Do your colleagues know you’re here?

One of the nice things about UK Education News is that there is no tracking going on – those of us running the service don’t know who you are, where you are, what you are reading etc.

What’s more, as you will have seen, the site is also totally and utterly free, and we intend to keep it that way.

But the fact you are reading this means that you are on UK Education News, and hopefully enjoying the service that we offer.  And so we’d like ask you a favour.

Could you send an email to one or two of your colleagues that says something like the example below.   (You might find it a bit cheesy so please do write something of your own; I’m sure you’ll do an infinitely better job that I can).

———————-

To colleagues in the school:

I’m not sure if you read the free rolling news service UK Education News.  But I do, and find it quite interesting.   And the people who run the service have suggested that those of us who use the free service might pass a note on to one or two colleagues and friends to tell them about it.

It’s a site that carries education news headlines from the BBC, Guardian, Telegraph etc.  You can simply click on a headline and then read the full story.

The service is at www.ukeducationnews.co.uk

I think it is quite good, and it really is free, so I’ve agreed, just this once, to pass this message on.

———————-

Now that may be far too horribly cheesy for you to pass on, but if you could rephrase it in any way you want, and pass it on that would be good.

And please do remember, there is no tracking going on.  We don’t know who goes on the site and we’re not asking for your email address nor that of your colleagues.

If you don’t want to pass this on, that’s OK too.  Although it is nice if you can.

Tony Attwood
Editor, UK Education News.

Clearing the confusion –  Pupils’ Emotional Well-being and Mental Health responsibilities

If you are completely clear about your school’s responsibilities for your pupils’ emotional well-being and mental health and the best ways of meeting them regarding:

  • Therapeutic as compared to educational support
  • The need to use practice based evidence
  • Ensuring that the therapeutic support of pupils is covered in your updated Data Protection policy

Congratulations – read no further!  If not:

Therapeutic as compared to educational support

There are the two different responsibilities for primary schools each requiring rather different sets of skills:

  1. Pupils with social, emotional, behaviour or diagnosable mental health issues that are impairing their learning capabilities and their future life prospects.  These make up on average 20% of all pupils in the UK.  They require individual therapeutic help.
  2. Teaching good mental health for all pupils as a part of the curriculum.

Unfortunately, some schools are using programmes that meet ii) to put a ‘tick in the box’ for i).  Even worse some others are using school staff with inadequate training by on-line or videos and with no clinical supervision to carry out therapeutic work on the basis that it’s a low cost option.  This can be dangerous for the children.  If there is a complaint against someone who is not on a register accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) or registered with the HCPC for working with children the complaint will come directly to the school – with possible devastating consequence.  You wouldn’t send pupils to an unregistered doctor, dentist or nurse would you?

For more information about managing this risk contact Monika on: mokijep@majemail.com

The need to use practice based evidence

The Green Paper of Transforming Children’s Mental Health referred to the need for evidence based practice but didn’t specify what this should be.  The existing medical models of evidence bases are not suitable for psycho-social interventions.  There is a crisis of reproducibility.  However, the Integrated Holistic model, developed in the UK has an evidence base of over 59,000 measures collected over 12 years clearly showing the positive outcomes of between 74% and 84% that have been achieved year on year for a large variety of presenting conditions. As observed by teachers and parents.

For more information about practice based evidence or the Integrative Holistic model contact Jeff on: jefferyht@majemail.com

Ensuring that the therapeutic support of pupils is covered in your updated Data Protection policy

In updating your school’s Data Protection policy to meet the requirements of GDPR have you included therapeutic data, who processes it, how consent is managed and whom it can be shared with?  Do you have efficient systems in place to deal with requests from data subjects or their proxies and for notification of breaches of confidentiality or loss of data?

If not, we have a check list and model Data Protection policy available at no cost.  Contact Jeff: jefferyht@majemail.com

Hope that this has been helpful.

Kind regards

Monika Jephcott – Chief Executive Play Therapy UK
www.playtherapy.org.uk

Jeff Thomas – Registrar Play Therapy UK
www.playtherapyregister.org.uk

Free worksheet series from Brilliant Publications 

 “Can you see the wind?”

On a windy day go outside with the children and watch streamers blowing. Ask the children whether they can see and feel the effects of the wind on their faces and clothes. Watch the trees and plants move in the wind. 

This is just one of the activities that can be found in the series of worksheets that we are giving away, free of charge, from the popular volume “Science and Technology for the Early Years (2nd Edition)”. Other activities include:

  • Creating a tiny garden from the worksheet Look down
  • Creating an outdoor themed mobile and drawing or painting a picture of the sky from the worksheet Look up
  • Catching the wind in a plastic bag from the worksheet Can you see the wind?
  • Making a travel agency in the role-play area and making and writing postcards from the worksheet Where do you go for a holiday?
  • And much much more!

To request the free worksheet series, simply visit:
www.brilliantpublications.co.uk/pages/render_page/105  

Science and Technology for the Early Years (Edition 2) contains 120 science and technology activities for use in the Foundation stage, along with ideas for designing resource areas to stimulate purposeful play. The activities are clearly laid-out with the Purpose, Resources and Safety points given, as well as ‘Challenges’, which can be used to… read more.

Assessment is an integral part of the book and the activities are linked to the seven areas of learning and development and the Early Learning Goals of the Statutory Framework for the Early Years Foundation Stage (September 2012), as well as… read more. 

You can order the Science and Technology for the Early Years (Edition 2) on our website for £18.50 as a printed book, £12.99 as an e-book or both for a discounted price of £22.40.

Alternatively, you can place an order:

  • over the phone on 01449 766629
  • by email to orders@tradecounter.co.uk
  • by fax on 01449 767122
  • or by post to Brilliant Publications, Mendlesham Industrial Estate, Norwich Road, Mendlesham, Suffolk, IP14 5ND.