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Issue 03 27 January 2012
The newsletter can also be found on the Archive Derby City Council website.
.

Please ensure that your colleagues are seeing the school circular each week. If they would like
adding to our mailing list, please let us know on 01332 256300.

Please send articles for the School Circular to schoolcircular@derby.gov.uk by midday on a
Thursday.

Contents
Key

= for information
 = for action
 2011 KEY STAGE 2 VALIDATED DATA COMING SOON TO RAISEonline

 CITRIX AND VISION ESSENTIAL MAINTENANCE

 COMBINING THE OLYMPICS AND ICT - LESSON IDEAS

 CONSULTATION: PROPOSAL TO ‘MERGE’ CHADDESDEN PARK INFANT & NURSERY AND
CHADDESDEN PARK JUNIOR SCHOOLS TO FORM A PRIMARY SCHOOL

 ECO-SCHOOLS CONFERENCE 2012

 EVENT AT ST ANDREW’S SCHOOL

 FREE TEA-TIME TASTER EVENT AT GLOBAL EDUCATION DERBY

 GROUNDWORK GREEN LEARNERS PROGRAMME

 HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING COURSES FEBRUARY TO APRIL 2012

 HLTA AWARENESS BRIEFING

 HR OPERATIONS UPDATE

 INCLUSION MANAGEMENT TEAM: KEY DATES AND NETWORKS

 INFORMATION MANAGEMENT - SOLD SERVICES PACKAGE

School Circular 1
 KS2 WRITING MODERATION IN 2012

 NARROWING THE GAP FOR FSM PUPILS

 NATIONAL LIBRARIES DAY - SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2012

 SAFEGUARDING

 STATUTORY POLICIES FOR SCHOOLS

 “THE BURIED MOON” – SHOW AND WORKSHOP

 UPDATE ON FREE LAPTOPS

 WANTED WOODEN P.E. BENCH

Thanks to everyone who came along to the Head Teachers Briefing Session last week. Several of you have
contacted me about the reading scheme and help with literacy from business, the information pack will be
sent by email to you. Hope you have felt this useful and let me know how it goes in your school.

Also, once again, well done to our schools for their good results at KS1, KS2, GCSE and A levels last year.
We look forward to further successes at all our schools in 2012.

 1. UPDATE ON FREE LAPTOPS

We have had a great uptake for the laptops; they have now all been allocated and are in the process of
being distributed to the schools who requested them.

All the free laptops have been allocated and we will let you know if any more are donated.

Lynda Poole, Director of Learning & Inclusion

FOR THE ATTENTION OF ALL SCHOOLS

 2. INFORMATION MANAGEMENT - SOLD SERVICES PACKAGE

You will have been busily looking through the sold services pack and agreeing with your governing bodies
which services your school will be purchasing. I have had a number of queries from schools about my
team’s service that is delivered to schools. You will note that information management appears on pages
71-72 for maintained schools and 121 for academies. I know it is a long document to go through to select
the right service for your school but it is shorter than the Argos catalogue!

Our team provides schools with support for statutory returns such as School Census and assessments
(including e1 assessment tracking); supports funding calculations; provision of school analysis packs;
matched data through school partner; FFT data.

Charges for 2012/13 financial year are:

Maintained Nurseries and Special schools £100
Maintained schools £260
Academies £800

School Circular 2
The reason I have been able to keep our costs down for maintained schools this year is that we are only
recouping our out going costs for licences. The rest of the service is supplied as core service. I will be
required to review the sustainability of this lower charge for next year.

As there is no direct contribution from the DSG in order for schools to continue accessing school partner and
other services listed in the pack, it is important schools tick the Information Management box on the sold
services form.

If you are unsure or need further information please contact Mohammed Jamil.

Contact: Mohammed Jamil, Senior Information Officer Tel 01332 642709 or by email:
mohammed.jamil@derby.gov.uk

Resources
HR / PAYROLL
 3. HR OPERATIONS UPDATE

School Package
Our 2012-13 School package is set out in two parts giving the school the option to purchase individual
components or the whole package, whichever meets your needs.

Strategic HR Support – some of the services provided are
 Disciplinary, Grievance and Capability cases
 Attendance Manager – referrals and reviews
 Restructuring and redundancy
 Compromise agreements – with full legal support
 Employment tribunals
 Equalities and Diversity

HR Operations – some of the services provided are
 Recruitment – Advice, Advertising vacancies, CRB, Pre employment checks, Teacher supply
service, New starter
 Managing employment – from starters to leavers, changes, statutory and non statutory requirements,
all payments, travel and subsistence, court orders etc.
 Sickness triggers and absence and annual leave management – Parental leave
 Year end – all year end including LGPS and Teachers Pension
 Statutory reports – e.g. TP17 Teachers Pension and Workforce census
 Issue Contracts within 1 month of starting employment with us
 Issue Contract change letters within 1 month of notification
 Lifestyle – including child care, bikes, long service awards
 Payments made to statutory and non statutory bodies within the required deadlines
 School establishments
 Bespoke reports
 Statutory and non statutory reports

If you require any further information on the

1. services we provide, or
2. if you would like to chat about the needs of your service
3. would like us to visit you to discuss any part of our service

School Circular 3
Please contact us, for Strategic HR Support, Celia Dyson 01332 643668, for HR Operations, Faye
Dulon 01332 643514, Sue Farmer, Relationship Manager 01332 643726. You can also e-mail us at
payroll.services@derby.gov.uk.

We believe that with our new restructure we offer real value for money, with all our staff going the ‘extra
mile’ to support the Schools in these challenging times.

Should you not wish to take advantage of our excellent service packages that provide exceptional value for
money, you will need to be aware that as we still have responsibility under the LA regulations to provide
certain services for the schools, there will still be administration costs that would apply in this case.

Teachers’ Pension
To reflect the Government’s proposals for the reform of public service pension schemes, the Department for
Education has introduced a system of tiered contributions from 1 April 2012.

The employer’s rate of contributions remains at 14.1%. However the teacher’s rate of contributions will be
tiered from 1 April 2012, as below:

Lower HigherContribution Increase
salary salaryrate in (against 6.4%)
2012/2013
£14,999.00 6.4% 0%
£15,000.00 £25,999.00 7.0% 0.6%
£26,000.00 £31,999.00 7.3% 0.9%
£32,000.00 £39,999.00 7.6% 1.2%
£40,000.00 £74,999.00 8.0% 1.6%
£75,000.00 £111,999.00 8.4% 2.0%
£112,000.00 8.8% 2.4%

Schools Secure Share Point Update
Following our previous notification I would like to provide an update:

For all those schools that provided us with the required information to enable staff to access this site, you
should now have received a password and guidance on how to access the site.

We have loaded information and templates on the front page for the schools to access. Example of these
are:
 School starter form
 Leaver form
 Parental leave form
 Staff B1 sickness form
 Staff J form
 Green book conditions of service
 Teachers conditions of service
 Pay Negotiating Bodies.

This site is a two way information vessel where you are able to open up your school file and load any
completed documents or any information you would like us to receive in HR Operations.

Our staff will check these school files daily. This is a safe, effective and timely way of getting your ‘staff
changes’ information to us, rather than by post or blue bag.

For Schools who would like access to the site could you please provide us with the following information:
 names of 2 employees who will need the access
 their e-mail address, and

School Circular 4
 their telephone number.

Please e-mail this information to payroll.services@derby.gov.uk and we will arrange for you to have
access.

ICT
 4. CITRIX AND VISION ESSENTIAL MAINTENANCE

We have essential maintenance to the Citrix Access Gateway all day on Tuesday 7 February 2012. This
means that Citrix and Vision will be unavailable all day.

Apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

Contact: Angela Gregson, Senior ICT Client Support Officer Tel: 01332 642670 or by email:
angela.gregson@derby.gov.uk

Learning and Inclusion
 5. STATUTORY POLICIES FOR SCHOOLS

The Department for Education has now produced a document for all schools – Statutory Policies for Schools
- this outlines the policies and other documents governing bodies are legally required to hold.

Governing bodies are required to hold each of these documents. However, the drafting of school policies
can be delegated to any member of school staff. There is no requirement for all policies to be reviewed
annually. The document also outlines how often each policy must be reviewed, where this is prescribed in
regulations.

Academies and Free Schools have greater freedoms than maintained schools in relation to school policies
and other documents. Where relevant, arrangements applying to these schools are noted against each
entry.

From September 2012, subject to parliamentary procedure, maintained schools will no longer be required to
have in place a:

 curriculum policy
 prospectus.

You may also be interested in statutory guidance for schools.

Contact: Lucy Wigley, Tel: 256750 or by email: lucy.wigley@derby.gov.uk

SAFEGUARDING YOUNG PEOPLE AND CHILDREN
FOR THE ATTENTION OF HEADTEACHERS AND SCHOOL LEADERS IN SCHOOLS AND
EARLY YEARS SETTINGS

School Circular 5
 6. SAFEGUARDING

In this weeks’ mailing your school will have received a booklet titled ‘Assured Safeguarding: Ensuring that
leaders know that children are being kept safe’. This edition is designed to help leaders of schools and early
years settings reassure themselves they are doing everything possible to ensure that children within their
jurisdiction are as safe as possible.

We hope that leaders will use this as a self assessment when reflecting on their personal safeguarding
practice.

For further information, please contact: Paula Nightingale, Additional Educational Needs Consultant
Tel. 01332 256335 or by email: paula.nightingale@derby.gov.uk

INCLUSION
 7. INCLUSION MANAGEMENT TEAM: KEY DATES AND NETWORKS

The Inclusion Management Team includes:

The Education of Children Looked After Team
The Additional Educational Needs Team
The New Communities Support Team and
The Ethnic Minority Achievement Team

Members from all four teams and myself will be present at:

The Inclusion Network Meeting on Wednesday 29 February 4.00 – 5.30pm at The Training and
Development Centre, Kedleston Road. This will be an opportunity to find out more about the work of these
four teams (above) and also an opportunity for informal conversation and question and answer with team
managers. This is a new Network meeting and does not replace or replicate the SEN Network meetings
(see below). The target audience is Inclusion Managers, Senior Managers and any staff with responsibilities
in and around the areas above.

Thursday 23rd February – EMAT Network for New Practitioners: Supporting New Arrivals in Primary
and Secondary Schools. Kedleston Road, Room 18
Target audience: Learning support professionals / Teaching assistants with little or no previous experience
of working with pupils with English as an additional language needs. This session aims to support schools
with developing strategies to meet the needs of new arrivals, including:
 Creating a welcoming environment
 Working effectively with parents and carers
 Short term induction support

Tuesday 6th March 2012 Primary Special Educational Needs Network, 1.30-3pm, Kedleston Road
Training and Development Centre:*
Agenda to include: Local and National Updates, Safeguarding: key messages by Mark Sobey, Focus on
Dyslexia by Village Primary School

Wednesday 7th March 2012 Designated Teacher for Children in Care Network Meeting 4pm – 5.30pm
at St James Junior School, Reginald Street, Derby

School Circular 6
Agenda to include: Key Speaker: Jo Moore on the Targeted Mental Health in Schools Project (TaMHS) plus
Information sharing including: New PEP Forms, New PEP Process, Quizzical Project, Preparation for SATs
and GCSE

Tuesday 13 March 2012 Secondary Special Educational Needs Network, 2.00 – 4.30pm at Chellaston
School *, Swarkestone Road, Chellaston, Derby
Agenda to include : Local and National Updates, Safeguarding: key messages by Mark Sobey; Input by
Richard Lakin Acting Head of the Educational Psychology Service, opportunities for networking

Wednesday 13 June 2012 Designated Teacher for Children in Care Network Meeting 4pm – 5.30pm at
The Kingsmead School, Bridge Street, Derby
Agenda to include: Key Speaker: Dr. Sarah Atkinson Precision teaching Review plus Information sharing,
Working with Governors

Tuesday 19th June 2012 Primary Special Educational Needs 1.30-3.00, Kedleston Road Training and
Development Centre: *
Agenda to include: Celebration of Good SEN Practice by various schools

* All the Special Educational Needs Network meetings are open to Headteachers, SMT, Inclusion
Managers, SENCos and Support staff. It is helpful to inform us in advance if you intend to be present,
please email Paula Nightingale, Additional Educational Needs Consultant, paula.nightingale@derby.gov.uk
or telephone 256335.

Wednesday 27 June 2012 Learn the Child: A Conference for Children in Care and other traumatised
young people, 9.00am – 4.00pm(refreshments from 8.45am) Dave Mackay Suite, DCFC Pride Park

Focus: Safe Spaces, Nurturing Communities
Understanding Trauma
Managing Stress, Managing Behaviour
Behaviour and the Physical Environment
Implications for Practice

Objectives;
Understand the impact of unregulated stress on development and learning
Develop strategies to help children and young people to manage stress more effectively
Develop skills in creating an environment that promotes positive behaviour
Equipping ourselves and our schools to build success and raise lifetime attainment for our most vulnerable
children

Cost including the Learn the Child book and DVD
£80 for Derby area LA schools
£95 for non LA and out of area schools

Target audience: Multi Agency to include: Designated Teachers, SENCOs, Learning Support staff, Heads,
Governors CAMHS, Health, Foster Carers, Adoptive Parents and Residential Home staff.

To book a place or for any enquiry please contact Catherine Ward, tel: 256769 or
catherine.ward@derby.gov.uk

For more information about any of the above please contact Graham Falgate, Inclusion Manager on
Tel 256327 or by email at graham.falgate@derby.gov.uk

QUALITY, STANDARDS & PERFORMANCE
 8. KS2 WRITING MODERATION IN 2012

School Circular 7
In 2012, moderation of KS2 writing will take place on a non-statutory basis so that proposals can be trialled
and evaluated. Statutory moderation will then be introduced from 2013. .

Moderators will be required to carry out moderation visits in 3-5 schools. The purpose of this visit is to
confirm whether the school’s teacher assessment in writing is sufficiently reliable and valid to be used for
school accountability and, if not, how the school should change it. As recommended by the Bew review,
moderation visits will consider ordinary work produced across Year 6. Schools are not required to create
‘portfolios’ of work.

We are aiming to recruit a small number of moderators who are qualified teachers with recent experience of
KS2 writing. Moderators will be required to pass a standardisation exercise to show that they understand
and can apply national standards. Moderators will need to be available for between 5 – 7 days during the
summer term. Supply cover and travel costs for this will be met by the LA.

Any teachers interested in becoming moderators should contact Christine Tarpey having first sought
agreement from their headteacher.

Further information can be found at
http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/teachingandlearning/assessment/monitoring/b00200837/key-stage-2-
writing-moderation-in-2012

Contact: Christine Tarpey, Head of Quality, Standards and Performance Tel: 01332 256307 or by
email: christine.tarpey@derby.gov.uk

NARROWING THE GAP
 9. NARROWING THE GAP FOR FSM PUPILS

Two websites are listed below that provide some valuable information and funding opportunities to help
schools improve the progress and attainment of pupils from poorer backgrounds.

1. The Sutton Trust Toolkit of Strategies to Improve Learning: Summary for schools spending the Pupil
Premium

The aim of this report is to summarise research evidence on improving leaning and attainment so as to help
schools in making informed choices about how to support their pupils on allocation the Pupil Premium.

www.suttontrust.com/research/toolkit-of-strategies-to-improve-learning

2. Education Endowment Fund

The Sutton Trust has been awarded a £125 million arm's length grant by the Government to
establish a major new initiative to boost the attainment of some of the country's most disadvantaged
children.

The Education Endowment Fund (EEF) will be used to initiate grants and seek proposals from
schools, teachers, local authorities and charities to improve the performance of poor pupils in the
country's most challenging schools. The focus is on supporting innovation and on scaling up projects
which have a measurable impact on attainment or a directly related outcome. It is envisaged that as
much as £200 million will be allocated in total over the 15 year lifetime of the programme - with the
extra money coming from fund-raising and investment returns.

www.educationendowmentfoundation.com

School Circular 8
Ofsted update

At the last Director’s briefing the following documents referred to further advice that has been published by
Ofsted; this has been edited as follows:

 Subsidiary Guidance for Secondary Heads

 Subsidiary Guidance for Primary Schools

 Further Guidance for Pupil Referral Units

 Further Guidance for Special Schools

Contact: Sue Vasey, Senior School Improvement Tel: 01332 256336 or by email:
sue.vasey@derby.gov.uk

Performance and Improvement
INFORMATION MANAGEMENT

FOR THE ATTENTION OF ALL PRIMARY HEAD TEACHERS

 10. 2011 KEY STAGE 2 VALIDATED DATA COMING SOON TO RAISEonline

Ofsted has announced the provisional dates for the release of 2011 Key Stage 2 validated data. These
dates may be subject to change. If amendments are required, then we will be notified via the latest news
section of the RAISEonline website.

 Key Stage 2 validated data interactive reports – Tuesday 21 February 2012 late evening
 Key Stage 2 validated data summary reports – Friday 24 February 2012 late evening

The Key Stage 2 validated data will reflect the outcome of requests for changes to the data during the July
2011 Schools and Colleges Tables checking period and changes made as a result of marking reviews. The
validated data may not reflect the outcome of any changes of any late or ongoing appeals, or of late-
resolved maladministration cases.

Website: www.raiseonline.org

Contact: Debbie Peters, Information and Performance Analyst Tel: 01332 642710 or by email
debbie.peters@derby.gov.uk

Neighbourhoods

ENVIRONMENT & REGULATORY SERVICES

School Circular 9
DERBY SCHOOLS CARBON CHALLENGE

 11. ECO-SCHOOLS CONFERENCE 2012

The 2012 Eco-Schools conference will take place on Friday 23rd March in The Whitworth Centre, Darley
Dale. This conference is free of charge to all Derby City and Derbyshire teachers.
Workshops include:
 Whole school approach - Lifeworlds Learning
 Background to Sustainability - WWF Education
 Energy – Derby City & Derbyshire County Councils
 Waste - Derby City & Derbyshire County Councils
 Transport – Derbyshire County Council
 Food, farming and sustainability – Farming & Countryside Education
 Biodiversity for beginners – Peak District National Park Authority & Natural England
 Green Learners – Groundwork
 School grounds – Derbyshire Wildlife Trust

To reserve a place please follow this link:
http://www.derbyshire.gov.uk/education/schools_colleges/eco_schools/events/booking_form/default.asp

Academies and Maintained Schools are now eligible to apply for loans for energy efficiency in
schools.

See Dec 16 circular for original article. Applications will be processed on first come first served basis so
early submission of applications is beneficial.

It has been agreed that the project payback period for Maintained Schools and Academies (see
http://www.salixfinance.co.uk/media.html for press release) can include projects that have a payback of up
to 7.5 years. Repayments will begin in March 2013. There is a specific compliance tool for schools to use
and this can be obtained by contacting Suad Omer directly.

Suad Omer, Client Support, Salix Finance. Tel: 020 3178 2150 or by email:
suad.omer@salixfinance.co.uk

Contact: Bridget Bradley Tel: 01332 255956 or by email: bridget.bradley@derby.gov.uk

 12. HEALTH AND SAFETY TRAINING COURSES FEBRUARY TO APRIL 2012

Congratulations to all the school managers who have attended our mandatory Health and Safety
training courses.

There are still dates and places available for those who need to attend. Early booking is advisable as
courses fill up fast. If in doubt give us a shout.

February
Tues - 7 pm General Risk
Wed - 8 am General Risk
Thurs - 9 am Stress
Thurs - 9 pm Stress
Fri – 10 pm Accident investigation at Celtic House
Wed -15 am Accident investigation – Half term
Thurs - 16 am Stress – Half Term
Thurs - 16 pm Stress – Half Term
Mon - 20 am General Risk
Mon - 20 pm General Risk

School Circular 10
Tues - 21 am Schools Management of Health and Safety
Tues - 21 pm Stress
Wed - 22 pm Stress
Fri – 24 am General Risk at Celtic House
Wed - 29 pm Stress
March
Thurs - 1 am Accident investigation
Thurs - 1 pm Accident investigation
Fri – 2 am Stress at Celtic House
Fri – 2 pm Stress at Celtic House
Mon - 5 am Accident investigation
Mon - 5 pm Accident investigation
Tues - 6 am Stress
Tues - 6 pm Stress
Tues - 6 am Managing Asbestos
Wed - 7 am Schools Management of Health and Safety
Wed - 7 am General Risk
Wed - 7 pm General Risk
Thurs - 8 am Group Leader EVC
Thurs – 8 am Control of Legionella
Mon - 12 am Stress
Thurs - 15 am Education Visits CO
Thurs - 15 am Manual Handling
Fri – 16 am General Risk at Celtic House
Fri – 16 pm General Risk at Celtic House
Mon - 19 pm General Risk
Tues - 20 am Accident investigation
Tues - 20 pm Accident investigation
Wed - 21 am General Risk
Wed - 21 pm General Risk
Thurs - 22 am Stress
Thurs - 22 pm Stress
Tues - 27 am Accident investigation
Tues - 27 pm Accident investigation
Wed - 28 am Stress
April
Tues 17 am Schools Management of Health and Safety
Mon 23 am COSHH
Wed 25 am Schools Management of Health and Safety
Wed 25 am General Risk
Mon 30 am Manual Handling

Please fill in the booking forms and raise an oracle order if this applies and let us have your forms as soon
as possible as places fill up fast. Please state an alternative date on your booking forms.

Health and Safety documents can still be accessed through Training Courses and E-learning - Health and
Safety

All courses are at Kedleston Road Training Centre unless otherwise stated.

Fur further assistance please email: employee.healthandsafety@derby.gov.uk or Tel: 01332 642381

LIBRARY SERVICES

School Circular 11
13. NATIONAL LIBRARIES DAY - SATURDAY 4 FEBRUARY 2012
The City Library Service is running two family events on National Libraries Day. Please help by promoting
these to your children and their families. Both events are free and there’s no need to book. Everyone
welcome!

Vampires vs Werewolves Game Show at Central Library
Saturday 4 February 10.30am to 11.30am

Featuring Scream Street author Tommy Donbavand and based around the relics in his popular series, this
event promises to be a noisy, fun, fast-paced, action-packed, interactive sequence of games guaranteed to
get children excited about reading.

Children are invited to come dressed as a spooky character. There will be prizes for the best costumes.

A selection of Tommy’s books will be on sale and he will be happy to sign at the end.

Meet children’s author Caroline Pitcher at Allestree Library
Saturday 4 February 10.15am to 12.30pm

Children and their families can drop in any time during the session to hear Caroline reading from her books
and find out more about her books and get top tips for writing their own stories.

More information about either of these events is available on the libraries website at
www.derby.gov.uk/libraries or by contacting the appropriate library.

Call Central Library on 01332 641701 or email central.library@derby.gov.uk
Call Allestree Library on 01332 559761 or email allestree.library@derby.gov.uk

School Organisation and Provision
SCHOOL ORGANISATION
 14. CONSULTATION: PROPOSAL TO ‘MERGE’ CHADDESDEN PARK INFANT & NURSERY
AND CHADDESDEN PARK JUNIOR SCHOOLS TO FORM A PRIMARY SCHOOL

Derby City Council is consulting on a proposal to ‘merge’ Chaddesden Park Infant & Nursery School
and Chaddesden Park Junior Schools to form a single primary school from September 2012.

Further information on the proposal is available on Derby City Council’s website which can be viewed by
clicking on the following link:

http://www.derby.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/consultations/your-city-your-say-latest-consultations/

The closing date for comments on the proposal is Monday, 27 February 2012.

Other information
 15. HLTA AWARENESS BRIEFING

School Circular 12
The next HLTA cohort in Nottinghamshire will commence in the summer term 2012.

To find out more about the HLTA Status please attend our Awareness Briefing on Tuesday 7th February at
4pm at the All Saints Centre, Sutton in Ashfield, NG17 2JT, further details are on the attached flyer.

Please contact Emma Stephenson at The University of Northampton on either hlta@northampton.ac.uk or
01604 893527 to book a place or for more information.

Please do not hesitate to contact the University if you have any queries or cannot attend the HLTA
Awareness Briefing on the 7th February.

Contact: Emma Stephenson, HLTA Administrator – The University of Northampton Tel: 01604
893527 or by email: emma.stephenson@northampton.ac.uk.

 16. EVENT AT ST ANDREW’S SCHOOL

"On Top of the World - Singing"
A magical musical evening with the DERBYSHIRE CONSTABULARY MALE VOICE CHOIR
7.45pm on Friday 2nd March 2012 @ da Vinci Community College
In aid of St Andrew's School, Derby
Ticket Prices £5.00 / £4.00 concessions
Tickets are available from St Andrew's School on 01332 832746 or by calling Sue on 07966 164754

 17. WANTED WOODEN P.E. BENCH
Does any school have a traditional wooden P. E. bench surplus to their requirements? Either 12” or 18”
high and any length from 7ft to 11ft will do.

Please contact John Morris, Site Manager at Mickleover Primary School on Derby 514052 or 07799
594702

 18. COMBINING THE OLYMPICS AND ICT - LESSON IDEAS

We have set up a twitter account @olympicICT #olympicICT as a place for ICT leaders, teachers,
enthusiasts and learners to share lesson ideas on combining ICT and Olympics learning.

Please feel free to follow, tweet ideas or mention. It would be really great for our teaching, learning
and pupils if we could gather and use ideas from around the world.

Feel free to spread the word far and wide.

Alex and Martin, St James' Junior School and Portway Junior School

Contact: Alex Wilde, Federation of St James' CE Infant, Nursery and Junior Schools & Rosehill
Infant and Nursery School Tel: 01332 229229 or by email: A.Wilde@stjamesfederation.derby.sch.uk

 19. THE BURIED MOON – SHOW AND WORKSHOP

School Circular 13
Older than our granny, this traditional tale takes us back to the marshy swamps of Lincolnshire.
Spooky shadows, beautiful puppets and naughty performers weave together to bring to life this very
old tale from the wilds of Lincolnshire.
Click on the link and see a clip of the show. http://www.babblingvagabonds.co.uk

 A show suitable for all ages, from foundation to KS2 (and teachers too)
 Available throughout 2012 (from January to December)
 Cost £250 (show)
 Brilliant stimulus to feed into literacy, science and DT
 Experienced professionals with CRB checks

“babbling vagabonds are so skilled in relating to children of all ages. I cannot recommend a visit from them
enough” Bev Houghton, Head teacher, Totley All Saints C of E Primary, Sheffield

Workshops packages are available.

Our friendly artists will pass on tricks of the trade to your pupils! Showing how to create shadow puppets of
their own, or develop spooky stories using our theatre games and storytelling techniques. We can
accommodate 6 x 1 hour workshops that can take place in the classroom. Cost £475. (show and
workshops)

A workshop without a show: 1 x professional workshop leader for the whole day (up to 5 x 1 hour sessions)
for £225.

Website Link: www.babblingvagabonds.co.uk

Contact: Tara Saunders, Babbling Tel: 07514 966353or by email: info@babblingvagabonds.co.uk

 20. FREE TEA-TIME TASTER EVENT AT GLOBAL EDUCATION DERBY

The next FREE “Tea-time taster” is being held on Thursday, 23 February (4-7pm) on the subject:
Fairtrade: Take a step in the right direction

Full details of this event can be downloaded here:
http://files.invosis.com/ged/20120119080135563_l5hxzwpfv34.pdf

There is no need to book and the workshop will run from 5.30-7pm.

Please feel free to circulate this information.

Contact: Lisa Sabey, Global Education Derby Tel: 01332 298185

 21. GROUNDWORK GREEN LEARNERS PROGRAMME
22 children at Derwent Primary, Derby, have been further improving their maths and English skills thanks to
the Groundwork Green Learners programme. The pupils completed ten one hour interactive sessions which
increased their awareness of environmental issues, whilst also helping them to meet their literacy and
numeracy targets.

In total there are 14 sessions on the themes of Food, Energy, Waste and Water, developed with funding
from the Ernest Cook Trust. Activities are designed to enable pupils from 8 years upwards to learn why we
need to make changes to the way we live. Experts from Groundwork have encouraged the pupils to think
through where our resources come from, what impact we have on the world and how they can make a

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difference. Although climate change is a cross-cutting theme, other key environmental issues are
discussed, such as diminishing mineral and energy reserves, methods of waste disposal, varying farming
practices and the destruction of the rainforests.

Rosalind Allen, Education and Youth Programme Co-ordinator from Groundwork, said,

“It has been fantastic to teach the children about such a range of environmental issues, and I have really
enjoyed designing activities which allow them to see the impact they have on the planet, yet at the same
time helping them to develop maths and English skills.”

The sessions also included geography, history and science; the heritage of energy and farming were
considered, experiments were undertaken to examine the effectiveness of insulation and pupils also
investigated different types of renewable energy. Pupils also calculated how much electricity they use
themselves at home, and considered how they could reduce wastage.

The class teacher, Maria Webster, has been able to further enhance the learning from Groundwork sessions
through follow-up maths and English work. For example, after identifying the countries of origin for a range
of foodstuffs, and plotting them on a map of the world, the pupils later researched the distances food had
travelled and created graphs to show the results.

Mrs Webster said,

“The programme gave me chance to plan cross-curricular activities to run alongside the sessions, which
meant that the children had more opportunity to use Literacy and Numeracy in different contexts. This
helped to develop their data handling skills and persuasive writing skills.

“I believe that having skilled personnel delivering the lessons supported the children’s understanding of
concepts taught. As a primary teacher you can not always be a master of every subject so this meant that
the children could ask more questions and get the most informative answers. The sessions were delivered
effectively and with thought of the children’s levels in Numeracy and Literacy. The Groundwork team made
the sessions informative but also fun and active. The children were quite disappointed when the sessions
ended. The children worked hard during all sessions and it also helped me to observe the children learning
and working from a different perspective.

“The children’s data handling and graph drawing has really improved during the sessions. Thank you to the
Groundwork team for such an interesting and excellent learning opportunity they gave to the children and
me.”

The activities are so varied, there is something to excite every child. For example, during the Energy
Heritage session, pupils had to dig to find lumps of coal in buckets of soil, along with information cards
enabling them to answer questions about coal. Another popular activity was the ‘Recycling Game’ where
children learnt that waste going to landfill or incineration cannot be useful again, whereas recycling is the
‘winning option’. When pupils were asked what the most enjoyable parts of the sessions were, answers
ranged from, ‘doing the active and physical parts’ and ‘looking at solar energy’ to, ‘plotting the food on the
map’ and ‘learning facts and making a poster about the rainforest’.

Website Link: www.gdd.org.uk

For more information about the programme, please contact Rosalind Allen at Groundwork: 01773
539433, rallen@groundwork.org.uk

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