News

The Reading Agency’s Summer Reading Challenge, in partnership with WWF, is delighted to announce that teenage naturalist, award-winning writer and broadcaster Dara McAnulty and award-winning explorer, presenter, and writer Steve Backshall, are ambassadors for the Summer Reading Challenge 2021, as the full plans for the campaign are unveiled. The Summer Reading Challenge, delivered in partnership with public libraries, encourages reading for pleasure for children aged 4 to 11 over the summer… Full story

As the academic year comes to a close and the learnings of the past 18 months are taken into account, new research from Lenovo reveals that seven in 10 (70%) parents and teachers in the UK believe digital skills gained during the pandemic will set children up for life beyond school.   The survey, made up of 500 teachers and 2,000 parents in the UK with children aged four to sixteen years old, outlines the changes parents and teachers want made to the school curriculum as a result of the… Full story

Schools across the UK will be taking part in My Money Week 2021 from 14th June to 18th June! My Money Week is a national activity week run by financial education charity Young Money and supported by Santander, which provides primary and secondary pupils with an excellent opportunity to gain the skills, knowledge and confidence they need to manage money well now, and in the future. The theme for this year’s My Money Week is money and the future. In response to the pandemic, this year’s … Full story

Whizz Education, provider of the award-winning virtual tutor Maths-Whizz, has launched an exciting summer learning challenge for all 5–13-year-olds.  This new initiative is open to all schools and parents, designed to encourage students to continue ‘doing’ maths whilst having fun over the six-week summer holiday period (mid-July to the end August).  The aim of the challenge is to ensure measurable learning gains are made, helping students get ‘back on track’ by September and have fun doing so… Full story

Dan Snow, Simon Schama and Danielle de Niese will join the PTI’s Subject Enrichment Series The PTI has announced a series of online professional development lectures for teachers in June and July 2021 to support teachers to deepen knowledge of their subject areas.  The PTI Subject Enrichment Series gives teachers an opportunity to attend lectures by the finest minds in their subject fields including Simon Schama, Lord Martin Rees, Dan Snow, Tracy Borman, Marcus du Sautoy and Danielle de Niese… Full story

A competition for secondary schools, created to help combat severe disruption to learning and isolation that students faced over Covid-19 school closures, saw more than 1500 pupils across the UK submit their written work.  Four UK secondary school pupils have been announced as the first-ever winners of a new creative writing competition backed by the world’s youngest Nobel winner, Malala Yousafzai, and the National Literacy Trust. The inaugural 500 Word Malala Yousafzai Competition was… Full story

With just over two months until the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Aldi is running a nationwide competition with Team GB, calling on budding child artists to submit a design for its latest lorry.    The UK’s fifth-largest supermarket is inviting school children aged between five and 14 to enter a hand-drawn design by Friday 25th June that celebrates fresh, healthy food.   The competition is the next step in Aldi’s longstanding partnership with Team GB, and the shortlisted entries will be judged by… Full story

- Morrisons will be donating 50,000 books to help families in need - - Customers can also bring unwanted books to Morrisons Little Libraries where children and families can pick up a book for free - Morrisons has launched a book donation and exchange station for children – the Morrisons Little Library – in its stores across the UK which aims to promote reading and literacy in children, particularly those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds.   The Morrisons Little Library was inspired by… Full story

  Major study from Renaissance Learning reveals reading skills improved over lockdown periods, with many children picking up longer books of greater difficulty Research from the National Literacy Trust shows lockdown reading helped improve wellbeing of children dealing with the pandemic One of Us is Lying by Karen M McManus and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K Rowling were favourite books read during lockdown by secondary and primary pupils respectively David Walliams,… Full story

Military children’s charity Little Troopers is inviting primary schools and their service children to sign-up to a free virtual workshop this June.      The two-hour live workshop is completely free to attend and is part of a virtual roadshow that the charity is undertaking across England from 7th to 18th June for military children aged 4 to 11. Suitable for groups of any size, the workshop will give service children the opportunity to come together with others in a similar situation to explore… Full story

Teachers are being invited to help shape a ‘Compassionate Curriculum’ schools programme, which allows young people to explore and better understand the symbiotic relationship between understanding dog behaviour and their own mental wellbeing, whilst encouraging the development of empathy, compassion, kindness and understanding. The proposed programme will tie into the compassion, mental health and kindness elements of the curriculum by demonstrating the resilience, trust, forgiveness and… Full story

Joanna Rigby from UTC Warrington reviews the new edition of the teacher toolkit bestseller for QA Education… Book review: Mark, Plan, Teach 2.0, by Ross Morrison McGill  (Bloomsbury Education, £16.99) Ross M. McGill, also known as @TeacherToolkit, is the founder of one of the most popular education websites in the world, supporting teachers globally. Mark. Plan. Teach 2.0 is an updated version of the bestselling first version. A stalwart of evidence informed practice, McGill delivers hints,… Full story

Wakefield and Castleford schoolchildren are set to benefit from Sigma’s new charitable technology initiative, which will see 22 laptops donated to local schools to support pupils and schools with online learning.   Sigma has formed a partnership with IT solutions partner OPUS-UK, to help coordinate and ready the machines for delivery across West Yorkshire.   The true end-to-end service provider will donate the laptops to children at risk of falling behind in their education because they do not… Full story

As World Book Day 2021 approaches, QA Education features a round-up of news and ideas to help your school shine a spotlight on the best-loved children's tales… Top 10 Children's Books – Love Reading For Kids If you're looking for something new to read to pupils this World Book Day, check out LoveReading4Kids' Top 10 titles:  1. What Did the Tree See?  2. The Secret Lake 3. The Boy Who Made Everyone Laugh 4. A Tangle of Spells 5. The Last Bear 6. Hom 7. The Nowhere Emporium 8. The… Full story

British Science Week takes place on 5-14 March, just as school pupils head back the classes following the latest lockdown. If you're planning some memorable science lessons this week, then put paid to scientist stereotypes with these 10 women trailblazers. When asked to depict a scientist, too many children draw a white man with ‘mad professor’ hair. Former primary school teacher Abby Harper of education resource experts PlanBee offers a way to show them that science and technology has always… Full story

Wales-based educational resources provider Daydream Education has made a selection of its downloadable study tools available for FREE to support home education during lockdown. It has also issued a set of tips to help parents ensure their children get the most out of home study.   The Bridgend-based company was founded 25 years ago by Chris Malcom after he identified a need for quality educational posters in school classrooms. Its posters are now in over 90 percent of UK secondary schools and… Full story

As most school trips remain off-limits, the Ocean Conservation Trust has launched downloadable lessons and virtual tours of the National Marine Aquarium… Ocean conservation charity, the Ocean Conservation Trust – which also runs the much-loved National Marine Aquarium – to launch an exciting curriculum learning project.  For 22 years, the Trust has been providing an exciting and engaging learning programme, using oceans as a hook for teachers to deliver all subjects of the curriculum. The… Full story

Apple Authorised Education Specialist Jigsaw24 has helped a top preparatory day school in Greater Manchester deploy iPad on a 1:1 basis – just in time for the devices to be used for remote learning in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.   Lady Barn House School in Cheadle, which can trace its history back to 1873, commissioned Jigsaw24 to help develop a perfect iPad solution that would improve classroom learning and reduce teachers’ workload.   But when the coronavirus crisis led to a UK-wide… Full story

As the effects of Covid-19 and school closures continue to ripple through our communities, schools are working tirelessly to support their children. From the practical help of providing food vouchers for the most vulnerable families, to providing home learning resources and looking after the key worker children who need to be in school, teachers have also had the task of supporting the children with their mental wellbeing. Plans are being put into place, and already being executed, to ensure… Full story

The Building Controls Industry Association (BCIA) has launched a brand new summer school competition that encourages young people to get their thinking caps on and devise an idea that could help reduce the energy consumption of their schools. The Schoolz Out competition challenges school pupils to design an energy saving product or initiative for their school which uses an element of control to save energy.  Rather than an extra bit of homework, the BCIA says the competition is a bit of fun… Full story

New research from One Young World’s global network of the young leaders highlights how far we still are from achieving racial justice – with 74 per cent of its Peace Ambassadors stating they have no trust in their government to address the issue in the long-term.    Reinforcing this lack of trust in existing leadership, the findings show that over half of the activists surveyed do not think their government will use the current civil rights movement to make meaningful progress in addressing… Full story

The Government has announced a range of measures so teachers and pupils can access support during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.  Since the start of the pandemic and introduction of social distancing, schools have adapted quickly to continue to provide their pupils with education and support at home.   To help them to do this, the Government is investing over £100m to support remote education. This includes up to £2,000 per school to help them set up effective digital education… Full story

When Covid-19 closed schools in the UK, millions of parents were suddenly faced with the unfamiliar world of having to homeschool.  While the new routine has certainly had its challenges, a new study has revealed that nearly a quarter of Brits (24%) are considering home-educating their children even after the pandemic is over.  For those who are thinking of homeschooling full-time, Greg Smith, Head of Operations at home education provider Oxford Home Schooling, has provided five tips on how… Full story

We know that research shows that children who love writing write 7 times above their expected levels at school.* We also know that children love writing competitions as can be seen by the thousands that enter the BBC’s 500 words competition. Tonya Meers co-founder of ScribblerZone says “National Writing Day is an annual event that celebrates writing and we love to do anything that encourages children to write which is why we are running a writing competition for 7-13 year olds.” There are 2… Full story