For many schools the cost of a minibus seems prohibitive but two developments have cut the price dramatically.

It is rare to find a school that wouldn’t accept the offer of a minibus if it was there, available for them.  But they don’t buy one, because of the cost.

However, two recent developments have ensured that more and more schools are now able to have minibus transport that they previously felt was out of their reach.

But – and this is the key fact – these two new approaches have to be seen together; on their own they look like interesting notions – but not a solution.

The two approaches are a) to lease the minibus on a set monthly fee which includes all servicing, maintenance and repair costs, and b) to share its use with a nearby school that is in the same cluster, trust or council as they are, so that each school has the bus for an agreed amount of time.

What’s more, many schools do then add a third element of their own to the equation – since they know how much the minibus will cost each month they do sometimes ask the PTA or other support group to make a contribution to that cost each month.

Now that is often very much welcomed since it means that the parents making the contribution to the minibus account know that is it their children who are benefiting, rather than the children in future years (as happens when the fund raising goes on for several years before a bus can be bought).

Sharing a leased minibus also has the benefit of ensuring that everyone is always driving a bus that is well maintained – since it is the leasing company that works on maintaining the bus in tip top condition.

If you haven’t leased a minibus or thought about sharing one, please do give me a call on 01753 859944 and I can talk you through how it all works.

But if you want to take a look at who we are and what we do before you call, you’ll find more information about leasing at www.minibusleasing.co.uk.

Dans Ma Chambre

Are you tired of creating your own PowerPoint presentations, only to find that you are forced to use uninspiring cartoons or internet images to convey your messages?  These images are often just not quite right.  Well, no more!  Our presentations use authentic resources in their proper French context.  These particular resources should be used initially with 11-12 year olds during their first year of learning French but then can subsequently be used as a revision tool for older students if necessary.

The presentation should be used to teach learners to describe their bedroom and also to use various (5) prepositions to say where items are in relation to other furniture.  These materials are to be used within the context of learning about the house/home in French.

The resources are multi-faceted in that they are used interactively from the beginning of the PowerPoint presentation to teach the required vocabulary to the class in a fun way.  Students work in pairs, individually and as a whole class throughout the lesson using visual, auditory and kinaesthetic activities to engage and motivate them.  The pace can be fast or slowed down as necessary for the students to assimilate the required lexis and can be used equally well with SEN learners.

They will enjoy the variety of activities, the competition, 2 written exercises and use the 4 skills of listening, reading, speaking and writing in this lesson.  These resources have been developed by an experienced language teacher, used with a class and have consequently been proven to be effective, fun and engaging.

Dans Ma Chambre  26 Powerpoint/slides plus 4 word documents, 2 worksheets and 2 answer sheets.  £ 24.99 (including VAT £29.99  )  Order Code : H9232

Once purchased the CD can be freely copied and networked throughout the school.

To see sample pages please email info@classroom-resources.co.uk quoting the order code H9232.

You can order the Dans Ma Chambre in any of these ways:

  • On our website
  • By phone or fax on 0117 940 6409
  • By email (quoting a school order number) to info@classroom-resources.co.uk
  • By post to: Classroom Resources, 9 Logan Road, Bristol, BS7 8DU

How can we effectively improve pupil progress in KS4 with intervention?

When it comes to intervening with a pupil’s learning journey, it’s crucial that we get it right. Intervention usually involves implementing a programme for helping to improve an area of need with a retrospective recording of pupil progress.

In order to avoid passiveness from the pupils meeting tedium from the teachers, intervention must do more than just implementing a programme and looking back at whether it has made a difference.

Intervention is complex but there is a simple solution.

With limited time and resources, we tend to focus on the pupils who need intervention to get them up to a national standard. An effective intervention programme should not only focus on pupils of weak ability but rather any pupil not reaching their full potential.

There are numerous intervention strategies we can use such as quality feedback, personalised target setting and revision classes. This is beginning to sound like a lot of work and time on top of the busy teaching timetable.

Here lies the key issue we are faced with: How can we effectively improve pupil progress in KS4 with intervention… whilst saving pupils from passiveness… saving teachers from tedium… progressing every pupil not reaching their full potential… implementing a range of strategies… and not creating an unmanageable workload?

We hear the need for effective intervention time and time again but the barriers teachers face often make it untenable to do anything other than just putting on an extra class at break time.

As a result, we have produced an e-Learning solution whereby each pupil has their own homepage where they can access their learner journey in class, out of class, at home; with a teacher, teaching assistant, friend, cover supervisor; and on a computer, tablet or smartphone.

bksb’s GCSE Achieve e-Learning solution for English and maths begins with a Diagnostic Assessment, mapped to the 2017 GCSE curriculum, to ascertain a pupil’s precise strength and weaknesses. From this, Individual Learning Plans are produced and interactive Learning Resources are given to plug individual skill gaps. There is a short summative assessment at the end of each module to test whether progress has been made. The final stage of the solution is Exam Practice materials that are designed to help and prepare pupils for their final GCSE examinations.

All assessments and resources in the solution are self-marking and teachers are able to access detailed reports for individual pupils and groups to monitor and evidence progress.

If you would like to learn more about bksb’s GCSE Achieve solution, why not request a free trial at www.bksb.co.uk/schools?

Please do not hesitate to call 01623 413333 or email enquiries@bksb.co.uk if you have any questions or queries.

Roberta Hutley