Adobe Systems Incorporated has announced the call for entries for the twelfth annual Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA). The competition recognises the best student graphic designers, photographers, illustrators, animators, digital filmmakers, developers and computer artists from higher education institutions worldwide who have created innovative projects using Adobe software.

As Education Today went to press, leading awarding body OCR was set to showcase its new Cambridge Nationals in ICT qualifications for 14 to 16 year olds at BETT 2012.

Pupils from Pontygof and Waunlwyd Primary Schools and Pen-y-Cwm SEN School gathered on-site at their future school to celebrate its progress on Tuesday, 13th December.

The 3-16 school, estimated to cost around £50 million, is part of The Works: Ebbw Vale regeneration scheme and the primary phase will merge the three schools into one facility and also provide a new children’s centre.

Shakespeare Found in Translation is Globe Education’s season of special events running from 5 February to 29 May 2012 which will explore Shakespeare as a global playwright. The season supports Shakespeare’s Globe festival, Globe to Globe, which will see 37 international companies present all 37 of Shakespeare’s plays on the Globe stage in a different language over six weeks starting on 21 April 2012. Booking for public events is open online at www.shakespearesglobe.com or by telephone on 020 7401 9919.

SOS Children, the world’s largest orphan charity, has created a ground-breaking, visually compelling and comprehensive learning resource that gives a unique perspective on Africa for children in the UK.

The project, ‘Our Africa’, is an evolving collection of hundreds of video clips from countries spread across the African continent – filmed through the eyes of children living there.

Students in the UK and around the world this year put their chemistry skills to the test in a new competition supported by the University of Cambridge Department of Chemistry, The Rushton Bequest from St Catharine’s College, University of Cambridge International Examinations and OCR (Oxford Cambridge and RSA Examinations).

Econsultancy has announced the recipient of its new Excellence in Digital Marketing award, named in memory of one of the UK’s foremost digital marketing trainers, speakers and practitioners, David Hughes.

Jenny Thaw, who graduated from Manchester Metropolitan University in July with a BA in Retail Marketing Management, was awarded the newly launched prize after gaining top marks in the dissertation element of her degree.

As the world focuses on the extraordinary feats of human performance that will take place in London next summer, the Wellcome Trust is leading a London 2012-inspired UK-wide initiative to engage the public with the science of how their own body works during exercise, movement and rest.

The Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA), the Institute of Physics (IOP) and the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) have secured some of the country’s most high profile universities and leading schools to launch a new innovative teacher training programme, which combines physics with mathematics. 

Parents and children are being asked to check that their schools have signed up for a charity world record breaking attempt taking place in February (2012).

Deaf healthcare charity, SignHealth is organising the challenge for the most young people signing and singing simultaneously on February 8 and wants as many schools as possible to take part.

Within the education sector, BESA is the conduit between schools, suppliers and government. To mirror this tripartite supporting role, its new website offers information, guidance and advice to companies, educators and parents, ranging from information on suppliers and resources to information on the implication of government policy announcements for both schools and suppliers.

The survey of 243 primary and 198 secondary schools, was carried out in September 2011 by the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA). The government target for 2010/11 was for 80 per cent of schools to offer at least three hours a week and by 2012/13 the target is for 60 per cent of pupils to take part in PE or sports for five hours a week.

Panasonic System Networks Europe (PSNE) and Westcoast, one of the UK’s leading suppliers of IT products to the computer reseller network, have announced a new partnership to promote the Panasonic range of next generation interactive whiteboards (IWB). Peter Dempsey, Areas Sales Manager for Dublin commented; “The world of business systems is converging and with our latest whiteboard solution offering the best benefits available in the market, there is no better time for us to announce our partnership.”

The School Food Trust has responded to a new British Heart Foundation Survey showing that nearly one in three UK children eats sweets, chocolate and crisps three or more times a day, while almost nine in ten children surveyed (88%) were not eating their recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables every day.

As the deadline for nominations for the ‘Top Provider’ of the Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment (C&BE) awards looms, Sector Skills Council CITB-ConstructionSkills has called on employers and industry stakeholders to get their entries in so that outstanding providers can get the recognition they deserve.

New money management qualifications from Money for Life have met with an enthusiastic response from FE practitioners and community organisations alike, with half of all places taken within the first two weeks of going live. Funding is available from Money for Life for 1,400 practitioners to take either ‘Teach Me’ or ‘Teach Others’ financial capability courses by summer 2012, which will enable them to equip their learners with vital money management skills.

Gavin Pretor-Pinney’s The Wavewatcher’s Companion has won the 2011 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books. The winning book was announced at the Royal Society on 17th November 2011. In The Wavewatcher’s Companion, Gavin Pretor-Pinney, founder of the Cloud Appreciation Society, takes time out from cloud spotting to explain what waves are and explore how they appear everywhere around us.

The finalists for the 14th annual BETT Awards have been announced by organisers Emap Connect, and the British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA). Every year, the BETT Awards receive a large number of high quality entries from ICT educational suppliers, wanting the ultimate industry recognition for the thought, time and cost that has been invested in their products. However, more importantly, it is their understanding of the sector and its needs that sets the winning suppliers aside from the others.

An Edge Hill University academic has been invited to share his knowledge across the globe after winning a prestigious National Teaching Fellowship. Professor Mark Schofield, Dean of Teaching and Learning Development, has been chosen to deliver a number of presentations and workshops internationally as a result of his award, which recognises excellence in higher education teaching and support for learning

The Hereward College HR team was awarded with the TES FE Outstanding HR Team Award 2011 at a ceremony at the Brewery, London last month. This award recognises outstanding work within human resources departments for 2010-11 and was open to all further education providers in the UK.

Teenagers worried about their ability to handle their money and find a home will be given access to vital advice with new teaching resources, launched by Shelter, the housing and homelessness charity, in partnership with Nationwide Building Society.

The entire campus network of Forth Valley College (Alloa, Falkirk, Raploch and Stirling) is now fitted with specialist evacuation chairs supplied and installed by Evac+Chair International to provide a safer escape for students and staff with mobility problems in an emergency.

Oxley Park Academy is offering school-to-school support for schools in England that have already implemented or are thinking of implementing the THRASS keyword phonics programme (whole-school, part-school or for children with special educational needs).

Explore the Solar System with Ben 10 is a new and completely free primary teaching resource, with curriculum mapped lesson plans, for 5-11 year olds. As well as engaging lessons and state of the art interactive whiteboard material, the pack contains a fantastic Solar System poster for the classroom.

Viking for Schools, member of the British Education Suppliers Association, has been working closely with schools since 2007. The specialist school supplier has learnt first hand exactly what Head Teachers, Teachers, Bursars and School Business Managers & Administrators in theUKandIrelandneed from their one-stop-shop supplier and have now developed a package which can be tailored to suit the needs of every individual school.

Vocab Express, the online modern foreign languages (MFL) vocabulary learning application, has announced the launch of a free, week-long national language championship for all secondary schools in theUKandIrelandto take place during spring 2012. Supporting the current debate in education around encouraging and driving language learning, the Vocab Express National Championship is designed to engage and motivate young people in learning another language. 

A free online resource has been launched to give secondary school students a personal insight into the world of work.

Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE) kicked off its national education competition, with the first regional final of the 2011 Real Business Challenge taking place on Friday 4th November, in Leeds.

The British Educational Suppliers Association (BESA) association has launched its new, comprehensive website.

The winters of 2009/10 and 2010/11 were among the harshest witnessed in decades. While freezing weather can increase the risk of claims and larger losses for your school, in most cases only minor damage will occur. Yet, even lesser incidents can interrupt the running of a school and cause disruption to learning.

As the UK prepared to raise awareness of bullying during Anti-Bullying Week, (14-18 November,) latest research revealed that cyber-bullying amongst teenagers is on the increase with 38% affected. 78% of young people fear cyber-bullying will continue to rise, while 46% feel that current initiatives are insufficient in targeting their protection, prevention and needs, perhaps partly explaining why 28% of cyber-bullying victims have not informed anyone of their experience.

Research conducted by LACA and ParentPay, published at the start of National School Meals Week 2011, shows that after six years of funding to improve standards, 89% of parents are satisfied with their child’s school meals.

A teacher from Surrey has scooped a £150,000 prize fund from e-learning site O2 Learn, by getting her students and thousands of others to see science in a whole new light. The teacher and the winning school will share the money after pupils across the country showed their passion for physics, by voting her explosive lesson on forces as the site’s most inspiring and engaging video tutorial.

The Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) National Conference has taken place in Kenilworth, Warwickshire, addressing an audience keen to learn more about the significant shifts in the market landscape in 2011 and global data capture specialist, DRS, was on hand to demonstrate it’s e-Marker® electronic marking technology, which contributed to a very successful summer exam season for six of the UK’s leading awarding bodies.

With National School Meals Week (7^th-11^th November, 2011) now in full swing, Pritchitts is urging schools to get involved with its Viva Daily Win promotion as the school that successfully registers the most number of entries during the week will bag an iPad 2.

As part of their proactive CSR commitment, Randstad Education’s 2011 Global Skills Share programme in partnership with the VSO, is already having a significant impact on the lives of children, not just in Africa but here in the UK too. The Global Skills Share programme gives primary teachers or education managers the opportunity to volunteer through the Voluntary Service Overseas programme, as teacher support officers in Ghana. Randstad Education’s sponsorship is critical because it provides supply cover to the successful applicants’ schools free of charge for the full period of their placement.

To help teachers explore issues surrounding bullying for Anti-Bullying Week on November 14th, the education charity FILMCLUB (www.filmclub.org) is launching two thought-provoking seasons of films – one for primary and one secondary - in which bullying is a major theme. Hand-picked by experts and accompanied by detailed guides and discussion points, the selection includes classics such as ‘Lord of the Flies’ (1963 version), Ken Loach’s ‘Kes’ and Hollywood comedy-melodrama ‘The Women’ – as well as more recent titles such as ‘Bridge To Terabithia’ and documentary ‘American Teen’.

Fundraising fever has certainly hit All Saints Catholic School and Technology College, Dagenham, London, as students begin the challenging task of raising funds for a three week educational expedition to Cambodia and Thailand in July 2012.

Three students who achieved the highest scores in the Diploma in Construction and the Built Environment (C&BE) this summer have been rewarded for their academic performance, in an awards scheme run by CITB-ConstructionSkills and the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB). At a national ceremony held in London on Thursday 15 September, Alex Tindall from The Isle of Sheppey, Caroline Sait from Southampton and Jordan Whittle from North Shields all received a trophy and prize money supplied by the CIOB, as part of the Rewarding Diplomas Awards.

As part of their proactive CSR initiative, global digital marketing agency GGMR is proud to be associated with the highly successful national charity campaign devoted to getting British children reading.
Voluntary Reading Help (VRH) was established in 1973 and has been a registered charity since 1980.  It is dedicated to training and supporting volunteers to help children confidently develop their reading skills.  The London Evening Standard has recently championed this initiative and in association with VRH has launched their ‘Get London Reading’ campaign, following the revelation that one in four children leave London schools unable to read properly.

A London theatre is widening its doors to vulnerable young people by inviting them to see a new play about foster care for free of charge.

The New End Theatre in Hampstead, London, has made over a hundred free tickets available to disadvantaged children in the area for its new drama.

Running throughout August, Where’s Your Mama Gone? is a challenging production that follows the struggles of two children placed in care after losing their mother to a serial killer. The play addresses a number of issues around foster care, including alcoholism, drug use and questions of identity and heritage.

Brits are on course to take a record breaking 1.7 million cruises this year despite the tough economic climate, according to statistics released by the Passenger Shipping Association.

Demco Interiors is delighted to announce its sponsorship of the Outstanding Library Team category of the Times Higher Education University Leadership and Management Awards 2011.  Demco Interiors is a member of the Demco Europe family of companies, which includes the Gresswell educational resource brand.

Sparky, his new giant-sized puppet big brother Magna and the children will all then participate in ‘Lighting the Fuse’ – a week of festivities in the run-up to the Festival and in the Festival’s launch night – an ‘Illumination Parade’ on Friday 17 June.

Hundreds of young business leaders and entrepreneurs of the future from across the UK graduated from the employer-led Career Academy programme in two ceremonies held at London’s Institute of Education on Wednesday 4 May.

Four students have launched an exciting business venture after scooping a £1,000 prize in City of Sunderland College’s annual Dragon’s Den competition. AS Level students Christopher Johnston, Rosie Pattison, Ruhi Bhugra and Rachel Jenner have officially opened a new milkshake and smoothie bar named ‘Smoooth’ at the College’s Bede Centre to offer tasty and healthy treats to their fellow learners.

SCA Hygiene has confirmed its commitment to inspiring and training engineering leaders of tomorrow with the recruitment of the first graduate at its Paper Mill in Prudhoe. The company – which has three other graduates in place at sites in the UK – has welcomed 23-year-old Seraj Elgheddafi from Manchester, as the first Graduate Process Engineer at the North East site, thanks to its new Graduate Accelerator Programme (GAP).

Schoolchildren enjoyed a fun-filled afternoon playing on new play equipment at Mayesbrook Park, Dagenham on Friday, 20 May as part of the official launch of the Playbuilder programme. The children from Dorothy Barley Infants and Manor Infants and Junior School played on new equipment including a swinging tyre, a tunnel, nest swing, zip wire, slide and mounds with tunnels, surrounded by boulders and newly planted trees.

Workplace development specialists Ethical Skills & Training (EST) is to play an integral role in a nationwide initiative to place care leavers and young people into work. Project Rough Seas, launched last month by TV presenter Ben Fogle at a special event at London’s City Hall, will see 60 disadvantaged young people put through a series of training and mentoring activities to help their personal development.

Vocab Express, the online modern foreign languages (MFL) vocabulary learning application is proud to announce it has been shortlisted for ‘Language Product’ of the year in the 2011 Linguascope Awards. Vocab Express provides an innovative, interactive method for engaging and inspiring young people in MFL – which can be perceived as a difficult option.

Encouraging schoolchildren to write film reviews is a highly effective means of boosting literacy according to thousands of teachers who have signed up to the education charity, FILMCLUB.  To mark the 200,000th review written by a young FILMCLUB member since the charity launched in 2008, the organisation has gathered feedback and statistics from participating schools.

Celebrity chef Paul Rankin visited pupils at Tudor Hall School in Banbury to judge their cooking, teach them a few tricks of the trade and to get the healthy eating message across.

There was a special challenge for Upper Sixth Form cookery students at the independent girls’ school. After watching Paul Rankin cook one of his signature dishes, Grilled Mackerel with roast peppers and Salsa Verde, they were given a recipe bag of ingredients and asked to make the dish themselves.

Just released figures show that more than 1200 schools have now applied to become academies. 179 schools have applied in the last month alone (May) says the government.1244 schools have applied to be an academy since June 2010; 831 of these applications have been approved, while 430 have already converted and are open. The total number of open academies, including those opened under the previous government, now stands at 704.

Forbo Flooring Systems’ in-house design service has brought to life a striking refurbishment project at Loughborough University where a wide range of its textile and resilient products have been specified.

 “Reviewing encourages a different type of writing – one of personal opinions and first-hand experience.”

“Some of my boys who are reluctant writers are eager to complete film reviews and do so to such a high quality that I was pleasantly surprised, as they do not show that level of capability in class.”

Welcoming the report, Michael Gove MP said: “I thank Sebastian James and his Review team for their incredibly hard work and Partnerships for Schools for their help with the Review. I welcome this independent report and we will respond soon. The system we inherited had profound problems. We must have a system for school building which is much simpler, less bureaucratic, and which targets priority projects.”

Randstad Education’s chief financial officer, Andy Moss, delighted the children at High Close, Barnardo’s special needs school in Berkshire, with a timely greeting of Easter eggs and a much welcomed donation of £3,000.  The funds will be used to buy valuable equipment that will assist the learning and development of autistic children.

A Government consultation on how school funding can be made fairer seeks the views of parents, teachers, schools, unions and local authorities about the current system, and asks whether a new system would result in a fairer outcome for schools.

For the fourth year running Vintage Classics has teamed up with Young Times in The Times and Random House Children’s Books to give budding designers the opportunity to see their illustration on the cover of a published book. Launched today in Young Times, the competition is open to 7 to 12 year olds and the winning image will feature on The Wizard of Oz book jacket, available in bookshops from 3rd November.

Registration is now open for the National Schools Storyonics Competition for years 5 and 6 (years 4 and 5 in Scotland).  There are over £10,000 worth of prizes including 500 sets of ‘Storyonics for PC/Whiteboard’ worth £19.99 for 500 lucky participating schools to be won in the prize draw.  First prize for the winning class is £1,000 worth of educational toys and games with second and third prizes of £500 and £250 respectively.

On 7th April the Chair of the Training and Development Agency for Schools, Christopher Baker, announced that Stephen Hillier has been appointed as the new TDA Chief Executive.

Christopher Baker said: “Stephen’s skills, combined with his experience of working on the training of high quality teachers, make him the perfect fit for the role of TDA’s Chief Executive.

Beechwood College marked World Autism Awareness Day with the launch of a national art competition that will showcase the creativity of young people with an Autistic Spectrum Disorder (ASD). The competition, Create! Art for Autism, seeks to dispel the myth that those with an ASD cannot be creative and encourages young people to express themselves in 2D, 3D and digital media.

Globe Education at Shakespeare’s Globe will mark the 400th anniversary of the King James Bible this summer with a season of special events entitled The Heard Word: Pulpit vs Playhouse. The season, which runs from 3 May to 22 September, includes lectures, pre- and post-show discussions with actors and directors, staged readings and active drama-based workshops for children, and is designed to complement the 2011 theatre season and its theme, The Word is God.

One of the UK’s leading qualification providers, NCFE, has launched a new series of short, basic level qualifications that can be delivered through summer schools, supporting young people who need extra learning support and helping to maximise levels of student retention for the autumn term.

Since her arrival at national qualification provider NCFE, Dee Stephenson has had a prolific impact, redeveloping qualifications that provide direct stepping stones for learners as they travel along their career paths in the Education, Business Administration and Childcare sectors.

Randstad Education’s chief financial officer, Andy Moss, delighted the children at High Close, Barnardo’s special needs school in Berkshire, with a timely greeting of Easter eggs and a much welcomed donation of £3000.  The funds will be used to buy valuable equipment that will assist the learning and development of autistic children.

Comments Andy: “Randstad is proud to be a corporate supporter of Barnardo’s and it’s particularly poignant to be visiting High Close because this is the school where our partnership with the charity began, initially offering teachers CPD.”

2.5 million Children across Britain have become involved in EDF Energy’s vision for a more sustainable future through its Schools Programme ‘The Pod’, according to analysis carried out with external experts.

EDF Energy, the first sustainability partner of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, set an ambitious target of engaging 2.5 million young people in sustainability by 2012 in its ‘Sustainability Commitments’ - one of the biggest environmental and social programmes of any British energy company. This target was set in February 2008 and, according to the most recent figures, has now been reached ahead of schedule.

BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT welcomes the Government’s recent Wolf Report on Vocational Education.

David Clarke, MBE and Chief Executive Officer of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT says: “The Wolf report has important messages for IT education, particularly concerning teaching and curricula. Computing and IT skills are essential elements of education in order to ensure that students have the skills to operate in today’s digital society. In order to achieve this we need a high performing IT education system.

Its official – sometimes school dinners taste even better than Mum’s home cooking. And Pabulum, contract caterer to the education sector, has proved it – producing a cookery book of pupils’ favourite recipes, complete with the children’s own illustrations of the dishes they like best.

The first edition of the Isle of Wight Primary Schools’ Cook Book has now been launched following an exciting event where printers Crossprint invited two pupils, whose pictures are featured in the book, to start the presses at their print headquarters in Newport, Isle of Wight.

Paddington Bear is encouraging primary schools across the UK to register to take part in his annual Bring your Bear event this summer to raise vital funds for his favourite children’s charity, Action Medical Research.

The Bring your Bear concept is simple and fun. Schools just choose a day from May onwards when the children bring their teddy bear, or a favourite soft toy, into class for the day. Each child brings in a pound or two with their bear to support vital research to help babies and children.

Harnessing fresh air from wind in place of air con, tubular skylights, balcony classrooms, even resident eco-ninjas… Key Stage 2 pupils from across the UK were invited to investigate the sustainability of their school building and enter their own design for a more environmentally friendly school building as part of architecture education organisation, Open-City’s, My Green School initiative.

This year’s Education Show from 17-19 March at the NEC Birmingham was the UK’s largest showcase of educational resources, hosting the latest products, newest innovations and inspiring best practice techniques from over 400 exhibitors. During the three days of the show, over 12,000 educators took to the floor to experience for themselves all that the Education Show 2011 had to offer. The event demonstrated its ability to reflect the significant developments and changes in the education sector, acting as a valuable source of advice and guidance for visitors.

New research released by Adobe uncovers the wealth of creative talent amongst UK teachers. Over a quarter of teachers (27%) are Artists who show strong visual creative skills and like to tell a story with pictures rather than words. Close behind them are the Collaborators – 25% of teachers’ signature creative strength involves working with others to develop and cultivate a creative idea.

Thousands of schoolchildren will be encouraged to learn more about the monarchy by watching, discussing and reviewing a stimulating season of films compiled by education charity FILMCLUB for Royal Wedding week. Ten thought-provoking titles, complete with synopses, are being offered as a resource for teachers keen to bring British history to life and offer unusual perspectives on the monarchy at a time when interest in the subject is high.

A charity that runs a college and outdoor centre for 16-25 year olds with special needs has more than doubled its turnover to £1m and is making a healthy profit with the help and advice of Bibby Consulting & Support, specialists in employment law and health and safety legislation.

Resident Blue Peter science expert, Steve Mould, and one of the world’s leading particle physicists, Professor Brian Cox, have helped to bring science to life in an event that included over 350 students from across the UK.

Science Live, an event organised by school trip operator Adaptable Travel, was held in the IMAX cinema at the Science Museum in London and included a presentation from the Eden Project’s Alistair Griffiths.

2.5 million schoolchildren across Britain have become involved in EDF Energy’s vision for a more sustainable future through its Schools Programme ‘The Pod’, according to analysis carried out with external experts.*

British athletes Sharron Davies, Derek Redmond and Jade Johnson have helped to showcase the sporting legacy of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by attending a unique event with over 1000 pupils from schools and colleges across the UK.

The 2012 Sporting Legacy event was hosted by broadcaster Garry Richardson and organised by school trips operator Adaptable Travel.

Increasing young people’s understanding of autism – which affects almost 600,000 people in the UK - is the aim of a new season of films to be launched by education charity FILMCLUB in support of Autism Awareness Month in April. The season is part of the charity’s major new ‘Power of Film’ campaign highlighting, among other aspects, the power of film to educate people about topics they may not normally encounter.

This month saw the launch of a new student reward programme at Great Wyrley Performing Arts High School in Staffordshire. “We already have pretty good attendance rates, but are always looking for ways to improve this, together with pupil attainment and behaviour,” comments Barry Stokes, Head of year 10. “We continue to award certificates throughout the school, however once our pupils reach teenage years we’ve found that they are more responsive when we introduce additional incentives.

GCSEPod, the provider of curriculum based GCSE revision podcasts, has launched a new school subscription service designed specifically at boosting exam grades.

The service, which will allow schools to offer their students access to more than 175 hours of audio visual revision material to support classroom learning, is already proving effective, with some participating schools reporting rises in exam results of up to 25%.

Research published by the National Literacy Trust on Save Our Libraries Day (5th February 2011) confirms the link between children and young people using public libraries and good reading skills.

As communities across the country campaign to save their local libraries from widespread cuts, this new study of 17,089 pupils aged 8 to 16 finds that young people who use their public library are nearly twice as likely to be above average readers than peers who don’t visit their library (18% compared with 9.5%).

Guardian News & Media has launched a brand new website, the ‘Guardian Teacher Network’, giving teachers across the country access to one of the largest collections of curriculum resources in the world.

Creative Partnerships has a profound impact on teachers’ professional development and supports career progression, according to new independent research from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).

The Bosch Technology Horizons Award is a national essay-writing competition open to entrants aged 14 to 24. The competition offers young people the opportunity to explore the role that technology and engineering play in everyday life by asking them to write an essay answering one of a choice of questions. As 2011 is Bosch’s 125th anniversary, one of the questions in both age groups challenges entrants to evaluate company founder Robert Bosch’s lifetime engineering achievements.

Schools across the North West have been urged to review costs and finances and operate efficiently, at an event hosted by Lloyds TSB Commercial.

Held at the Whites De Vere Hotel in Bolton on 11 February, the seminar was the second of three such events being hosted around the North West by Lloyds TSB Commercial’s specialist Education Banking team to highlight the bank’s commitment to schools in the region. The first event in December last year was held in Manchester, covering the Greater Manchester area, and the third is to be held in March on the Wirral, covering the Chester and Wirral area.

The Music Industries Association (MIA) has joined the growing campaign calling for Music to be included in the English Baccalaureate.

The Secretary of State for Education Michael Gove recently proposed measuring secondary schools by how many pupils study five categories of subjects: Maths, English, Science, Languages and Humanities. At present, the Humanities have been defined only as Geography and History in the new English Baccalaureate qualification.

The National College has announced that 810 schools have expressed an interest in becoming part of the government’s new network of teaching schools.

It follows the publication of the Education White Paper in November 2010 which stated that the National College will be responsible for the designation and quality assurance of schools throughout England that meet the teaching school criteria.

Following its successful launch last year, Randstad Education’s Global Skills Share programme is reopening today to allow teachers to share skills, build capabilities, promote international understanding and action – and ultimately to change lives and make the world a fairer place for all.

12 regional finalists from all corners of the UK attended a glittering awards ceremony at the Lords Cricket Ground in London last month to celebrate and crown the overall Sky Sports Living for Sport Student of the Year.

The Young Engineers educational charity, whose mission is to engage students in engineering activities and encourage them to consider a career in the profession, is pleased to announce the appointment of John Pullin, former Editor of The Engineer and Professional Engineering magazines; Bob Saunders, Managing Director of After-Markets and Services, GKN Land Systems; and Paul Williams, Founder and Owner of Concorde Publishing Ltd to the Board of Trustees.

The Education Bill was introduced into the House of Commons on Wednesday 26 January 2011. It takes forward the legislative proposals in the Schools White Paper, The Importance of Teaching and measures from the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to improve skills, including two elements of the reforms to higher education funding.

A rural community in South Ayrshire is benefiting from a new £1.5 million eco-friendly primary school – the first of its kind in the South Ayrshire Council area.

Complete with a feature grass roof and environmentally friendly credentials – including the use of sustainable building materials, high levels of insulation and low cost heating powered by air source heat pumps – the new Colmonell Primary has transformed education accommodation in the small rural village.

Promethean was named ‘ICT Company of the Year’ at the coveted BETT Awards. The award was judged by independent senior managers and teachers with a focus on effective classroom solutions and proven results.

Up against strong competition, Promethean was delighted to win the award. Jean-Yves Charlier, Chief Executive Officer of Promethean, commented: “Winning ICT Company of the Year is a significant accomplishment, and a perfect start to the New Year.

Students from schools in every London Borough will receive free tickets to a play at Shakespeare’s Globe in March, thanks to a pioneering partnership between Globe Education and Deutsche Bank.

Over 14,000 students from 96 schools across the capital will see a specially-commissioned production of Macbeth through the Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank programme. The project is the most comprehensive education initiative ever supported by Deutsche Bank’s extensive CSR programme, and was recognised in 2009 with a Lloyds Arts & Business Innovation Prize.

Classroom Innovation, education Guardian’s ICT hub for schools supported by ASUS, has announced the winners of the Classroom Innovation Awards in which one primary and one secondary school have won £7,500 worth of ASUS ICT equipment for their school.

The number of graduate vacancies rose in last year’s recruitment season for the first time since the recession started to bite, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR), which published the winter edition of its bi-annual survey on Tuesday 25 January.

The Secretary of State for Education has announced a major review of the National Curriculum in England. The review will be led by the Department for Education, supported by an Advisory Committee and Expert Panel made up of top teachers, academics, and business representatives.

Rt Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Education addressed over 300 senior education stakeholders, including nearly 60 education ministers from across the world at this year’s Education World Forum.

At a time when OECD indicators have shown that other countries are outperforming the UK in children’s literacy standards, Gove stressed how countries need to learn from one another.

A special Cambridge on Ice event, providing local school children with a free skate, took place yesterday in Parkers Piece.  Organised by the Cambridge office of leading UK and global educational staffing specialist Randstad Education, the event attracted over 500 children from local primary and special educational needs (SEN) schools.

Land Rover in partnership with the award-winning conservation organisation Biosphere Expeditions sent seven competition winners (5 from the UK, 1 from Spain and 1 from Italy) on a, once-in-a-lifetime, conservation and adventure expedition to Namibia, Africa.

ICT4Autism, a registered charity which raises money to provide special computer equipment to children with autism or other neurological disorders, recently presented four children with specially developed Sony Vaio Touchscreen computer systems and Clicker educational software at a ceremony in Eastbourne. This was the first ‘ICT Give Away Day’ held by ICT4Autism following published research which demonstrates how this specially developed technology can assist children with learning difficulties to achieve their full potential in life.

Money for Life is a groundbreaking financial capability programme to help Further Education (FE) practitioners equip their students with vital skills in responsible money management.

City & Guilds - the UK’s largest vocational education organisation - has acquired Learning Assistant, one of the leading UK e-portfolio companies. This investment will revolutionise City & Guilds’ current digital capability; providing thousands of colleges and private training providers with enhanced access to the latest learning and assessment technology.

Sir Alasdair Macdonald – the award-winning headteacher at East London’s Morpeth School – has warned that the gap in academic achievement between children from different economic backgrounds will widen, not close, if extra-curricular activities become “soft-targets” in an “age of austerity”.  He went onto explain that in his own experience, “Attainment is raised in the classroom and the gap is closed beyond it.”

From space missions to seascapes and teacher robots to flying dragons, BIC®Kids has found some of the most imaginative versions of Life in the Future through its successful The BIC Picture competition.

In support of ‘Everybody Writes’ Day on October 21^st the educational charity FILMCLUB is launching a season of ten great films about writing and writers.  Members will be invited to watch movies such as ‘Barton Fink’, ‘The Diving Bell and the Butterfly’, ‘Hans Christian Anderson’ and ‘Becoming Jane’, then post a review on the FILMCLUB website.

Leaders in the fields of education, business and investment will work to deliver a ‘Plan B’ for Liverpool, and help secure millions in funding for secondary schools across the city, following the axing of the £350 million Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

The BOSS Federation has announced the launch of a new high level sales trend information reporting system for the Office Products Industry, which will aim to provide CEO’s and Product Category Directors with monthly information on 12 specific high level classifications.

The T S Eliot Prize Shadowing Scheme provides an excellent opportunity for students to engage with the best new poetry by shadowing the judges of the T S Eliot Prize for Poetry. Two poems from ten collections shortlisted for the T S Eliot Prize will be available to download from www.poetrybooks.co.uk/projects/15 from 21^st October.

Printondemand-worldwide, the leading UK-based book producer, is launching a website to make fundraising simpler for schools.  By visiting Schoolfundraiser.org.uk, schools can quickly create personalised printed products for resale.

Just one month after Randstad Education launched its vetting and barring initiative, the leading UK and global educational staffing specialist has received over 2,500 registrations, confirming the need for such a scheme.

Thousands of schools across the UK are in with a chance of winning the lesson of a lifetime – a special science class delivered by Professor Brian Cox, presenter of the BBC2 hit series ‘Wonders of The Solar System’.  Brian has teamed up with The Big Bang: UK Young Scientists and Engineers Fair 2011 to launch The Big Bang Lesson.

Voice: the union for education professionals has commented on the ending of the single level tests pilot, announced today (7September 2010).

The HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) launch of its revamped online tax education tool has been hailed as a “great source of information for young Britain” by Quentin Pain, founder and chairman of UK-based accounting software company, Accountz.

The University and College Union (UCU) today (Tuesday) said the government and Lord Browne needed urgent reality checks over student funding. A survey from the National Union of Students (NUS) released this morning reveals that more than two-thirds (70%) of students say fees of £7,000-a-year would have deterred them from going to university.

Leading national qualification provider NCFE has announced 11 key NQF qualifications that are now available for extended funding until 31 December 2010.

Commenting on today’s GCSE results, Miles Templeman, Director-General of the Institute of Directors, said: “A lack of skills is holding back business growth and impeding organisations’ ability to capitalise on economic recovery. Whilst it would be absurd to lay the blame for every skills gap or shortage at the door of schools and colleges, continuing weaknesses in our education system are perpetuating long-standing skills deficiencies, particularly in literacy and numeracy.

Twelve students from The Bulwell Academy have been sharing their thoughts on the most important issues facing them in education and skills as part of a national Youth Commission project.

The Bucks Economic & Learning Partnership (BELP) is pioneering the UK’s first Young Leaders’ Council; a scheme which helps to support and nurture the brightest young business minds in Buckinghamshire.

• Become stronger, more active learners capable of thinking independently and adapting their skills and knowledge to new challenges at school and in future;
• Gain a more resilient, confident and responsible approach to life so they can achieve their goals and play a positive role in society;
• Learn vital jobs skills such as presentation skills, communication and team work, and fuel their entrepreneurial spirit;
• Embrace a healthier, more active lifestyle as an important tool for success at school and beyond;
• Develop the ability to work and communicate with people from all ages and backgrounds.

Topsham School, Devon, has won £3,000 and a visit from the Sky Real Lives Channel through entering Sky and Global Action Plan’s Appetite for Action Competition.  Appetite for Action is a programme that aims to help primary schools reduce food waste.   

A poll of primary school teachers released last month, shows more than one in two teachers believe children are starting school having never been read a story at home. The research, carried out by Oxford University Press, also reveals a staggering 72% of teachers think primary school children today are less able to tell stories than they were 10 years ago. These are concerning findings given that reading and storytelling play a huge part in developing and improving children’s writing skills. 

Harrison Catering Services has introduced an innovative new programme offering parents the opportunity to buy freshly baked bread to help school fundraisers. The initiative is going ahead after a successful trial at Kingswood School in Lambeth.

John Stone, Chief Executive of LSN, the experts in learning and skills provision, commented: “I welcome David Willetts’ suggestion that Further Education (FE) colleges should offer degree courses, awarded externally by universities. Indeed many FE colleges across the country are already successfully offering externally-awarded degrees.

The UK’s economic recession has forged a new generation of home-grown entrepreneurs, with more than a third of respondents in the Education sector describing themselves as ‘self-employed’, and among the rest, half expressing a desire to work more independently, according to the latest survey from global workforce solutions leader Kelly Services.

Kneesall C of E Primary School in Newark, Nottinghamshire is set to protect its pupils from the dangers of UV radiation thanks to a Keep It Kool school development grant introduced to help champion the fight against childhood exposure to UV.

The grant, worth £4,000 is top prize in a competition Keep It Kool runs in its monthly e-newsletter and is to spend on improving the school’s external facilities.  Kneesall Primary School was randomly selected from over 700 entries.

With over 600 properties in its portfolio, Lighthouse Property Services is to be the first lettings firm in the UK to offer its student tenants an innovative wireless broadband service that can be used both at home, and throughout the university city of Lincoln - for free.

Chosen technology partner AB internet had earlier formed a ground-breaking partnership with the Lincoln Municipal community and the University as a pilot for similar rollouts across the UK, providing users with wireless broadband connectivity on their ‘phones and laptops, without the low speed, high cost and coverage restrictions normally associated with other technologies, such as 3G mobile internet.

It can often be difficult to take students on school trips these days, and yet, with communication developments making the world an increasingly smaller place, we all know it’s hugely important that young people do have the chance to learn about life beyond the school gate, and outside of their day-to-day experience. Even if they are arranged, though, these vital cultural experiences can be costly.

Luckily, films can take you to any place you could ever want to visit without the paperwork or expense, allowing children to engage in cultural activity each and every week. The FILMCLUB catalogue of movies, accessible for free to state schools who sign up to the scheme, comprises films that can take pupils on a journey to the Arctic tundra, Saharan desert, American metropolis and beyond, all seen through the eyes of characters with fascinating tales to tell that can enlighten and inspire. 

Schools are being encouraged to exhibit the benefits of outdoor learning by turning their playgrounds into art galleries for National School Grounds Week (7^th – 11^th June).

Organisers of the annual event have come up with a range of ways for schools and early years settings to use art to put creative approaches to learning on public display.

Learning through Landscapes (LTL) is offering schools and early years settings practical ideas on ways to harness outdoor art as a vehicle for learning across the curriculum. These activities, ranging from creating full scale models of dinosaurs to recreating doubles of all the school’s children in the form of life size portraits, will enable schools to participate in LTL’s great exhibition mission.

A secondary school teacher is urging others to follow her lead and play their part in developing new donors and "good citizens" for the future by using the award-winning "Give and Let Live" educational resource.

Jeanette Reaney, a teacher of Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE), has based lessons on the Give and Let Live Pack and website since it was first launched in 2007 and is calling for other schools to do the same to help support NHS Blood and Transplant's (NHSBT) aim of encouraging future generations of blood, organ, tissue and bone marrow donors.

Out of the UK secondary schools ranked inadequate by Ofsted in 2007/8, 89% of those re-inspected a year later had moved to either satisfactory or good status, according to new research from the Training and Development Agency for Schools (TDA).

The findings were launched at a TDA seminar “Challenging schools: the fact and fiction,” which saw education leaders debate the common misconceptions about challenging schools, and how to attract high quality teachers to work in them. 

The University and College Union (UCU) today (Wednesday) welcomed announcements in the budget of extra student places in universities and colleges. However, it said high quality education could not be delivered with fewer staff and bigger class sizes.

The union welcomed news of 20,000 additional university places, largely in STEM subjects, but questioned who would be teaching the extra students. The union said £270m additional funding looked like good news, but wouldn’t be able to repair the damage that will be done by the £900m cuts previously announced. UCU warned that job losses will be a casualty of the cuts, with many institutions already cutting posts.

An Indian street child who became a celebrated photographer, a youth offender from the UK who became a counsellor and a young man from a Nairobi slum who became a youth leader – these are among the stories featured in a new film launched by the International Award Association (IAA).

The film highlights the work of International Special Projects (ISP), an important initiative of the IAA which funds challenging new Award projects that target hard to reach young people. These include child soldiers in Côte d’Ivoire, indigenous youth in Canada and Australia, and young offenders in the UK, amongst others.

A generation of children is set to experience a thrilling journey of discovery from South Africa to the majestic Mongolian plains thanks to FILMCLUB’s ambitious new campaign.

The nationwide after-school initiative’s ‘Film Journeys’ campaign includes two diverse and far-reaching film seasons featuring great films from around the world, and two new world map posters (suitable for Primary and Secondary), which promote international cinema and are available FREE for all teachers - including non-FILMCLUB members. To request one simply email amanda.rook@fimclub.org with your school’s address, stating that you would like the Primary version.

Katie Price, as Patron of Vision Charity, expressed a wish to meet the children who, having seen her run the Marathon for Vision decided to raise money for the Charity. Through a sponsored fancy dress walk these children from The Orleans Park Secondary School in Richmond raised £2500 which they donated to Vision Charity an organisation that raises funds for blind, visually impaired and dyslexic children. She accepted the cheque from the students on behalf of Vision at a special ceremony.

The Local Education Authority is based on collaboration between Bradford Council and Serco PLC, an international service company which combines commercial know-how with a public service ethos. It improves services by managing people, processes, technology and assets more effectively.

There are 208 schools in the district and Education Bradford works with 180 of these, which subscribe to its ICT support and training offering. Within these schools, the backup regime has been largely managed by the school and as such a number of different types of tape based technology were used including Digital Linear Tape (DLT) and Digital Audio Tape (DAT). There was also a lack of standard on backup software. For a support organisation this was causing administration headaches for the team and resulting in lost data and time.

At A Glance

Line of Business

The Buckinghamshire ICT Schools Team aims to ensure access to a range of universal services within schools as well as developing more targeted services to meet the specialist needs of individual schools.

Objectives

As an ICT support team, Buckinghamshire ICT Schools Team needed to be able to manage all IT  services remotely, monitor and manage individual devices and networks and pre-empt any potential IT issues.

Result

Over 80 working days saved due to time and efficiency savings generated through automation. Reduced disruption for administrative staff, reduced IT downtime and lower IT risks, enabling schools to be more efficient and effective

Location:  Writhlington B&E Specialist School, Avon
Main Contractor:  Collinson plc
Application:  4 Court Tennis Hall
Size:  65m x 39.7m (2580m2)
Scope of Works:  Challenger™ Sports Building c/w doors, ventilation, rebound boards, netting, gutters, security cladding and lighting/ electrical controls

Collinson plc completed the construction of a four-court indoor tennis centre at Writhlington School, Bath and North East Somerset in November 2008.  With the previous two-court facility insufficient for their tennis development program, the school wanted to increase the facilities to four new covered courts and being at the top of the Mendip hills they needed a structure that would withstand the windy conditions!

Of all the current changes in the world of education, I personally see none as more exciting than the launch of the new Masters in Teaching and Learning (MTL) - the Government-funded, classroom-based professional qualification aimed at helping teachers to enrich their skills, knowledge and understanding.

The MTL is a new and very different kind of masters. It is a national qualification allowing participants to build on their previous educational development and immediately apply the theory that they’ve learned inside their own classroom – a model that borrows from successful masters in other fields, such as the MBA.

With tax and public spending high on the news agenda, teachers are being urged to take advantage of a free, online teaching resource that helps pupils learn just what tax is all about.

Specifically designed for Personal, Social, Health and Economic education (PSHE), Business Studies and Citizenship teachers of pupils aged 11-19, the Tax Matters resource contains three teaching modules, to help secondary school pupils gain an understanding of how tax is raised, what the main taxes are, and what they ultimately pay for.

The Bosch Technology Horizons Award competition is an easy to enter essay writing competition run by Bosch in partnership with The Royal Academy of Engineering. The award is open to all young people aged 14 to 24 with cash prizes available of up to £1000.

Now in its fifth year, the competition aims to raise the profile of engineering and technology among young people.

The deadline for entering the competition is fast approaching and many high quality essays have already been submitted. The deadline is 22^nd March, which still gives plenty of time to start planning, but research and time are needed for a well written essay.

At the 2010 Building Schools Exhibition and Conference (BSEC), Dulux Trade will be inviting delegates to experience its ‘Transforming Schools’ campaign first hand, with a stand that demonstrates how transforming a school’s interior can change students’ attitudes to learning and, subsequently, their academic performance.  

The Dulux Trade stand, 650, will re-create a working classroom environment. Divided into two areas, one side of the classroom will be smart, modern and stimulating, providing an instant visual comparison to its uninspiring counterpart, thereby reinforcing how cost effective changes, such as the colourful re-painting of a room, can improve a school and the learning experience for both teachers and pupils.

The Royal Albert Hall, one of the world’s cultural icons, will provide a free resource to support people teaching pupils outside the school system.  The Royal Albert Hall is releasing Showtime, a free e-learning resource that helps place functional skills into context by showing how English, Maths and ICT work behind the scenes at the world-famous entertainment venue. The Hall’s Learning & Participation Department is offering the interactive resource to home educators in the same way that it provides educational resources for schools. 

Schools across the South East, and from London boroughs south of the River Thames, are being urged to take part in the country’s premier forestry competition – whether or not they have trees on their grounds.

Prizes of £1000 for the winners and £500 for the runner up are on offer.

The Excellence in Forestry Awards 2010, run by the Royal Forestry Society, opens its doors for entries this month (January). As well as London boroughs south of the Thames, the competition covers West and East Sussex, Kent, Surrey, Hampshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Oxfordshire.

A new initiative to help teach children about the importance of healthy eating has just been launched in Cambridgeshire.

‘The Lunchbox Challenge' has been created by Cambridgeshire County Council's Personal, Social & Health Education (PSHE) Service with the support of Cambridgeshire Dietetic Business Unit. A key component of the resource is the Top Grub card game developed by Health Enterprise East, the region's NHS Innovation Hub based at Papworth Hospital.

Pupils at Alma Primary School in Enfield are now putting to good use their new school Play Garden which includes an impressive Climbing Structure and water play equipment.

As a school which teaches from a range of culturally diverse heritages and being in the heart of a major conurbation, the essentials of the new Play Garden design had to incorporate enough play elements that it would challenge the children each time they use it. Playgarden is an online retailer, www.playgardens.co.uk the sister company to established natural play specialist Timberplay.

There's no doubt that the internet has made a major contribution to the advance of human civilisation. It's built networks that connect people around the globe. Enabled the free dissemination of opinions, information and news. And broken down barriers and borders to allow new ideas, communities and cultures to flourish.

Of course, it's also massively increased the number of opportunities to spend time doing nothing remotely productive. 

Whether it's updating your status on Facebook twelve times a day, playing bingo at four in the morning, or spending your lunch hour watching clips of silly animals set to pounding techno, we've all experienced the endless possibilities of the internet to simply eat up the day.

Security has never been more relevant in the UK than it is today, from security at home and at work, to border control and surveillance.

Sadly, in the Education sector, there is a growing concern that schools and colleges are now also becoming subject to violent crime from some students who are smuggling knives and other weapons onto the premises, often concealed in their clothing or bags.

With violent crimes on the increase, the question now being asked is, "Can students and pupils (across all age groups) be adequately protected from these disturbing activities?"

ARDEX UK, premier manufacturers of high performance flooring products, teamed up with flooring contractor Sandafloor Limited of Gateshead, to provide over 3,500m2 of flooring underlayments for the new £36 million Bede Academy in Northumberland.

Bede Academy opened in September 2009, and is The Emmanuel Schools Foundation's first 3-18 school with Nursery, Primary and Secondary provision across two sites in Blyth on the Northumberland coast. Specialising in Engineering and Enterprise, the school will focus on extending conventional perceptions of engineering by providing specialist insights into aspects of biotechnology, environmental science and recycling technologies, sound and computer network engineering, medical and animal science, and naval and automotive systems and design. Sir Peter Vardy's Emmanuel Schools Foundation sponsors three other schools, Emmanuel College in Gateshead, The King's Academy in Middlesbrough and Trinity Academy in Thorne, Doncaster.

If they could have anything they wanted, anything at all, what features would caterers build into their 'dream machine' warewasher? That's what Winterhalter set out to discover before developing its new undercounter dish and glasswashers. The company commissioned research and then built a website, www.my-dream-machine.biz, where caterers from around the world were encouraged to build their perfect dream machine.

The result, says the company, is a range of undercounter warewashers that exactly meets the needs of the industry. The four key areas that the research highlighted were ease of operation, quality washing results, ease of maintenance, and low running costs. Winterhalter has developed new technologies to meet the demands of its customers and the UC Series sets the standards in each of the four areas. 

Birmingham Botanical Gardens & Glasshouses, with its well-earned reputation for the quality of its award-winning educational courses and facilities for children, has now also introduced special continuous professional development (CPD) courses for teachers, encouraging them to take their pupils beyond the confines of the traditional classroom.

Starting in September 2009, the courses support the Gardens' cross-curricular approach to learning science, English, geography, mathematics and art through the living world. They are aimed at teachers and teaching assistants, caretakers and youth leaders and other similar groups.

The new editions of these successful Leapfrogs PE Lesson Plans are packed full with invaluable information for non-specialist primary teachers on how to teach PE, its value and importance to the school curriculum.

Each book covers the national curriculum requirements for each year, covering games, gymnastic activities and dance in clearly labelled sections. Photocopiable lesson plans and additional teacher notes will help any primary teacher teach PE imaginatively and effectively.

FOLLOWING the shocking murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman in the quiet Cambridgeshire town of Soham, it became clear that a new system to protect children and other vulnerable groups was vital.

The girls' killer, Ian Huntley, was seen as an individual who could be trusted because of his job as a caretaker at the local community college, despite the fact that he had a history of inappropriate sexual behaviour.

Leading asbestos removal contractor, The Caswell Group are advising UK schools not to leave it too late to plan asbestos removal works over holiday periods.  They are offering all UK Schools a free audit/review of the schools existing asbestos registers. To book an appointment, call the Caswell Group on 01438 312504.

International property developer, Lend Lease, and Birmingham City Council have confirmed their partnership with Interbuild on Interbuild BSF - a new show dedicated to the Building Schools for the Future Programme.

Birmingham's BSF programme is the largest education construction programme in Europe, with 80 schools being rebuilt or refurbished with a capital budget of £4bn. 

Following on from the completion of a successful installation in 2008, Sovereign Play Equipment has been awarded the second phase in the outdoor play development at Springside with Hamer Learning Community in Rochdale.

Jane Herring, Head Teacher of Springside School commented: "Sovereign listened very carefully and really understood the needs of the children when the first stage of work was carried out last year. This success led us to asking them to return and discuss further designs for four different areas on the site."

School has just got a lot more colourful for students at Pudsey Grangefield School, Leeds.

The school's interior walls have been given a high impact new look with the help of super-sized graphic wall coverings and the inspirational images creating a real wow factor throughout the building. These full colour wall murals have been created by large format printers Digital Plus and the idea is set to catch on.

Becta has recently awarded a contract to Insight Direct (UK) to provide assistive technologies on all its Home Access packages when the scheme goes national later this year. Home Access is a government programme managed by Becta. It aims to ensure that more children in state-maintained education in England have access to technology at home to support learning. To ensure that all learners are catered for, regardless of their individual needs, all the packages available under the programme will come pre-loaded with a suite of assistive technology software. This has benefits not only for learners, but for their families too.

The Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC), which provides examinations and certification for the Commonwealth nations and territories situated in and around the Caribbean, is set to pilot DRS e-Marker® - an exercise which, if successful, could lead to full deployment of the education data capture specialist's electronic examination marking solution in the Caribbean.

With over 60 years experience, KI understand the distinct and evolving needs of the educational environment. They design furniture that facilitates learning and interaction between students and staff.

New Line Learning is an academy whose transformational learning vision is based upon a risk/resilience model. Pupils are individually evaluated over a six week period through curricular, emotional and social competencies, enabling assessment beyond predictive educational needs. The model aims to provide alternative life outcomes for this deprived community.

Hailed as the ‘greatest school renewal programme in British history', the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) initiative is aimed at improving the facilities of every secondary school in England. In recognition of its long standing relationship with the public sector, storage equipment specialists Action Storage is offering a range of products and services to assist schools in taking advantage of the largest capital investment programme in 50 years. 

Voice: the union for education professionals has welcomed the Children, Schools and Families Committee's Report Policy and delivery: The National Curriculum tests delivery failure in 2008 published today (23 July 2009). 

School pets can be great for children but where will they be kept during the school holidays? That's the question posed this week by leading veterinary charity PDSA. Amid concerns over the welfare of school pets during holidays the charity conducted a survey to discover where pets will be housed and who will look after them.  The results indicate that pets are often left with teachers and parents - who may be inexperienced pet owners.

The Childcare Act 2006, states that local authorities are required to provide information to parents and carers about childcare and other related subjects and, in response to this Kiosks4business has launched Parent Information Point (PIP) for schools. PIP is a kiosk-based information system to make family information and services easily available to parents and carers. It offers a touch screen ‘virtual receptionist' helping parents to answer simple enquiries unaided and allowing team members to focus on more complex problems.

The preview site for an innovative web based teaching resource designed to bring the justice system alive for pupils was unveiled today by Justice Minister Bridget Prentice and the Attorney General Baroness Scotland at a meeting of professionals within the Justice and Education sectors.

With the new geography GCSE syllabus, starting September 2009, to include the use of GPS devices, education technology provider DRS is planning to offer its own GPS device to the education market.  Designed as probably the world's simplest GPS device, this unique device was originally intended for census population registration projects around the world, for use in field data collection activities, but is well placed to be used in the new curriculum due to its simplicity and robustness.

Executive summary

As part of its current consultation into AS/A-level criteria in mathematics subjects, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) is proposing to introduce a new A-level in Use of Mathematics, to be taught from September 2011.

July 9th^th 2009 - Research conducted through the university comparison website www.whatuni.com reveals that, despite recent reports indicating up to 40,000 would-be students could miss out on university, a majority of its Year 13 members remain confident they will be offered a place - suggesting that many could be facing an unexpected disappointment come A-level day.  The research was based on a survey of 350 Year 13 students in June 2009.

The Secretary of State Ed Balls today announced the appointment of Christopher Baker as the new Chair of the Training and Development Agency for Schools who will take up the role from 1 September 2009 for a period of three years.

The Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) Clubs Network was launched today (Wednesday 8 July) by former Science Minister and President of STEMNET Lord Sainsbury at an event in Westminster, London.

HMRC has launched a new teaching resource for secondary schools - Tax Matters.

The free, online interactive resource includes videos, quizzes and games, as well as key facts and figures, to help young people learn about tax and its role in society.

Commenting on the change, George Bull, Head of Tax at accountancy firm Baker Tilly said: "Charities will potentially suffer from changes in the way buildings are classified which will come into effect on 1 July 2010.

Knowledgeable, innovative, skilful, fun-loving, caring, supportive, task and pupil centred - it's official - the most effective teachers are in a class of their own.  They stimulate a pupil's imagination, challenge their views, encourage them to do great things and motivate them through tailored teaching practices to ensure that every pupil feels a sense of achievement and valued as part of the class community. These are the latest findings of research funded in primary and secondary schools by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) into what makes good teachers even better. 

The General Teaching Council for England today approved a new Code of Conduct and Practice for registered teachers. The new Code has been developed through an extensive process of public and professional consultation over the last 18 months and will come into use in October 2009.

Schools could save £400 million a year if they bought desks, equipment and services more sensibly, according to a new report from the Audit Commission, the public spending watchdog.

‘Valuable lessons', published today, also says schools are sitting on cash reserves of nearly £2 billion. While the Commission believes it is reasonable for a school to carry over some money from year to year; almost two out of five schools hold more than the recommended amount. These excessive balances total over £500 million. (see * below)

TV Chef Phil Vickery made a special appearance and gave a cooking lesson at a Leicester school yesterday, to cook the winning recipe in his Cooking Academy competition (in association with Aldi and the Department for Children, Schools and Families) with lucky pupil Ellie-Mae Warden and her Year 4 class - please find attached some images from the day, plus our press release. The competition was designed to encourage kids and young people aged 7-14 to get cooking and teach them a range of essential kitchen skills.

Commenting on the news today (Wednesday) that university tuition fees will rise by 2.04% next year, but student grants and loans will remain frozen at last year's rates, the University and College Union (UCU) said the announcement did little to persuade people that the government was serious about education not becoming a victim of the recession.

Paralympian Ian Jones will be talking to pupils of all ages about his road to the 2012 Olympics and why he is proud to be an ambassador for Wythenshawe, as part of the Real Lives campaign - which tells people positive things about Wythenshawe.  Ian will be talking to pupils from Newall Green High School and St Anthony's Roman Catholic Primary School in separate workshops in June.

The Secretary of State for Education, Ed Balls MP, today chose Fulham Cross Girls' School to launch nationwide plans for chains of schools under single ‘super-heads'.

Last year local parents had their say on plans to bring Fulham Cross Girls' School together with its close neighbour Henry Compton School.

Welcoming the Government's Education White Paper, ‘Your child, your school, our future', the National College for School Leadership (NCSL) is pleased that the importance of good school leadership is being recognised as a vital part of the 21^st century schools system.

Its simple with www.eteach.com. Founded in 2000, Eteach is the UK's leading online education jobsite, offering the complete online solution for job-seekers and recruiters.