Postura one piece classroom chairs have been in use in UK schools and colleges for over 15 years. Every chair carries a TEN year warranty against manufacturing defects…so no maintenance or replacement costs for a decade or more.

This could mean significant financial benefits compared with alternative products.

But that’s not all……….

The Postura Plus range of chairs has been designed not only to be extremely durable but also to encourage good posture for your students, as well as being easy to stack and move from room to room.

Postura Plus chairs are used successfully in thousands of UK schools, often just as a trial in one classroom and then being “rolled out” throughout the school as funds allow.

Postura Plus chairs are available in a range of 15 attractive colours.  The TEN year warranty (and its associated benefits) means that these chairs are likely to be one of the best financial investments that a school or college could ever make.

Further information about Postura Plus chairs including very competitive pricing and how to obtain a sample for evaluation, may be obtained from Central Educational Supplies Ltd., PO Box 999, London E14 6SH

Why not visit their website: www.centraleducational.co.uk or phone 020 7515 1797 and ask to speak to Martin Evans who will do his best to help. You can also email: signpost@talk21.com

PS. In addition to the Postura Plus chairs described above you can also order classroom tables, exam desks, stools etc.

Teaching Times has reported on research carried out by Merlin Learning Experiences aimed at finding out how both primary and secondary school teachers would assess the perfect school trip.

In interviews with teachers, Merlin Learning Experiences was able to identify the priority that teachers placed on the various aspects and outcomes of school trips, including:

Out of these, teachers cited “links to the curriculum”, “organisation” and “cost” as the least important aspects of schools trips, with many reporting that they saw “enjoyment” and “forming relationship” as core aspects.

However, teachers clearly cited “safety” on school trips as the highest priority of all, both in terms of securing sign-off for the trip and undertaking a risk assessment.

Which naturally means that the job of maintaining the school’s minibus in top condition (for example) has to be of the highest priority.

But there is a problem. Because not only is this an issue of the utmost importance, but it can also take up a significant amount of time. And it is not a job that can be put off until tomorrow.

Of course, if the person nominated to be in charge of the School’s Transport Policy always has time at the moment when the maintenance is due, then there is no problem. But if this is not the case, it can mean that the vehicle is either being used outside its safety parameters or has to be taken off the road.

However there is a solution.

For if you lease a minibus with Benchmark we will arrange for the vehicle to receive regular maintenance and servicing checks by qualified engineers, giving you the comfort of knowing that the school minibus is fully operational and safe.

What’s more, our leasing option means that you can benefit from improved budgeting and cash flow, as there will be no unexpected bills suddenly to be paid.

It is an arrangement which very often makes it possible for schools to fund the minibus through a small payment each month. And in some cases, where trips are paid for by contributions from parents and the PTA, it is possible to allocate a part of those payments towards the cost of the minibus.

You can find more information on our website or give us a call on 01753 859944.

Benchmark Leasing Ltd
11 High Street
Eton
Berkshire
SL4 6AS

www.minibusleasing.co.uk/school-minibus.php

minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk

Tel: 01753 859944

Many UK schools are providing new outdoor covered facilities and CambridgeStyle Canopies is at the forefront of providing the solutions.

Working within schools everyday we have a thorough knowledge of the exacting requirements demanded

New facilities for staff & students alike include new outdoor covered walkways and areas for learning/play/parents waiting areas and new modern cycle storage solutions.

Extremely proud of our reputation for highest quality of both products & service at very competitive costs to our clients, why not see how we can help you with new facilities.

Don’t delay. Call or email us today to book your site survey. Please quote HH1

Brian Taylor
Managing Director
CambridgeStyle Canopies
01353 699009
SEE OUR VAST RANGE OF OUTDOOR COVERED AREA SOLUTIONS
www.cambridgestylecanopies.co.uk
“WE’VE GOT IT COVERED   NOBODY DOES IT BETTER”
 ESPO CONTRACT 615     BUY WITH CONFIDENCE
  office@cambridgestyle.org

Putting a dictionary in the hands of a student can not only help them develop their writing skills and make them a more confident speller but in some cases a few extra words spelt correctly can tip the balance between getting a grade D or a grade C at GCSE English..(and quite possibly in other subjects as well).

Collins English dictionaries are used in many UK schools and are widely respected for their accuracy and content.  They are ideal for prizes or incentives as well as for day to day use in lessons, homework and revision.

But did you know that it is now possible for schools to obtain FREE copies of Collins English dictionaries?

The Collins English dictionary lists approx. 15,000 words on 615 pages and is a normal paperback size (176 x 110 mm).  Suitable for students from KS3 up to A level, it has an RRP of £6.99 but schools and colleges can order @ £2.99 each, a saving of £4 per copy.

So what about the free dictionaries …..?

Orders of 100 or more copies will receive 50% extra copies free of charge, eg order 100 dictionaries and you’ll receive 50 extra copies free,  order 300 copies and get an extra 150 free…. and so on, pro-rata.  Schools can order any quantity but the FREE offer only applies to orders of 100 or more.

Further details of the dictionaries and this offer may be obtained from Signpost Educational Ltd., PO Box 999, London E14 6SH.  Tel: 020 7515 1797 or email: signpost@talk21.com.  Information may  also be found on their website: www.signposteducational.co.uk

PS. In addition to the dictionary offer, schools can also obtain “Student Essentials” sets, designed to meet the basic needs of students in most lessons.  Comprising three black ink ballpens, two full size HB pencils, metal sharpener, eraser and a 15 cm ruler…all packed in a clear “exam friendly” zip-up wallet from only 75p each ex vat.  Ideal for handing out in lessons or selling to pupils for everyday use as well as for exams.  Details on the website as above.

Working in a school has side effects – one of which is becoming an expert in fields which you never even knew existed. From an expert chair and workbook fixer to an expert product reviewer, particularly where stationery is concerned.

Not to mention when it comes to looking after the school’s minibus, because well… you may have noticed (if this is in your jurisdiction) that you are also an expert mechanic (at least in terms of topping up the screen wash and checking the tyre pressure), an expert driver, and an expert at shopping around for the best deals on motor insurance.

And whilst expanding your skillset is always a good thing (and can be enjoyable), sometimes there just isn’t the time in the day, term, year, or career to do everything and be everyone.

Thus the team here at Benchmark Leasing has for some time been working hard to create the most convenient minibus leasing packages for schools in order to reduce your workload – an arrangement whihc has evolved through feedback from school managers and site managers.

So here goes…

The maintenance

By leasing with Benchmark you will get a brand new minibus which means that there is a reduced chance of anything going wrong. Better yet, a full maintenance programme is included in the arrangement in which our professional engineers will undertake all the standard maintenance and servicing for you.

So no matter the outcome of the vehicle’s services and MOTs, the cost of repairs won’t affect the lease price.

This effectively reduces the onus that is put on the person who is nominated in the school’s transport policy to look after the minibus. Indeed, it was to overcome issues and difficulties such as this that we introduced full maintenance as part of our minibus leasing.

The funding

By leasing a minibus with us the cost is spread over time with fixed monthly costs, and can be accounted for in the budget. The PTA can still contribute by raising money to pay for the monthly payments, but there is no longer that long wait for a large capital sum to be accumulated.

Additionally, where trips are paid for by contributions from parents and the PTA, it is possible to allocate a part of those payments towards the cost of the minibus. In other cases the minibus can be funded through a small monthly deduction from the school’s income.

Benchmark Leasing specialises in the supply of school minibuses and because of this we are able to offer very competitive prices.

For more information about leasing a minibus with Benchmark Leasing you can go to our website, call us on 01753 859944 or email minibus@benchmarkleasing.co.uk.

Ideal for STEM and re-usable at only £39.95

So how do you give young people the opportunity to solve problems and develop creative thinking skills whilst they are still at school?

STEM resources have been developed to provide teachers with a way of giving students experience of solving problems and gaining confidence in how to respond to challenges. Good maths based problem solving exercises are hard to come by.

So in order that students might see how things can easily go wrong and how, by working together and sharing information they can go right, we’ve put together a business exercise called Safe Delivery which is designed to give students experience of solving a difficult maths based problem and to develop creative thinking skills.

The exercise is suitable for small teams of KS4 and 6^th form students who will each act as managers in a business.  Each manager will have individual briefing notes which they must read carefully and then communicate to the rest of their team.

The Scenario – The MD has ordered a huge fire resistant storage cabinet for the business that will house a new ‘server’ on which information will be stored. It is Friday afternoon and the cabinet is being delivered Saturday morning. It must be installed in the General Office by Monday morning – an office floor plan of the building is provided.  A team meeting is called and the managers sit down to work out how this problem will be undertaken.

This resource contains: For the students:
A memo that sets out the task
5 detailed briefs for different managers in the business and one scribe
A floor plan of the office building showing all the obstacles that need to be overcome

For the teacher:
Clear teachers’ guidance notes that explain how to run the exercise
A snapshot crucial information chart
The written solution
The solution on a power point presentation

There are more details at…
http://c-l-e.co.uk/buy-teaching-resources-online/safe-delivery-exercise/

You can pay and download the exercise direct from our website using Paypal or you may wish to pay with a purchase order number. Simply e-mail your purchase order number to us and we will send the exercise to you along with the invoice for payment.  For more information e-mail Julie@c-l-e.co.uk

A common problem that comes with teaching secondary school pupils who require additional support in literacy is that there is often a lack of interesting, informative and age-appropriate, ready-made material available.

Fortunately, Ark Educational has produced the “Literacy Through…”  Worksheets Series, which is a resource containing an extensive range of activity worksheets designed to support your pupils on their journey to becoming confident in their literacy abilities.

The worksheets within the volume are all designed so that they can be used either as a one-off or as a series of highly varied tasks. Activities range from comprehension questions and fill in the gap exercises, to filling in forms and completing a Wordsearch (for example).

Throughout, the volume encourages the development of fundamental literacy skills, such as: comprehension, vocabulary, descriptive writing, grammar, tenses, definitions, phonics, word-building, vowels, compound words and punctuation, among just a few.

What’s more, the resource is divided up into eight sections, each of which is based on a different subject area: Literacy Through… English, Literacy Through… Geography, Literacy Through… History, Literacy Through… ICT, Literacy Through… PE, Literacy Through… RE, Literacy Through… Science and Literacy Through… Technology.

To order the “Literacy Through…” Worksheets Series, simply fill in the order form and send it by fax, email, or post (see contact details below). If you have a school order number, you can also order by phone.

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

Alternatively, you can order the “Literacy Through…” Worksheets Series online as a download for £20 by visiting http://www.absent-teacher.com/eworkbooks.html

If you quote HH10% into the message box when you make your purchase on PayPal, you will receive a 10% refund on your order.

To accompany one of our brand new KS4 Problem Solving presentations, we’ve created a free classroom poster!

Nazir and Chloe share 72 sweets. Chloe has 18 more sweets than Nazir. In what ratio do Nazir and Chloe share the sweets?

Ask your students to work through the problem on the poster, then open up the accompanying presentation to find the worked solution and the answer!

Download the poster from our Doddle Maths page!

Doddle Maths provides teaching, homework and assessment resources for KS3 and KS4 which are fully updated for the new curriculum, and includes resources with a specific focus on problem solving skills. For a free tour of how Doddle can help support your teaching, book a free in-school visit!

Alice
Doddle

With reports suggesting that one fifth of children are failing to meet the expected Level 4 standard in at least one of the “three Rs”, it highlights the importance of having a comprehensive literacy programme, not only in each school, but across the UK.

Which is why MSL has devised The Complete Reading and Spelling Programme

This programme covers all 90 different spelling and sound rules and adds in ten sections on issues such as word patterns, suffixes, prefixes, homophones, and irregular final syllables, making 100 topics in all.

The 90 rules and associated topics can be seen on our website where you can see the structured order of teaching that we have introduced.

What we have then done is broken these 100 topics down into 20 modules, presented in an order which allows students to use the spelling rules as soon as they have learned them.

As a result of this structured approach, which includes placement & progress tests, you can introduce a pupil to the sequence from the very start. You can also begin work at a point where the individual will be revising key points, before moving on to areas of weakness.

A copiable printed version of each module costs £29.99, or you can order five modules together on a CD for £80 plus VAT. All 20 modules (including the 4 CD’s) are available for £450.

You can order the Complete Reading & Spelling Programme in a variety of ways:

• On our website
• By phone on 01536 399017
• By fax to 01536 399012
• By email to msl@schools.co.uk       
• By post to Multi-Sensory Learning, Earlstrees Court, Earlstrees Road, Corby, NN17 4HH

People who find themselves undertaking interviews of students who are seeking a job or who are looking for a place on a course love to share horror stories.

They talk of the young women who don’t turn their mobile off, or worse, actually check their phone while in the interview.

They share stories about school leavers who write outrageous comments on social media about their school, college or current employer, and then can’t believe that their potential employer or course organiser has actually looked them up.

Such tales of course tell us what we already know: that many young people are very naïve when it comes to applications and interviews.

Which is why we produced “101 Ways to be Successful at Job and College Interviews.”

Like all good manuals this one starts with a premise, and here the premise is that an interview is a two way process, allowing the candidate to get an idea of what the company or college is like as well as being a chance to impress potential employers and lecturers.

Thus we ask the most obvious question: “Why do you want this job/course?” and moves onto the variations, such as thinking about “Why do you want to work for this company”, “Why do you want to study here?” and so on.

Each of the 101 Ways is an exercise or an activity as well as providing information on what to do in different situations. Thus 101 Ways will enable your students to prepare thoroughly for first job or college interviews and help them to manage any nerves.

Students can dip into chapters that will help them brush up on specific bits of preparation or use it as a workbook from start to finish as a complete guide to being successful at interviews.

This book has been written by an experienced recruiter who both trains recruiters and helps inexperienced interviewees of all ages. Each chapter covers a different aspect of the interview process with 101 practical and thought provoking tips that have been proven to work.

Teachers may also use this book as a class resource in Careers, English, Drama, PSHE, Citizenship or other lessons to prepare pupils for interview practices or the real thing. Each chapter is followed by a series of suggested exercises, mostly working in pairs or small groups, which develop the key themes of that chapter.

You can see some sample pages at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/careers/T1633.pdf

Publisher’s reference: T1633EMN ISBN: 978 1 86083 683 1

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £9.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £9.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £16.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report… please quote the order ref: T1633EMN

• 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=47&products_id=461

The answer to the question is simple: for the students to undertake activities relating to the topics that they are studying. Topics which they may have touched on in everyday life, but which they have never considered in terms of academic study.

Through such activities the students can engage in independent learning, develop their application skills and evaluation skills, and judge their own progress using the success criteria linked to examiner comments and the skills needed at each level.

Seven separate areas are covered within this resource: Social Influence, Memory, Attachments, Research Methods, Approaches in Psychology, Biopsychology, and Psychopathology

By way of example, the memory section of the resource starts with a sorting activity so that the students can clarify the difference between the multi-store model of memory and the working model of memory.  This is followed by a number of tasks to reinforce understanding of long-term memory types by relating them to real life examples.   And finally there is a section with activities on types of forgetting, looking at factors affecting the accuracy of eyewitness testimony and analysing and assessing cognitive interview techniques.

A similar level of depth is covered through each of the other topics.

There are sample pages at  http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/authordownloadsamples/T1839sample.pdf

AQA Psychology Teaching Resources – AS and Yr1 Level is published as a download so that you can immediately receive a copy onto your computer, from which you can print out pages for colleagues and students as often as you want.  You can also put it on your school learning platform so all staff can access the document – and indeed you can make it part of the induction documentation for new members of staff.

You can obtain AQA Psychology Teaching Resources – AS and Yr1 Level by going to http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=73&products_id=787

The price is £12 plus VAT (the VAT can be reclaimed in most cases by the school).

AQA Psychology Teaching Resources – AS and Yr1 Level is published by First and Best in Education, part of the Hamilton House group.  If you have any enquiries you can call 01536 399 011, or email sales@firstandbest.co.uk or write to us at First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH.

The full range of First and Best books can be seen at www.shop.firstandbest.co.uk

First and Best in Education
Earlstrees Road
Corby
UK
NN17 4HH

DVD 30 Minutes

With the debate about Trident and the pros and cons offered by both sides taking place,  Concord have released a DVD which looks at the effects a 1 Megaton bomb would have if detonated over St Paul’s in London.

A single missile fired from a trident submarine carries three nuclear bombs with a total strength stated to be the equivalent of a 1 Megaton bomb. This is pretty big when you consider 1 Megaton equals 1000 kilotons and the Hiroshima bomb totalled 15 kilotons.

Using U.S. Congress and British Home Office official data, this programme shows what would actually happen if a one megaton warhead burst a mile above St Paul’s cathedral in the centre of London

Within 30 seconds houses six miles away would be reduced to rubble, winds of 80 – 90 miles per hour would toss objects pell-mell, and shatter windows, sending shards of glass through the air at 120 feet per second, slicing skin.

Paper and other light material would ignite spontaneously. Those in sight of the light would suffer severe third degree burns, charring skin to black carbon and causing permanent retinal burns.

Two couples carried out civil defence measures to see how effective these measures would be. For ten days they lived in temporary constructions following government guidelines. The film looks at how they fared, but suggests that after an actual explosion it is highly unlikely they would emerge at all.

This programme which is ideal as an introduction to a number of subjects can be rented on our Video on Demand system for £1.63. For this you can view as often as you like within a 48 hour period of your own choosing.

Cost of a DVD  £16.30 plus postage

You can easily order by going to our website www.concordmedia.org.uk or you can order by e-mailing us at sales@concordmedia.org.uk Please put ref HH1 in your order.

How does one get every pupil involved in a discussion?

Obviously if one tries to do this with 30+ children in the class one can end up with such short contributions that “discussion” is hardly the word for it.

Besides which, some children love to talk – others, not so much. Some can write amazing stories at the drop of a hat, but will hardly say a word in class.

The solution involves giving children a voice in collaborative learning in a new way. One starts by posing an interesting question, before allowing the children to document (by writing or drawing) their ideas on their tablets or similar devices.

Nureva™ Span™ classroom collaboration system, for example, lets children capture their thoughts in a variety of ways – words don’t have to be the focus. Even those who are always first to raise their hands can benefit from the time to think and reflect before sharing.

Of course, one also wants to help the children order and control their ideas, and this is where the sharing comes in: by letting all the children see what  others have produced and then weaving other people’s ideas into their own.

This of course also helps teach children that to some questions there is no right answer, and that quite often one answer is as valid as any other.

On an interactive surface like the Nureva Span system, ideas can be moved around, regrouped and adjusted by the teacher or the child. It’s another way of inviting children to take an active role in the collaboration process.

After this the work can be saved and then children can go back online and add a few more notes and ideas.  Because everything is recorded it’s easy for the notes from one session to become the starting point for a makerspace project or for a small group to take a closer look at one aspect of a bigger topic.

The Nureva Span classroom collaboration system is available from Smarter Interactive – approved suppliers of the software for the UK.  We provide both pre- and post-sale training, helping schools make the right choices in terms of the products they buy and also making sure the equipment we supply is implemented and used effectively.

To see Nureva Span in action, please click here.

If you would like any further information, please do call 0118 336 0010, email enquiries@smarterinteractive.co.uk or fill in in our contact form by clicking here.

Ofsted’s recent report ‘Key Stage 3: The Wasted Years?’ calls into question the lack of priority that is placed on KS3 after 1,600 inspections judged that “pupils’ progress and achievement were not good enough”, with schools often placing greater focus on KS4.

So how do we bring the focus back to KS3 to ensure our assessment systems are robust and rigorous, and those ever important foundations are laid? [Read more]

In our latest blog, Gemma, one of our Senior Education Advisers, reflects on how we can balance attention between KS3 and KS4 by using a consistent, all-through assessment system.
Read the full text here:  www.doddlelearn.co.uk/blog/KS3-KS4-Balance

To discuss your school’s assessment requirements in person, book an in-school visit from a Doddle Educational Consultant for your next SLT meeting: www.doddlelearn.co.uk/bookavisit

Alice
Doddle