Here are some links to fabulous resources to help you explore the outdoors, even if it is raining!
International Mud Day:
http://www.muddyfaces.co.uk/
Play Scotland’s site with lots of play ideas:
http://www.playscotland.org/playday
15 ideas for play outdoors (and more mud!)
http://www.playscotland.org/assets/GET-OUT-AND-PLAY.pdf
Early Years Glow Meet on ‘Play on the Longest Day’
Have fun!
Early Years Team
The Europe-wide Fibonacci Project promotes and supports Inquiry-based Learning in Science Education (IBSE). It aims to help pupils develop concepts that enable them to understand the scientific and technological aspects of the world around them through their own thinking, using critical and logical reasoning about evidence that they have gathered. This involves group work, making arguments, dialogue and debate, as well as direct exploration and hands-on experiments. Meaningful contexts are provided by making links with the local community (companies, museums, science centres, associations, etc), where parents, scientists and industrialists can be involved.
During 2011 a number of primary teachers developed Engineering Challenges, in collaboration with members of the University of Glasgow Fibonacci Project team.
Inquiry-based approaches are at the heart of the Curriculum for Excellence Sciences and Technologies curricula and contribute very strongly to developing the four “capacities” which Curriculum for Excellence aims to promote.
The Project Team would like to invite primary school practitioners to participate, in collaboration with the team, in implementing Inquiry-based Learning in Science and/or in developing further activities/materials.
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You are invited and encouraged to take up the opportunity to continue (or begin) to put inquiry-based approaches into practice from August 2012 and/or to develop new activities, with support from the Fibonacci team.
For more information or to discuss the project, please contact Ernie Spencer Ernest.Spencer@glasgow.ac.uk
Thank you to Alastair Seaman and Julie Buchanan from Grounds for Learning for taking time out of their busy schedule to join us for our Glow Meet, Play on the Longest Day on Monday. Also a big thank you to those of you who tuned in on the day. If you missed the live event the good news is that you can ‘watch again’!
Our new video featuring Julie and her excellent work at Shotts Nursery Centre as well as the PowerPoint from the day and some useful links are now on the ‘share’ section of the Early Years CPDCentral site.
If you are not a member of our Early Years CPDCentral site, visit the site and ‘add’ your details it is really easy and quick.
Thank you
The Early Years Team
Click here to see details about the Glow Meet.
We’ve been keeping you up to date with this inquiry based science project since last December and we are delighted to confirm that you can find out more by joining us at session N1A at SLF 2012, presented by Professor Susan Rodrigues and Neil Taylor.
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 also be available via YouTube after the session for delegates to follow up.
Parents and children explore outdoor play
Monday 18th June, 3.30pm – 4.00pmIn the lead up to Play on the Longest Day on the 21 June 2012, a celebration of play, we will be thinking and talking about practical ideas and activities for outdoor play. We will also be sharing the outdoor play initiative developed at Shotts Nursery Centre, North Lanarkshire in partnership with Grounds for Learning.
The Meet will consist of a panel discussion and panel members will include Julie Buchanan and Alistair Seaman from Grounds for Learning. Film footage taken of the development at Shotts Nursery Centre will be aired during the Glow Meet and discussion time will focus on how parents were actively involved in the initiative. Alistair will also give a flavour of some of the other projects Grounds for Learning are currently taking forward.
Participants will have the opportunity to ask the panel questions and share ideas. Please tune in to be inspired and get ready to Play on the Longest Day!
Hope to see you there. Click here to sign up.
Wednesday 13 June 10:00 – 10:45 http://glo.li/MsbNg9
Join us again this year for a fantastic opportunity to explore space travel and meet three NASA guests all in one day. Find out about what they’ve done, ask your own questions, take part in space quizzes and use this unique opportunity to enter the world of space exploration.
The University of Strathclyde’s Scottish Space School runs from 10-15 June for learners in S5. Find out more at the Scottish Space School web page.
The Scottish Space School will also be hosting its annual public lecture on Wednesday 13th June 2012 from 18:30 to 20:00, when the guest speakers will include two astronauts with six space missions between them, and a lead engineer on spacesuit design. If you would like to attend this event please apply for an e-ticket by clicking on to the link: E-ticket application
Did you know Scotland is active in space research? STEM Central’s Exploring Engineering is aimed at learners and practitioners for CPD and includes interviews with Scottish and global engineers, working in Scotland, round the world, and beyond!
Participating in in-service today provided an opportunity to talk with practitioners around learning and teaching in science and share some of the ways in which Education Scotland can provide support. Issues explored included assessment and moderation, a shared understanding of standards, progression, meeting the needs of learners, transitions, using effective partnerships and keeping the curriculum alive and relevant to inspire young learners.
The following were used to exemplify support for practitioners:
Education Scotland Learning blog – sharing by the Development Officers in Education Scotland
STEM Central in Motion blog – sharing by practitioners and partners
Food for Thought leaflet and poster – we will shortly be developing the new Food Security context for STEM Central
STEM Central Learning Journeys from the Sound context, early years and first level due for publication later this month, and the draft second level journeys due for publication within the next few months
NAR (National Assessment Resource)
and
Practitioners shared resources they also find useful such as Planet Science , I’m a Scientist, get me out of here and I’m an Engineer, get me out of here.
At the beginning of May, The James Hutton Institute announced the award of £1.25 million to work towards more sustainble, disease resistance crops to enhance our future food security.
This ties in with Education Scotland’s recently published work on Food Security for National 4 Science and National 5 Biology, along with work associated with Inheritance for National 5 Biology. Published advice and guidance is intended for use by practitioners in creative and innovative ways, to plan approaches to meet the needs of learners. Flexibility within the new National Qualifications offers the ideal opportunity to plan for learning and teaching which incorporates cutting edge Scottish and global research, and builds in meaningful partnerships from the rich STEM landscape in Scotland.
Looking ahead to the forthcoming school year, we are developing the theme of Food Security for first through to fourth level as a context in STEM Central, providing scope for working within clusters to build a continuous learning journey. More news will be published on the ES Learning Blog later this year.
25 May, Glasgow Science Centre, 10 am – 3.30 pm
#creativityandyou
http://www.educationscotland.gov.uk/newsandevents/events/2012/eventgeneral_tcm4720739.asp
This national event, organised by The Scottish Government, Education Scotland and Creative Scotland, will showcase innovation across teaching and learning in a range of subjects beyond the expressive arts.
It will highlight just how imaginatively schools and teachers are already embedding creativity into their daily work, often in partnership with external organisations.
Teachers and senior managers in schools and the education sector will be able to draw on a range of good practice in promoting creative learning and improving learners’ creative skills within all subjects.
The day is designed to:
To book a place, please contact Elisabeth.zelger@creativescotland.com with your name, title, contact details and local authority and any special requirements.
The forthcoming special edition of Talking Stem Cells Ethical Dilemma series featuring Dr Bill Ritchie who was involved in the creation of Dolly the Sheep is coming up on Thursday 17th May from 1100-1230. You can sign up and join in via Glow Tv – please drop in even if you can’t attend for the whole event.
This Glow meet, which incorporates an input from a patient who may benefit from stem cell therapy, comes at an ideal time to tie in with recent publication by Education Scotland of advice and guidance associated with the new National Qualifications in Biology. Why not take this opportunity for your current S2 learners who will be entering the Senior Phase in 2013/14 to learn more about a topic on which they can build for NQs in Biology? Or why not sign up as part of your own CPD, and consider how you can plan for forming partnerships with cutting edge research in Scotland to enhance learning and teaching?
Background on Dolly the Sheep can be found at The Roslin Institute webpages.
This event will be coming live from Gairloch High School in the Highlands and you can find a Student pack associated with this event in the Stem Cell Glow Group.
Sign up and join us in Glow TV on Thursday 17th May from 11-12.30pm – or for as long as you can!!
JOIN THE CONVERSATION AND HELP Together we can change the way people eat by educating every child about food, giving families the skills and knowledge to cook again, and motivating people to stand up for their rights to better food. Add your voice to the conversation with your best cooking and food education tip, favorite ingredient, or tell us why you support the Food Revolution and what actions you are taking.
Click here to access a helpful PDF on 30 ideas to start a Food Revolution.
Earlier this year, we blogged about this exciting opportunity which can be used in many contexts, including to enrich the STEM Central water context.
A trickling burn, a flooded street, a horse’s trough or a grand Scottish loch – no matter what comes to mind when you think of water the Water Works competition wants your photographs. The James Hutton Institute has now announced the March winner of the competition, John Smith, Age 8, from Orkney. His picture, shown above, is called “The Flood at the Pumping Station” and shows his local pumping station at North Stronsay, flooded due to the nearby loch overflowing.
The James Hutton Institute’s Facebook page has more information on the March entries and how you can take part in May’s competition.
Need some more inspiration on water?
Whether you are working with the STEM Central Flood Management learning journeys in the context of social sciences, technologies or maths, or planning learning and teaching around themes of sustainability for new National Qualifications, this article published in The Telegraph, by James Dyson “Engineering can save us from drought” might provide information or inspiration. Perhaps you could use this year’s Dyson Challenge as a basis for learning, maybe your learners hold the key to saving water for a more sustainable future?
If your learners are considering the current drought and flood situation in large parts of England, why not use it as an opportunity to explore the role of engineers in sustainability? We would love to hear your ideas on our STEM Central in Motion blog.
Or try using the mindmap tool in Glow Science to kickstart thinking for you or your learners.
The James Hutton Institute via the Centre of Expertise for Waters are running a year long competition aimed at raising awareness of water and water-related issues across both primary and secondary ages. The competition, with monthly prizes, aims to encourage learners to think about the natural environment and make the link between CfE curriculum areas Sciences, Technologies and Expressive Arts. The competition page gives background on the competition and entry instructions.
Hello everyone!
Thank you for logging in for your Weekly Wednesday Wise Up! This week we are really excited to highlight the fantastic work created by Glasgow Film Theatre, Starcatchers, Platform and Toad’s Caravan. One of our team attended the premier at the Galsgow Film Theatre last week and had a great time! Lovely to see the stars of the show in their glamorous clothes on the red carpet!
This film presents a fantastic example of partnership working in the early years. What a great way to use the expertise of others to enhance children’s experiences.
As you watch you may get ideas for new experiences in your establishment. Your children will really enjoy this film, why not show it to them at story time?
Thank you and Enjoy the film!
The Early Years Team 🙂
THIS SUCKS: THE MOVIE!
Glasgow Film Theatre, Starcatchers, Platform and Toad’s Caravan have joined forces to produce This Sucks: The Movie, starring a talented cast of hundreds of nursery children from across Glasgow.
This Sucks: The Movie is a short film made by and starring children four-years-old and under from nurseries around the East-End of Glasgow. The film tells the story of Hetty the Hoover and the love of her life — Mike Dust. 
The concept grew from a previous, highly successful Starcatchers project, This Workshop Sucks, which premiered at the Glasgow Youth Film Festival, a fun interactive workshop, telling the same story to pre-school children combining theatre, art and moving image.
Over two weeks in February 2012, hundreds of children from Glasgow nurseries participated in making the film with directors Matt Addicott and Katy Wilson from Starcatchers and the support of Toad’s Caravan.
This Sucks: The Movie! was made possible by Glasgow City Council’s Area Committee Grants.
CREDITS
CAST
Hetty the Hoover
Mike Dust
The Man and his family
The Doctor and Nurses
The Dancers
STARRING CHILDREN FROM:
Barlanark Family Learning Centre
Helenslea Nursery School
Hullabaloo Children Centre
Sandaig Nursery School
Westercraigs Nursery
STORY
Matt Addicott
Katy Wilson
NARRATION
Matt Addicott
FILM PRODUCED BY
Toad’s Caravan
DIRECTED AND PRODUCED BY
Joanna Susskind
Marissa Keating
ANIMATION
Joanna Susskind
Bruce Cameron
FILMING
Brian Sweeney
MUSIC
Stuart Brown
PROJECT MANAGER
Paul Macgregor
Thanks to Numatic, James Dean and Rhona Matheson
© Glasgow Film Theatre / Starcatchers / Platform / Toad’s Caravan
For more info on Glasgow Film, visit http://www.glasgowfilm.org
For more info on Starcatchers, visit http://www.starcatchers.org.uk/
For more on Platform, visit http://www.platform-online.co.uk/
For more on Toad’s Caravan, visit http://www.toadscaravan.com/
Cross post from Global Citizenship Blog.
Education Scotland hosted an event in partnership with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the University of Edinburgh on 30th March 2012 at the Menzies Hotel in Glasgow to explore how the concept of a circular economy can be used as a focus for sustainable development education and interdisciplinary learning.
The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, restorative and in which materials flows are of two types, biological nutrients, designed to re-enter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere. The circular economy proposes a coherent framework for re-thinking and re-building a positive vision of the future.
Find out more about the Ellen MacArthur Foundation and the circular economy by watching this short video.
The presentations and resources from the event are now available on Glow (Glow log in required).
On Friday I visited Stirling University to complete a Technologies workshop with BEd2 students. We began by discussing the misconceptions surrounding Technologies within Curriculum for Excellence, and spent the rest of the time looking at draft second level learning journeys for STEM Central. The students thought the website was easy to use and felt that there was lots of ideas that they could adapt to their own lesson planning.
You can find the presentation here. (Glow log in required)
We ended by looking at some of the other resources available from Education Scotland to help with teaching Technologies:
Technologies Staffroom (Glow log in required)
Glow Science (Glow log in required)
ScranMeet 1 – An introduction to interdisciplinary learning images, Thursday 3 May, 3.45 pm, http://bit.ly/scranmeet1
Join us in CPD Central for our inaugural ScranMeet to find out how you can acquire imagery and information from the Scran website. Discover diverse content and resources both local and global, to illuminate CfE projects right across the curriculum. The Scran Meet will consist of an introductory presentation by education officer and former teacher, Jackie Sangster followed by some Q&A.
The next network meeting event is on Thursday 3 May at the Stirling Management Centre .
The purpose of the network is to provide a platform whereby those who are responsible for developing CPD within the context of CLD in Scotland, can be actively involved in developing a sustainable learning culture. This will contribute to the CPD framework that is currently under development to support the CPD Strategy for the sector.
We would like to invite you to register your interest in this open network to:
To register please click on the link also attached is a draft programme.
As we progress the development of our new context on STEM Central “Sound”, some ideas to link to your learning and teaching. The Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts, running from 23-28th April 2012, is showcasing the work of six diverse artists with an interest in sound, space and place. The works of the artists, audio based pieces responding to the Clyde’s tidal cycle will be performed each day in public spaces in central Glasgow, and all will be performed on Saturday 28th in the circular, wood-panelled Trust Hall of Clydeport Authority Headquarters. Sounds inspiring? You can find out more on the Glasgow International Festival of Visual Arts website. What distinguishes music from noise? Why not view the Glow Science video “How do Musical Instruments work?” and explore this further?
And, it might sound like something from Dr Who but researchers at the University of Dundee have this week announced the invention of a “sonic screwdriver”, an ultrasonic device which has potential for developing new, more precise surgical techniques. Sounds amazing? More on this from the BBC. Unsure about ultrasound? Why not use the Glow Sciences videos Beyond the Range of Human Hearing, or Medical Marvels: Ultrasound for a bit of background?
STEM Central’s sound context will include learning journeys in sciences and technologies for early years, first, second and fourth level, incorporating work developed by the Engineering the Future project. The fourth level journey could be used to support your planning for learning and teaching for National 4 Physics.
Education Scotland has been working with a range of practitioners on developing innovative approaches to Quality Assurance and Moderation processes. These projects covered practice in the early years, primary, and secondary sectors across a range of subjects, with partners and through transitions. All projects are submitted to a national quality assurance and moderation group (NQAG).
To access the materials log on to NAR and copy and paste the URL below.
Further case studies demonstrating innovative approaches to moderation both within and across authorities will be published at the end of June 2012.
Launched at the 2012 Enquire National Conference, the film looks at a variety of key themes, including: –
You can watch ‘The Learners’ Perspective’ here.
Enquire is the Scottish Advice Service for Additional Support for Learning. They can help you understand children and young people’s rights, to get extra support to enable young people get the most out of their education.
The “Cut It Out” programme is two school periods long, (one hour and fifty minutes in total), and covers the main contributory factors in Road Traffic Collisions such as speeding, drink/drug driving and seatbelt use. It aims to raise awareness and challenge attitudes in young people with regards to the dangers associated with our roads.
The programme has been designed in conjunction with education, road safety departments, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), Strathclyde Police, West of Scotland Road Safety Forum, NHS and Scottish Ambulance Service and in such a way as to be delivered by specially trained fire service personnel in partnership with other emergency services. It is a curricular based, interactive, multi-media programme designed for S5 and S6 pupils.
The programme, which relies heavily upon the interaction between students and facilitators, requires students to ultimately take on different roles and ‘investigate’ the cause and problems associated with a Road Traffic Collision. They are also asked to look at how the incident could have been avoided and to report their findings back to their peers.
If you want to know more about “Cut It Out” or want to book the programme then please contact your local Strathclyde Fire & Rescue Area Headquarters or Service Headquarters for details.
What is the difference between an outcome and an output? This half-day workshop is for you if you have just started a new project or piece of work and want to set your outcomes. Or maybe you’ve been working for a while and thought you knew what your outcomes were but have got confused!
At this workshop you will:
Staff or volunteers from voluntary organisations
Friday, June 01, 2012, 9.30am to 1pm
Where?
Edinburgh
How much does it cost?
£66.00
How do I find out more?
To enquire about this event please email: info@evaluationsupportscotland.org.uk
Today I visited the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) in Ayr to complete Technologies workshops with BEd3. We began by discussing the misconceptions surrounding Technologies within Curriculum for Excellence, and spent the rest of the time looking at draft second level learning journeys for STEM Central. The students thought the website was easy to use, and the ideas on the website made it easy to plan a lesson.
You can find the presentation here. (Glow log in required)
We ended by looking at some of the other resources available from Education Scotland to help with teaching Technologies:
Technologies Staffroom (Glow log in required)
Glow Science (Glow log in required)
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
Did you know that 102,000 16 to 24 year-olds in Scotland were unemployed from October to December 2011? The employment rate was 52.9% in Scotland (50.2% for UK).
FEdS is organising a seminar on Youth employability: The opportunities and challenges of a changing recruitment market on 28 March at the Edinburgh Corn Exchange, involving Education Scotland as a FEdS member and recruitment specialist Bright Purple Resourcing. The seminar coincides with the first National Career Guidance Show to be held in Scotland, organised by Prospects and the Institute of Career Guidance. Follow the link for more information or contact coral.rayfield@feds.co.uk to book your place.
FEdS is a small, specialist organisation that provides a neutral space where senior, experienced people from business, education and government can think creatively and work collaboratively.
FEdS was established in 1996; it has a membership of over 50 organisations and a significant network of associates drawn from a wide range of sectors. FEdS aims to create greater understanding between business, government and education, leading to better policies and practices.
On Saturday the early years team at Education Scotland hosted a conference at Stirling Management Centre –
Literacy in Action: Supporting Colleges to Support Early Years Practice.
Aileen Campbell MSP, Minister for Children andYoung People launched our new resource for parents every day’s a learning day. This resource highlights the learning opportunities present in every day situations from sorting the washing to preparing meals. Watch this space for more information!
The conference was very successful with delegates sharing their enthusiasm about the workshops and the speakers which included:
Jean Carwood-Edwards, Programme Director, Education Scotland
Scotland’s Literacy Action Plan – everyone’s responsibility
Alan Bissett, Author
Literacy in Action – promoting a reading culture in Scotland
National Updates
Education Scotland – Inspection Framework
Louise Gaddi, Qualifications Manager Care Scotland, SQA
Catherine Agnew, Inspector Manager – Registration,Care Inspector
Nina Roberts, Education and Workforce Development Adviser, SSSC
World Cafe Workshops
Development Officers provided an overview of how their own area of work supports the Literacy Action Plan and lead discussions on how the resources available could be used with students of early education and childcare.
Irene Russell, Development Officer, Parental Involvement
Susan Doherty, Development Officer, Work with Young People
Hilary Bombart, Team Leader (Acting), Literacy and English
Anna Cartlidge, Development Officer, Early Years/Responsibility of All
Visit Scotland’s Colleges Blog to see a video of the key messages from the day.
Education Scotland has published a new online resource,
Transform Toolkit. The toolkit has been created by National Theatre of Scotland and Education Scotland to give every school and community the chance to create their own transformative experience.
Transform is an initiative which gives opportunities to schools and communities to work collaboratively on a large-scale creative project and allows participants to engage with and learn from artists from a range of creative industries.
Transform can be carried out by using the range of suggested tasks provided in the toolkit and/or with CPD support from National Theatre of Scotland. You can use the toolkit as a guide and it is designed to allow you to pick and choose the appropriate activities for the participants.
This Glow meet will provide CPD support to deliver the aspects of HWB that are the Responsibility of All.
You will have the opportunity to hear about the building blocks of HWB to develop a whole school approach and a shared understanding of Responsibility of all. This shared understanding can help teachers and partners to consider assessment in HWB, in particular on those aspects that are the Responsibility of all.
There will be the opportunity to post questions throughout the meet.
To join your colleagues, please click here. (Glow log in required).
I recently had the opportunity to visit the Craft, Design and Technology Department at Queen Anne High School to see how they used 3D modelling software in S1 and how this progressed into the Senior Phase.
To find out more about my visit view the video on the Chalkface Blog.
24/02/12 – 11amEvery two weeks, on a Friday morning, Louise and Melisaa from our schools’ news service (The Daily What News- http://www.dailywhat.org.uk/) will introduce a fun-filled twenty minutes of news-related features.
This is the launch show, which will give Glow users a chance to meet Melissa and Louise and hear details of an amazing new competition they are launching. They will also give a tour of the site and discuss some of the most interesting stories from the past few weeks.
The show will continue on a fortnightly basis after that, with quiz features, special guests and lots of truly great learning opportunities. Teachers will be pleased to be reminded that every news story has a related blog post of teaching and earning suggestions, so there’s lots of ideas to take forward with classes.
You will grow to really like Louise and Melissa and what a great chance for Glow users to find out more about the news in general and certain stories in particular.
Edinburgh – Thursday 22nd March 2012
E-Safety Live, now in its 6th year, are landmark events bringing online safety providers, experts and global industry leaders together to participate and discuss with delegates the latest online safety topics.
Designed to aid practitioners in the UK to connect with providers, the events will focus on ways to better help safeguard children, as well as professionals, when online.
The workshops focus on four main topics:
• Classroom – Aiming to outline support & resources available to teachers to use in the classroom.
• Preparing Schools – Will offer advice & support to help schools manage and improve their e-safety provision.
• Training Professionals – Focusing on how professionals can manage their online professional reputation, as well as how organisations working with children and young people can engage parents
• Industry – Delivered by leading industry players, these workshops will provide an insight into technologies children love to use and demonstrate the tools or resources available for using them safely.
NHS Health Scotland’s EARLY YEARS ANNUAL CONFERENCE
1st March 2012
Getting it Right for Every Child – the Journey So Far
This event is now oversubscribed but you can still sign up to participate through webcast.
If you would like to participate through webcast, email : Lynn.Soutar@nhs.net
Find out more at the following links:
Maternal and Early Years Website for Early Years Professionals
www.maternal-and-early-years.org.uk/
Sign up for the National Early Years Network and receive the monthly e-newsletter
http://www.maternal-and-early-years.org.uk/mail-subscriber
Information for parents
The Health and wellbeing team welcomed over sixty practitioners to our Showcase event. 
We had a packed day celebrating good practice across the health and wellbeing organisers. There was a marketplace where many of our partners were available to discuss how they can support schools, these included Active Schools, British Heart Foundation, The Red Cross, Organ Donation, Sustrans, Health Working Lives and Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency.
Alison Hammerton from Outdoor Learning enthused with ideas that stimulated how schools can deliver health and wellbeing by taking the curriculum outside. Click here to go the Outdoor Learning Blog for updates.
We finished the day with a keynote speech from Craig Brown, former Head Teacher and current Manager of Aberdeen Football Club. He shared some tales of football fun whilst integrating the key messages of health and wellbeing and gave us all a laugh too.
We hope our delegates gain a lot from the day and would encourage them to sign up to our HWB Community where we will share the presentations from the day and partner contact information. Click here to sign up to the community.
Also don’t forget to join Education Scotland on Facebook and Twitter.
On Wednesday (08/02/12) I had the opportunity to visit Lauren Hay a Business Education teacher from Kincorth Academy in Aberdeen. She described to me their Enterprise Project with the Wood Family Trust. This programme focused on the entrepreneurship aspect of enterprise and intergrated entrepreneurship across the curriculum.
To find out more about my visit, view the video of Lauren on the Chalkface Blog.
The workshops are delivered live by scientists enhancing the class room experience and providing a unique opportunity to explore science as a career. The scientists presenting this session are Dr Paul Shiels from Glasgow University and Dr Andy Downes from Edinburgh University.
Resources address key objectives by setting up scenarios to encourage Interdisciplinary learning specifically addressing areas of Science, RMPS together with issues from Health and Wellbeing. The resources are designed to develop skills in group work within and across schools and critical analysis skills where the students will be assessing the moral and ethical issues associated with scientific advancements based on factual information validated and delivered by experts in the field.
The workshops are lead by a stem cell scientist, making use of a mix of presentations, interactive quizzes, video and web based activities and cover:
• A basic introduction into stem cells, the science.
• How can we use Stem Cells
• What does the future hold
• The Ethical questions
• Careers in the Stem Cell Industry
These workshop sessions are aimed at S5 Higher Human Biology/ Higher Biology classes.
This event will be coming live from Forth Valley College on the day.
Click here to sign up and join in! (Glow log in required)
Please ensure that you have contacted Henriette Laidlaw prior to the event to ensure that you have the relevent materials – Henriette@sscn.co.uk
Nil By Mouth is a charity organisation which offers free services to all Scottish schools to challenge sectarianism. We provide workshops for all ages, primary and secondary.
They have recently launched the Nil by Mouth Champion for Change Accreditation Scheme. This accreditation will acknowledge and promote schools that are actively working to challenge sectarianism through the school and the wider community. Find out more on their National Glow Group.
Yesterday (08/02/12), I visited the University of Aberdeen to complete a Technologies workshop with BEd3 & PGDE students. We began by discussing the misconceptions surrounding Technologies within Curriculum for Excellence, and spent the rest of the time looking at draft second level learning journeys for STEM Central. The students thought the website was easy to use, they liked how there were suggested learning intentions and success criteria and also felt that there was lots of ideas that they could adapt to their own lesson planning.
You can find the presentation here. (Glow log in required)
We ended by looking at some of the other resources available from Education Scotland to help with teaching Technologies:
Technologies Staffroom (Glow log in required)
Glow Science (Glow log in required)
Amina – the Muslim Women’s Resource Centre is an organisation based in both Glasgow and Dundee that is willing to support schools in the teaching of Islam. They can offer a wide variety of services and workshops. They have worked with a number of schools in Dundee and have been well received and are looking to work with more schools across the country.
Please visit their website to find out more or look at the attached document.
One of Barack Obama’s key aides will head the line-up for the Scottish Government’s 2012 National Food and Drink Conference.
Dr Janey Thornton, the US Department of Agriculture’s Deputy Under Secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Service, will discuss the benefits of collaborative working for both Scotland and America at the event in Perth on March 7.
Also joining Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead on the conference platform will be Dr Joao Breda from the World Health Organization. He will assess how Scotland is progressing in relation to some of the world’s top food and drink issues.
Completing the line-up at the event – which celebrates Scotland’s high quality food and drink sector and its many innovative businesses and producers – will be one of Scotland’s top chefs, Nick Nairn, as well as entrepreneur Fraser Doherty of SuperJam, who turned his teenage hobby into a successful business.
Click here to download an application for the event.
Adolescent Health and Risk Behaviours Symposium
Policy, Research and Practice
Wednesday 29th February 2012
Royal Society of Edinburgh, George Street, Edinburgh
9:30am – 3:30pm
If you would like to register for a place, please complete and return this form to Renee Ingram (renee.ingram@scphrp.ac.uk).
13th of June – 10am
Join us again this year for a fantastic opportunity to explore space travel and meet three exciting NASA guests all in one day. Find out more about what they’ve done, ask your own questions, take part in space quizzes and use this unique opportunity to enter the world of space exploration. Don’t miss out, you can sign up here now. More information about our exciting space guests and how you can all get involved in this Glow TV event will follow soon.
2pm – 3:15pm, Monday 6th February 2012
If the recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report is anything to go by then flooding, droughts, heat waves and extreme storms are likely to occur more frequently through to the middle of the century and beyond.
Are we powerless in the face of increasingly extreme weather or will human ingenuity, resourcefulness and spirit provide us with solutions to help us ride the storm? What steps are our government and public agencies already taking to prepare us for the changes coming? How can the poorest countries adapt with limited resources?
From floating houses to massive flood defence schemes there is already much work underway. Will it be enough? In this, the last in a series of three national Glow meets, learners will have a chance to air their views and put searching questions to our panel of experts including:
– James Curran MBE, Chief Executive, Scottish Environment Protection Agency
– Anna Beswick, Public Sector Officer, Adaptation Scotland
– John Sharp, Schools Education Officer, SCIAF
Visit http://bit.ly/climatedebatethree to register, post your questions in advance and join the Glow meet on the day. This Glow meet is aimed at learners in upper primary and secondary schools.
For resources and videos on climate change visit Weather and Climate Change, Exploring Climate Change, STEM Central and Climate Change on Glow.
Other events in the series included:
– Glow meet 1: Our changing weather and climate – view recording here
– Glow meet 2: Climate science – evidence versus controversy – view recording here
Following the popular competition on internet safety in 2010 the Scottish Government will this year run a similar competition to coincide with Safer Internet Day on 7 February 2012. The competition will run till 1 March 2012. The theme for this year is ‘Connecting generations so that we can discover the digital world together safely’. The theme aims to encourage you to think about your internet use, and how other age groups might also use the internet. Full details of the competition brief and internet safety information can be viewed here.
To view the Scottish Government Internet Safety Leaflet, click here.
Yesterday (31/01/12), I visited the University of the West of Scotland (UWS) in Ayr to complete a Technologies workshop with BEd4. We began by discussing the misconceptions surrounding Technologies within Curriculum for Excellence, and spent the rest of the time looking at draft second level learning journeys for STEM Central. The students thought the website was easy to use, and the available ideas on the website made it easy to plan a lesson.
You can find the presentation here. (Glow log in required)
We ended by looking at some of the other resources available from Education Scotland to help with teaching Technologies:
Technologies Staffroom (Glow log in required)
Glow Science (Glow log in required)
Health and Wellbeing Event for Parents – Saturday 25 February 2012
The Health and Wellbeing team at Education Scotland is hosting an event for parents on 25 February at Stirling Management Centre. The event will start at 10 am and finish at 1 pm and is free to attend. The aim of this event is to outline the health and wellbeing entitlements for Curriculum for Excellence.
There will be lots of opportunities for discussion about the different aspects of the health and wellbeing curriculum and how parents can support their children with this. Partner agencies will also be attending to facilitate some group discussions. This event will be of interest to any parent with children in the early years, primary and secondary settings.
If you are interested in attending this event please register with Anne-Marie Lamont. Anne-Marie.Lamont@educationscotland.gov.uk
Click here to access the 2010 health profiles, along with complementary profiles focussing on children and young 
people. These profiles highlight the considerable variation in health between areas and help identify priorities for health improvement. The profiles give a snapshot overview of health for each area using spine charts (which show how the area compares to the Scottish average), and allow further understanding of the results via rank charts and trend charts.
Last night I was lucky enough to win tickets to the Tells They Tell presentation at the 26 Treasures Exhibition at the National Museums Scotland in Edinburgh.
For this exhibition, the museum selected 26 objects from their Scotland galleries, which together trace Scotland’s history from its ancient geological roots to its technological future. Some are iconic, others less well-known, but all have a story to tell. The 26 writers from poets and novelists to screenwriters, journalists and academics. The writers were paired up with objects at random, and set the intriguing challenge of responding to their object in exactly 62 words.
Object number 26 was a Bionic Hand which relates to our up and coming STEM Context of Bioengineering. (Watch this space for more information on this context being released).
To read the poem Hand of the Future click here.
Remember to visit STEM Central in Motion to find out how practitioners are using STEM in the classroom.
The Health and wellbeing team are welcoming a hundred practitioners to the 
first of our Showcase events. We have a packed day celebrating good practice across the health and wellbeing organisers. There is marketplace where some of our partners are available to discuss how they can support schools and we have a keynote speech from Dr Rosemary Geddes, Research Fellow for the Scottish Collaboration for Public Health Research and Policy at the Medical Research Council in Edinburgh. Also Julie Wilson from Outdoor Learning will stimulate ideas about how schools can deliver health and wellbeing by taking the curriculum outside. Click here to go the Outdoor Learning Blog for updates.
We hope our delegates gain a lot from the day and would encourage them to sign up to our HWB Community where we will share the presentations from the day and partner contact information. Click here to sign up to the community.
Also don’t forget to join Education Scotland on Facebook and Twitter.
A series of thought-provoking and lively Glow meets
2pm – 3:15pm, Monday 30th January 2012
Climate change is never far from the headlines and is an issue which continues to cause much debate and controversy. Scandals such as Himalayagate and the hacking of emails at the University of East Anglia have shaken public confidence in the credibility of climate science. Media reporting of the issue has also left the sections of the public with the view that the scientific evidence is contested and inconclusive.
What is the scientific community saying about climate change? How much of the evidence is beyond doubt? What do scientists agree on and what do they disagree on? Amid claims of manipulation of evidence and conspiracies, who can we believe?
In this, the second in a series of three national Glow meets, learners will have a chance to air their views and put searching questions to our panel of scientists including:
– Dr. Dave Reay, Senior Lecturer in Carbon Management at the University of Edinburgh and author of Our Planet Needs You! A Kid’s Guide to Going Green.
– Dr. Richard Milne, Institute of Molecular Plant Sciences, University of Edinburgh – winner of EUSA award for innovative teaching as voted for by students across the university.
Visit http://bit.ly/climatedebate2 to register, post your questions in advance and join the Glow meet on the day. This Glow meet is aimed at learners in upper primary and secondary schools.
For resources and videos on climate change visit Weather and Climate Change, Exploring Climate Change, STEM Central and Climate Change on Glow.
Other events in the series include:
– Glow meet 1: Our changing weather and climate – To view the Glow Meet recording click here.
– Glow meet 3: Adapting to climate change (6th Feb ’12)
Are you able to help children and young people to have their say about Scotland’s Children’s Hearings system?
Events: 14 March – Dundee; 21 March – Aviemore; 28 March – Glasgow
The Scottish Government will be holding a series of free engagement events, in age appropriate workshop format, targeting children and young people from 5 years upwards (no upper age limit). The Scottish Government wants to hear what children and young people – who have been through the hearings system – think about its plans for reform of the Children’s Hearings system and whether they think the Government’s proposals would improve their experience of attending hearings. If you can help children and young people to come along to one of these events please express interest on behalf of the child. All children under 16 must be accompanied by an adult who should stay at the venue for the duration of the event. Each event will run from 10.45 am – 3.30 pm and lunch will be provided.
The closing date for registrations is 1 March. Register the child’s interest at: childrens.hearings@scotland.gsi.gov.uk Please indicate which event the child or young person will attend as well as their name, age and contact details. If the child is under 16 please provide your own contact details too. For more information see Scottish Government – Children’s Hearings System website http://www.chscotland.gov.uk/
On 11th January I was invited along to the Engineering Education Scheme Residential at Strathclyde University.
Young talent from secondary schools across Scotland returned to the University of Strathclyde to take part in the Engineering Education Scheme (EES) workshop on the 10th & 11th January. As a key part of the 6 month project, the EES workshop offers a unique opportunity for the whole team of students, teachers and mentor engineers to work together over the 2 day residential period to jointly solve complex engineering and technical problems. Working together the teams develop their knowledge on the practical application of theory learnt in school and gain an understanding of business and industry.
The learners have opportunities to develop key life and employability skills such as team work, project management, presentation skills, report writing and leadership.
The Faculty of Engineering at Strathclyde University hosted the event and supported the 16 teams by providing the workshop facilities and technicians on hand to assist with project development.
The organisations and academic institutions taking part in the EES programme this year are Aggreko Manufacturing, BOC Ltd, ClydeUnionPumps, Coherent Scotland, Doosan Power Systems, EDF Energy, Heriot-Watt University (Department of Chemical Engineering), Howden, Rolls-Royce. Selex Galileo, University of Edinburgh (Department of Electronic & Electrical Engineering), and the University of Strathclyde (Departments of Design, Manufacture and Engineering Management (DMEM); Electronic & Electrical Engineering: Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering (NAME); and Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering).
The teams will now work on testing and finalising their project and attend the celebration event at the University of Strathclyde on April 23rd. Learners will present the final outcome of their projects and a working prototype to panels of judges and guests from industry and compete for the best project award.
Visit the scheme’s website to find out more or contact EES Coordinator for Scotland George Foster (e-mail g.foster@etrust.org.uk)
I am pleased to attach as usual the latest figures for Get Set registration and network membership together with lists of those schools in your authority which are either ‘not yet registered’ or ‘registered but not yet networked’. You will see from the overall Get Set report that there are now extra columns detailing the final tally of schools which successfully applied for membership of the network before the 16th Dec ticketshare deadline. The overall figures show a healthy 39% of eligible schools nationally and a rise to 65% of registrations. Well done for all your efforts in making this happen!
As we move into 2012 there is still plenty of time to apply (click here!)and take advantage of many more rewards and opportunities including Get Set goes global, World Sport Day and the Torch relay. Please continue to encourage Get Set network membership!
Scottish athletics have recently launched a new national schools athletics programme booklet to provide guidance and support for schools in Scotland offering athletics opportunities.
Walk Once a Week – WOW – Badge Design Competition
2012’s WoW badge design competition is here, and we’re delighted to confirm that the theme is ‘AROUND THE WORLD‘. We are inviting schools to get their pupils’ creativity flowing and design what could be one of the official WoW badges for 2012/13.
Each winner will have his or her design transformed into the monthly WoW badges worn by hundreds of thousands of children across the country, and will be invited to an awards ceremony and fun day out in London in May 2012.
Our annual WoW badge design competition is one of the UK’s biggest art competitions, with over 150,000 primary school children taking part to design badges for a specific theme. Each participant school is invited to submit three entries for consideration. In 2011 our judging panel viewed over 1,800 fantastic entries on a Sport theme; our biggest competition yet! The deadline for receiving entries will be 16 March.
The Health and Wellbeing Team had a very positive and stimulating day with Head Teachers and Depute Head Teachers from across the Central Belt with just a smattering of snow.
There were inputs from Granton Primary and Craigroyston Community High that received rapturous praise and look to have inspired leaders to return to school and share with colleagues. Also there was welcome guidance and reassurance for delegates from Joan Mackay, HMI around inspection in Health and wellbeing. As expected assessment was a more challenging part of the day. however the evidence from feedback featured a very strong steer that assessment is the key area for development and next steps described what will be taken forward from the day.
We would like to encourage participants to sign up to our hwb lead community which will also give members access to the hwb-cpd community. To access the presentations from today please click here. To add your intention about impact after the event click here. Remember to use the hashtag #hwblead which you can also use to tweet about the event.
Last week I was invited along to the Engineering Education Scheme (run by EDT), Residential Workshop at the University of Strathclyde. At the residential S5/6 learners from around 15 schools across Scotland were brought together, along with engineers, teachers and engineering support from the University in a supportive environment in order to design prototype solutions to the industrial problem set by a company.
The Engineering Education Scheme in England & Scotland is an EDT Programme which links teams of four S5/S6 learners and their teachers with local companies to work on real, scientific, engineering and technological problems.
The scheme provides learners with an in-depth experience in science, engineering and technology that will enable them to make an informed decision about their future studies and career.
This will be achieved by giving the learners, in a 6 month programme;
During the six-month project phase, learners are encouraged to show industrial enterprise, creativity and innovation whilst gaining extensive experience of problem-solving, team-working and project management. Key life skills are developed within the context of the world of work.
Personal development education realised through work related learning is at the core of this high quality educational enrichment scheme. Find out how your school can get involved in the project.
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