Whether you’re looking to extend the range of subjects you offer or to enable students to fit additional subjects into their timetable, NEC A level and GCSE courses are expertly designed to offer flexible, high quality learning at cost effective prices.

With subjects including Psychology, Economics, Government and Politics, Philosophy, Maths, English and the Sciences, NEC can work with you to help you overcome staff shortages and timetabling issues.

There are many benefits to working with NEC, including:

●     No minimum cohort size

●     No set enrolment date

●     Progress reports and predicted grades

●     Fully qualified tutors who are subject experts

●     Online delivery of high quality courses

As well as the benefits to you, your students will also benefit from gaining independent learning skills, essential to higher education from an organisation with over 50 years of experience.

To find out more and read how NEC works with other schools and academies, please visit our website.

If you would like to discuss your requirements, please do not hesitate to get in touch on freephone 0800 389 2839 or by email to info@nec.ac.uk.

Kind regards

The National Extension College

Schools will soon be inviting members of the local community to join them at their annual summer fete, not least because it’s an occasion that creates a sense of community cohesion (generating good PR), but also because it presents a perfect school fundraising opportunity.

But whilst almost every school hosts a summer fete in order to raise funds, only a small number of schools are making the most of the lead up to Christmas to raise funds, despite schools having great fundraising success at this time.

Indeed, schools that are successful at raising funds in the lead up to Christmas typically join the School Christmas Card Project – I know Christmas seems a long way away, but registration for our 2016 School Christmas Card Project is now open.

With the School Christmas Card Project an average school of 250 pupils can easily raise £500 or more and there is absolutely no upfront cost, whatsoever, to the school.

The School Christmas Card Project allows children to create their own artwork which is then printed on to professionally produced cards which the school sells at a profit to parents.

Parents place their orders and pay the school before we ask for any payment at all, and as we offer very competitive prices for our high quality products, you can maximise the earning potential for your school.

You will find everything you need to join our School Christmas Card Project on our website, including:
How it works
A free information pack
And our price table 

If you are unlikely to be the person to get involved in co-ordinating this kind of school fundraising project, please do forward this email onto a member of staff or a member of the PTA who is likely to be responsible.

Kind regards,
Steve

School Christmas Card Project
Start your 2016 School Christmas Card Project now!
Tel: 0114 453 9562
Ecclesall Print, 237A Ringinglow Road, Sheffield S11 7PU.

Inspiring and motivating your pupils in science and numeracy, now there’s a challenge.

If you’re looking for an alternative way to cement the concepts you’re teaching, Dr Matt Pritchard is the answer.

Tailored to each group’s age and ability, Dr Pritchard will visit your school and perform his maths and science shows using live demonstrations, magic tricks and multimedia.

Using real life examples, the captivating shows are clear and relevant to what your pupils are studying.

Current primary school shows include:

• “Thrilling Forces” – A fun filled and interactive show that demonstrates the forces & motion behind theme park and fun fair rides. Rockets will be fired, monkeys will fly and hopefully tall towers won’t come crashing to the ground.
• “Superhero Science” – Are superpowers fact or fiction? Explore invisibility, super strength, body armour, levitation, mind control and find out what they do (or don’t) have to do with real science.
• “Surprising Science” – Can you discover the sneaky scientific secrets behind the surprising illusions? The show will challenge the audience to think creatively like both a scientist and a magician. Superb for Critical Thinking skills.
• “Magical Maths” – Predicting the future, reading minds, sending secret messages and making objects vanish are easy when you’re a maths magician. With shapes, symmetry, patterns and numbers forming the basis of the maths behind the magic.

Performing to over 50,000 people each year, Dr Pritchard works with a number of organisations including The Royal Society, Royal Institution, British Science Association, The Big Bang fairs, Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) to name a few.

What’s more, he is one of only 300 members of the prestigious Associate of the Inner Magic Circle.

You can find more information on our website at www.sciencemagicshows.co.uk

Alternatively, you can email us at hello@sciencemagicshows.co.uk to make a booking.  

The cost for a day visit for up to 3 performances (no limit to audience size), is £500 plus travel.

Click here to read what other schools thought of our recent shows.

“For both men and women, school is now the most commonly reported main source of information about sexual matters” (Medical Research Council, 5.3.15)

Current research suggests that more and more the responsibility for delivering good and correct sex and relationship education is falling to schools and teachers as opposed to parents or families.

For post 16 students especially it is more important than ever for SRE to counteract the mass promotion of sexuality, love and relationships that undermines self esteem and encourages unrealistic aspirations of who we should be and what we should be doing from technology, the media and the pornography industry.

The final years at school are the last chance for young people to gain the knowledge and understanding that will help them make informed future decisions, support them on to independence and see them lead contented, healthy and safe lives.

“If you’re too ashamed to speak to young people about sex, exploitative free porn will fill the gaps” Grace Dent, The Independent, Sept 2015

According to Ofsted research, when asked what would make PSHE education lessons more useful, pupils said;

 “Rape culture. What to look for in a healthy relationship.” Female student

“The influence of the media such as porn on people’s views of sex and the human body.” Male student

It is this combination of need and lack of outside companies provision that inspired Tip of the Iceberg Theatre Company to develop an SRE project aimed specifically at the 16+ age group that tackles these difficult topics in an involving, inspiring and informing way.

It is now more important than ever to create sex and relationship education that can be as compelling, as exciting and as influential as the media campaigns and products it is battling. Lisa Schulberg (Creative Director, Tip of the Iceberg Theatre Company)

Having worked directly with over 100,000 young people on SRE topics Tip of the Iceberg Theatre Company strongly believe, from their experience of covering sensitive and hard hitting issues, that sex and relationship education must include a much broader look at our world – the internet, technology, the whole sex industry, and attitudes to risk – you cannot separate topics into small boxes or educate on these complex subjects in a 20 minute PowerPoint presentation.  

From March 2016 Tip of the Iceberg Theatre Company will be touring the following project for years 12 & 13:

“SEXPOSED” – A 40 minute live performance followed by a range of interactive workshop options.

The project takes a mature approach to the many attitudes, ideas and pressures experienced by all ages in regards to sex and relationships in Britain today.

The story unfolds as part of a police investigation and the play follows a year in the life of three 18 year olds to uncover the truth behind an incident that connects them all.  Everyone has a different perspective, they all have a motive, and none of them can be objective when it comes to their relationships. The storyline includes scenes around control, sexual pressure, consent, abuse, sexting, pornography, communicating feelings, self-esteem, respect, and sexuality.

Using the performance as a springboard the follow on workshops allow students to examine their own attitudes, ideas and behaviours in relation to the difficult, contentious and sensitive topics.  The aims are for students to learn something new about themselves that will make a positive difference to the rest of their lives.

There are different delivery formats available from assemblies to full day projects.

Prices start at £575 + travel + vat

For further information and an exact quote please contact Hazel:

Email: admin@tipoftheiceberg.biz

Tel: 07519593711

Many pupils are passionate about the welfare of animals though, if surveys are to be believed, many of them do not know how their bacon, eggs and milk are produced!

Food production is a growing topic of debate whether you are talking about the ethics of how we treat animals, how we produce healthy food and how we can feed a growing population.

Finding time to discuss topics such as animal welfare and sustainable food production is doubly valuable – it gives pupils an important understanding of a range of ethical and environmental factors and it encourages great debates!

To help you to engage your pupils in such discussions, we provide a free speaker service and a pack of resources including a film and discussion activities, which can be adapted for pupils of different ages, abilities and levels of confidence.

To enquire about a speaker or to order a free resource pack, please email education@ciwf.org.uk with “PSHE mailshot” in the subject title.

To view or download the resources directly, including films, please go to our PSHE/Citizenship webpage.

Yours faithfully

Phil Brooke

Education Manager

Compassion in World Farming

PS We’ve had some wonderful evaluations from teachers for our talks and resources:

“Students were engaged throughout … Tutors reported a high level of interest and informed/considered discussion”

“Brilliant – outstrips any resource on any related topic I have ever seen”

 “Even the least amenable groups were interested and involved – a tribute to the quality of the presentation”

Links and contacts:

Email: education@ciwf.org.uk

Tel: 01483 521 965

Education website: ciwf.org.uk/education

PSHE/Citizenship webpage: ciwf.org.uk/pshe

Speaker service: ciwf.org.uk/speakers

A book of short, self-contained and original monologues/duologues which will be an ideal introduction to drama within a drama group. The monologues/duologues are designed to be learned, rehearsed and performed by pupils and will give them an understanding of pace, voice and body language. Students will develop drama techniques to explore in role a variety of situations.

Each monologue/duologue is accompanied by a number of activities (written and oral) which will encourage students to look critically at their own performance and constructively criticise that of others. They will also develop skills in reading and writing and will be encouraged to reflect on and discuss a variety of topical issues.

Cat No: 978 1 86083 762 3  Order code: T1727emn – please quote with order.

Sample pages can be viewed at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/english/T1727.pdf

• Photocopiable book: £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £19.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Book and the CD: £26.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report from the publisher:

• 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=28&products_id=553

These days you probably find yourself spending more and more time at the computer, answering emails, producing typed documents for various purposes and exploring the internet.  It seems that most teachers now use a keyboard more often than a pen.

Yet, like many UK employees, the majority of teachers have never learned to type properly.  Do you struggle along, prodding away with just two fingers and with your head down?  If so, you will be typing at only about half your potential speed and probably with low levels of accuracy.

With such heavy workloads, wasting valuable time through poor typing skills is inefficient and costly and increases stress.

Type&Test are the UK’s leading specialists in touch-typing training and assessment.  Our online learning programmes are the only ones recommended by Awarding Bodies such as the BCS and the SQA, having been used over the past nine years to prepare learners of all ages for national typing qualifications.

Our unique ‘Type Faster, Work Smarter’ course is guaranteed to significantly increase your typing speed whilst maintaining or improving your accuracy.  The outcome will be that you will increase your output, gain more time, work more productively and reduce your levels of work-related pressure.

Involving a structured interactive online programme, with support from an experienced Type&Test tutor who will communicate with you regularly via email, messaging and skype, you will gain invaluable touch-typing skills through short regular practice sessions which you will complete at times that fit around your busy working day.  After just a few weeks – around the length of a school term – we guarantee that your typing skills will improve significantly or we will refund your course fee in full.

For more information please email enquiries@typeandtest.com with the subject line ‘Type Faster, Work Smarter’ and we will email you our programme flier.  Click here for information from our website.  Or if you want to have a chat about it with no obligation then call Andy Stevenson on 01768 342821.

Whilst there might not be one single way to reduce low-level disruption in the classroom by 100%, there is one single way to reduce low-level disruption in the classroom by 11%, which is, of course, a huge gain.

To elaborate further, according to an Ofsted report – “Below the Radar: Low-level Disruption in the Country’s Classrooms” – the act of students rocking back on their chairs in lesson times accounts for 11% of overall low-level disruption in the classroom.

Which is why Don’t Lean Back (DLB) has developed an anti-tilt classroom chair – reducing students’ ability to rock back and so reducing low-level disruption in the classroom by 11%.

The Max 2 chair costs from £23.85 which, when you consider that students spend an average of 800 hours each year sitting on a school chair, equates to less than 3p per student per hour for one year. Furthermore, a Max 2 chair comes with a 10-year warranty.

You can find more information about the Max 2 chair by: visiting www.dlb.co.uk/products. Calling 0345 257 8850 or emailing info@dlb.co.uk.