HWRK Magazine: Issue 10 - Winter 2019

educational magazinefor teachers the essential magazine

HWRK

almost WRITTEN EXCLUSIVELY bY TEACHERS fOR TEACHERS

WINTER 2020 / ISSUE 10 / FREE HWRKMAGAZINE.CO.UK

SOCIAL MEdIA MATTERS

is e-safety a priority? how twitter can help you using apps to engage pupils

pUpIL pREMIUM pLAN

spending made easy

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MAKING YOUR bUdGET LAST ready for big school!

How to make the inevitable graduation transition as easy as possible for your pupils

1,083 hints for teachers

get healthy & happy in 2020 NUTRITION ANd TRAINING fOR YOU!

winter reading special

THIS ISSUE IS pACKEd WITH: * pREVIEWS * REVIEWS * NEW RELEASES * OLd CLASSICS * YEAR SpECIfIC RECOMENdATIONS

the case for competitive sport in primary

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GREAT BOOKS FOR 2020

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TAKE A WALK ON THE HEALTHY SIDE

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CHANGE YOUR SOCIAL OUTLOOK

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WHY PRIMARY NEEDS WINNERS

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PRIORITISE E-SAFETY

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CODING IN THE CLASSROOM

CONTENTS CURRICULUM

FEATURES

12 EMBRACE SOCIAL

23 TALENT SPOTTING

Tips and techniques to utilise social media in class.

Handy hints on how to pick brilliant classroom literature.

14 RELIGION ROCKS

28 SUE ATKINS EXCLUSIVE

Why our resident RS lead chose her teaching path.

The TV expert on moving from primary to secondary.

18 WINTER READING

Hand-picked modern classics for all Years to devour.

34 EYES ON THE PRIZE

20 BIRD WATCHER

57 SPEND IT WISELY

How Twitter saved one teacher from walking away.

Advice on how to maximise your Pupil Premium.

@hwrk_magazine

Making a case for winners and losers in primary.

62 CODING IN CLASS

HEALTH

EXPERIENCE

Teaching how to build games and programmes.

P48 BANANA SPLIT

P72 OVERSEAS TEACHER

66 RHYME AND REASON

Fat-burning breakfasts made easy – and delicious.

Real life stories from educators in the Middle East.

Why poetry examinations shouldn’t be testing.

P50 GET YOUR MARCH ON

P74 TUTORMATE WORKS

Walking workout that’ll torch your festive fat.

The reading support initiative taking the UK by storm.

P42 THE GALLERY

P51 HOT LUNCH

P76 BULLIESOUT!

Kimbolton School are back under the spotlight.

The foods you need to help keep you warm.

Why pupil e-safety needs to be constantly refreshed.

P44 DRAMA CLUB

P54 NEW YEAR NEW YOU

P77 TEACHING M.E. PUPILS

Why Hamilton the musical misses its mark.

Heathy eating advice to get you in shape in 2020.

Tips and advice from experts in the ME/CFS field.

ARTS

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CONTRIBUTORS W R I T T E N BY T E AC H E R S FO R T E AC H E R S BOOK WORM

EDU BLOGGER

Ben King

JS Sumerfield

@MrBKing1988 Year 5 teacher/reading lead from Horsham. Advocate for Chartered College.

Creator of The Teacher Book Awards. Guardian of the HWRK podcast and occasional blogger over at kingintheclassroom.blogspot.co.uk

@Jssumerfield Teacher, lawyer, writer, playwright and author.

HEALTH GURU

Kevin Kearns @BurnwithKearns School touring anti-bully campaigner and fitness guru.

BLOG STAR

CAMPIAGNER

CODE MASTER

Linda James

Brian Aspinall

@mraspinall Educator and best-selling author.

His books Code Breaker and Block Breaker continue to top the charts in STEAM education with a focus on rethinking assessment and evaluation. Recently awarded the Canadian Prime Minister’s Award for Teaching Excellence.

@BulliesOut Founder of award-winning charity BulliesOut. RS LEADER

Gemma Papworth @PapworthRe L&T Lead for RS across GLF, Head of RS in Surrey, M Ed.

HEADER

Andy McHugh

@guruteaching Head of law, teacher of RE, examiner and blogger, who loves to write about teaching and learning.

CLASSICS ADVOCATE

HWRK POET

Jon Love

Paul Delaney

@Jonthelegend Former SLT who’s now back in front of the classroom.

Charlotte Gauld

@miss_gauld Year 6 teacher now into her fourth year at the front of class.

History and PE subject lead, with a passion for books and netball. Her manifesto: ‘Aim of the game is 30 kids who love to read’. Her brilliant blog can be found at missgauldmusings. home.blog.

@DPoetryBuzz Former teacher turned touring poet, author and pianist.

PARENTING EXPERT TRAINING EXPERT

Louise Twist

@Booksforboys11 As a primary teacher for 15 years and a mum to two boys, Louise has an interest in how boys learn differently to girls, and in particular how it impacts on their enthusiasm for reading. Her blog – Books for Boys – is a fountain of resource and knowledge.

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Sue Atkins

TRAINING EXPERT

Sally Callow

@MEfoggydog Founder of mefoggydog. org and Stripylightbulb. com, the only ME/CFS online training organisation.

@SueAtkins Broadcaster, speaker and author of Amazon best-selling books Parenting Made Easy – How to Raise Happy Children and Raising Happy Children for Dummies.

Sue regularly features on This Morning and many other TV and national radio shows. For more visit her website: primary2secondary.co.uk.

@hwrk_magazine

We work tirelessly to change the lives of those affected by bullying and we know we make a difference. We see it in the way young people engage in our projects, how we empower them to Make a Difference and how they develop confidence and learn new skills.

By developing a positive ethos across a whole school/organisation community, we can create an environment that meets the emotional, academic and social needs of pupils and staff. Creating an anti-bullying and respectful ethos is a powerful way to Inspire Change.

Our Youth Ambassadors are a dynamic team of young volunteers working together to help deal with the issue of bullying. They are committed and dedicated and all have a passion to Make A Difference in their local communities. The programme is open all year round and you can join wherever you live and whatever your background and interests are.

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Schools across the UK were not ready for Jack Frost so early in December and were forced to close for the day

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EXPAND YOUR MIND ONE SUBJECT AT A TIME

How to make an ally of social media The pitfalls and distractions of allowing social media into the classroom are there for all to see. But instead of looking at the negatives, embrace the positives social media platforms provide.

The free resources and practical advice offered up on platforms like Twitter should by now have become an integral part of your teaching prowess. Less guides, planners and innovative ideas run wild on the platform, while celebrating positive achievements of pupils is a sure-fire way to keep parents at bay.

Blair Minchin takes inspiration from social media one step further on Page 12, while Emily Weston reveals how support from the Twitter edu network kept her in teaching on Page 20.

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CURRICULUM

BY THE NUMBERS

P U B L I C H E A LT H E M E R G E N C Y Sport England’s Active Lives survey reveals ‘unacceptably low levels’ of sports in schools

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The chief medical officer’s advice that children need at least seven hours of moderate to vigorous activity per week - an average of an hour a day

children were active on average for 60 minutes a day than last year

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30 MINS IN SCHOOL + 30 MINS OUTSIDE EVERY DAY

ACTIVITY LEVELS:

PEAK 1 - AGES OF 5-7 PEAK 2 - AGES 10-11 DROPPED - AGES 13- 16

319,200 BOYS ACHIEVED THE RECOMMENDED AMOUNT OF SPORT AND ACTIVITY THAN GIRLS Test pool: 130,000 children aged 5-16

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Classroom study group V I R A L S TA R Inspired by social media, Blair Minchin invites you too to try new concepts in class

I don’t know about you, but teaching is a profession that consumes my whole life. I love my job, but I’d rather it didn’t have me delving into an ever deeper Twitter hole of pedagogical article to research paper every Saturday night.

I could just put my phone down. But, I suffer from FOMOONI. Don’t you? It’s the Fear Of Missing Out On New Information.

There is just so much information out there it’s hard to see the forest for the trees.

With GTCS having fairly recently made a library of academic journals available to practitioners in Scotland, together with the government’s drive to see teaching become even more enquiring and research driven profession, sifting through the findings is exhausting.

It’s a near insurmountable task compounded by the fact that the findings mean little to a class teacher unless they are aware of one thing: the context in which the study was carried out.

If I was to simply believe the headlines, recent research has shown that any devices, even tablets and laptops aimed at enhancing learning, negatively impact learning gains.

However, as we peel back the curtain on the 2016 study and find it was carried out at Westpoint Military Academy, in the USA, with students who were in their late teens working in small classes, sometimes of no more than 10 and that multiple students (including the control group) didn’t stick to their assigned role!

CONTEXT IS KEY

It is not enough to simply cherry pick studies to support your practice. We need to critically engage in the literature and consider how it would apply to our own setting.

Every school is unique, every class and every pupil too. It stands to reason that the research that will likely contribute to and benefit our practice the most is that which

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is carried out by we the teachers.

The rewards from engaging in practitioner enquiry are priceless. It’s an opportunity to scratch that itch that you’ve always had, really drill down into a hunch and find out more about yourself as a teacher.

Furthermore, it’s a superb vehicle for developing relationships with your pupils and finding out what makes them tick.

The subject of your enquiry could be wide in scope – e.g. Is learning through play detrimental to pace and challenge?

– or narrow ¬– What’s the best way to facilitate peer assessment? It could even be

a little bit out the box.

Currently, I operate free seating: pupils pick where they sit every lesson. On the whole it works well as pupils consider their seating choices and have developed a great sense of self-regulation, moving to a different seat if they are chatting too much or getting distracted... most of the time!

However, there is a small issue that nags at me and that is a gender divide in the room. Often, I look out at the class and see tables of girls and tables of boys. They’re on task but it all feels a bit too segregated for me.

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COLUMN

Now I’ve read many articles about free seating but I’ve never come across an academic journal entry or study on the subject. There have been studies into both academic attainment and mental wellbeing of pupils studying in same sex environments.

However, none really relate to my current class and free seating arrangement.

BE THE STUDY

That’s the great thing about practitioner

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enquiry: if the research hasn’t been carried about by anyone, then get stuck in and be the one!

So, I’m going planning an enquiry for the new year that will enable me to assess whether 10 minutes of dance everyday has any impact on the seating choices of the class and, more importantly, if there is any impact on the quality of work in lessons.

I’ll be sure to collect robust data, pupil opinions from before and after and keep a detailed reflective journal of my efforts.

And what I like most about practitioner enquiry is that even if you fail, you’ve still

won! If you were hoping to change something for the better but your efforts didn’t succeed there is still much you can take from the experience.

You’ll have developed your own enquiry skills, have evidence to back up your findings if another teacher suggests rolling out the same initiative and you’ll know what not to do next time.

Enquiry is empowering, practice changing and knowledge building. It is time intensive but it’s an investment in the most important element of your practice: you.

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RELIGIOUS STUDIES

Why I chose to teach RS Gemma Papworth reveals how her passion for people became her career

I always wanted to be a teacher.

I even told my Primary school Head this at the age of six years old. I never said what, but as my interest in school evolved I realised I liked learning about people. For a long time, I thought I would teach Geography.

I loved the way it looked at towns and cities, looked at how different people around the world co-existed.

Religious Studies was a subject I enjoyed – I do remember designing my own church, doing a project on Mother Theresa and learning about the Good Samaritan. I enjoyed it, but it was just a lesson. It wasn’t something I even knew I could continue with.

As I entered my A Levels, I chose RS as one of my subjects. I was intrigued by it.

The course was Old and New Testament studies – the historical, geographical, political and sociological nature of it fascinated me. I loved analysing the language and delving into a different world.

I never intended to take it at university, I wanted to do Social Sciences, the study of human society and social relationships.

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But, alas, the lecturer at my chosen university failed to attend so I found myself wandering into the Religion department. I loved it. I was in.

I often get asked why I teach RS and my answer is always the same, it captivates me. From learning about the origins of Buddhism to the native Iban people of Borneo, the way they live their lives and interpret the world around them.

Through the seven dimensions, proposed

by Ninian Smart, I discovered what it is believed a religion is comprised of but practised differently. Learning that many religions all worship the same God, but in different ways, for example.

While at university I was also introduced to Ethics. I loved it. Working out why people behave in the way they do, how they make different decisions, what influences their behaviour. Kant was the first philosopher I was introduced to… I had no idea!

I grappled with it, focused on the concept of duty, thought about the relevance of his ideas today, the absoluteness of it, I was hooked. It suddenly made sense that I taught RS.

I was not prepared for the lack of training in RS, for the lack of RS teachers, that I would end up teaching History and Geography within my teaching career (along with Computing and Music!). It motivated me to be the best I could. I remember my first lesson, Year 10 and Stewardship. It was in a girls school, with no RS specialist. I was thrown into being trusted as the RS expert. From that first lesson, I was hooked.

Over the years I have gained more interest in the topic, loving the reaction from students to a good RS lesson. Every day teenagers amaze with their insight into the world, how they interpret it and express their views.

RS allows for them to develop their oracy and critical thinking, something that is fundamental to their skill set. I learn from my classes every day, listening to their views and ideas. RS teaches them different worldviews, allows them to develop an appreciation of traditions, cultures and views around them. I feel privileged to be the one to teach them this and share in their journey. I teach RS because I love it, simple as that!

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book review

Rodents rule!

AV I D R E A D E R JON LOVE rediscovers Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C O’Brien

We are in danger of forgetting the immense wealth of children’s books that have come before us. That we grew up on but are in danger of overlooking. Books that are just so rich and vital that to forget would be criminal. So, with that in mind, may I present the simply brilliant Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, first published by Robert O’Brien in 1971.

THE SICKNESS OF TIMOTHY FRISBY

The story tells of Mrs Frisby, a common field mouse, who in a bid to save her sick child calls on the help of a wise old mouse to help. As the story progresses from one imminent danger to the next, we eventually meet the titular Rats of NIMH – a group of genetically altered and highly intelligent rodents.

Working together to save both the family of field mice and ultimately them all, the book tells a tale of courage, bravery, family and cooperation between species in a bid for survival. Along the way we meet several animal characters of note from an amiable yet dim witted crow, a relentlessly predatory cat, a standard issue wise old owl and, of course, the quite normal yet still remarkable Mrs Frisby herself.

The anthropomorphic nature of the book is one that is familiar and comfortable for the young reader, yet allows O’Brien to get across some pretty complex themes, sparking dialogue and debate in the classroom.

‘GO TO THE RATS’

So, a story about animals that can speak and act like humans. So far then nothing really out of the ordinary for our young readers. I mean, Pixar have been doing this so brilliantly for years.

But this particular anthropomorphic tale, whilst having so many familiar tropes at play, has a real substance of narrative and structure at play. What we have going on here is two stories unfolding at the same time.

On the surface we have Mrs Frisby’s struggle to save her family, whilst at the same time we are treated to the superbly revealed tale of how the Rats of NIMH came to be the way they are.

Here lies flashback city.

The flashback: it’s a great literary device and it is deployed brilliantly here. In my experience, children love having the truth slowly revealed to them. The whole what and

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why that makes the characters that they have now invested in being so unique and worth reading about.

Getting us on the side of that most maligned member of the animal kingdom; the rat. A theme that pops up in the book itself.

A LESSON IN READING

Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH obviously works really well as just a cracking-read-aloudto-your-class kind of book yet there is much more going on here that can be unpicked and gone through with your class if you choose to.

First off there is family. Mrs Frisby’s fight to first protect her sick child Timothy, but also her struggle to relocate them all when the home is in danger. Then we have The Rats who, through their own uniqueness, have their own family structure to protect and fight for.

Another theme linked to this is the idea of home. The importance of home to us. Again, something your class will be able to spend

time reflecting upon.

A final theme (though there are many others) is the life changing power that comes with being educated or, in the case of The Rats, being experimented upon until they become faster, smarter and stronger.

A POWDER FOR DRAGON

The fact that in 1972 Mrs Frisby and the Rats of NIMH won the Newbery Award for distinguished contribution to American literature for children only goes to show how it has been regarded. We all know the value of well-paced chapters that leave the reader wanting more and doesn’t tax both our reading voices and the attention spans.

I particularly like discussing and predicting around the choice of title for each chapter and what this device brings to the book as a whole.

This is a wonderful story to share and one I’ve found goes down well across Upper and Lower Key Stage Two.

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Winter Wonderland of Books Keep your class engaged and enthralled by the festive season with these modern classics

Dark nights and frosty mornings can only mean one thing; winter is here, so Books for Boys have a special round up of our recommended reads for the festive sea son! There are so many fantastic winter books to choose from this year it has been difficult to cover them all!

Hopefully, we can give you a polar express tour of the pick of the best fiction books out there for children aged from 0–12.

FOUNDATION

For early years we love the magical sound book version of The Nutcracker. Play Tchaikovsky’s enchanting music as you read this classic story about the Mouse King.

Gorgeous music won’t fail to lull your little one into a sleepy slumber, dreaming of a fairy tale land of sweets.

While, Lucy Cousin’s adorable mouse is back in Maisie’s Christmas Letters. Another treat for younger ones, have fun opening the mail with Maisie in this gorgeous festive read.

More festive fun can be found in Lou Carter and Nikki Dyson’s Oscar the Hungry Unicorn as his insatiable appetite leads to disaster for Santa and his reindeers, who can’t fly without the magic food that Oscar has eaten.

Trusty friends Pip and Posy are back in Axel Scheffler’s The Christmas Tree, we watch as they decorate their tree with biscuits and count with them as one by one they disappear. Lots of fun to share and read aloud.

Little Penguin, by Giles Andreae and Guy Parker-Rees, is a gorgeous wintry board book following the courageous endeavours of Pip-Pip the penguin who shows bravery when overcoming his fears of swimming.

for Santa Claus, but each one has its obvious flaws. Resourceful and quick-thinking, Lizzie the Elf saves the day just in time for Christmas Eve!

Moving on to picture books we really are spoilt for choice this year. First up and complete with a countdown advent calendar on the back page and lovely rhyming text Countdown to Christmas, by Adam and Charlotte Guillain, follows Bear as he treats his friends to a surprise on every day of advent. Pippa Curnick beautifully illustrates the woodland creatures as they collect props and costumes to stage their own nativity.

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Father Christmas has accidentally shaved his beard off in Caroline Crowe and Jess Pauwels Santa’s New Beard.

Squirty cream, bubble bath, the workshop cat and candy floss are a few solutions the elves fashion into a makeshift beard

In Yuval Zommer’s The Tree That’s Meant To Be we have a poetic, life-affirming story about a fir tree left all alone in the woodland. Not perfect enough to be picked by families to be a Christmas tree in their homes, the tree is comforted by the animals who decorate it. This lyrical and hopeful picture book celebrates nature and reminds us of what is truly important at Christmas.

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LITERATURE

YEAR 5-8

Older children will love Jamie Littler’s debut novel Frostheart an unputdownable, magical adventure story about a little boy who is on a quest to find his parents. With his unique gift as a Song Weaver, Ash can communicate with the deadly Leviathans who attack strongholds. Orphaned and alone, tired of being an outsider and of hiding his talents as a Songweaver, Ash joins the crew of the Frostheart to begin a journey to find his parents, but who can he trust?

YEAR 1–4

Bad Nana That’s Snow Business is the third in Sophy Henn’s middle grade chapter book about 7-year-old Jeanie’s badly-behaved Nana. Marvellously mischievous, Bad Nana stars in the Winter Wonderland Variety Show with plenty of sequins and razzle dazzle.

A captivating, inspiring and heart stopping story this page turner tells a tale of bravery, determination and self-belief.

Brought to life with amazing illustrations this book will not disappoint.

Folklore, fairytale and friendships combine in Sophie Andersons The Girl Who Speaks Bear to create a magical story. Centred around Yannka, a young girl on a journey to find out about where she comes from, this is a charming book.

Edith Pattou’s North Star is an epic story for fans of His Dark Materials. In it we see Rose travel with a white bear to a mysterious castle that holds the key to her true destiny.

The Great Reindeer Disaster

by Kate Saunders is a holiday adventure that sees the Trubshaw family journey to Yule-1 the real home of Father Christmas. With comical illustrations from Neal Layton this book is lots of fun.

Michael Morpurgo’s On Angel Wings is a charming reworking of the nativity story. Illustrated beautifully by Quentin Blake this is a gem.

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Meanwhile, A Christmas Carol and The Happy Prince, both by Oscar Wilde, have been republished by Faber & Faber with a stylish Liberty classics cover making them extra special as gifts.

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COLUMN

Twitter helped save my career S O C I A L A L LY Emily Weston on the difference Twitter has made to her teaching

Just over three years ago I signed up to Twitter in an educational capacity. I already had a personal account, but had started to see chatter online about a teaching community on the social media platform. the time, I was in a very unhappy school situation where I was not receiving much support and it was a hugely negative environment. My confidence was at an all-time low and I didn’t know if this was the job for me anymore. I was searching for change.

And, while it may sound dramatic, Twitter seriously helped to make a huge difference.

RESOURCE

The first impact Twitter had was it allowed me to discover new ways of teaching that I would not have come across otherwise.

Whether it was topic, maths or science teaching there was an abundance of resources and a wealth of knowledge to draw on.

I found it amazing that so many teachers were willing to share what they had – and all for free too.

Any questions I had were answered immediately. One memorable time was when I had a girl in my class with anxiety.

I asked for advice on how to help her and, because of Twitter, I was able to supply both the child and her parents with a list of books, activities, websites and resources which started to have an impact.

A lot of them I would never have heard of had they not been recommended to me.

The same goes for children’s books. Before Twitter I knew of the classics, or would hear of a new book if it was heavily publicised; Wonder, for example.

But since joining this community I am now aware of the amazing literature children have available to them. Something, had I not been online, I wouldn’t have heard as much about.

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CONFIDENCE

The more confident I became with Twitter, the easier I found it to also share my own ideas and lessons. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was sharing would be helpful to anyone else’s teaching. But I wanted to give back what I was lucky enough to get.

Sharing my ‘shoe inference’ lesson was a game changer for me; so many people asked for this lesson and its resources and I ended up sending it as far as America and Australia.

As much as Twitter is not about likes, retweets or followers, at the time when I was on the verge of quitting teaching, it really helped me to see maybe it was the school that was the issue, not me.

It did, in some way, help spark my passion for teaching back up.

After being an active participant of ‘EduTwitter’ for a while, I then decided to go to Reading Rocks – my first weekend CPD session. I’d seen lots of buzz around some of these different weekend events with lots of valuable ideas being mentioned online. But part of me did wonder, is it worth giving up my weekend for?

It turns out, it absolutely was. With brilliant keynote speakers and workshops, I found I learned more in that one day than most of the CPD sessions I had previously been on. For the most part, it’s regular teachers giving up their own time to organise, speak at and promote these events and therefore I found they were full of ideas and tips I could take and put in to my own classroom with little or no prep.

Again, these events were something I would not have discovered had it not been for Twitter.

SUPPORT

The most important aspect of Twitter for teachers though is simply the support offered by fellow colleagues in the profession. It’s almost essential.

Twitter is not just great for advice on lessons or teaching practice, but there are also people who are willing to help with personal issues; people going through stress or anxiety; support with job applications or interviews. The list goes on.

I’ve been lucky enough to have met a really good group of friends too. Having a group of people who are in the profession you can talk to can be so valuable. Twitter has always been a positive experience as a teacher. And I know it may not be the same for everyone, but I believe it’s added value not only to my teaching but also to me as a person.

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BIG Read

‘SO SO E

MANY LITTL BOOKS, TIME’

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Some practical advice for the never-ending quest for great classroom literature

O

nce there were four children whose names were Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy. This story is about something that happened to them when they were sent away from London during the war because of the air-raids.’

Name that book? Surely you recognise the masterful CS Lewis and his rather good book The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. A classic right? I remember having this story read to me in Year 5 and, since that day, I’ve been a card carrying, badge wearing, flag waving Aslan fanboy.

My class teacher then recognised the value of this text, the power of the words and the significance this story held in the world of children’s literature. But how did they know?

In fact, how do any teachers know what to look for, what makes a good book, what will make their

Spotting a classic

It has never been harder to choose the perfect book to read to your class or to study in reading lessons. It’s so hard now because we as teachers have never had such a huge glut of quality texts, books that paint pictures, books that draw you into the pages and books that make you weep, laugh and quiver.

However, it is so very easy to go wrong; the celebrity author fads, the hugely glittery displays in Waterstones window, the big discounts in the even bigger retailers.

All of these problems make it easy for a teacher to take a wrong step in book selection.

But, have no fear dear HWRK reader, Mr King is here to help guide your way. I am your Aslan, if you like.

children be future fanboys and girls?

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BIG Read “A children’s story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children’s story in the slightest.”

C.S. LEWIS

1. Questions, questions, questions

Choose a book that has an interesting blurb, cover, title, design or anything else really. Something that makes you and your class wonder and hypothesise will always draw in the reader more. Never judge a book by its cover, of course, but an interesting one sure does help.

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2. Variety is the spice of life

Try and select a book that covers unfamiliar ground whilst still holding themes or values that your class will find familiar. School is a safe place to introduce the somewhat controversial or alien and don’t be afraid to take on a book that introduces children to something they may be unaware of.

For example; Who Let the Gods Out, by Maz Evans, introduces the theme of child carers (new and a bit scary) but does so in the context of a familiar setting – a nice, safe school where the child is clearly cared for by a well-meaning head teacher (if a bit wet).

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“Some books should be tasted, some devoured, but only a few should be chewed and digested thoroughly.”

SIR FRANCIS BACON

3. Everyone loves a winner

When picking your dream team of texts don’t shy away from something that you know will have your kids off their feet and hoping the bad guy gets marooned on a desert island or eaten by a cloud (Rumblestar, I am looking at you here).

Passion towards a book is key and having a main character that your kids are emotionally invested in hugely helps.

4. Say what now?

Vocabulary is king at the moment and when choosing a book this is no less important. True we want our children to all be able to comprehend what is happening and share the experience together, but we need to stretch our collective vocabulary to make sure we are ready for the books of tomorrow as we grow up.

This essentially is your pitch and choosing a book with page after page of toilet humour for Upper Key Stage 2 means, in my opinion, your pitch is way off the mark.

“If you only read the books that everyone else is reading, you can only think what everyone else is thinking.”

HARUKI MURAKAMI

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BIG Read 5. Looking in the mirror

The number of high-quality, new releases every week at the moment is higher than ever before. Even as an avid reader there is simply no possible way to keep up with the new material coming out.

This does mean that there is more pressure now though for authors to provide their audience with a more representative story. That is to say, in modern, tolerant, diverse Britain, every child should be able to pick up a book and seem themselves.

Race, religion, sexuality; all things that it is important to ensure you are considering when book choosing. It is important to note here I am not saying, nor would I ever, that you should choose a book simply down to the race of the character, or author for that matter.

However, if you read 10 books a year to your class, and all 10 of those books were written by a man, or all 10 have parents in that are happily married, think about what representation of the world you are giving the children in your class.

Vashti Hardy brilliantly handles this in her blooming wonderful Brightstorm by having two kings in what appears to be a same sex relationship. She doesn’t ram it down your throats, doesn’t make them flounce around in a clichéd overtly camp way, she leaves it there to be seen and discussed in the same way any other aspect of the story would be.

6. Read it first

Lastly, and most importantly, read the damn book. Quite simply you can’t teach a book, can’t recognise its value and cannot live the book when reading it aloud if you yourself haven’t already had that journey privately in the first reading.

So please in the name of all that holy read the book before you teach it!

Good luck on your quest into the written word. Check out the regularly released recommended read lists, but remember you, your kids, your school are unique so find something that truly sings to you and to them.

“Fairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.”

NEIL GAIMAN

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NEW

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BIG Advice

THE

BIG SCHOOL SWITCH Handling the move from primary to secondary school confidently

By Sue Atkins

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Many children, and parents, get very anxious about the move from primary to secondary school. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Right the way through Year 6 and into Year 7, parents will have to make lots of decisions that will shape their child’s school life.

The choice of school will affect their choice of friends, their confidence, their academic results, which will also have an impact on their behaviour through their teenage years – it all depends upon what decision they make this year.

Working together with the child communicating well and encouraging parents to get actively involved in school life will give them confidence and make the transition a positive, confident and easy process for the whole family.

HANDLING CHANGE Some children handle change better than others, like us all. Some settle in to secondary school easily whilst others find it difficult. But it’s helpful to bear in mind that it is a major life transition.

It is a milestone; a coming of age.

It is a major change moving from the close-knit nurturing primary school environment into the bustling and busy secondary school. For many children change is difficult to process, to comes to terms with, or to handle.

Handling change, no matter how old you are, is often difficult as it takes you out of your comfort zone of familiarity.

It takes children away from familiar places, teachers, friends, buildings, school runs and routines. So, it can be scary, but it can also be exciting.

I recorded my MP3 download >Making the Big Leap To Secondary School< exactly because my daughter Molly was going through the same experience as every generation of child goes through.

I remember she was feeling excited but

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also a little apprehensive about all the changes that she was going to experience.

Children naturally have mixed feelings about this change. But handling change, no matter how old you are, is all about your attitude to it. If you think it will be awful, guess what, it will be. On the other hand, if you think it will be exciting and fine – it will be.

WHAT CHILDREN WORRY ABOUT Children worry about getting lost, as the school is much bigger and looks like a maze of endless corridors with thousands of people, or they worry about not fitting in, or having the mickey taken out of them if they don’t like sport, or football, drama or music.

They worry about their physical appearance, their spelling, their journey, the list is endless. I remember Chris, who was aged 11 when I chatted with him on one of my Transition Courses, who said: “I am scared that I might

not make any friends and that I’ll get bullied, but I’m also excited as well. It just feels like a big step but the school trips sound amazing and I want to join the hockey team, as I’ve never played that before.”

WHAT IS TRANSITION? Transition is the inner process through which children come to terms with a change, as they let go of the way things used to be and reorient themselves to the way things are now.

Managing transition means helping children to make that difficult process less painful and disruptive.

‘Change is a wall and transition is a gate. It’s there for your children to go through’

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There are Three Phases in a Transition Process:

BIG Advice

1. The process begins with an ending – a letting go.

2. Then moves to a neutral zone – being in two places, old and new.

3. Embracing a new beginning.

What transitions include: • Transitions have both losses and gains within them.

• Transitions are a process not an event.

• Transitions can only be managed in the present.

• Transitions are managed more easily with support and encouragement from others.

STRESS & MYTHOLOGY Here are some of the commonly held misconceptions surrounding stress: 1. All children experience stress in the same way.

2. They always know when they’re beginning to suffer from excessive stress.

3. Only weak children suffer from stress.

4. Children bring stress on themselves.

5. Pleasant, happy events don’t cause stress.

To adults, childhood can seem like a carefree time. But children still experience stress. Changing school creates pressure that can feel overwhelming for your child. As a teacher or a parent, you can’t totally protect children from stress, but you can help them develop healthy ways to cope with stress and solve everyday problems for themselves.

Children deal with stress in both healthy and unhealthy ways. And while they may not initiate a conversation about what’s bothering them, they do want you to reach out and help them cope with their worries.

But it’s not always easy for adults to know what to do for a child who is feeling stressed. Schools, of course, can be part of the process in supporting children through the transition period.

But working together with home and school is the best possible way to help children cope with the big changes.

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WHAT TO LOOK OUT FOR Anxiety can include body signals like ‘butterflies’, a sinking feeling, or feeling tense or uncomfortable. Or it can manifest as feeling constantly on edge or nervous, or by a child not sleeping well, having nightmares or not eating properly.

Anxiety in children isn’t always a bad thing. Feeling anxious can help to keep emerging teens safe by getting them to think about the situation they’re in. It can also motivate them to do their best.

And it can also help them get ready for challenging situations.

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TIPS TO HANDLE STRESS IN CHILDREN

It’s important to teach your children how to manage stress, without using food or medication as they will be less likely to resort to drugs or alcohol later on.

1. Stop overscheduling

3. Listen

5. Encourage ideas

One of the biggest stressors for children during this period of transition is being over-committed and too busy.

There will be plenty of time to join in extracurricular activities later on. To reduce the stress that a new routine creates, allow your kids to come home, finish their homework, eat a healthy meal with you and then get a good night’s sleep.

Let them have some downtime with activities and with friends that they enjoyed in primary school to ease them in. Children need downtime to rejuvenate. Their brains and bodies need to rest. And they might not realise this by themselves. So, pacing their activities in the first term is important.

Just take a look at your child’s timetable over the course of a week and making sure that there’s enough downtime – when they’re not watching the clock.

Enjoy the weekend as a time to replenish, recover and relax.

Pay attention to how your family is eating their meals. Is everybody eating on the run, in the car, grabbing and going? That’s an indicator that too much is going on.

Ask your child to tell you what’s wrong.

Listen attentively and calmly without interrupting or trying to fix it immediately. Listen with interest, patience, openness, and caring. Avoid any urge to judge, blame, lecture, or say what you think your child should have done instead.

The idea is to let your child’s concerns and feelings be heard. Try to get the whole story by asking open ended questions like, ‘And then what happened?’

Take your time. And let your child take his or her time, too.

Comment briefly or simply name the emotion you think your child was experiencing. For example, you might say, ‘That must have been upsetting,’ ‘No wonder you felt angry when they wouldn’t let you join in the game,’ or ‘That must have seemed unfair to you.’

Doing this shows that you understand what your child felt and that you care.

Feeling understood and listened to helps your child feel supported by you, and that is especially important in times of stress.

If there’s a specific problem that’s causing stress, talk together about what to do. Encourage your child to think of a couple of ideas. You can start the brainstorming if necessary, but don’t do all the work.

Your child’s active participation will build their confidence. Support their good ideas and add to them as needed.

Ask, ‘How do you think this will work?’

2. Communicate Talk to the child when you notice that something’s bothering them. If you can, name the feeling you think the child is experiencing. “It looks like you’re still a bit worried about the train journey to school.” This shouldn’t sound like an accusation just a casual observation that you’re interested in hearing more about your child’s concern.

Be sympathetic and show you care and want to understand and help. Talk about ways to reduce the pressure that they might be feeling.

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6. Listen and move on Sometimes talking and listening and feeling understood is all that’s needed to help a child’s frustrations or worries begin to melt away. Afterwards, try changing the subject and moving on to something more positive and relaxing.

Help your child think of something to do to feel better. Don’t give the problem more attention than it deserves. Find that balance.

4. Label it Some children may find it hard to find the words for their feelings. If your child seems angry or frustrated, use those words to help them to learn to identify the emotions by name. Putting feelings into words helps children communicate and to develop emotional awareness.

Children who can express themselves confidently are less likely to reach the behavioural boiling point where strong emotions come out through the wrong sort of behaviours. Take time to help them express themselves through words.

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BIG Advice 7. Limit stress If certain situations are causing stress, see if there are ways to change things.

For instance, if too many after-school activities consistently cause homework stress, it might be necessary to limit activities to leave time and energy for homework.

8. Be present Children don’t always feel like talking about what’s bothering them. Sometimes that’s OK. Let them know you’ll be there when they do feel like talking.

Even when children don’t want to talk, they usually don’t want to be left alone.

You can help them feel better just by being there, keeping them company, spending time together. So, if you notice your child seems to be down in the dumps, stressed, or having a bad day, but doesn’t feel like talking, initiate something you can do together.

Read a book together, take a walk, watch a film, kick a ball around, or bake some cakes. Just be there for them.

9. Be patient As a teacher or a parent, it hurts to see any child unhappy, worried, anxious or stressed. But try to resist the urge to fix every problem. Instead, focus on helping the child, slowly but surely, grow into a good problem-solver.

A child who knows how to adapt to life’s ups and downs, put words to their feelings, can calm down when needed, and can bounce back to try again is developing a very important life skill of resilience.

You can’t solve every problem a child will go through in life. But by teaching them healthy coping strategies, you’ll prepare your kids to manage the stresses that come in the future.

Good communication will help you navigate the choppy waters of transition together and I always say, ‘A smile is a curve that puts a lot of things straight!’

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HISTORY IS WRITTEN BY WINNERS Making the case for competitive sport in primary Words: Miss Gauld

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BIG List

O

ne of my favourite things about being a teacher is coaching netball at least twice a week. I have 31 Y5/6s on a Monday, fixtures on a Tuesday or Thursday, and 35 Y3/4s on a Friday night. On top of the league, we enter about 10 teams into tournaments across the year and it’s an absolute passion of mine.

I should also mention that we have a range of non-competitive sports

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and exercise clubs also: gymnastics, tag rugby, tap, street dance, dodgeball, ballroom and Latin dance. Our school staff are wonderful in giving up their time to run clubs. We are also a state school. A state school that additionally places a large emphasis and importance on competitive sport.

But there are fundamental reasons why I believe competitive school sport has a real place in our curriculum.

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1 NATIONAL PRIDE

Did you know that 41% of team GB athletes went to private school, despite only 7% of the whole GB population being privately educated. This gets me so cross. We as state schools cannot just blame this on funding. It’s about ethos, practise, provision, time, investment in the talent in our state schools.

How is this inequality going to become more proportional if schools continue this ‘no competitive sports’ mentality? How do state school kids stand a chance of playing competition at an elite level if we don’t give them a grounding at school?

2 ASPIRE TO BE GREAT

The art of self-improvement becomes embedded through sport. Do we ever look at a piece of work and simply reply to a child, “Yep that’s fab, take a seat and relax?” No. So why shouldn’t we push our children to their absolute limits in physical activity? I coach mine that even our best wins are never our best work, and further improvement is still to come. We tear even our best matches to pieces and get straight back to it after.

3 SENSE OF ACHIEVEMENT

How are we going to incentivise children who dislike sport to get into it without any competition? Why would a child, who tries their best to do the bare minimum each PE lesson, suddenly start trying when there is nothing to be gained at the end? How is that going to get a child up and wanting to take part?

Nothing gained but much to be lost!

4 LOSING IS GOOD

How do you learn from your mistakes if you never make any? We need to teach our kids it is okay to lose time and time again. It teaches them to keep on going when things are tough, and that they are stronger when they think.

We are not doing our kids any favours in their future by letting them grow up thinking they won’t lose out from time to time! Failure isn’t something we should shield them from, we just need to handle it in the right way.

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BIG List 5 BEHAVIOUR TOOL

Competitive teams breed hardworking kids in all areas. Our children work hard in class so they can represent the school on the field.

We have a particular ethos – work hard and be kind, to be picked. We regularly check in with teachers to make sure our children our behaving and we make it very clear there are standards to uphold.

It is heart wrenching when (very occasionally) we have to drop players from matches and teams. However, it’s worth it for them to see the value. I dropped a child from a tournament last year to make a point about being a role model. This year she became our captain. It works.

6 A WINNING MENTALITY

Winning is also good for children! We need to celebrate success and it teaches them compassion and to manage emotions. They need to know they are good and have a talent.

Competition nurtures this. It makes them try, really try.

Why is it now okay to be top at times tables or spelling, but not come first in a running race or win a football match? Why should one bear more importance than another? For some children, competitive sport is one of the only areas they will ever thrive in. So, who are we to take this away?

7 COMPETITIVE COMPASSION

Children are talented in all areas and we have a duty to use competition to spot, recognise and bring out this talent in our sports stars. If child A cries because child B wins a race, child A needs some support with changing their thinking. Child B is doing nothing wrong.

8 SPORT WORKS FOR ALL

Competitive sport is not damaging for non-athletic children. It’s the opposite. Just like TTRockstars is not damaging for children who don’t know their times tables yet. Find the skill your kids need help on. Teach it. Test them on it. Watch them improve. Its the same in sport as it is in class.

I’ve picked children who started the year not being able to catch a single ball and they’re now winning player of the match. Work on their weaknesses with them. They will get there. Why do people refute the idea that everyone can excel in sport but wouldn’t dare ever say some children will never be good at reading? Why is one so outrageous and not the other?

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9 STRESS RELIEVER

Shockingly, 1 in 5 children have a diagnosable mental health disorder. Sport and exercise aids mental health. Need I say more?

10 SPORT BURNS FAT

We are living in an age of prominent child obesity. Get them out, moving, playing sport.

We have a duty of care to teach about healthy lifestyles. One hour of beanbag games and other light activity is not going to solve this.

Let’s get them running the length of hockey field, getting covered in mud. That might make more of a dent.

11 DUTY OF CARE

We don’t expect our parents to do all the reading with our children. We teach them reading. Why should we expect our parents to solely take care of their children’s sporting abilities? Disadvantaged children?! If no one else is going to teach them netball, football or rugby then it has to be us. And we owe it to them. Our next Olympians could be our FSM kids who go home and play Fortnite till 1am. If there’s talent in there, we need to dig it out.

12 PARENTAL SUPPORT

Parents like competitive sport. 86% stated an article I read recently. Our parent relationships have been strengthened 10-times over with our running, netball, Gaelic football and football teams. They want to see their children compete. It’s normal!

13 MORE THAN JUST A TEACHER

Sports teams breed a special kind of relationships with your pupils. I can’t explain it, it’s kind of a magical understanding. Children love their teachers in a different way to their sports coaches. And when they become a 2-in-1, those relationships are strengthened 10 times over.

14 OPPORTUNITY FOR ALL

Last one, but obvious: Competitive sport can give less academic pupils a chance to lead, shine, come first in something, thrive, and WIN. It brings out the inner capabilities in some children who are never the ‘golden child’. Once you see those capabilities, you see them so differently. You start thinking about how you can bring that to their classroom work. They will amaze you.

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AR TS Kimbolton School does the gallery

The Hamilton Musical

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THE GALLERY

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES e are great believers in developing an artist’s visual language. In both Year 10 and Year 12 we take the opportunity to pour in more concentrated art skills and use these years to find and nurture a pupil’s ‘art voice’. Drawing is important, but it is nothing

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without confidence and self belief and trying a new medium, like etching or photography can give some pupils the chance to reset and try again. Success in these areas inevitably brings confidence and the willingness to try again with the more traditional media of painting and drawing.

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ARTS

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ARTS

DRAMA

THE LAST KING OF AMERICA The Hamilton musical is taking the West End by storm, but don’t believe everything you see on stage

By Patrick O’Shaughnessy he Broadway musical Hamilton has been an absolute smash hit, both in America and London’s West End. Even if one is not familiar with the historical context of the production, they may well have heard one of the catchy songs from the musical itself.

Tickets for Hamilton are certainly not cheap, with demand for seats exceeded supply. Along with appearances from the ‘Founding Father’ Alexander Hamilton, the production features three comical songs from the British King George III, who reigned from 1760 to 1820, directed at his troublesome and revolutionary colonial subjects on the other side of the Atlantic.

GEORGE III

For many, this may well be the first time they have encountered George III as a historical actor. King George III did indeed support the raft of Parliamentary legislation aimed at bringing the American colonists to heel, notably under his Prime Minister Lord North in the turbulent 1770s.

In this period, the Boston Massacre, the Tea Act, the Boston Tea Party and the ‘Coercive Acts’ heightened tensions and galvanised the wrath of American Patriots in the 13 Colonies towards British Rule.

Moreover, Thomas Paine labelled George III as the ‘royal brute’ in his 1776 pamphlet Common Sense, while the Declaration of Independence of the same year accused George of trying to establish an ‘absolute tyranny’ in British America. All in all, a pretty damning critique.

The validity of these claims is, of course, subject to debate. The musical Hamilton has certainly brought these issues back to the forefront of public and historical consciousness.

But, there was more to King George III than America and tyranny.

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FARMER GEORGE

George III was the first of the Georgian monarchs to style himself as a proud British, as opposed to a Hanoverian, King. English was his first language, not German, unlike George I and II. Indeed, George III never even visited his throne in Hanover.

He took a great interest in the art of Kingship, writing numerous essays on the topic as an adolescent. George had a particular penchant for farming and a keen interest in the system of enclosure that was engulfing England at the time – hence his nickname ‘Farmer George’.

In 1769, George’s thirst for knowledge resulted in him building the Royal Observatory in Richmond, in which he took great pleasure. George was, by all accounts, committed to his large family and his wife, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who lent her name to Charlotte, North Carolina (which, incidentally, Lord Cornwallis identified as a ‘hornets’ nest of rebellion’ during the American Revolution).

George III may have been the last King of America, but he was also the first King of Australia, reigning over his Kingdom during a time of vast social, economic and industrial change. Few would doubt that George was a ‘handson’ sovereign, taking great pride and an intense interest in the ruling of his realm.

He is Britain’s third longest-reigning monarch, behind Victoria and Elizabeth II. He was, perhaps, the last British sovereign to exercise bona fide executive power. His son, the Prince Regent and subsequently King George IV from 1820 to 1830, was certainly a great deal less popular with the British people than his father had been.

MAD KING

Mental illness incapacitated George III for the last years of his life, a fact which is directly referenced in the songs by George III in Hamilton.

Hopefully, the musical itself will serve to inspire those interested in the production and historians to learn more about the ‘Mad King’.

There was – whatever your opinion on King George III – certainly more to him and his reign than America and mental illness.

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48 Winter Workout

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HEALTH

Tackling your health one step at a time T

he New Year is here and it’s time to put you first. Stop sacrificing your health and wellness for school ‘needs’ – you’ll be surprised how it’s actually able to function without you working 10 hours six days per week. 2020 is the year you prioritise you, and there’s no better way to start tackling your health and wellness than regulars walks.

Hit the coast, dive into the woods, hike up a hill or even power walk the neighbourhood you grew up in. It’s all the same and carries benefits both physically and mentally no Fitbit or macro-counter could ever fully measure.

Step out of your old routine (literally) and become the version of you that you want to be.

For advice on maximising your walks see Page 50.

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O! -G GO 2

BANANA SPLIT

In less than 5 minutes you can start your day the right way – with a smile You will need: 1 banana 2 tbs peanut butter 2 scoops frozen yogurt Strawberries Blueberries Rasberries 2 tbs sugar-free granola Honey Instructions: 1. Peel the banana and slice it lengthways into two halves.

2. Place into a bowl, sliced-sides facing upwards.

3. Spread the peanut butter over the banana halves.

4. Add the scoops of frozen yogurt on top and sprinkle over the mixed berries.

5. Finish by scattering over the granola and adding a drizzle of honey.

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BREAK TIME FITNESS

Breakfast

A 15-MINUTE WORKOUT FOR THE CLASSROOM

HEALTH WINTER WORKOUT Avoid the frost of the playground by hitting the school gym

W

ith Jack Frost turning the school playground and playing fields into a frozen death trap, let’s take our training indoors to the school gym this winter with these two simple but effective circuits.

Complete each workout circuit two or three times and aim to take only 30 seconds rest between each exercise.

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Workout 2 WORKOUT 1

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Chair Squats. Find a chair that is about knee high, go down slow (like you are about to sit down), then barely touch before coming back up to standing. 10 reps.

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Push-up Shoulder Touches. Start at the top of the push up position, take right hand and touch left shoulder, then the other side. 20 reps/

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Burpees. You can do it! 15 reps.

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Crunches. 30 reps.

Push-ups. Start on your knees if you need to. 10 reps.

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Jumping jacks. 20 reps

Sprints. 15 metre bursts. 5 reps.

Crunches. Work those abs! 30 reps.

Lunges. Watch your form & make sure your knees don’t go over your toes. 10 reps each leg.

5

Squat Jumps. Start in a squat position then jump off the ground, landing in a squat. Do this as fast as you can. 20 reps.

Side Lunges. 10 reps each leg.

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6

Book Raises. Grab a big book and with both arms straight lift it shoulder height. 10 reps.

7

Wall Sit. Pretend to sit in a chair with your knees bent and back pressing on the wall. Hold for 20 seconds.

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HEALTH

WALKING WORKOUT Turn your daily or weekend walk into a proper workout

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JOG-WALK This is all about pace control. Stroll at a brisk clip for a minute, then switch to an easy jog. Jog for one minute, then walk again. Repeat the off-on sequence three times.

Works: bum & legs LUNGE WALK Best done in a quiet park or woods – you may look silly in the street – take a big step forward with your right leg, bend your right knee. Straighten to standing, bringing your left leg through as you do and stepping into another deep lunge. Continue taking giant steps and bending and straightening your front leg.

Works: bum, legs & lower back HIGH KNEES Resume walking but instead of taking normal strides, lift your knees as high as you can to your chest with each step. Keep your spine straight and contract your abdominals with each knee hike.

Works: legs, belly & bum BUTT KICKS After getting your breath back walking again, break into an easy jog, kicking your heels to your bum with every step. After 30 seconds of butt kicks, return to walking and then back again.

Works: legs, belly & bum

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WALKING SQUATS Stop and stand with your feet slightly wider than hip-width apart. Bend your knees and drop your seat toward the ground, aiming to get your thighs parallel with the pavement. Straighten to standing.

Works: lower back, legs & bum SIDEWINDERS Turn side-on and begin to move in a sideways motion, scissoring your feet in front and back in a sort of grapevine pattern. Every 30 seconds, switch sides. You may be most comfortable in a light jog rather than a walk.

Works: lower back, legs & bum ANKLE DIPS Increase the pace of your walk. Now quickly bend at the hips to touch your right ankle with your right hand, without breaking stride. Then try left hand to left ankle.

Don’t let the movement slow you down. Now mix it up; left, left, right, etc.

Works: lower back, belly & legs POWER JUMPS Again, best done in a quiet location, but as you walk every ninth step spring up into the air off your front foot and reach both arms up high above your head (like a goalkeeper saving a high ball). Repeat six times, three each side.

Works: legs, bum & back @hwrk_magazine

LUNCHBOX FOR...

WARMTH Fire up your packed lunch and stay warm this winter

OATS A great source of whole grains and fiber, oats can improve your cholesterol and make you feel full, warm and healthy.

HONEY Warm in nature, it keeps the body cosy too, while also working to fight cold and fly viruses by boosting the immune system.

GINGER The root stimulates thermogenesis and is also a diaphoretic, which means it will help your body warm from the inside out.

SPINACH A great source of iron. People with low iron may notice cold hands and feet or feel tired easily.

PORK All red meat is another good source of iron. Plus, vitamin B12 contributes to healthy nerves and a strong immune system.

SWEET POTATOES Root vegetables need more energy to move through the digestion process, which raises your body temperature.

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BUTTERNUT SQUASH Packed vitamin C and potassium which boost your immune system and dietary fiber helps keep your digestive system healthy.

EGGS A powerhouse of energy, eggs are also rich in proteins and vitamins which help in keeping the body warm.

BANANAS Packed with vitamin B and magnesium, allies to your thyroid and adrenal glands which help regulate body temperature.

CASHEWS Dried fruits and nuts generate heat in the body during the digestion process, firing up your immune system too. Eat raw if possible.

WATER Dehydration causes your core temperature to drop, which may lead to hypothermia.

ICED COFFEE Caffeine increases your metabolism, which can raise your body temperature. Technically, iced coffee is even better as it has more caffeine.

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HEALTH SWEET OREGANO CHICKEN WITH GREEK SALAD This simple tray bake meal is relatively prep free and ideal for winter nights

15-MINUTE DINNER

You will need: 2 tbs olive oil 4 chicken breasts 1 tbs finely chopped fresh rosemary 1/3 cup oregano 2 tbs honey 200g green beans, trimmed 3 vine-ripened tomatoes

3 baby cucumbers 1/2 red onion 1 green pepper 70g fetta 10 black olives 1 tbc lemon juice Crusty bread

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 240C/220C (fan). If your chicken breasts are thicker than an inch, wrap them in baking paper and give them a little bash with a rolling pin to help them cook more evenly. Cover liberally with the chopped rosemary and season with salt and pepper.

2. Heat one tablespoon of oil in a large heavy-based flameproof roasting dish over medium-high heat. Add chicken to pan and cook for 2 minutes or until browned.

3. Flip the chicken and sprinkle with oregano and a drizzle of honey.

4. Add the green beans and transfer the dish to the oven and bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.

5. Dice the tomatoes and cucumbers and thinly slice the onion. Roughly slice and chop the green pepper and crumble up the fetta. Place all cold ingredients into a large bowl with the olives, lemon juice and remaining oil. Season with salt and pepper then toss to combine.

6. Serve chicken with salad and crusty bread.

2020: HEALTHIER AND HAPPIER THAN EVER

13 easy ways to improve your eating and training habits and ensure you make real changes

1 SIT DOWN

You might think that you’re being a multitasking hero, eating breakfast in the car or grabbing a handful of pretzels on your way to a meeting.

But even if the food is healthy, it could be sabotaging your diet. That’s because eating on the go is a form of ‘mindless eating’ and can result in consuming more calories later in the day. No more eating and running. Sit down, eat slowly and make sure you take this time out so you will remember you’ve eaten and will be less tempted to snack later on.

2 VEGGIES FIRST

Put an unprocessed vegetable on your plate and consume it before any other type of food hits the table at both lunch and dinner, as research suggests this leads to eating fewer calories. At the beginning of a meal, you’re most hungry and you’re most likely to eat something that you don’t like as much and you may be used to leaving on the plate.

3 PRIORITISE PROTEIN

Protein is key to weight loss and body maintenance, according to a 2015 review published in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. And while eating about 25-35 grams of high-quality protein is important at every meal, it’s key in the morning. Most people consume 10-15g at breakfast or skip it altogether. Big mistake.

COACH SAYS: Try a two-egg omelette with low-fat cheese and a handful of chopped up turkey or ham. No time to cook eggs? Try Greek yogurt with dried fruit and nuts.

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4 YOU’RE WORTH IT

We all only have a limited number of calories we should consume in a day, so why blow it on salty snacks and sugary short-term hits? Start a dialogue with yourself, seriously.

But stopping short of the tuck shop and saying to yourself, ‘Do I really need a chocolate bar?’ Is a great way to control naughty cravings. We can avoid a lot of unwanted calories by becoming aware of our tendencies and cutting back on some of the unnecessary eating. Say no to food that’s unsatisfying and save your calories for treats worth having.

5 HIT THE H2O

Obese participants instructed to drink two cups of water before meals for 12 weeks lost almost three more pounds than did those in a control group, in a 2015 study found. One obvious reason is that water fills your stomach and seems to increase satiety, which appears to lead you to eat less at your main meals. Easy.

6 PORTION CONTROL

If your school has a self-service buffet style canteen then try leaving one-quarter of your normal serving off your plate for five days. If your meals are made for you, then, as you’re eating, try leaving two tablespoons of your lunch or dinner on your plate. If you hit a wall later in the afternoon then perhaps you’ve cut back too much, but most of us won’t feel the difference yet this small decrease in food intake will have huge results when it come to dropping weight.

7 SET YOUR ALARM TO SLEEP

Losing just 30 minutes of sleep on weeknights can lead to long-term weight gain in adults. So, if you can’t commit to getting the recommended 7-8 hours of sleep, aim to clock just a little extra each night. If setting the alarm clock 30 minutes later during the week isn’t an option, try setting an alarm clock to remind yourself to go to sleep.

8 GO NUTS FOR FRUIT & VEG

It’s better to eat 800 calories of healthy food than 600 calories of junk food! You can and should have as many fruits and vegetables as you want. Go nuts! Research has linked the consumption of foods such as crisps, pop, and processed meats to weight gain, whereas increasing consumption of vegetables, nuts, and yogurt had the opposite effect: weightloss food!

9 PLAN TO CHEAT

Surprises can derail a careful diet plan. Mapping out a strategy for out-of-the-ordinary occasions so that they don’t overwhelm you. If you are going to a party, once you’ve made the right meal choices, stay away from the buffet or appetisers. Try carrying a drink in one hand and a napkin in the other. Repeat the manta of your intention to yourself (see 4) several times before you go.

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HEALTH 10 PEEL PREP

Vegetables often require cleaning, chopping and cooking. But convenience is key when all you want to do is hit the couch and tear into a bag of crisps. So, keep healthy foods in ready-to-eat portions. Carrot sticks and humous or Frozen sliced banana with peanut butter is far better than anything that ever got packaged up at the Walkers crisps factory!

11

12 LAZINESS IS YOUR FRIEND

Sit with a bowl of crisps on your lap and you’ll eat them all. But leave the bowl in the kitchen and just dip in when you pass by and you’re likely to leave leftovers. Use your laziness to your advantage. Put sweets and chocolates in higher cabinets, so you’ll need a chair or a stool to reach them; serve yourself a reasonable portion of dinner, then store the leftovers in the fridge before you sit down to eat; and cover cake with foil instead of plastic wrap so you won’t see them every time you’re in the kitchen.

MAKE TRAINING FUN!

Reframe your training workout to focus on its most rewarding aspects. Try simply moving your walk or jog to the coastline or local woods rather than the local housing estate, or listen to your favourite music while running, or chat with a friend during a brisk walk. Podcasts or audio books are also brilliant to take your mind off the repetitiveness associated with fitness training.

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13 HAVE FUN

Remember this is not a diet or a fixed training programme, healthy eating and living is a lifestyle choice so make the changes that work for you otherwise they wont last. Find healthy food choices that tickly your taste buds and go deep. Find the activities that you’re passionate about and set personal goals. But most of all, enjoy it.

Life’s too short to be miserable.

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BIG Advice

Effective Pupil Premium strategies How to spend essential funding to make the broadest impact

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T

he question of how schools should spend Pupil Pre mium funding is one that has confounded many schools for some time now. With such overstretched budgets, it is easy to see why some schools are tempted to appropriate the funding for other reasons. However, this is not what it is for. The Pupil Premium is supposed to be used to benefit ‘disadvantaged’ students who meet at least one of the following criteria:

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• Children who have received free school meals at any point in the last six years • Looked after (or previously looked after) children • Children from service families Now, even a quick glance at this eligibility criteria begs the question: How can the Pupil Premium be spent so that this diverse range of students benefits from it? The answer is not obvious.

Students who have this funding attached to them are all ‘disadvantaged’ in some way, but clearly, they are not similar, at least not enough for one single strategy to be effective. In the same classroom, you could, for example, have a @hwrk_magazine

BIG Advice PUPIL PREMIUM SPENDING

student whose parents are in the armed forces sitting next to a student who has moved from foster home to foster home several times.

Both students attract the Pupil Premium, but their life experiences, education, health and family surroundings might not be anywhere near similar. Therefore, a variety of approaches must be considered.

H

ow should Pupil Premium be spent?

Rather than spending each student’s extra funding on individual strategies, the EEF recommends a ‘tiered approach’ to the use of the Pupil Premium. They argue that in some cases it might be just as advantageous for schools to spend the money on whole-school priorities rather than on targeted interventions.

Sometimes, the best way to help one person is to help everyone. And there are different ways this can be done successfully.

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One way is by funding high-quality CPD for all teaching staff, aimed at improving educational outcomes for all students. The use of the PP funding in this way is perfectly legitimate as it does raise the attainment of disadvantaged students.

One concern, however, is that the most disadvantaged students might not actually benefit from this CPD. The way to avoid this is to choose CPD that has a proven track record of it improving outcomes for these students.

The EEF Toolkit can be utilised to great effect here, as it rates different strategies in terms of their financial cost and the strength of research-evidence that underpins them.

Prioritising high-quality teaching methods enables all teachers to be able to identify students’ areas for improvement and to intervene more quickly and much more naturally in the classroom.

Focusing on improving teaching pedagogy benefits the most disadvantaged, as they are more likely to have struggled due to poor questioning from the teacher, or due to a lack of modelled answers.

The EEF identified three strategies that have been shown to significantly benefit all students (around +5 months impact), including disadvantaged students: W i n t e r // H W R K M AG A Z I N E // 5 9

1.

Feedback

(+8 months impact)

When students receive high-quality feedback on their answers, their next attainment scores tend to rise. Feedback can come in many forms though and not all feedback is of equal value. For feedback to make the greatest difference, it should be in-the-moment, rather than several days (or weeks) later. Students who then respond to that feedback immediately make significant gains compared to their peers who didn’t respond at all.

Crucially though it is disadvantaged students who are less likely to respond to feedback. So, addressing this could be a real game-changer. Routinely plan for ‘feedback time’ during lessons. By being on-hand as students respond to it, you can ensure that (a) they actually do it and (b) that it is done well enough to have a lasting impact on them.

2.

Metacognition

(+7 months impact)

Metacognition strategies, aimed at teaching students to reflect upon how they learn, can be invaluable for all.

Disadvantaged students are far less likely to spend time reflecting upon their learning. They have so many other more urgent challenges, that this won’t typically feature as a priority.

However, research shows that when it is prioritised students do make significantly more progress. For example, getting students to talk about the reasons why an answer is worth X number of marks can help disadvantaged students to see where they can improve quickly.

3.

Reading Comprehension (+6

months impact)

One of the main reasons why (typically disadvantaged) students struggle in assessments is due to weak literacy skills. The inability to decode a question, or to understand important vocabulary can make it virtually impossible to learn. Add to this the stigma felt by readers who are far behind their peers and the associated refusal to seek help publicly and you have a deadly recipe.

However, students whose literacy issues are addressed do not fall behind as much. They are able to read quicker and with greater accuracy and can write more fluently.

This enables them to achieve examination scores that they could previously only dream of. But more importantly (in my view) they can access literature for enjoyment too.

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BIG Advice

W

hat difficulties might you face?

There is an issue with implementing these strategies though. They all require teaching staff to adapt to new ways of working and, for some teachers, it can take getting used to. This is why the Pupil Premium funding is crucial.

It can be used to help with training in these areas, so staff feel skilled enough to implement them. Sometimes extra staffing is required in order for quality-assurance of these processes to take place.

This could be in the form of a cover teacher, for extra PPA time to be scheduled, or it could be for extra LSAs to be present in lessons whilst teachers embed new systems.

But, whichever way you decide to spend the Pupil Premium there is only one thing you really need to remember. There is a child at the centre. So long as that child’s needs are addressed, that is the most important thing.

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Embrace this generation and bring computer literacy into your classroom Words: Brian Aspinall

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Coding allows students to create content, not just consume it.

Coding empowers students and give them tools to express themselves in really cool ways.

Coding teaches storytelling with games and animations.

Coding is a place for students to take risks and fail safely.

Coding is inclusive and builds selfconfidence.

Coding supports many principles of mathematics.

BONUS:

Coding gives you superpowers!

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Coding teaches problem solving and critical/analytical thinking skills.

Coding is a new type of literacy and will be a large part of future jobs.

Coding develops teamwork and collaborative skills.

Coding can help humanity.

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Rap your way to success Observation + Poetry = Simples, to quote those meerkats!

WORDS: PAUL DELANEY

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BIG Profile

W

What happens if you’re going to be observed by SMT and it’s your poetry unit, a lesson about as welcome in your classroom as bubonic plague on a hospital ward?

Your three choices: 1. Feign sickness (Poeticitious) until poetry is off the agenda.

2. Sprint across the playground, never to be seen again.

3. Look at my cool poetry ideas below.

Y2/3 I don’t like…

I don’t like salad sandwiches and I don’t like garden peas.

I don’t like sticky honey. Who cares if it’s made by bees?

I don’t like my mummy’s face when she’s searching for her keys!

I only like chocolate!

Focus: Adjectives / expanded noun phrases.

Fairly easy for the children to write their own:

As you can see, four different levels for your groups within your class.

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I don’t like curry. (SEND) I don’t like hot curry.

I don’t like hot, Indian curry.

I don’t like hot, Indian curry because it burns my mouth! Arrgghh!

1-hour lesson plan

Discuss how we’re all different. List a few things we love. Now list things we don’t like / love. Bring in a shopping bag, filled with items, such as an umbrella, (walking in the rain) alarm clock (getting up early) and food, drink etc.

• 5 mins: Read and discuss the poem idea • 10 mins: Model write poem for the children (one or two verses is enough) • 30 mins: Children’s writing time • 5 mins: Listen to children’s examples

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BIG Profile Y3/4 In trouble!

5 mins: Discuss have you ever been in trouble? What do the words actually mean?

‘If you do that again, you’ll be ‘In trouble!’

Discuss – listen to children.

‘I was in trouble once because my mum…’

You can squeeze a tube of toothpaste but squeeze a tomato and you’re in trouble!

You can run a bubble bath but run a marathon and you’re in trouble!

You can crack an egg but crack a skull and you’re in trouble!

(SEND working with TA) Use adjectives / expanded noun phrases again: You can jump on an enormous blue trampoline, But jump on a fierce, wild crocodile and you’re in trouble!

Extension: You can jump on an enormous blue trampoline at your best friend’s birthday party but jump on a fierce, wild crocodile deep in the jungle and you’re in trouble!

I wonder what an iPhone 3 thinks about, sitting on a dusty shelf in a charity shop?

Is she remembering her halcyon days, when everybody loved her?

Is she remembering Lauren, her first teenage owner, who loved her so much? (Comparative) Or is she happy in the charity shop, enjoying a rest after many years of full charge?

I wonder…

Extension can include; 1. Looking at the rhythm, 2. Trying to rhyme like mine.

• 10 mins: Read and discuss my poem, notice the similes in each verse Sometimes, I feel strong, as strong as an oak tree, on a cold winter’s morn, braving the broadside of countless merciless storms.

Sometimes…

Sometimes I feel weak, as weak as a dying warrior on a blood-soaked battlefield, Clutching still his silver sword and a tarnished broken shield.

Sometimes…

Sometimes, I feel…

Here are some great ones: I wonder what an Olympic swimmer thinks about, finishing fourth in a race?

I wonder what Willy Wonker thinks about, when he meets Veruca Salt for the first time?

I wonder what an innocent fly thinks about, landing on a hungry spider’s sticky web?

This is one of my own personal favourites and I’ve seen some fabulous work linked to this ‘emotions’ poem.

Another for Y5/6 Sometimes (Great for emotions)

Sometimes…

• 10 mins: Model write one or two verses: Sometimes I feel frustrated, as frustrated as an iPhone X limping along on 5% charge, wondering when his true and long-overdue salvation will come!

Sometimes…

I’m sure you can tailor my poetry ideas for some fabulous lessons of your own, even if you’re going to be observed. Don’t forget that one of the most important things is to let a few children ‘perform’ a verse from their poems at the end of your lesson. Then we have writing for a purpose. Happy planning everybody…

Simples!

• 5 mins: List emotions on board. Play guess the emotion

Y5/6 I wonder…

I wonder what a goldfish thinks about, swimming in a bowl?

Is he dreaming of a bigger tank or a long lost family shoal?

Is he waiting for another fish to share his watery home?

Or is she happy all alone, the King of his own glass dome?

I wonder…

• 5 mins: Discuss how lots of questions will always remain unanswered. Do aliens exist? Where is heaven? When I’m older, will I get married?

• 10 mins: Read and discuss my poem • 10 mins: Model write – great for personification

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TAKING LEARNING OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

Is your school on top of e-Safety?

C

hristmas comes bearing gifts every year, which means the new school term will be awash with pupils brandishing the latest mobile phones, tablets and various other social media connectors. It’s another red flag period for educators.

Staying on top of e-Safety must be a priority in every school’s campaign against bullying. So get proactive, review your policies against the latest apps and social media trends. And keep your pupils safe from the piece of tech they prize so much.

For more see Page 76

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Ras Al Khaimah Teaching in the UAE remains an incredibly worthwhile and rewarding option for Brits

T

he looming General Election, which will see the people of the UK cast their votes on Thursday 12th December, mtriggers a time of evaluation and reflection for many.

For educators, many will listen carefully to the key discussion points that are being discussed such as the possible abolition of university fees, free school meals for all and a whole host of potential other changes.

Since qualifying as a primary school teacher from the University of East London in 2010, I have followed developments in the UK’s education sector with interest. My overriding feeling is one of sympathy for committed practitioners whose work/life balance seems to be worsening with increased demands and less funding and support.

I count myself as one of the lucky ones. Why? After two years of fulltime employment in the UK and having received an excellent grounding in teaching under the guidance of experienced mentors, I applied for my first international teaching post.

From a very young age I had held an ambition to travel, see new places and experience other cultures. An international teaching post offered me the possibility to combine my love of teaching with my childhood dream.

Having never been outside of Europe previously, I wasn’t even fully sure where to go. Alas, I secured employment in an independent school in Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. Ras Al Khaimah is one of seven emirates (think UK counties) and is situated one hour’s drive north of Dubai.

Cue one of the biggest changes in my life and, on reflection, one of the very best. There are many schools in the UAE that follow the British curriculum and for any teacher making the move from the

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UK to the international sector, familiarity with the curriculum is certainly an advantage.

I found myself teaching a Year 3 class (having taught Year 4 previously) and thought that would be a good fit. The greatest challenge was the large majority of the children were local Emirati children who spoke English as their second or third language.

Additional language specialist staff suddenly became my best friends as I quickly realised that this was an area where I needed to upskill as a professional. I will be forever grateful that I did as I self-reflected on being incredibly precise with instruction and being very creative with methods of explanation, questioning and use of resources.

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Outside of working hours, the staff community were incredibly tight. They become your friends and your family away from home. Accommodation is provided for all staff members and is suitably located within 10-minute drive of the school.

Return flights at the start and end of the academic year are considered standard practice and all employees receive a gratuity bonus payment at the end of contract that equates to 21 days of service for every year of work completed.

Following two years in Ras Al Khaimah, I moved to Dubai where I was playing a lot of sport and had made many friends as a result of weekend trips. I started work in another British curriculum school that had a slightly different dynamic.

The large majority of the children were European but there was still a

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high number of pupils (above 70%) who studied English as an additional language. Independent schools in Dubai are inspected annually and this does bring pressure as school leaders need to implement the changes suggested within inspection reports in a relatively short time frame.

Where Ras Al Khaimah has a more relaxed, family-friendly atmosphere, Dubai is fast-paced, glamorous and an adventure-filled city. I feel extremely fortunate that I lived in Dubai for a further five years.

It’s an excellent base for travel, has an incredible range of hotels, bars and restaurants. It plays host to some of the world’s best musicians and drama productions. It’s a city that is continually becoming more family-friendly and liberal in its thinking.

In July, my wife and I decided to return to the UK to begin our new chapter as a married couple. Ultimately, being close to family is now a huge priority for both of us at this stage of our lives.

Deciding to return was very difficult as we both hugely enjoyed our respective international teaching experiences.

Upon reflection, the positives massively outweigh the negatives. I would strongly encourage UK teachers to, at the very least, research the different potential opportunities that are out there in your field of expertise and to speak to as many people as possible with experience of the sector.

Seven academic years later, I can honestly say it was the best decision I ever made.

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It’s all about literacy Embrace the reading potential of your KS1 kids with the help of TutorMate Words: Emma Bell

N

othing changes the trajectory of a child’s life more powerfully than literacy.

But it’s an unfortunate truth that, currently, too many KS1 children, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, simply don’t get the critical reading practice they need at home to become confident readers who are motivated to pick up a book and enjoy it.

Schools are acutely aware of this and, with stretched budgets, do their best to mobilise volunteers to give struggling pupils a boost. Sadly, such reading schemes often falter when it proves too hard to find adults in the numbers needed, to organise the logistics and DBS checks and to set aside the physical space.

Surely there is a way of matching working volunteers who want to help a child read, but have limited time to travel to schools for a face to face session, with the schools that need their help?

TUTORMATE

Innovations for Learning, a global non-profit, has found an innovative solution that can help more children read, more easily. Their flagship TutorMate programme harnesses technology to enable a volunteer adult and a Year 1 reader to ‘meet’ each other virtually, for 30 minutes a week over an entire academic year, for an online practice reading session.

TutorMate launched in the UK in 2018 and currently operate in 30 schools in London, Bradford and Leeds supporting nearly 600 children. At the core of their model are partnerships developed with a range of local and national businesses (including KPMG, Visa, Google, Expedia, John Lewis, Rothschild & Co) which recruit their employees as reading tutors.

Volunteers use a sophisticated internet platform to link from their workplace to a dedicated classroom laptop. Up to 10 children in each Year 1 class participate, giving the programme a reach and scale that schools are otherwise unable to achieve.

A typical day in a TutorMate classroom usually involves one or two Year 1 children receiving an individual call. The class teacher and volunteers collaborate to set a ‘virtual timetable’ and can exchange messages about pupil progress.

At the appointed time, the volunteer tutor phones the dedicated class laptop which rings. A greeter answers the call and finds the child whose session is due.

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During their 30 minutes of reading, the tutor-pupil pairs read levelled stories together and enjoy a range of word activities, focused on building fluency and comprehension.

The platform does not enable the tutor and child to see each other, so they rely on voice to communicate, boosting listening skills and the children’s ability to articulate themselves clearly. The fun, bright design of the children’s screens keeps even the most reluctant readers engaged.

VOLUNTEER CHECKS

All volunteers are subject to an Enhanced DBS check and receive Safeguarding training. Volunteers also participate in training webinars about the basics of early reading and how to optimise their use of the TutorMate platform.

Feedback from partner schools has been really strong. Teachers report back consistently about children like Craig, who was persistently late for school but now always arrives in good time so as not to miss his call from his tutor, or like Ava and Tyler, who are painfully shy but after participating in the programme are much more confident use their voices more in the classroom.

At the end of the 2018-19 pilot year TutorMate commissioned the National Literacy Trust to evaluate the programme across nine participating schools. The study found that in comparison with their Year 1 classmates: • TutorMate children showed twice the rate of increase in their reading enjoyment (19.9% vs 9.9%) • TutorMate children showed much

higher increases in their perception of themselves as being ‘a good reader’ (34.5% vs 16.7%) • TutorMate children with the two lowest levels of ability showed a statistically significant higher rate of progression in their reading (with TutorMate children on average reading at level 5 and their peers reading at level 3.3 at the end of the year) • Results were especially strong for reluctant readers e.g at the start of the year, half as many reluctant readers considered themselves to be good readers (37.5%) vs. their peers (71.7%). By the end of the year this was almost even at 93.3% vs. 97.9%.

The TutorMate model has great potential to scale across the nation and transform the volunteer reading support landscape. The programme is free to schools in the first year and all equipment is provided.

They need a number of schools to participate in a specific geographical area to be viable, so if you are interested, please connect with them on Twitter @ TutorMate_uk or get in touch at emma@ innovationsforlearning.org.

‘I would absolutely recommend this to other schools.

It is a wonderful opportunity to motivate, inspire and to practise.

And to be able to work with a team of volunteers who have taken the time to learn about the basics of reading means that children are getting a very positive deal. Absolutely, do it!’

Headmaster

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Are you taking e-safety seriously?

Staying on top of online apps and social media channels is essential to protect our children

D

igital communication via the internet has brought the world much closer together. What once took months, weeks then days to travel across time zones is now available instantly thanks to the expansion of the internet and mobile technology. But with this explosion in communication comes a similarly opportunistic increase for its malicious users.

While malicious online users often seek personal gain, this may not be limited to financial or material. This is especially a concern to parents and children, as children are often targets of these malicious users.

ONLINE THREAT

Common threats to personal safety include: phishing, internet scams, malware, cyber-stalking, access to pornography, online predations and online bullying. Add to this the detrimental effect these threats can have on a person’s confidence, self-esteem, trust, social skills and more and we have a major issue that is affecting thousands of young people on a daily basis.

So, who’s responsibility is it to teach these young, inquisitive minds to explore within safe boundaries, communicate well and leave a positive footprint in the virtual world?

Is e-safety taught and talked about enough in your school? Is it discussed openly and honestly during lessons? Does your school faculty have enough personal knowledge and confidence to cascade to young people?

With new social apps popping up regularly, the tempting option might be to hide away, such is the task of understanding it all. But before you can guide your children, teachers and parents need to educate themselves.

IT’S A DIGITAL WORLD Like no generation of parents and educators ever before, we need to learn about the arena our children are in, so we can guide them,

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supervise them, prevent them from getting it wrong. It’s no good trying to stop them from accessing the internet/social media sites as not only will young people find a way to access the things parents forbid.

Banning them from certain sites is also banning them from joining the conversation with their friends; it is restricting how they learn; and over-policing their activity will drive them further and further away from mainstream sites that parents understand, in their search for a private life.

Young people operate in a digital world; this is something we cannot escape from and is to be encouraged as an excellent resource for their learning and development. Yet are we sure that young people know how to keep themselves safe online?

Do they dabble in privacy settings but then move onto the more exciting side of technology, blissfully unaware of the dangers they are potentially exposed to or their potential vulnerability online?

Educators need to take hold of this and include it as a vital part of their curricular work with young people. After all, our young people can and will continue to use technology in their day to day life – including their educational life – which poses a deep responsibility to schools, colleges and universities to promote and champion the online safety of young people.

OPPORTUNITY KNOCKS

Use this as an opportunity to enhance your learning environment with young people. You will be speaking to them about something that interests and excites them so they will engage.

Learn with them and from them so that together we become a more digitally literate society, but one which recognises that there are still boundaries in the online world and that appropriate action needs to and will be taken when these boundaries are crossed.

Teach them to recognise the difference between acceptable and unacceptable behaviour; to recognise online bullying in all its forms and to have the courage and self-belief to ensure that all incidents are reported so that they can be dealt with.

Talk openly and honestly about your policy in dealing with online bullying, which in turn, will encourage reporting with the knowledge of good practice in addressing all bullying issues.

Safeguarding and protection must be paramount in all that we do with young people – which includes teaching them about the digital world.

Ask the young people what they need help and support with digitally and ensure that it can be provided for them and they can enjoy the digital world and create a positive digital footprint. @hwrk_magazine

in association with

Get to grips with ME Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is the biggest health-related cause of long-term school absence in the UK – it’s time to act

Words: Sally Callow

C

hronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), medically known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), is the biggest health-related cause of long-term school absence in the UK. It’s a condition that SEND teaching staff need to fully understand to ensure adequate support is provided and to enable students to meet their potential within learning environments.

Many ME/CFS-affected students are finding themselves expelled from school due to long-term unauthorised absence.

Students are being expelled due to a lack of knowledge about the condition within the education sector.

There are a couple of key points for SEND staff to be aware of: Firstly, there is currently no diagnostic test and so everything else must be tested for and ruled out before an ME/CFS diagnosis can be given, which usually takes about 12 months.

Also, one of the key factors in ME/CFS being a complicated and misunderstood condition is its fluctuating nature. Even if patients rest all day, doing no activity whatsoever, the symptom severity and energy level will fluctuate naturally.

Add a little bit of activity into the mix and patients have more severe fluctuations.

It’s difficult for patients to judge when they will feel well enough to attempt attending school, do their homework, or see their friends. More often than not, activities get cancelled.

Students may feel well enough to do several 30-minute bite-sized chunks of coursework in the morning but, by lunchtime, their symptoms will have worsened and they would be unable to do any other activity for a few hours or for the rest of the day.

ME/CFS has a spectrum of severity: mild, moderate and severe. Given the opportunity to rest and to manage their own energy levels when the symptoms start (ie. not waiting for a diagnosis) a patient could prevent the transition to a more severe form of the condition.

Even those with the mildest form of the condition lose 50% of their pre-ME/CFS level of functioning.

ME/CFS STATS • 250,000 people living with ME/CFS in the UK • 25,000 are children and young adults HWRKMAGAZINE.CO.UK

These are the 7 key indicators for making an ME/CFS diagnosis: 1. Post-exertional malaise or symptom exacerbation The key diagnostic feature of ME/CFS is the way in which symptoms worsen after activity is increased beyond what the patient can tolerate.

2. Exercise-induced muscle fatigue May be accompanied by muscle pain.

3. Cognitive dysfunction

Cognitive dysfunction alone is often severe enough to cause a substantial reduction in previous levels of occupational, educational, personal and social activities.

4. Pain

That can be persistent and difficult to control. Pain is often muscular, but it can also be rheumatic or neuropathic. But pain is not always present.

5. Sleep disturbance A non-refreshing sleep pattern that

can include both hypersomnia (early in the illness) and insomnia, reversal of sleep

rhythm (especially in children), vivid dreams and ‘restless legs’.

6. On-going, flu-like malaise

A general feeling of ‘being unwell’ that is accompanied by sore throat, tender lymph glands and problems with temperature control.

7. Autonomic symptoms

Including orthostatic intolerance. Autonomic symptoms are very common in ME/ CFS, and orthostatic intolerance refers to an inability to sustain upright activity.

Whilst teachers are not responsible for diagnosing the condition, it would be hugely beneficial for staff to know the 7 key indicators. Should a student entering the prolonged testing process show signs of the above, then perhaps the school could implement an interim care plan, suitable for potential ME/CFS. This care plan could include reduced school attendance, longer assignment deadlines, allowed to study from home. Quick and effective support is vital in the early stages of the illness to prevent developing the worst form of the condition – severe ME, in which patients are bed or house bound, often for years.

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The Education Emails Edited by JS Sumerfield

In 2018 HWRK obtained an anonymous upload of documents originating from the secure email servers of an unidentified high school. Neither the recipient nor the sender have ever been traced. This email is the second classified document we have reproduced in HWRK as part of our mini-series, in the interests of transparency and numerous Freedom of Information requests from our teachers.

e.org> ak@hotmail.h rey” <g.bal > From: “Geoff tmail.he.org <s.moloch@ho To: “Seth”

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, My Dear Seth

Yours, “Geoffrey” HWRK MAGAZINE PUBLISHED BY PICTURES UP DESIGN LTD 5 Hackins Hey, Liverpool L2 2AW, UK E: enquiries@hwrkmagazine.co.uk T: 0151 237 7303 CONSULTANT EDITOR Nick Peet PUBLISHING DIRECTOR Alec Frederick Power DESIGNER Adam Blakemore MANAGING DIRECTORS G Gumbhir, Alec Frederick Power Legal Disclaimer: While precautions have been made to ensure the accuracy of contents in this publication and digital brands neither the editors, publishers not its agents can accept responsibility for damages or injury which may arise therefrom. No part of any of the publication whether in print or digital may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission of the copyright owner.

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