Teaching SRE can be at times challenging even for the most experienced PSHE practitioner, students in year 8 will have different issues than those faced in year 10, and those in year 12 different still.

With this mind the charity Health Behaviour Group have developed Apause , a straightforward and engaging way for schools to implement an effective SRE curriculum.

The programme is enjoyable, welcomed by pupils, teachers, school managers, governors and parents.

It offers a wide range of materials to enable straightforward training and delivery by tutors or specialist teachers, safe in the classroom from hijacking by ‘testing’ pupils.

Priced at just £100 the ‘School Set’ bundle (co-ordinator file and laminated resources) provides materials for one class. Additional class packs can be supplied at just £60 each.

Endorsed by the PSHE Association, the DfE Teenage Pregnancy Unit and the Sex Education Forum.

Evaluated positively by the National Foundation for Educational Research, the National Institute for Clinical Excellence, Public Health in Ireland and a US based International Review of programmes that work.

This resource Increases satisfaction with SRE, knowledge, healthy attitudes and beliefs and has the added benefit of decreasing early and unprotected intercourse.

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE? NO! All True and evidence based, please see http://www.sreproject.org/apause-resources-available for details of the full content of the pack and resources.

Ordering is simple – order on-line or email enquiries@sreprojects.org or call 01392 829450.

Furthermore, If you quote code HH1 on your order we will give you a 5% discount.

Health Behaviour Group, 2b Manaton Court, Manaton Close, Exeter, EX2 8PF.

What is the single most effective way of raising student exam grades?

There is little more frustrating than a student who you know has plenty of ability within a subject, but who simply does not seem to be able to study and reveal his/her aptitude in exams.

Fortunately, however, there is a fairly simple way of helping such students overcome this situation so that they make far more of their study time, learn more rapidly, and develop an ability to use the knowledge that they have gained within examinations.

This approach breaks learning into two simple parts: learning how to study, and then applying this knowledge to the subject matter being studied.

Self-evidently, once the student can study in a more effective and efficient manner the student also becomes more adept at reproducing this knowledge in a meaningful way when required. Then, inevitably, the student’s grades will go up.

This is where Raising Grades through Study Skills comes in. The volume, which is available either as a photocopiable master or on CD (so that it can be placed on the school’s learning platform), focuses on the ways in which students can both be helped and can help themselves by learning more quickly and more effectively.

Since the first edition of this work was published it has been adopted in several thousand schools, in some cases being used within an individual department, sometimes across the whole school.

22 separate methods of learning are detailed in the volume, plus details of 10 teaching methods which can be used to help develop the learning approaches.

There is also a series of active learning assignments and a further 15 sections on memory and how students may enhance their own memory abilities and increase their ability to utilise the knowledge that they have gained.

Results from the use of this approach have shown that once students have been shown how to study and how to ensure that they can remember and use the material they have studied, the motivation gained from the rapid success that results becomes a factor in motivating them to ever further achievements.

The activities developed in this volume can either be set up as separate lessons or can be integrated into the existing timetable.

Raising Grades through Study Skills is available as a photocopiable book or on CD Rom which can itself be copied or loaded onto the school’s learning platform or intranet.

Cat No: 978 1 86083 845 3. Order code: T1787emn – please quote with order.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1787.pdf

Formats, prices and delivery cost…

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• On the phone with a school order number at 01536 399 011
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=54&products_id=267

From the enormity of the Solar System to the less visual existence of friction, the vast range of topics that we cover in science is exciting to say the least!

Technology in the classroom can help to make lessons even more engaging – particularly when working with smaller scale objects which need an explanation and those which need to be shown to the whole class.

This is where visualisers can help.

Instead of the disruption of students crowding around a table with an object being passed around, or the worse situation where only some pupils are able to see the object, it is possible to see the object in stunning detail on the classroom screen.

The Vidifox DV560S, for example, with its 9x optical and 20x digital zoom, shows the finer details of an object in outstanding clarity. So whether an electrical circuit board, a textbook, a pupil’s work or a Monarch Butterfly as pictured, this is a piece of teaching and learning equipment which can transform the classroom experience.

To find out more, to organise a demonstration in your school or to hear our Autumn Term multibuy deals, please just reply to this email or call 0844 357 5197.

Elementary Technology is a leading supplier of audio-visual technologies into schools, with strong partnerships with a range of leading global manufacturers.

With over 10 years of experience in the education sector we are ideally placed to advise the best solution for your school. We can also support you with unlimited training.

Find out more on our website – www.elementaryuk.com

Request an independent university talk for your
students from UniTasterDays.com, the award
winning resource for Sixth Form Heads and
Careers Advisors.

We can come in and talk to your students about key university topics including:

– University applications and personal statements for Years 12 and 13
– Key facts about student finance
– An introduction to university (for Year 9, 10 or 11)

All talks will be delivered by staff with over ten years’ experience of working in higher education, and a wealth of experience delivering school and college talks.

The talks are independent and bespoke based on your requirements and start at just £250 + VAT.

Find out more about all the events HERE

Or for more information, please contact Jon Cheek at UniTasterDays by email: jon@unitasterdays.com

“A successful and very informative presentation to our Year 11 students, with lots of useful advice for them to act on now and going forward.”
Julia Martin – Highworth Warneford School

What makes one Christmas musical much more memorable than another?

Of course all Christmas musicals need to have witty lyrics, humorous situations and catchy tunes that the children and their parents can’t get out of their heads.

That’s a standard starting point.

And by and large Christmas musicals have to have the opportunity to involve all the children – even those who are reluctant to be on stage and those who can’t sing in tune. Again, that’s a given.

But there is still something else that marks the very best Christmas musical out from the rest. Something that delivers an event which leaves the parents talking about the show from Christmas to Easter, and beyond.

Something that makes the parents who have seen it sing the praises of the event, and indeed the school, when talking to their friends whose children receive their education elsewhere.

That “something else”, is, quite simply, the journey.

Not so much the journey of Joseph and Mary, nor the journey of the Wise Men, but rather the journey of the musical production itself.

For if you take a look at any successful, long-running, musical, you’ll find that they are always much, much more than just a collection of songs tacked around a story.

This musical journey is a key element within “Baa!” – a musical for KS2 pupils. For it not only has the tongue-in-cheek (and yet not irreverent) tale of an accident-prone Joseph, a rock ‘n’ roll camel, and a flock of sheep that count shepherds. It has more.

Thus the journey is enjoyable, meaningful, and complete. For it also takes the audience on a journey that ends more seriously with lyrical songs portraying the universal themes of the Christmas story – new birth, humility, poverty and wonder.

“Baa!” includes a musical score complete with guitar chords, a CD including rehearsal tracks and backing tracks, plus an optional narration.

There is a review of “Baa!” by Music Teacher Magazine at www.tonybiggin.com/Tony_Biggin/BaaReview.html, where you will also find our money back guarantee and where you can also hear some of the songs.

The score, complete with CD, as outlined above, costs just £14.95 plus postage and packing. You can order it:

• Online at – www.tonybiggin.com/Tony_Biggin/Buy.html
• By email to – christmas@tonybiggin.com
• By phone with a school order number to – 0789 999 6192 

What exactly are ethics, and how to do they change?

From Utilitarianism to Deontological Ethics, from Virtue Ethics to Free will and Determinism there are a lot of ethical systems around.

And that is before we get to environmental ethics, medical ethics (including abortion, euthanasia and embryo research) and business ethics.

So what are they all, and how exactly they relate to religious ethics?

That is the question that “Religious Ethics” by Francis Beswick examines, considering ethical thinking in relation to various religious traditions, while considering how religious and secular ethics differ from each other.

The book commences with the phrase “I ought to …” and notes that from this kind of statement ethics, whether it be secular or religious ethics, begins.

Throughout the book the student is aided by a large number of questions presented for consideration which take the student back to the various topics that have been covered in order to ensure that each different ethical system and viewpoint is understood.

Religious Ethics is available as a copiable spiral bound book or on CD Rom. The book comes with an unlimited photocopiable licence for the school, and costs £21.99 plus £3.95 delivery for either the book or CD. If you wish to buy both together the price is £28.98 plus £3.95 delivery.

You can order in four different ways. In each case please quote our reference T1697emn. Sample pages and a contents list can be viewed prior to ordering on http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/re/T1697.pdf

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House Mailings plc, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
  
• By fax on 01536 399 012
  
• By phone with a credit card or with an official school order number on 01536 399 011
  
• On line with a credit card at
  http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=41&products_id=522

“Is your school effective in carrying out its aims?”

It is a question that school administrators and bursars were recently asked by the School of Education Administration and Management. Almost everyone answers “yes”, which is reassuring.

However when discussions develop to cover specific processes and arrangements that are central to the running of the school’s administration a different picture emerges.

It is an interesting dichotomy, and one that is quite probably caused by the ever expanding and ever changing role of the bursar, SBM and administrators – an expansion and set of changes which in many cases have not been planned, but have emerged.

The fact is that change is everywhere – and unless one looks at both the overall process and approach of a school’s administration, and specific issues within the administration it is hard to see where the problems are and what needs to be done.

As a result, stress can rise as unpaid overtime rises (75% of school administrators now report doing unpaid overtime at least three days a week), and a sense of progressive improvement is replaced by a sense of making do.

However, school administrations that recognise change as an inevitable part of running the school’s systems and by accepting that the drive towards efficiency and effectiveness is part of the job that these various parts of the school process can be brought back into balance.

Hence the new edition of the Bursar’s Survival Guide.

The report opens with a single example idea, one idea that takes only a few minutes to implement but which could reduce the school’s non-salary expenditure by 10% at a stroke, without changing the quality of the goods and services provided.

After that the volume considers 57 separate topics that affect the role of the bursar and the bursar’s department in the school, and analyses each one in a way that is (in most cases, if not all) different from the way in which standard text books on bursaring and financial control approach the topic.

Finally, we have two reports from research recently undertaken by the School of Education Administration and Management. The first reveals the fundamental structural problem that the majority of schools face with the running of the school office, and shows the simple reform that will enhance productivity, and staff well-being at once.

The second analyses the single biggest problem that school administrations face, and shows how, without spending any money, schools have transformed their administrations by dealing with this problem.

With these two new reports The Bursar’s Survival Guide will help to ensure a smoothly run bursar’s office generating excellent results in all aspects of its work in the years to come.

You can see some sample pages at http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/bursar/T1795.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1795EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 885 9

Prices

• Photocopiable book £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Book plus CD £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1795EMN

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On-line with a credit card at
  http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=26&products_id=416