What is the most effective way of motivating your pupils to participate in and enjoy creative writing?

Of course many children will be interested in reading and writing. But the question is always, how do we motivate everyone to become excited about literacy?

We set up our Little Books programme five years ago in which schools submit their pupils’ creative writing to us which we then publish in a quality paperback book. Teachers at the hundreds of schools that have participated have been amazed at the enthusiasm the children have demonstrated in creative writing when they are told that their work will be published in a ‘real book’. You can see some of the many testimonials we have received from these teachers on our website www.thelittlebooks.co.uk.

In short, the project involves collating and submitting your pupils’ writing (which can be on any subject) either in typed or handwritten format. This is then sent to our professional typesetters who provide first a proof of the interior followed by a full colour cover. Once both have been approved your Little Book is sent to our digital printers for printing perfect bound on quality 85 gsm crème paper and 240 gsm glossy cover card.

Publishing children’s creative writing in a ‘real paperback book’ has been proven to inspire more children to read and write, and the published books can be sold to proud family members to help raise funds for the school.

If you’re worried about time or commitment – don’t. We’ve made the whole publishing process easy so that your school can participate. Our experience in publishing Little Books has enabled us to streamline and simplify the whole publishing process from start to finish. Also, teachers, members of the PTA or Classroom Representatives have reported that they have enjoyed helping to co-ordinate the project.

We also understand that budgets are under pressure so we’ve made it cost effective and easy for your school to participate. In fact, your first copy is completely free. That’s right, we’re offering to professionally typeset your book and print one copy for free, with no obligation to purchase further copies. If you do decide to, these will cost £5 per copy + P&P with no minimum order.

We are able to make this amazing offer because we are so confident that your children, their family members and your school will love their own Little Book. Hundreds of schools have seen their pupils’ attitudes and writing skills transformed after publishing their Little Books and have set up annual writing projects. All of a sudden, reading and writing is ‘fun’.

Please contact me if you have any queries or require further information.

Tamsin Rush
Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd
t: 01483 243450
e: tamsin@grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk
w: www.thelittlebooks.co.uk
P.S. Every child who participates in your school’s writing project receives a free ‘I am a published author’ sticker to show off.

Little Books – written by little people

Social Media Policy Document For Schools To Promote Safe Use of Social Media by Staff

A total of 43 teachers were referred to the General Teaching Council for England in 2011 for unprofessional conduct related to the use of social media sites, with 14 teachers suspended and 18 placed on probation. In addition, the NUT have recently advised all schools that they should have policies in place making it clear what teachers should and should not do in the virtual space.

Schools are becoming increasingly aware of the need to regulate social media use by teaching staff but often struggle to create a single, detailed policy document which is updated and organic, capable of responding to new trends and sites as they happen. In response to this need, we have liaised with internet and teaching experts to create a trusted, cohesive, accessible and robust school-wide policy that can be practically applied and will, provide clear distinctions between public and private use and most importantly, cover the safe and appropriate use of social media by members of staff.”

The policy document is available to download online from iTeachingResources.com. It can be purchased as a stand alone document and then distributed in electronic or hard copy format within a matter of minutes to all members of staff. It promises to help educational establishments to ensure that the use of social media by staff;

  • Does not bring the school into disrepute
  • Does not bring the teacher into disrepute
  • Does not expose the school to legal liability
  • Reflects ‘safer internet’ practices
  • Minimises risks associated with the personal use of social media by professionals and
  • Reflects the school’s standard of behaviour and staff code of conduct

The safe use code has been developed in line with good teaching in PSCHE, ICT and other subjects with regard to “safer use of the internet”. It was written by teacher Tom Tolkien, a Senior Manager with extensive experience of whole school assessment, internet and e-safety as well as initiative and policy development.

The document provides practical step-by-step guides to applying recommended privacy settings on popular social networking sites, with explanations on how to determine if posts, comments, images, links and videos shared on a profile by a teacher are appropriate and transparent.

The policy includes information for teaching staff about maintaining privacy and keeping personal information such as phone numbers and addresses private while using their own or school equipment. Detailed guidelines regarding communication with parents and pupils cover sites like Facebook and Twitter, acceptable content for social network profiles and how to respond to initiated contact from pupils. The policy concludes with guidance on recognising exceptions and reporting abuse or cyber bullying.

The policy document for acceptable use of social media by staff in educational establishments is priced at £49.99, but you can save 5% by quoting HH12SMP when you order from iTeachingResources.com

or

Phone: 0113 2660880,

Fax: 0113 2697889

Email: orders@iteachingresources.com

Post to: iTeachingResources, Allerton House, 75 Allerton Hill, Leeds, LS7 3QB.

Having a loan service of netbooks for students is highly desirable. But how can the logistical problems be overcome?

This is the story of Swansea University’s desire to implement a self-service netbook loan solution via their main library building and in a newly developed study area.

Self-service library books have been in place for a number of years, but the self-service of netbooks introduced a new set of challenges – especially as the university desired it to be a low maintenance and secure service that could be operated 24 hours a day.

A key element of the service was to allow a student to self-issue a netbook in the quickest possible time and to then proceed to use the netbook just as quickly.

Swansea University also envisaged the use of the self-service lockers as a supplementary service to their fixed, open access PCs – the netbooks could cater for students who didn’t need the “full fat” service as supplied on PCs, whilst also allowing them to bring the device to where they are studying.

Obviously, the university was also keen to ensure that they only loaned netbooks to known, valid students and that the students return them in a secure manner.

It was a fair collection of requirements: students to have a 24 hour access to netbooks, getting to use the equipment quickly, low maintenance, available to valid students only, keeping track of returned netbooks and having a solution that fitted in with university’s existing systems.

The university found one solution that met all these requirements, and that was the Bretford Myritrac – but they then came up with one more challenge. The university wanted to launch the service with little or no publicity or instructions. And, in fact, students started using the system and found it quite intuitive; there was no need to introduce extra directions or instructions or carry out training. Staff support training requirements were minimal too.

The Bretford Myritrac system allows you to take control of all aspects of managing electrical equipment including laptops, tablets and even mobile phones. Securely storing it; charging it; running software updates; assigning user access rights and even feeding back information about when, at what time and by whom the allocated item was removed or replaced.

Additionally, they reduce the requirement for mains supply outlets within library/study areas as each cabinet is connected to a single mains supply.

There is still more that the Bretford Myritrac system can do; more detailed information can be found on our website. Alternatively call us on 01753 53 99 55.