Schools have a duty of care to provide a safe learning and working environment for pupils, staff and visitors, says Patrick Lundie of interior surface specialists Altro. However, with such a vast array of flooring products on the market, it's not always easy to ensure that the coverings you choose are fit for purpose and will provide a safe surface to walk on.

Replacement Projectors

Many projectors in schools are coming to the end of their life and are due for replacement. The expectation is that this is a simple swap out for a new one but this hasn't always been as straight forward as it should be. It can sometimes be a costly experience as the throw distances older projectors operated within is longer than current projectors can manage. The result is the image size needed from the existing ceiling mount cannot be achieved.

UK schoolchildren are being offered the chance to design an experiment for a small satellite in an effort to boost interest in space science.

Sensitive information on school pupils is being put at risk by staff who take it home with them, an IT firm says.

A new online community for teachers and educational professionals launched recently to a flurry of activity. The UK Teachers Forums provides free help, support and advice to fellow educationalists and has dedicated sections for head teachers, SLT/SMT as well as various curriculum areas. Visit the forums at http://www.ukteachersforums.co.uk/

Ministers want Britain's top IT and science companies to encourage "career switchers" to go into teaching.

Increasing numbers of children claim they carry knives and bottles to defend themselves against bullies, according to a report based on children in care.

Pupils are being taught which cutlery to use and whether to remove their jackets at dinner at an independent school in Brighton.

Roger Terry has written NLP for Teachers: How to be a Highly Effective Teacher with education consultant Richard Churches.  This is a powerful tool for developing communication skills and supporting personal and professional development.  The book published by Crown House sold 700 copies in the first month, now in third reprint.  The book is available through Waterstones

Fear of getting into debt is putting many students from poor backgrounds off going to university, a report says.

Recently Helmsman, one of the UK's leading suppliers of personal storage, changing room equipment, electronic access and guest management systems went into administration.

Almost two out of five teachers think A-level marking has deteriorated over the past two years, research suggests.

The government has changed the new pupil progress tests in England, making them easier for children to pass.

Ex-servicemen and women should be retrained as teachers to bring military style discipline to tough inner city schools, a think tank has said.

Pupils could soon face assessments of their creativity under plans to boost the "soft skills" employers want.

Over the years there has been little attempt to co-ordinate the software used in schools with the software used in business and industry.   Generally this hasn't been seen as too much of a problem - since it has always been assumed that employers will train new staff in the software that they happen to use.

The highly dangerous practice of wedging open fire doors is illegal and dangerous because - in a real fire emergency - smoke and flames can spread rapidly with the risk of life-threatening injuries. Dorgard is a wireless solution to this problem, offering the simplest, most cost-effective way of legally holding open fire doors safely in any position, automatically releasing them should the fire alarm sound.

That is the government's official line on the Teacher Net web site, and there are few teachers who would argue with that statement.

Anchor Fast is a Doncaster based manufacturer of a wide range of wood and wood/concrete picnic benches,tables and chairs.It is a long established company and counts thousands of schools,leisure and sports clubs among its customers.

The security gates in the Learning Resource Centre at the new build Weston Favell School, remind students to check books in and out.  "The gates are just a gentle reminder that the books in the library are of value to the school and  students.  Our students are very responsible and really appreciate their smart new Learning Resource Centre so we have very low book loss."

Foremans Relocatable Building Systems, the UK's largest supplier of pre-owned modular buildings to the education sector, has launched a new website. 

Caterham School in Surrey has been given a new lease of life by Altro, after replacing the wall cladding throughout the campus for a striking new look.

Pinnacle Power Equipment distributes the Billy Goat range of sweeper vacs in the UK.

This range of professional quality power equipment is the number one seller in the country and it's easy to see why.

New figures were released last month, which once again suggest that UK schools are facing a teacher shortage in certain key subjects. This time, the research was carried out by Professor John Howson at consultants Education Data surveys. He points out that the number of teacher trainee applicants has fallen by nine per cent compared with this time last year. The drop is most noticeable in subjects such as Physics (down 30 per cent) Maths and English (down 15 per cent) Information and Communications Technology (16 per cent) and Geography (14 per cent).

STAEDTLER is delighted to announce the launch of World Kids Colouring Day.  This imaginative project aims to celebrate the creativity of young children worldwide and also give practical assistance to those children denied even basic educational opportunities.

ETT 2008, again provided the platform from which suppliers to the education market could showcase a wide variety of software products available to aid with the running of schools both in the UK and overseas. At the last count footfall had totalled almost 29,000 making it the highest attended event yet proving that ICT is still of the highest importance and value in the modern day teaching environment. What is most interesting is that 19% of the attendees were from overseas, which means that BETT has once again retained its title as the largest and most truly international technology show within education.

After a busy first day at the show, the BETT awards took place at the Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. The event not only recognises pioneering suppliers within this part of the sector but also the close working partnership between Becta and BESA. Judges review the entries based on criteria including design, cost-effectiveness, support of higher order thinking skills and effective learning and teaching styles. The technical criteria against which the awards were judged focused on the robustness and resilience of each product, and its accessibility for those with specific needs.

To all intents and purposes the school classroom has remained unchanged in its basic design for over 50 years. There is a teacher with a teacher's desk, and there are pupils and students who sit and write at their desks.

Sharp Electronics (UK) Ltd has launched two new handheld calculator models - the EL-233S and the EL-M332 aimed at primary school children of all ages.

California Raisins has been involved with schools catering and school sports for a number of years now. The annual competition to find the healthiest school canteen is just one of the ways California Raisins try to actively encourage children to eat a healthy balanced diet.

The changing emphasis of modern education is presenting schools with a growing number of challenges. Increasing demands from standards bodies and central and local government mean that senior management teams face mounting difficulty in creating a cohesive plan to run their schools.

The new Stiletto Five from Whitecroft Lighting is a surface mounted T5 luminaire that combines competitive pricing and a robust, easy-clean design with a modern and attractive appearance. It is ideal for use in educational establishments, shopping centres and a range of other applications where durability is as important as lighting performance

Leading online teacher recruitment website eteach.com has appointed The Remarkable Group on a nationwide marketing and communications agency brief to support its ongoing growth.

Twenty years ago education was turned into a marketplace as the government of the day insisted that schools should compete with each other in attracting parents and their children.

Saville Audio Visual has marked twenty years of publication with a landmark double edition of Professional Audio Visual Solutions 2008.

The government has made no secret of its plans to get every child online at home by 2010 in order that they can make effective use of school learning platforms. But the problem remains that a large number of families cannot afford the technology necessary to join in. In addition, there are concerns that the technology that already exists in schools is not being used effectively enough.

The National Skills Academy for Financial Services is the new standard for excellence in training and skills education in the financial sector. The first of four nationwide Academy locations to go live is a shared development between the City College Norwich and local businesses based in the college's St Andrews House site in the city centre. To enable effective communication throughout the site - a vital consideration in any modern facility - City College Norwich, which manages the Norwich Academy, installed Digital Signage equipment from leading UK manufacturer, ONELAN.

A new desk system for schools

Akhter Computers plc, who has supplied PCs to schools for three decades, recently launched their first IT desks. The Desk8 system was designed in the UK, to help schools keep their PCs secure. The move into desks is in response to a need that schools have for a value for money IT desk system that is robust, flexible and secure; with tidy cable management. Desk8 has been received with some enthusiasm by schools.    

The award-winning South Yorkshire e-Learning Programme (SYeLP) is celebrating seven years of positive impact in Sheffield.

Customer service is at the core of the company and many of our staff members have been at Sound Performance over 10 years. This means that not only do our staff have a high level of training but they are also experts in their field. We are passionate about the work we do and care about getting it right for each and every customer.

Many schools are still using loose mats or recessed coir matting for entrance areas, which breach a whole raft of laws, including the Health & Safety at Work Act 1974 and BS8300: 2001.

New to Schüco's AWS aluminium window range is the Schüco AWS 105 CC.HI, a specialist window that delivers extremely high levels of sound reduction (up to 48 dB with appropriate glass) combined with excellent thermal insulation (typical ‘U' value 1.6 W/m2 K for a 1200mmx1200mm window).

Building on the enormous success of the Forest FX wood-effect sheet vinyl range, commercial flooring specialist Polyflor has launched Stone FX - an eye catching collection of 12 mottled granite and stone designs.

3rd March 2008 was named as the first International Dyscalculia Day by the Dyscalculia Forum. The aim of the day was to spread the word as to what Dyscalculia is (the inability to handle mathematical concepts at the level one would expect from that individual's general intelligence) and what can be done about it.

PhunkyFoods, a company which provides a healthy eating and physical activity programme for school children, has just launched a new City and Guilds Level 2 qualification for teachers and classroom assistants to enable them to educate children in the benefits of nutrition and healthy eating in line with government recommendations.

The Greenwood Academy in Dreghorn is a £25m new build forming part of North Ayrshire Council and Hochtief UK's joint PFI schools building project.  The construction of the 70,000 sq ft three-storey secondary school for 1,500 pupils is due for completion later this year and features 12,000m2 of AMF ceiling systems installed in all classrooms and circulation areas.

Galt Educational, experts in Early Years resources, will be exhibiting its diverse range of educational products, which inspire learning and promote play from birth up to age seven at the Early Years & Primary Teaching Show. Galt has introduced a range of ideal nursery environments, which will maximise the potential of any nursery or classroom settings.

Muratec has concluded a partnership agreement with Fast Technology. Under the agreement Fast Technology will provide customers with Muratec multifunctional devices for no initial capital expenditure. In return customers will agree to purchase consumable supplies exclusively from Fast Technology for the operational life of the Muratec multifunctional.

School refusal is a crippling condition in which children experience extreme anxiety or panic attacks when faced with everyday school life and this handbook aims to explore and raise awareness of the problem of school refusal in children and young people, and provide plans and strategies for education, health and social care professionals for identifying and addressing this problem.

The latest addition to this series, designed the engage students with literature, is King Lear. Developed by English teachers and theatre-in-education specialists, each resource combines: