Category Archives: Lunch times, playtimes and school clubs

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 benefitting, 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.

How can you ensure that everyone knows what positive play is, why it is beneficial, and how to do it?

Though Positive Play Week 2016 has been and gone, encouraging positive play among your pupils is an all year round activity which can easily be achieved by creating an environment in which everyone knows what positive play is, why it is beneficial, and how to do it.

One way that this can be achieved is by ensuring that you are confident in implementing playtime activities that promote positive play. Which is why we have devised the Pocket Books Set with FREE Top Tips for Midday Supervisors.

The Pocket Books Set includes seven titles: Pocket Playground Games Volumes one and two, Craze of the Week Games, Ball Games of the Week, Long Rope Skipping Games, Playground Games from Around the World, and Wet Playtime Games.

And Top Tips for Midday Supervisors provides helpful advice in an easy-to-follow, accessible style that is full of good ideas to help create calm and happy lunchtimes.

Another way in which you can create an environment that encourages positive play is by displaying signs in your playground such as those that can be found at this link.

As always, you can place an order with Edventure in a variety of ways, including:

  • on the website www.edventure.co.uk    
  • by faxing us to 01323 50 10 41
  • by calling us on 01323 50 10 40
  • by emailing us at sales@edventure.co.uk          
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

What’s more, if you quote HH0515 when you place your order, we will deliver it for FREE!
(Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95.)

Using the interest in Wimbledon to develop an enthusiasm for tennis

There is no better way to make use of this enthusiasm than with a tennis net (that can also be adjusted to be suitable for badminton) which can be used inside and out to maximise its use.

Our 6m tennis (and badminton) net can be set up and taken down in moments, and is ideal for regular use in the playground and the sports hall. It comes in its own storage bag which makes transportation and storage easy too.

To complete the set of equipment, we have available a set of four Plastic Tennis Rackets plus two balls for £7.95 plus VAT.

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And, as always, you can place an order with Edventure in a variety of ways, including:

  • on the website www.edventure.co.uk
  • by faxing us to 01323 50 10 41
  • by calling us on 01323 50 10 40
  • by emailing us at sales@edventure.co.uk       
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

Quote HH0515 when you place your order and we will deliver it for FREE!

(Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95.)

With SATs all finished, what have you got on the agenda between now and the end of term?

Now that SATs have finished, you and your colleagues have a bit more freedom to work outside the constraints of the National Curriculum. So what will you do?

Some schools find that choosing a topical theme as a focus for lessons can be highly effective (particularly for those transitioning to secondary school) in enhancing engagement, building confidence, and restoring a love for learning.

!cid_3f35e2b6a14251ac79bc617009eb5a21So the next question is, which theme to choose? The big event this year is, of course, the Olympics, but before that we have the Euros. And lessons built around the theme of football are great for enhancing engagement among boys and also for getting more girls interested in the sport.

In literacy lessons pupils can write newspaper reports and a pundit’s commentary. In maths calculations can be based around ticket sales and the capacity of the ten host stadiums in France. And in PSHE lessons equality, respect, and sportsmanship in football can all be explored.

Then there is PE in which you can teach pupils how to kick, dribble, pass, tackle, mark, defend, shoot, and also how to play strategically. Furthermore, you could buy football equipment for the playground so your pupils can practise their (newly-learnt) football skills at playtimes.

There are Football Training Packs that contain a Soccer Target and 6 x 19cm Footballs at http://www.edventure.co.uk. And if you quote HH0515 on your order, delivery will be free.

You can place an order with Edventure for Football Training Packs at the link above, by phone on 01323 50 10 40, by fax to 01323 50 10 41, by email at sales@edventure.co.uk, or by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

Five steps to providing support for your midday supervisor/s

Following conversations with midday supervisors, playtime expert Therese Hoyle identified that they don’t feel as valued and supported within their school’s community as they would like. In response to this she has devised a list of ways that you can provide support for your midday supervisors.

Firstly, by including photos of the lunchtime team and articles about playtime initiatives in the school’s newsletter, parents will see that your midday supervisors are highly influential in their child’s development, and you will give them greater status within the school and community.

Secondly, and similarly, these same outcomes can be achieved by including the names and photos of your lunchtime team, together with the rest of the school staff, on the welcome board and/or school website.

Another way that you can provide support for your midday supervisors is by providing them with the means to reward children in the playground when they are behaving well. This makes playtimes a positive experience for children and supervisors alike, as well as helping supervisors gain the respect from pupils that they deserve.

To implement this, Therese Hoyle recommends using reward stickers, pads, tokens, and certificates from Edventure. These can be found at www.edventure.co.uk/search/reward.

Additionally, implementing the PLACE model will ensure that midday supervisors can build positive relationships with your pupils through positive encounters. PLACE stands for Playful, Loving, Accepting, Curious and Empathetic.

Lastly, by ensuring that you communicate any changes to incentive and sanction systems with your midday supervisors, they will be able to carry out their roles and responsibilities more effectively, particularly with regard to behaviour management in the playground.

You can find the full article, and other similar articles, in the Edventure catalogue. If the catalogue hasn’t arrived in your school yet, please do click here, enter your details, and we’ll get (another) one in the post to you right away.

What’s more, if you are interested in joining in with Positive Play Week (9 -13 May 2016), you can find more information, including what it entails and how your school can get involved, by visiting www.positiveplayweek.co.uk.

And as always, you can place an order with Edventure in a variety of ways, including:

  • on the website www.edventure.co.uk
  • by faxing us to 01323 50 10 41
  • by calling us on 01323 50 10 40
  • by emailing us at sales@edventure.co.uk      
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

If you quote HH0515 on your order delivery will be free. Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95.

Five ways to make lunchtime supervisors feel valued and supported (and why this is important to creating positive playtimes)

A famous quote and an absolute favourite of mine is, “I was raised to treat the janitor with the same respect as the CEO”. However it seems that many others do not live by this principle where lunchtime supervisors are concerned.

This became apparent when playtime expert Therese Hoyle reported in an article that she is frequently approached by lunchtime supervisors who tell her that children often say “I don’t have to do what you tell me as you’re not my teacher, my mum even says I don’t have to do what you say”.

Other common concerns raised by lunchtime supervisors are that the children do not respect them, they aren’t communicated with enough (no one tells them what is going on), and they aren’t clear on the incentive and sanction system or any changes that are made to it.

So the question is, how can you ensure that your lunchtime supervisors feel valued and supported, and how can this enhance your pupils’ playtimes?

Therese Hoyle has compiled a list of five simple ways in which you can support your lunchtime supervisors and which will gain them respect from both children and their parents.You can read this article in full in our brochure which contains a wealth of information for creating positive playtimes, as well as an extensive range of playtime activities, games, and equipment.

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If the catalogue hasn’t arrived in your school for any reason, please do click here, enter your details, and we’ll get another in the post to you right away.

You might also be interested in joining in with Positive Play Week (9 -13 May 2016). More information about the week, including how your school can get involved, can be found at www.positiveplayweek.co.uk.

As always, you can place an order with Edventure in a variety of ways, including:

  • on the website www.edventure.co.uk
  • by faxing us to 01323 50 10 41
  • by calling us on 01323 50 10 40
  • by emailing us at sales@edventure.co.uk      
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

If you quote HH0515 on your order delivery will be free. Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95.

What problem do the majority of primary schools have in common? And how can we solve it?

This increasing demand for primary school places that we have seen since 2009 continues to be a challenge for schools, many of which are simply running short of space. Expansion is obviously not always a viable option, and consequently many schools are having to be increasingly resourceful in finding ways to make the best use of the space available.

One space-saving solution that we have come up and that is proving popular with schools is Benchmark.

Benchmark is a table with built in seats which can seat up to 20 students and which can, within seconds, be folded up and wheeled away.

Imagine that you have six of these in your school hall (enough for 120 children). The total amount of space taken up by the tables once packed away is… 1.5m x 2.4m… not much more than a double bed, and taking up far less space than a conventional table and chairs or bulky ‘stool-type’ tables.

This can leave schools with as much as 56% more storage space than before freeing up the space for storing other things and keeping your hall clutter-free.

Furthermore, the amount of setting up and tidying away time is minimal, making the benches ideal for breakfast clubs and afterschool clubs as well as lessons.

Of course, with such an innovative product there are many other interesting features. Around 100 colours are available and colours can be mixed and matched. And the lift-assist spring system makes packing up and opening out the tables the simplest thing you could imagine.

What’s more, there’s no compulsory maintenance contract (you can have one if you want) – but there is a 15 year guarantee no matter what.

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For more information
click here.

Or please call 01752 306 200 or email ideas@versadesign.co.uk.

See us at Acadamies Show – London Excel next Weds 20th

The most important factor in developing childhood happiness, confidence, and a positive attitude.

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The notion that there is one simple thing that really can make a powerful difference to the way children live their future lives is a notion that sounds very attractive.

But such a notion may leave you sceptical.  Life is, after all, by its nature very complicated.

And yet there is something that really can and does make a difference to large numbers of children: it is positive play. It has the ability to make young people happier, more outgoing, more confident, and friendlier, while also transforming the way in which they live their lives from here on.

However, although the phrase “Positive Play” is widely used, my colleagues and I have felt that positive play is something that is sometimes not always fully understood.  So we’ve decided to do something about that.

We’ve launched Positive Play Week.

It takes place on 9 to 13 May, and is an opportunity for you to focus on positive play in your nursery, engaging with your colleagues and talking with the children’s parents at nursery on the subject of positive play, engagement, and the benefits of both.

With this in mind I do hope you will take a look at our Positive Play Week website. There is a link to the website here.  But you may prefer to go straight to the nursery section here.

It contains a huge amount of information about positive play, including policies and briefing documents, ideas for activities, and a detailed review of why positive play is so beneficial for children.

There are also some ideas for the sort of equipment that nurseries can use in order to help children explore and learn about positive play.

I do hope you will have a moment to look at and explore the Positive Play Week website and then, if you wish, do let us know about the activities you and your nursery are engaging in to support positive play.

If you want to send us photographs of your positive play activities that would be wonderful. And if you have any questions or thoughts you can get in touch with us:

Finally I must thank our sponsor, Edventure, without whom Positive Play Week would never have come to be. You can find more details of the equipment they supply which supports positive play on their website.

Jenny Burrows

Positive Play Week Co-ordinator

A problem with LOtC is that…

…some subjects are easier to teach outside the typical classroom environment than others

Science, history, art and geography are all subjects which can be taught outside the typical classroom environment with relative ease – and it could also be argued that learning in such subjects is actually more effective when lessons take place outside the classroom.

Yet planning lessons outside the classroom can be a little bit more challenging in other subjects, such as literacy and numeracy.

Which is why Edventure has produced the Outdoor Cross Curricular Pack – to provide you with an array of resources that will support you in teaching your pupils about the many and various concepts of literacy and numeracy – outside the typical classroom environment.

The Outdoor Cross Curricular Pack comes in an extra strong storage box and consists of  Alphabet Bean Bags, a Fitness Dice, Foam Can Alley, Giant Wooden Dominoes, Number Bean Bags, Number Cones, Number Markers, a Resistance Parachute, a Starball, and a Target Mat (Including 8 Bean Bags).

Furthermore, we have also produced a number of free downloadable Game Guides, including a Guide to Starball and a Guide to Target Mat, to ensure that your pupils’ outdoor numeracy and literacy lessons are as enjoyable and engaging as possible.

More free downloadable Game Guides can be found accompanying our games, activities, and equipment at www.edventure.co.uk.

As always, you can place an order with Edventure in a variety of ways, including:

  • on the website www.edventure.co.uk
  • by faxing us to 01323 50 10 41
  • by calling us on 01323 50 10 40
  • by emailing us at sales@edventure.co.uk
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

If you quote HH0515 on your order delivery will be free. Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95.

We’ve sent it to you, but you might find someone will want to borrow it.

We have just sent you the new catalogue of positive playtime equipment from Edventure. This should be with you by the 6th or 7th January.

But there is always a chance that it won’t be there because

a) somehow it got lost in the post.

b) one of your colleagues spotted it and removed it for a quick perusal of the products.

c) the fact that there is a new article in the catalogue from positive playtime expert Therese Hoyle attracted the attention of a colleague who borrowed the catalogue to read the article, and then quite possibly passed it on to someone else.

Now if b) or c) is the case I would like to apologise sincerely on behalf of your colleague. You see, the catalogue is something that teachers do like to meander through, not least because of the many new ideas in it in relation to enhancing positive play, stopping bullying before it starts, and encouraging creative experimentation.

So if your copy is missing (for whatever reason) please do click here, complete your details and we’ll get another in the post to you right away. Alternatively, you can view our online catalogue by clicking here.

I do hope you will find the article and the range of ideas within the catalogue to be of interest. You can place an order in a variety of different ways including:

  • on the website www.edventure.co.uk  
  • by faxing us to 01323 50 10 41
  • by calling us on 01323 50 10 40
  • by emailing us at sales@edventure.co.uk   
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

What’s more, if you quote HH0515 on your order delivery will be free. Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95.

What evidence do we have exactly to prove that pupils who eat breakfast perform better at school than their non-breakfast-eating counterparts?

For the first time a study has proven what everyone suspected – pupils who eat a healthy breakfast every morning typically perform better at school and thus achieve greater learning outcomes. So now we can ask the question, “to what extent?”

Fortunately we don’t have to look far for the answer as this same longitudinal study, conducted by Cardiff University, also revealed the extent to which eating a healthy breakfast affects pupils’ performance at school and learning outcomes.

The study consisted of asking 5,000 nine to eleven year olds from 100 schools in Wales to keep a list of what they ate in 24 hours. Researchers then collected their results in Key Stage 2 teacher assessments between six and eighteen months later.

They found that pupils who ate a healthy breakfast every morning typically achieved an above average performance in their Key Stage 2 teacher assessments – up to twice as high as those who didn’t eat breakfast regularly or at all.

It’s for this reason that schools that host a Breakfast Club each morning are so valuable, giving pupils who don’t eat breakfast (for whatever reason) the opportunity to not only reap the long term health benefits of eating breakfast, but also to improve their learning outcomes.

If your school already hosts a Breakfast Club or is planning to set one up, it is possible to further boost pupils’ performance at school by offering them a number of activities at Breakfast Club which will warm the brain up before learning commences.

With this in mind Edventure has produced a Breakfast Club Pack, complete with an extensive range of games and activities, including:

  • 1x Chess
  • 1 x Draughts
  • 1 x Giant 2D Noughts & Crosses
  • 1 x Giant Wooden Dominoes
  • 1 x Ludo
  • 1 x Pick up Sticks
  • 2 x Playing Cards
  • 1 x Popular Card Games Pack
  • 1 x Shut the Box
  • 1 x Snakes & Ladders
  • 1 x Wooden Tumbling Blocks

We have also produced a number of free Game Guides:

A Guide to Snakes & Ladders

A Guide to Shut the Box

A Guide to Pick Up Sticks

And A Guide to Tumbling Blocks

The Breakfast Club Pack can be ordered in a variety of ways, including:

  • On our website www.edventure.co.uk
  • by fax to 01323 50 10 41
  • by phone on 01323 50 10 40
  • by email at sales@edventure.co.uk         
  • by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

If you quote HH0515 on your order delivery will be free. Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95 if ordered online or £6.95 if ordered by fax, phone or post.

Link to article: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-34834832

Facilitating learning with more than one sense

Multi-sensory learning is a highly effective notion that is habitually adopted to support the development of young children. Yet it is a technique which often gets phased out as children age and progress, despite childhood (in its entirety) being a vital stage for development.

It is a teaching and learning technique which should be used routinely to support children’s academic development throughout their educational careers – particularly for children with SEN or for children who are falling behind in their learning.

It is for this reason that Edventure has produced a Multi Sensory Pack which can be used to support the multi-sensory learning approach which has proven time and time again to be highly beneficial to children’s academic progress and thus overall attainment levels.

By incorporating the content of the Multi Sensory Pack into your pupils’ learning, not only will you achieve higher levels of engagement among your pupils, but your pupils will also gain a greater understanding of the areas of learning where this approach is imposed.

Our Multi Sensory Pack comes in a drawstring bag consists of the following:

  • 2 x Bean Bag
  • 2 x Bean Ball
  • 2 x Bump Ball
  • 2 x Coated Foam Ball 7cm
  • 2 x Easy Grip Ball 16cm
  • 2 x Koosh Ball 7cm
  • 2 x Rainbow Ball
  • 2 x Ring Quoits
  • 2 x Soft Small Football

You can order the Multi Sensory Pack in a variety of ways, including:

  • on our website – www.edventure.co.uk
  • by fax to 01323 50 10 41
  • by phone on 01323 50 10 40
  • by email at sales@edventure.co.uk
  • or by post to Edventure Ltd, Hargreaves Business Park, Hargreaves Road, Eastbourne, East Sussex, BN23 6QW.

And if you quote HH0515 on your order delivery will be free. Without quoting the code the charge is £3.95 if ordered online or £6.95 if ordered by fax, phone or post.

The stage re-used

How staging can be used as part of an outdoor carol concert, and then indoors as the students serenade while the parents taste their mince pies.

When we first talked about our staging being used outdoors (as well as indoors for assemblies, drama, speech days, and presentations), there were, I must admit, some eyebrows raised.

But my impression is that the idea is catching on, and I’ve heard of a number of schools using our staging so that pupils and students can sing carols as parents approach the school hall for their indoor festivity.  Some have experimented with short outdoor nativity plays – which really mean the lanterns have an impact.

Outdoor events always intrigue students and impress parents, and with staging that is suitable for outside events it means it can be moved around easily.  You can even dismantle the outdoor rig and reset inside during the interval for the second half of the event.

It is because of new ideas like these that have developed in recent years that we ask schools that use our staging to take photographs of the results. 

If you take a look at our website I think you’ll agree that some of these represent really impressive examples of how our staging can be used in a very creative way. 

But many teachers and site managers have reminded us that the flexibility of the staging is not the only consideration when choosing what to buy.  You will also be considering how you are going to store it when its normal location is required for other uses.

Which is why we developed a stage system that can be compacted into such a tiny space that even Dr Who would start to wonder if someone involved in teaching hadn’t cracked the secret of using his famous “relative dimensions in space”.

In fact, in our latest designs we’ve now arranged matters so that a complete stage of up to 40m² can be stored in just 2m² of floor space.

Then there’s the lifetime guarantee. It is hard to imagine what might go wrong with staging, but if somehow in some unexpected way it does go wrong, the guarantee is there.

I do hope you will visit our website and take a look at what other schools have done with our staging. Just click on any of the pictures to enlarge it.  Click on the arrow at the end of the picture, and you’ll see more. And more.

There’s still time to order staging for your Christmas play and events – don’t hit the panic button just yet! A free, no obligation, professional demonstration is readily available, and we’ll show you how to maximise the space in your school hall.

If you would like to know more please do email me at sales@seatingandstaging.co.uk  or call me on 01302 741888.

Tim Gilson

It’s School Dance Week

What can School Dance Week do for you, and what can you do for School Dance Week?

Dance is the second most popular physical activity within primary schools, and yet curiously in the past there has never been a School Dance Week through which schools can celebrate their involvement with dance and share with each other ideas and suggestions relating to dance in schools.

So, we’ve rectified that by setting up the first ever School Dance Week.   And even though this is our first step forwards on what we hope will be a long-running campaign to get dance in schools noticed, and help all dance teachers develop their work in schools, we’ve already found a fabulous group of partners who have shown their willingness to work with us.   The list of partners is below.

Also we have over 100 participating schools of all sizes and types from all over the country, and we’d welcome your involvement with us too.

What we are asking you to do is to sign up with School Dance Week (it’s completely free and comes with no commitment – you just show your support for the idea.)    This will give you the opportunity access free resources and opportunities from all the professional partners who have supported the very start of School Dance Week.

Also you might like to have a look at the website we have developed, which now has details of the findings from our research into the state of dance in primary schools.   

Additionally there is an article which reveals exactly why dance is not just another activity for children to enjoy, but is one of the prime activities that strengthens children both mentally and physically. 

Now that we have got going we can say that next year’s School Dance Week will be even bigger – and we will be commemorating those schools that have chosen to support us at our very start with a Honour Board of Founder Schools.   All you have to do is sign up – there is absolutely no cost and no commitment.

To start on this journey all we ask is that you visit the School Dance Week website and complete the simple form.

From here on, having established School Dance Week our work is now to establish working relationships between schools and dance professionals, creating a potential outlet for long term educational work and increasing your Arts Mark.

And if you have your own ideas as to what School Dance Week can do in the future, we’d like to hear from you.  Please click here to contact us.

Here is our list of Founding Partners – to whom we are very grateful indeed.

  • Pineapple Community
  • The Movement Factory
  • Balletboyz
  • 2 Faced Dance
  • Motionhouse
  • Tilted Productions
  • The Place
  • C-12 Dance Theatre
  • Northern School of Contemporary Dance
  • Dance East
  • West End in Schools
  • Youth Dance England

I really do hope that you feel there is something for you in this new initiative, and that from this beginning we can really increase an awareness in the importance and benefit of encouraging dance in schools.