted them in 2011/12 in fear of being forced to marry were under 18 years of age. Those seeking help included both boys and girls and agencies believe that these figures may just be the tip of the iceberg, with many victims often too scared to speak out.

This shows that forced marriage is a very real issue affecting young people in Scotland and it is important that they know how they can get help. In November 2011, legislation came into force in Scotland to protect those affected by forced marriage. The Forced Marriage etc. (Protection and Jurisdiction) (Scotland) Act 2011 provides civil remedies for those at risk of forced marriage and those who have already been forced into marriage.

Teachers and education professionals therefore play an important role in recognising potential victims of forced marriage and in signposting them appropriately to ensure that they receive the right kind of help they need.

With this in mind, a forced marriage information resource is being launched this month for those working with young people in Scotland. A Glow TV event has been scheduled for Monday 18th March at 4pm to give education professionals the chance to discuss the issues which surround forced marriage and how they can help those in their care who they are worried might be affected. The Glow TV event is appropriate for all education practitioners.

To help education practitioners understand the legislation and how their work might be impacted by forced marriage, a panel of experts, including a forced marriage survivor, will be present to answer questions on the issue such as:

• What is a forced marriage?
• Are many young people in Scotland being forced to marry?
• How does the law in Scotland to help those in a forced marriage or under threat of one?
• How can education professionals help any young person in their care that they are worried might be affected by forced marriage?

Why not sign up and find out more in Glow TV – Forced Marriage in Scotland Or if you miss it click the Watch Again link to view the recording.

Early Years, Young people, children & families

Wise Up Wednesday: This Is Where It Starts

March 13, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

The Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services (IRISS) is a charitable company with a mission to Promoting positive outcomes for people who use Scotland’s social services

As part of their Early Years Evidence Project for 2012/13, they have produced the “This is where it starts” collection of case studies of work with children and parents in the early years (pre-birth to eight years old).

The case studies are based on in-depth interviews with those working with children and parents in the early years to uncover what professionals perceive supports positive outcomes, early intervention and prevention. The case studies attempt to capture some of the experiential knowledge held by professionals working in the early years, to share this knowledge more widely across the sector and to provide inspiration to others.

An overview report, which explores learning from the seven case studies, is also available.

Read This is where it starts overview report and case studies.

As always we’d love to hear what you are doing to support children and families in your area. Why not share in the comments?

CfE, Expressive Arts, Glow TV, Health and wellbeing, Responsibility of All

Choices for Life Online – Winning Awards

March 12, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

The large Choices for Life venue music events run by the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency were the highlight of many a Primary 7’s year but not everyone could get to a live event and learn more about making the right choices for their life.

That is until November 2011 when Choices for Life Online began. During the course of two days over 25,000 pupils from across Scotland tuned in to watch the new Online experience provided to them through Glow TV. The live webstreams featured thought provoking drama pieces from PACE and interviews with celebrities who all wanted to help youngsters think about making the right choices about their lives.

Since then the format of the broadcast has continued to be a massive success with young people having the opportunity to tune in either via a Glow TV live webstream or though Glow Meet with the session being repeated on the same day so noone misses out!

This huge success was marked yesterday when Choices for Life Online was awareded a presitgious award at the Scottish Police Awards for Making Communities Safer. The competition was fierce with 4 other excellent projects in the same category so the representatives from SCDEA and Glow were surprised to be honoured and receive the award from Kenny MacAskill, Cabinet Secretary for Justice and be congratulated by Dougie Vipond, Scottish television personality.

You can keep up to date with Choices for Life Online both in our Choice for Life Online Glow Group and on the excellent Choices for Life Online website which was launched in September 2012.

Well done Choices for Life and make a date in your diary for the next event which will be held on May 22nd -more details nearer the time in Glow TV.

Early Years, Expressive Arts, Glow TV

Comic Relief Day 2013

March 7, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

This year Glow TV is celebrating Red Nose Day which is on Fridat 15th March with two fun packed events!

Kicking off Comic Relief Day at 9.30am we want you to log in and share what you will be doing on the day to raise money. You can tell us on our special Red Nose Chat Board and we’ll give you a special shout out or if you are doing a song or dance we’d love to see it! We know that you will be doing lots of new and exciting ways to raise money for Comic Relief 2013 and we want you to share them with us on the day!

If you do want to perform and want a practice beforehand all you’ll need is a webcam and mic and I will happily do a test session for you before the day. Contact Jen on – jennifer.mcdougall@educationscotland.gov.uk However if you are confident and can turn up on the day and let us see you then that is fine too! – Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

Then as your Comic Relief 2013 fun in school is drawing to a close why not join us for an hour of live Red Nose entertainment from Banchory Primary in Clackmannanshire?

Join us from 2pm for a Red Nose Day Parade, performances from P 1-3, an interactive quiz that you can play along with in your classrooms and live singing in Polish and English!

As if that wasn’t enough P4 and P6 will entertain you with Comic Relief sketches to round off the afternoon of fun and laughter join the school in a conga! Sign up and join us in Glow TV

And remember if you join us for eithr event make sure tht you make a donation to Comic Relief 2013 through your school!

Early Years, Expressive Arts, Literacy

Wise Up Wednesday: World Book Day

March 6, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Polly Dunbar and Long Nose Puppets

Did you know that tomorrow is World Book day?

As part of the celebrations the Scottish Children’s Book Awards Ceremony is being streamed live from the Caird Hall in Dundee on Thursday 7th March. This is likely to be suitable for learners in P1 to S4. You can find out more about the event of glow tv here.

In April there is a treat for the children in the early years – Polly Dunbar and the Long Nose Puppets. There are 2 parts to this – the first is a live stream from the BBC. More information for Glow users can be found here. If you don’t have access to glow you can check it out on the Scottish Book Trust website here.

After the BBC live stream glow users will be able to access a question and answer session from the Glow TV Studio. You can register for this here.

How are you celebrating World Book Day with children and families? Let us know in the comments!

CfE, Expressive Arts, Glow TV, Literacy, Literacy and English, Literacy and Gàidhlig

Scottish Children’s Book Awards Ceremony

March 5, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Join us in Glow TV on Thursday 7th March at 1.30pm to celebrate World Book Day with the 1000-strong audience in the Caird Hall for the 2012 Scottish Children’s Book Awards Ceremony live.

There will be readings, music, illustration, Oscar-worthy drama performances, song, readings, interviews, all of the shortlisted authors and illustrators and of course, the announcement of the wining books as chosen by over 32,000 children across Scotland.

Like the awards, the event is suitable for children in P1-S4. This event is a live web stream from the event and the link to this and to sign up is available in Glow TV.

CfE, Expressive Arts

A Man Came to A Women Glow Meet

March 4, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

On Wednesday 6th March at 1.45pm join acclaimed Russian director Natalya Leonovan live from the Tron Theatre for a sneak peek into the rehearsal room while she works on ‘A Man Came to a Woman’ with two Scottish based actors. This is a rare opportunity to watch a professional at work and see live the different rehearsal techniques Natalya uses to enable the actors to become equipped to perform the piece.

This is the first UK staging of Semyon Zlotnikov’s brilliant physical comedy and is being made in collaboration with ALEKO Theatre St Petersburg. Banned in the USSR and hugely popular in post-Soviet Russia, Zlotnikov’s surreal farce satires the age-old conundrum of how exactly two people of a certain age and an uncertain future meet and get along.

This event is aimed at S4-6 drama students but would suitable and of interest to younger pupils also. Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

Social studies

Scotland declared a Fairtrade Nation

February 27, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Scotland has become one of the world’s first Fair Trade Nations, International Development Minister Humza Yousaf announced this week.

The news comes on the first day of Fairtrade Fortnight 2013 and follows a nationwide campaign led by the Scottish Fair Trade Forum that has seen the people of Scotland rally behind Fair Trade principles.

The accolade means people, government, businesses, public bodies and community organisations across Scotland have come together to meet stringent criteria designed to promote Fair Trade.

Speaking ahead of a visit to the Urban Fox project in Glasgow, where he will launch an initiative to supply Fairtrade footballs to youth and sports groups in disadvantaged areas, Mr Yousaf said:

“People in every city and across all local authority areas share a vision of Scotland as a good global citizen, committed to playing its part in addressing poverty.

“That vision includes our commitment to Malawi, to take the lead in climate change, to promote clean drinking water and explains why we have doubled our International Development Fund to £9 million since 2007/08.

“I thank every person, business and organisation who has helped Scotland towards achieving Fair Trade Nation status. In particular I commend the Scottish Fair Trade Forum, who have been instrumental in driving forward our Fair Trade Nation agenda.

“We must now build on today’s achievement and continue to work hard to encourage even greater Scottish support for Fair Trade.

To qualify for Fair Trade Nation status, the Scottish Fair Trade Forum (SFTF) was required to demonstrate how Scotland had met a series of stringent criteria, including:

All seven Scottish cities and at least 55 per cent of local authority areas to have Fairtrade status.
All 32 local authorities areas and at least 55 per cent of towns with a population of 5,000 or more to have active Fair Trade groups working towards Fairtrade status.
At least 60 per cent of higher education institutions to have active Fair Trade groups working towards Fairtrade status.
Scottish Parliament and Scottish Government to use, promote and make available Fair Trade products internally, and to actively promote Fairtrade Fortnight each year.
Fair Trade to be promoted in schools through the curriculum, procurement and other possible means.
Schools, Further Education Institutions, Faith Groups, Trade Unions, business networks, voluntary and youth organisations to pledge to use and promote Fair Trade.
75 per cent of people to buy a Fair Trade product every year.
40 per cent of people to regularly buy Fairtrade products.

Early Years, Responsibility of All, Young people, children & families

Wise Up Wednesday: Celebrating Success at Woodside!

February 27, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Woodside Nursery School in Glasgow has become the latest nursery to have the quality of their provision recognised by achieving ‘excellent’ in all five of the quality indicators used by Education Scotland in inspection.

Education Scotland’s letter to the parents at Woodside highlights that:

children are motivated and enthusiastic, experiencing a high level of achievement and success;
the partnership with parents is highly effective;
partner agencies are involved in developing children’s learning;
there is exceptional teamwork among staff in working with children and their families; and
the leadership of the headteacher in developing the work of the nursery is outstanding.

The nursery has received many congratulations since the publication of the letter to parents earlier today:

“It is an outstanding achievement for a nursery to gain excellent ratings in all five areas of the rigorous inspection by Education Scotland. I offer my congratulations to the staff at Woodside Nursery; it is clear from the letter that they have excellent relationships with parents and inspire enthusiasm for learning among the children.

The hugely positive results from the Woodside inspection will be an example that others can follow as we work together to make Scotland the best place in the world to grow up.”

Aileen Campbell, Minister for Children and Young People

“I would like to congratulate all the children, staff, parents and stakeholders at Woodside Nursery on the progress they are making in implementing Curriculum for Excellence for the benefit of their young learners. Our inspection shows that this is a notably high-performing nursery which has fully embraced the opportunities which the new curriculum presents.”

Dr Bill Maxwell, Chief Executive of Education Scotland

“This is a truly wonderful letter and the best yet for Glasgow. I’m delighted for Alison Forbes, her staff and the parents and carers of Woodside Nursery.

There are so many positives in this letter and it is fantastic that inspectors have highlighted the fact that the headteacher provides outstanding leadership and along with staff and parents, have a clear vision for developing the work of the nursery.

My heartfelt congratulations to all on this outstanding and excellent letter.”

Councillor Stephen Curran, Executive Member for Education and Young People

Education Scotland highlights the good practice our inspection teams find so that other education professionals can reflect on what they are doing and consider adapting some of the practice to their own circumstances.

How do you reflect on your own and other’s experiences to improve your practice?

How can Education Scotland help you with this?

Let us know your thoughts in the comments!

To find out more about the practice that makes Woodside Nursery School so effective in supporting young children’s learning you can read Education Scotland’s letter to parents here.

Additional Support for Learning, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Literacy, Literacy and English, RME, Sciences, Social studies, Supporting Learners, Universal Support

Promoting Diversity and Equality

February 26, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Promoting Diversity and Equality: Developing Responsible Citizens for 21st Century Scotland

This publication aims to support schools and centres in promoting diversity and equality through all aspects of planned learning.

Diversity is about recognising and valuing difference, where everyone is respected for who they are. Equality is about creating a fairer society, where everyone can take part and where everyone has the opportunity to be all they can be.

Curriculum for Excellence challenges schools and communities to develop children and young people as responsible citizens who:
• show respect for others
• understand different beliefs and cultures
• are developing informed, ethical views of complex issues.

All involved in successful learning need to understand themselves what it means to live in this diverse society, and to help children and young people understand what it means for them.

CfE, Expressive Arts, Glow TV, MCMC/16+LC

Careers in Theatre – 26th February

February 22, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Careers in Theatre is the Festival Theatre Edinburgh, The Lyceum Theatre and The Traverse Theatre’s unique interactive one day careers event. Join us live in Glow TV on Tuesday 26th February for 3 unique sessions each one hosted at a different theatre.

Front of House and Box Office Session – 10 – 11.30am
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. Sign up and join us in Glow TV!

Technical Theatre – 12 – 1.30pm
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. Sign up and join us in Glow TV!

Acting and Directing – 2.30- 3.30pm
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. Sign up and join us in Glow TV!

The event is aimed at 5th & 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. It may also be of interest to upper primary and early secondary pupils also interested in the theatre.

Join us for some or all of these exciting events and learn more about the careers involved in theatre and remember that all the events will be recorded and available in Glow TV’s Watch Again section.

Community Capacity Building, Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Young people, children & families

Wise Up Wednesday: Go2Play Capacity Building Fund

February 20, 2013 User deactivated 2 Comments

Inspiring Scotland’s Go2Play Capacity Building fund is a small fund, looking to support innovative and exciting people within the play sector who, with tailored capacity building support, could turn great ideas from a concept into a reality, positively impacting upon the lives of children and supporting the development of play in Scotland.

The Capacity Building fund aims to support individuals within Scottish charities who are bursting with enthusiasm and potential, and who recognise the tremendous contribution play makes to children’s lives. The fund provides support to develop great ideas which utilise play, free play in particular, to enhance the wellbeing of Scotland’s children. Go2Play are particularly interested in looking at proposals which have ideas around the following areas:

supporting parents and young carers through the delivery of play;
using play as a health improvement tool and working within the health sector;
exploring how play can support children with additional support needs;
supporting children’s transitions through play; and
using play to enhance children’s physical activity.

The next deadline date is Friday 1st March 2013. You can find out more about Go2Play and the capacity building fund here.

CfE, Glow TV, Health and wellbeing

Flushed with Success? Join the RIGHT Big Toilet Debate.

February 19, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People, Tam Baillie will be hosting a Glow Meet for primary pupils on the subject of your school toilets.

He will be asking pupils to complete a survey on Glow to tell him what they think about their school toilets.

In addition three schools will be telling us about their toilets through presentations and photographs. Perhaps the pupils in your school would like to carry out their own survey or take some pictures to show Tam during the Glow meet?

Join us to talk toilets on Thursday 28th February at 10.45am live from Carrick Knowe Primary in Edinburgh! – Sign up in Glow TV.

CfE, Early Years, Health and wellbeing, Outdoor Learning

Regional events – children’s rights, global citizenship and outdoor learning

February 18, 2013 User deactivated 2 Comments

Download flyer for regional events

Regional events – children’s rights, global citizenship and outdoor learning

Education Scotland is hosting a series of important regional events in March 2013 to enable schools to explore the implications of two major policy developments – the Children and Young People Bill and the Learning for Sustainability report.

The Children and Young People Bill, which will be considered by the Scottish Parliament in 2013, sets out a range of proposals for children’s services and will seek to embed the United Nations Convention of the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) across the public sector. This will support the Getting it Right for Every Child approach and also the exciting work taking place in Scottish schools to engage learners in rights-based education and pupil voice activities.

The Learning for Sustainability report, published in December 2012, sets out a strategic agenda for change for Scottish schools. The report recommends the adoption of a coherent whole school approach to ensure that sustainability, global citizenship and outdoor learning are experienced in a transformative way by every learner in every school across Scotland. The report also includes a number of recommendations relating to career-long professional learning, leadership development and the new GTC Scotland Professional Standards. The Scottish Government will respond to this report in March this year.

In addition, participants will also learn of the many exciting events taking place in 2013/14 to support these aspects of learning including: the Year of Natural Scotland; Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games; the Scottish independence referendum; Homecoming Year; Ryder Cup; David Livingstone’s bicentenary; John Muir’s centenary and the centenary of the start of the First World War.

Through a mixture of workshops, exhibitions and spotlight sessions, delegates will have the opportunity to gain practical ideas and insight from early years, ASN, primary and secondary schools with interesting practice to share. Key national organisations will also be on hand to offer support, resources and advice.

Target audience: The main target audience are school leaders, local authority staff and those with a whole school responsibility for global citizenship, sustainability, children’s rights and outdoor learning.

Sectors: Early years (including partnership providers), ASN, primary and secondary schools.

When:

9:30am – 3:30pm, Wed 13^th March – Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
9:30am – 3:30pm, Mon 18^th March – Drumossie Hotel, Inverness
9:30am – 3:30pm, Wed 20^th March – Hampden Stadium, Glasgow.

How to book: Delegate places have been allocated to each local authority to ensure all school sectors and geographical areas are well represented. School or local authority staff should contact their local authority coordinator in the first instance to book.

General bookings will be available from 26^th Feb onwards. Please email Willie Bhari: Willie.Bhari@educationscotland.gov.uk or Tel: 0141 282 5208 to add your name to this waiting list. Cost of attending event: Free.

Sciences

Talk with us…about improving sciences education 3-18

February 15, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

With planning well underway for the next in our series of conversation days with a focus on the Sciences 3-18 Curriculum Area Impact Project report and improving sciences education 3-18 in Scotland, we have been sharing the discussions from our first day in December 2012 via our engagement blog. So if you are interested in joining the discussions online, or at one of our face-to-face conversations, why not take a look?

Call for Scottish Entries for the Kodu Kup 2013

February 14, 2013 User deactivated 2 Comments

If you are interested in game design then a good place to start is with a free application called Kodu. This is a visual programming language and games lab environment which allows students from Second Level upwards to design and build three dimensional games using either a PC or an XBox and XBox controller. When using an application such as Kodu learners can begin to learn the core concepts of computer science within the context of a project which includes narrative writing, design and maths etc: a wonderfully creative and innovative exercise. Kodu was developed in the Microsoft Research Labs and is completely free and free for anyone to download and use.

If you are interested in submitting an entry to the Kodu Kup then full details are available here..

Scottish teachers can also access class sets of 20 Xbox controllers for the PC that can be used to create games in Kodu. These are accessible form the CPDConsolarium community in Glow. Please do bear in mind that that loaning equipment from us means that you undertake to share your experience and practice in using the equipment.

There are also some tutorial videos for Kodu in the Consolarium Glow group as well as other further information about the Kodu cup which is accessible via these links:

Please do let us know if you plan to submit an entry to this years competition. Good luck!

Assessment, BtC5, CfE, Early Years, Expressive Arts, Health and wellbeing, Health and wellbeing, Languages, Literacy, Literacy and English, Mathematics, Moderation, Modern Languages, NAR, Outdoor Learning, Profiles, Profiling, Religious and Moral Education, Responsibility of All, RME, Sciences, Social studies, Supporting Learners, Technologies

Taking a closer look at the National Assessment Resource: A professional learning resource

February 12, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Education Scotland have recently developed this professional learning resource. It provides an opportunity to reflect on effective practice in learning, teaching and assessment, drawing on the work published on the National Assessment Resource (NAR). It also provides a structured look at the NAR flow chart as a tool for planning effective learning, teaching, moderation and assessment.

The resource can be used by individual practitioners keen to reflect and improve on their assessment practice as well as pairs, groups of practitioners, associated school groups (ASGs) or clusters working collegiately to reflect on and improve practice.

It is available to download from the Education Scotland website and welcome section on NAR. There will be a Glow meet on Wednesday the 13th of February at 8:20am and Thursday the 14th at 4:15pm to explore the resource further.

Assessment, Early Years, NAR, Sciences

Assessing Progress and Achievement Professional Learning Resource

February 8, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Education Scotland has recently published Professional Learning Resources on assessing progress and achievement designed to support quality assurance and moderation activities.

The resources are a work-in-progress and draw on emerging practice from practitioners from 3-15.

Tell us what you think

We would like to hear what you think about what has been produced so far for your sector or curriculum area. Your feedback will help inform on-going work on annotated exemplification of achievement of levels in each of the curriculum areas to be shared through NAR.

In particular we would be interested in your views on:

· How well does the outline of the significant aspects of learning in each of the curriculum areas describe the range of learning in the Es and Os in a clear and succinct way?
· How well do the descriptions of breadth, challenge and application in each of the curriculum areas support planning for progression?
· In what ways have you used (or intend to use) the resources to support professional learning and reflection?
· What aspects of the resources did you find particularly useful?
· What aspects of the resources could be improved ?
· In using the resources to reflect on your practice, what aspects have you identified for improvement in your approaches to supporting learners in their progress and achievement?
· What further support would be helpful in managing assessment within each of the curriculum areas?

In your comment response please can you let us know which sector you work in – early, primary, secondary, special and also the curriculum area you are responding to. Many thanks.

CfE, Expressive Arts, Glow TV, Literacy and English, Technologies

Paper Creativity Challenge Week 4

February 1, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Join us for more fun and activities in our Paper Creativity Challenge when this week we will be investigating embellishing paper. Once again we have a range of exciting Glow Meets that you can become involved in – find out more….

Paper Cuts: Painting with Scissors – Monday 4th February at 11am

Paper cutting has a long history and Matisse called it “painting with scissors”

Starting with 19th century Victorian silhouette portrait cut outs and moving onto 19th century Polish Leluja cut outs with a big emphasis on symmetry you can take part and work along or watch and try it afterwards (a list of materials needed is included on the Glow TV advert)

Then the session will look at 20th century Matisse cut out, collages and stencil and end up with 21st century artists’ cut outs looking at a few examples and ideas. Join us in Glow TV – Paper Cuts: Painting with Scissors

Look after your Planet by Lauren Childs – Tuesday 5th February at 11am

Join us again for our final exciting reading with our Paper Princess Margo from West Lothian!

This time listen to ‘Look after your Planet’ by Lauren Child and find out about this week’s creativity challenge.

And in a special addition to this event we also have a reading of Lauren’s Clarice Bean picture book – ‘What Planet are You From?’ which is again about environmental themes.There are some great ideas in there of creating a beautiful tree using paper for leaves. – Look after your Planet

Storybird- Thursday 7th February at 2pm

‘Storybird is a visual storytelling community. A global hub of readers, writers, and artists of all ages.

This 45 min Glow meet will share how to explore and create digital stories using beautiful artwork. Join Anna to find out more – Storybird

CfE, Supporting Learners

World of Work Wednesdays – Working in the Retail Sector

February 1, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

Our latest WoWW event on Wednesday 6th February at 2pm will explore the retail sector with speakers from very different aspects of the industry sharing their insight and experience into the opportunities that working in this sector offer. While the emphasis will be on the retail sector the speakers will highlight the soft skills required for entry into not only this but any employment sector making this a valuable learning experience for all young people who will be seeking to enter the world of work.

Why would I want to work in Retail?
The retail industry employs around 2.9m people in the UK and generates over £260bn a year in sales – larger than the combined economies of Portugal and Denmark.

By its very nature retail is a fast-moving industry as organisations try to respond to – and predict – customer demand and future trends. But if you think that a career in retail is limited solely to the shop floor, think again.

From sourcing new producers to transporting goods, ordering stock and forecasting trends, there are a multitude of roles that are critical to the retail operation that you may never have even realised.

And these roles can also be found in a number of associated sectors, from warehousing and distribution to finance, marketing and design.

The retail industry has plenty of variety – not least because of the vast array of products in the marketplace.

In both traditional retail stores and in new online markets, there really are limitless opportunities for people to work within a sector that interests them regardless of whether you are a petrol-head or fashion lover.

So join us to ask questions and find out more. Sign up and join us in Glow TV.

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Economics GlowTV Skills for Learning Life and Work

Research

Tell us what you think of the Education Scotland website

February 1, 2013 User deactivated Leave a comment

At Education Scotland we are continually improving our website (http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk) to ensure it meets the needs of Scottish education. As part of our plans to redevelop the website we need your opinions of it; this is your opportunity to review the website and provide feedback for improvements.

We are looking for a wide range of people who work in, or have an interest in, the education system, such as:
· practitioners (early years, primary, secondary, additional support needs, Gaelic)
· establishment managers and leaders
· community development officers
· college lecturers and curriculum leaders
· education service managers
· quality improvement officers (QIOs)
· parents and carers.

All you’ll need to do is spend an hour completing a few set tasks, supported by one of our usability experts.

If you are interested and would like more information, please email the following details to websitefeedback@educationscotland.gov.uk

· Name
· Position or role
· Educational establishment
· Local authority area
· Email
· Phone number

Many thanks
Education Scotland Online Service team

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Education Scotland

Expressive Arts

Flexible Routes to Headship Programme – Cohort 7

January 31, 2013 User deactivated 2 Comments

Join us on Glow TV on Monday 4th February at 3.45pm for a session presented by Laura McAllister and Kate Paton from Education Scotland looking at Flexible Routes to Headship.

During the session there will be information shared with regards to the programme content, timeline , key roles and responsibilities and how Education Scotland will support coaches and participants in their learning journey.

Our target audience are Local authority officers with responsibility for leadership development and promoted staff in all schools and early years establishments who are interested in achieving The Standard for Headship.

Sign up and join us in Glow TV!

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STEM

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Senior Phase

Skills

Social studies

Supporting Learners

Additional Support for Learning

MCMC/16+LC

Universal Support

Technologies

Uncategorised

Uncategorized

Events

No Events