Daily Archives: 08/12/2015

Maths

Cover Teacher who thinks a vulgar fraction is a row on ‘Eastenders’?

According to figures from the Dept for Education, the average secondary school teacher has about four working days off a year due to illness.  Of course this incorporates teachers who have a long time out with a serious illness as well as the 44% of teachers who are fortunate enough to go a whole year not getting ill at all.

These numbers show why the need for ready-made materials for supply teachers who cover Maths classes is as vital as ever.   For even when something has been left from the previous lesson, there are always going to be those who finish the work rapidly, and need something else to do.

Which is why the Absent Maths Teacher volume of worksheets was developed.

The worksheets within the volume cover a wide range of topics and range of ability – and are all designed so that they can be used as a one-off in an emergency, or as a series of highly varied tasks over a number of days, should the absence be unexpectedly protracted.

Activities range from drawing Venn diagrams showing the intersection of two sets, to working out profit and loss percentages.

Each topic area is followed by a wide range of questions, an extension task through which (for example) the students are required to balance equations, and a homework task in which the students have to copy a series of diagrams and find the value of angle x.

The volume covers such topics as the rules for algebra, decimals, equations, geometry, powers, statistics, etc. etc.

Each lesson in the volume is printed on a single page and is simple to photocopy instantly for any class that suddenly requires the lesson.

The Absent Maths Teacher Worksheets collection is available from Hamilton House priced at £30 plus £2.95 delivery.

You can order the Absent Maths Teacher worksheets collection by filling in the order form and sending it by fax, email, or post (see contact details below). Alternatively, if you have a school order number, you can order by phone.

First and Best in Education, Earlstrees Court, Earlstrees Road, Corby, Northants, NN17 4HH
Telephone: 01536 399 011      Fax: 01536 399 01      Email: sales@firstandbest.co.uk

Lunch times, playtimes and school clubs

What evidence do we have exactly to prove that pupils who eat breakfast perform better at school than their non-breakfast-eating counterparts?

For the first time a study has proven what everyone suspected – pupils who eat a healthy breakfast every morning typically perform better at school and thus achieve greater learning outcomes. So now we can ask the question, “to what extent?”

Fortunately we don’t have to look far for the answer as this same longitudinal study, conducted by Cardiff University, also revealed the extent to which eating a healthy breakfast affects pupils’ performance at school and learning outcomes.

The study consisted of asking 5,000 nine to eleven year olds from 100 schools in Wales to keep a list of what they ate in 24 hours. Researchers then collected their results in Key Stage 2 teacher assessments between six and eighteen months later.

They found that pupils who ate a healthy breakfast every morning typically achieved an above average performance in their Key Stage 2 teacher assessments – up to twice as high as those who didn’t eat breakfast regularly or at all.

It’s for this reason that schools that host a Breakfast Club each morning are so valuable, giving pupils who don’t eat breakfast (for whatever reason) the opportunity to not only reap the long term health benefits of eating breakfast, but also to improve their learning outcomes.

If your school already hosts a Breakfast Club or is planning to set one up, it is possible to further boost pupils’ performance at school by offering them a number of activities at Breakfast Club which will warm the brain up before learning commences.

With this in mind Edventure has produced a Breakfast Club Pack, complete with an extensive range of games and activities, including:

  • 1x Chess
  • 1 x Draughts
  • 1 x Giant 2D Noughts & Crosses
  • 1 x Giant Wooden Dominoes
  • 1 x Ludo
  • 1 x Pick up Sticks
  • 2 x Playing Cards
  • 1 x Popular Card Games Pack
  • 1 x Shut the Box
  • 1 x Snakes & Ladders
  • 1 x Wooden Tumbling Blocks

We have also produced a number of free Game Guides:

A Guide to Snakes & Ladders

A Guide to Shut the Box

A Guide to Pick Up Sticks

And A Guide to Tumbling Blocks

The Breakfast Club Pack can be ordered in a variety of ways, including:

  • On our website www.edventure.co.uk
  • by fax to 01323 50 10 41
  • by phone on 01323 50 10 40
  • by email at sales@edventure.co.uk         
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

If you quote HH0515 on your order delivery will be free. Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95 if ordered online or £6.95 if ordered by fax, phone or post.

Link to article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-34834832

ICT

Online keyboard skills development from the UK’s leading specialists

What provision is your school making for improving your pupils’ keyboard skills?

I expect that, if your school is like most others, you now require your pupils to use a computer for their school work more than ever before.  By learning fast and accurate keyboard skills, pupils work quicker, more confidently and are able to focus more on learning than on text production.  And if pupils are able to type their assignments, their work is more legible for teachers who have to mark them.

Meanwhile, Ofqual has already been making noises about the future computerisation of exams.  When the inevitable happens, and all or most exams are computer based, will your pupils be ready?

As a leading specialist in online keyboard skills training in schools, we can help you.  We have a range of schemes for schools to meet every requirement and every budget – even if you don’t have one!

Our courseware resides in the cloud (i.e., it is Internet based) which means that there is no software to install.  Pupils can use it on any computer with a broadband connection, 24/7, so there is no need to steal time from the school timetable.

All pupils’ progress is tracked, so you can monitor success rates as and when you wish.  And our online service is completely secure – there are no distracting pop-up advertisements and no cookies or other incursions to infiltrate your computers.

Our options include:-

  • A ‘Pay-by-User’ scheme for small numbers of pupils from £6 per head;
  • Annual licence schemes for larger numbers of pupils from just £195 per year;
  • An income generation scheme, ideal if a budget is not available;
  • Electronic typing assessments with customised and personalised certificate;
  • Our ‘total’ service, where we manage and deliver everything for you remotely, from just £595 per year.

We even have a professional course for teachers with the option of online personal tutoring.

Would you like to know more?  If so, please email us with a very brief description of your interest and we will send you a link to our electronic Schools’ Brochure and our Price List.  We would be very glad to hear from you, whether you need keyboard skills training for 1 pupil, or 1001!

Type&Test Ltd
PO Box 479
Huntingdon
PE28 0LJ
01480 861867

www.typeandtest.com