Better health and well-being can support learning

youcansay provides schools with insights that help in finding ways to improve aspects of pupils’ health and well-being.

  • desirable behaviours such as activity and exercise
  • avoiding negative influences like lots of unhealthy snacks
  • building emotional well-being, self awareness and regard for others

Take children who have nothing to eat before their first lesson. A bad start to a day of learning. I do not know what your school might find, but surveys suggests that between none and a third have nothing to eat before their first lesson.

Evidence from youcansay surveys.
Pupils missing breakfast are more likely to: feel poorly, feel angry, loose control, self harm, worry about not fitting in, worry about home life, spend a lot of time looking after a disabled parent, think they are too fat, and to have tried cigarettes.

Pupils NOT missing breakfast are more likely to: have a positive attitude about themselves, feel they will be successful, say they can think clearly, have someone to talk to, enjoy school work and look forward to secondary school.

Surveys are immediately available or can be tailored; we have a large questionnaire resource.

They are done online so are easy to implement and control.

Each school participating in a youcansay survey is fully supported.

It is usually repeated annually so that trends can be recognised and the outcomes of your strategies can be measured.

We use powerful methods to process and analyse the results with relevance, accuracy and speed, making them available without delay.

Results can be built into PSHE lessons, or similar, in which pupils are accustomed to dealing with sensitive issues.

You could be getting results about your school well before Easter.

youcansay surveys are affordable, costing as little as £125 for a primary school survey

To see more information on surveys which could be used in your school please click here

If you would like to talk about the questionnaires, their benefits and how they work please do call on 0118 978 1078, you can also contact us by emailing service@youcansay.co.uk

Adam Dotchin

Managing time effectively in revision season

As exam season approaches, the biggest challenge for teachers and students is effective time management. How do teachers help their students to revise wisely, and focus on topics and techniques that will have the biggest impact?

Doddle provides solutions to give teachers everything they need:

Engaging revision resources

Doddle includes a wide range of targeted, engaging revision resources, from tutorials and presentations, to quizzes and videos.

Accessible to students

As an online platform, students can access Doddle resources anywhere, anytime – and can browse through relevant resources as independent revision.

Detailed reporting and assessment

Our groundbreaking progress reporting system gives your heads of department detailed reporting on the individual skills that students find challenging, on an individual, class and cohort basis. What’s more, flightpaths within the Doddle system gives a clear picture of where students should be aiming, from Year 7 through to GCSE.

To see what Doddle can do to improve revision in your school, speak to a Doddle Educational Consultant today.

Joe
Doddle

Study Options

Australian and New Zealand University Open Days

On Friday 17 March and Saturday 18 March, Study Options will be holding Australian and New Zealand University Open Days. These are free information events aimed at students (and schools) who would like to find out more about university options in Australia and New Zealand.

Representatives from Australian and New Zealand universities will be present at the events to speak with prospective students in person. Study Options’ Open Days are held twice a year, in March and November, and are a great opportunity for students to get more information and talk to representatives from the universities face-to-face. For the majority of the universities, these are the only in-person events they undertake in the UK.

Which universities will be there?

New South Wales, Australia

Queensland, Australia

Victoria, Australia

Western Australia, Australia

North Island, New Zealand

  • Victoria University of Wellington (Wellington)

About the events

The Open Days are open to students, parents and schools. Please register for a place at www.studyoptionsopendays.com

Friday 17 March, 1.00pm-4.30pm

Council House, Victoria Square, Birmingham, B1 1BB

Saturday 18 March, 1.30-6.00pm

Australia House, Strand, London, WC2B 4LA

There is a lot more information available at www.studyoptionsopendays.com regarding venues, opening times and how to register. Please do let us know if you have any questions or if there is any further information we can provide.

Please note this is an information event designed for international students (students who do not hold citizenship or permanent residency for Australia or New Zealand and who will therefore require student visas in order to study in either country).

Contact Study Options with any questions about the events or for free information and advice about studying in Australia and New Zealand.

Contact Study Options

Website: www.studyoptions.com

Telephone: 0207 353 7200

Email: mail@studyoptions.com

Comprehensive A-level mini quizzes from Doddle Science

Ensure that your A-level students feel exam-ready with a wide variety of mini quizzes available from Doddle A-Level Science.

Topics as varied as catalysis, homeostasis, and momentum are covered in detail, with in-depth questions and helpful recap slides to address any stumbles.

The quizzes are tablet-friendly, and are perfect both for assessment and knowledge consolidation. Results are filtered automatically into your markbook, so you can tell at a glance where your support is needed.

Book a visit
Find out more about Doddle’s interactive resourcesself-marking homework quizzes, and automatic online markbook by booking a free in-school visit with one of our Education Consultants:
www.doddlelearn.co.uk/bookavisit

Philippa
Doddle

The maths curriculum favours the methodical thinker

Since the beginning, the maths curriculum has favoured the methodical thinker. So, what does this mean for our creative children?

It is apparent that maths is not as suited to our creative thinkers as it is to our methodical thinkers – particularly when we consider that there can only be one answer to a maths question, and the steps taken to get to this answer are often stringent and methodical.

Which is perhaps why some pupils find mathematical concepts incredibly difficult to grasp.

Fortunately, with the Open-ended Maths Investigations series you can now both inspire and engage your creative thinkers by introducing an optional element of creativity into their maths lessons.

The activities in the series encourage pupils to apply higher order mathematical strategies creatively and effectively – enabling pupils to develop proficiency in a wide range of problem-solving strategies.

Indeed, the investigations are designed to allow pupils to bring their own thinking and learning strategies to the task. Some pupils will work systematically and logically. Some will draw pictures to make sense of situations and yet others will plunge in using a trial and error approach, fixing up any mistakes and refining their thinking as they go along.

Furthermore, the Open-ended Maths Investigations can be used in isolation, in sequence, or dipped into as teachers require, providing a great supplement to every maths scheme of work.

The Open-ended Maths Investigations series is matched to the following strands of mathematics: number, money, measurement, space, chance and data, and patterns and algebra.

You can order the Open-ended Maths Investigations for Primary Schools Bundle for just £40. Or you can buy the books separately as printed versions (£15.99 each) or as e-book versions (£10.99 each), letting you start your pupils investigating straightaway, at the links below.

Open-ended Maths Investigations for 5–7 Year Olds

Open-ended Maths Investigations 7–9 Year Olds

Open-ended Maths Investigations 9–11 Year Olds

Alternatively, you can order Open-ended Maths Investigations:

• by phone on 01449 766629

• by fax on 01449 768047

• by email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk

• or by post to Brilliant Publications, Mendlesham Industrial Estate, Norwich Road, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5ND.

Promote Internet Safety through Game Based Learning

Computers and consoles are becoming a central part of pupils lives, and so game based learning – the integration of gaming into learning – has never been more popular in schools.

Our platform features 85 educational games, each featuring a range of puzzles and questions that have been designed based on criteria from the National Curriculum.

Our content covers a range of core and non-core subjects, including:

English – covering spelling, grammar and sentence structure.

Maths – including topics such as addition, subtraction, time tables, shapes and angles.

Science – explaining the basics of the solar system, speed, time and elements.

Internet Safety – internet security, viruses and staying safe online.

Game based learning encourages active engagement from pupils through interactive learning and instant gratification. The large selection of games allows pupils to learn at their own pace and in their own way.

Read more

We can help your establishment in promoting and supporting learning through our platform by enabling:

  • Instant tracking of pupils’ answers, understanding and progress, allowing you to easily identify their strengths and weaknesses and plan lessons accordingly.
  • Customisable multiple choice questions, giving you the ability to quiz individuals on specific topics, match our content with your lesson plans, or edit a game’s difficulty levels based on pupils’ needs.
  • Social elements to encourage interaction between pupils and creating an incentive for learning to beat the class’s high score.

For more information about how EDArcade can help pupils through game based learning, please contact us on 01909 568 338 or by email at mail@edarcade.com with the subject “Arcade17”.

Research: students who use web-based testing progress at a faster rate

Students who regularly test their literacy and numeracy skills with web-based games progress fastest overall across the subjects

According to recent research, carried out by Andrew Gallacher (an education coordinator at the University of Glasgow), students who regularly test their numeracy and literacy skills with web-based games progress fastest overall across the subjects.

Which is exactly why Education Quizzes exists – and why we are offering free sign up for schools to Education Quizzes for a whole year.

Our library of KS3 Citizenship quizzes cover an extensive range of topic areas, making them ideal for revising what your students are being taught in their Citizenship lessons, past and present.

Education Quizzes is also ideal to set as homework tasks as it involves little to no PPA time – giving you more time to focus on planning and preparing future lessons and assessing the work of your students from lessons which have gone before.

To see the KS3 Citizenship quizzes that we have produced thus far, toggle through the topic area links below. Alternatively, you can email admin@educationquizzes.com to request more information.

If you would like to sign up free to Education Quizzes for a year, simply visit our schools’ registration page – www.educationquizzes.com/schools-uk-registrations/.

Citizenship image

Topic area

Community Living

Crime and Punishment

Diversity 

Media 

Rights and Responsibilities 

UK

Volunteering

See more