communication and social skills
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Communication and social skills

The following articles, taken from recent issues of our Optimus newsletters, will prove invaluable for anyone with a professional or personal interest in Communication and social skills. To ensure you stay up-to-date with the very latest thinking in this area, please make use of the articles below. If you can’t find what you’re looking for here, simply click on another category on the left or 'search the library'.

Storytelling to facilitate inclusion | Communication and social skills

Louise Coigley enhances and develops the communication of SEN children and adults through inclusive storytelling. Michael Jones describes seeing her in action

A day in the life of a youth justice worker | Communication and social skills

Working in a multi-agency environment to positively engage targeted young people, Paul Rogers explains why no two days are ever the same

Helping students to become storytellers: Games and activities | Communication and social skills

Storyteller Taffy Thomas provides games and activities to stimulate children's and young people's capacity to tell stories

High level questioning skills in young children: part 2 | Communication and social skills

Steve Mynard, editor of Primary Headship, considers the practicalities of helping young children to develop higher-order questioning skills

Higher level questioning skills in young children | Communication and social skills

We tend to take questioning skills for granted; they certainly seem to develop quite readily in young children. Steve Mynard, editor of Primary Headship, explores the reasons why we might choose to guide our children towards higher-level questioning skills

Communication friendly spaces - early years | Communication and social skills

Elizabeth Jarman looks at the impact of the physical learning environment on young children’s speaking and listening skills

Activities to develop social communication skills (pragmatics) | Communication and social skills

Pragmatics refers to the ability to communicate in social situations. These classroom activities will help all children to develop social communication skills.

Activities to develop grammar (syntax and morphology) | Communication and social skills

These classroom activities can help develop grammar skills, particularly syntax and morphology

School Emotional Environment for Learning Survey | Communication and social skills

SEELS (School Emotional Environment for Learning Survey) is a valuable tool to help schools build a more emotionally literate ethos through SEAL

Making secondary SEAL work | Communication and social skills

Raising Achievement Update summarises the useful learning that emerged from the secondary pilot of the Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning programme

Expectations of governors | Communication and social skills

Joan Sallis considers the relationship between the headteacher and governor, and explores mutual expectations and issues of respect

Building emotional safety in groups | Communication and social skills

Raising Achievement Update looks at a book that describes practical ways of meeting the challenges of implementing circle time in secondary schools and why it can be so valuable

SEAL strategy for secondary schools | Communication and social skills

Raising Achievement Update looks at what the eight school case studies included in the secondary SEAL resources had to say about how schools can shape an emotionally literate ethos

Storytelling – lessons for life | Communication and social skills

Fred Redwood explains how storytelling offers a range of opportunities for learning

Influential language patterns | Communication and social skills

Just by saying a few words in the right way, you can send people into wonderful places, influence the way they think or help them to find their own solutions to any problem they face, say Richard Churches and Roger Terry

Logovisual thinking | Communication and social skills

Steve Paget explains how logovisual thinking (LVT) can stimulate higher-order thinking

Putting wellbeing at the centre | Communication and social skills

Yeading Junior in Hayes has evolved its strategy for putting emotional health and wellbeing at the centre of the curriculum. Headteacher Carole Jones describes how

Using the SEAL material in Peterborough | Communication and social skills

Toby Wood and Nick Guest describe how they have encouraged implementation of the SEAL materials in Peterborough primary schools.

Promoting Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL) | Communication and social skills

Judith Harwood, senior regional adviser on the secondary strategy for school improvement, reports on the breadth of the pilot work being undertaken in secondary schools to promote Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning (SEAL).

Reconciling emotional literacy and targets | Communication and social skills

In the first episode of her diary, drama teacher Julie Leoni writes about reconciling her emotional literacy programme with the school’s focus on targets and achievement.

Putting SEBS at the centre | Communication and social skills

Judith Harwood, senior regional adviser for the primary and secondary strategy, describes what one school has been learning from its involvement in the Social, Emotional and Behavioural Skills (SEBS) pilot.

Spreading SEBS in Gloucestershire | Communication and social skills

Heather Clapp, until recently a behaviour and attendance adviser in Gloucestershire, presents thoughts and reflections on one authority’s experiences of engaging with the pilot programme for Social, Emotional and Behavioural Skills (SEBS).

Dealing effectively with complaints | Communication and social skills

How do you respond if a parent starts complaining about your setting or your staff? Steve Mynard advises that you start with prevention

Global citizenship in school | Communication and social skills

As the world in which we live comes closer together in some ways and further apart in many, Margaret Collins suggests ways in which we in schools can help to make it a better place

Students as researchers: making a difference | Communication and social skills

The contribution of students as researchers (STARS) to students’ learning and to school development can have numerous benefits. David Lucas and Dr Margaret Wood recount their experience at Deptford Green secondary school

Learner identities under pressure | Communication and social skills

The pressures created by a high-performance culture made it difficult for the children at one primary school to learn and collaborate. Tamara Bibby, a lecturer at the Institute of Education in London, explains

Sussing out the slave trade | Communication and social skills

Julia Frankl argues that studying the abolition of slavery challenges discrimination

Behaviour as communication | Communication and social skills

Using attachment theory, educational therapist Heather Geddes elaborates on James Wetz’s idea that behaviour is a form of communication about social and emotional experience that we need to understand before we decide how we are going to intervene.

Encouraging communication, curiosity and creativity | Communication and social skills

Linda Thornton and Pat Brunton explore ways to use the children’s curiosity about their world to become self-motivated, independent learners.

Understanding workplace culture | Communication and social skills

Christine Fanthome shows how students can gain essential employment skills.

How music can promote wellbeing | Communication and social skills

Antidote development director Marilyn Tew describes what she learned from a recent seminar on how music education affects student wellbeing.

Recording and assessing children's language using 'virtual books' | Communication and social skills

Joanne Haine, foundation stage coordinator at Baring Primary School in London, describes how innovative use of ICT made assessment exciting for children and practitioners alike.

Developing emotional vocabulary | Communication and social skills

Extending vocabulary when talking or listening to children is a good way to develop their emotional language. Margaret Collins describes two ways of doing this.

Promoting communication | Communication and social skills

Margo Turnbull explores the development of children’s communication skills, by focusing on the role of the practitioner.

Radio and the early years | Communication and social skills

Nick Smurthwaite investigates current developments in radio for young children.

Effective communication and engagement | Communication and social skills

Communication is by its very nature a two-way process. Children need to have these skills if they are to particpate in shared and meaningful communications. In this Inset package, based on the need for effective communication and engagement as described in the Common Core, Roger Hurn provides information and activities to help your staff think about ways of helping children to practise and develop their communication skills.

Safe in the sun | Communication and social skills

Margaret Collins looks at ways to raise children’s awareness of sun protection.

Activities to develop word finding skills | Communication and social skills

Word finding is the ability to access vocabulary from the long-term memory. These activities can help develop word finding skills and can be used in lessons for the benefit of all pupils.

Activities to develop and improve listening skills and attention | Communication and social skills

Listening is the ability to attend to sounds across a range of stimuli. Pupils with listening and attention difficulties have one of two problems...

Activities to develop verbal comprehension | Communication and social skills

Visual comprehension is the ability to listen to information that has been given orally, then remember it, understand it and use the information across a range of tasks. These activities can help develop skills in this area, and can be incorporated into lessons for the benefit of all pupils.

Developing international citizenship through a Japanese exchange | Communication and social skills

Tony Cassidy, citizenship coordinator at Kirk Hallam Community Technology College, Derbyshire describes the benefits of a Japanese exchange programme.

Can sixth form preparation reduce university drop-out rates? | Communication and social skills

Preparing students for undergraduate life can help them to make the most of university and achieve long term life goals, argues Dr Christine Fanthome

Life-long communication problems? | Communication and social skills

Dr Diane Bebbington and Eileen Burke examine the effects of unsupported language difficulties.

Putting tolerance in its place | Communication and social skills

In his regular column, Dr Graham Haydon asks whether tolerance has become an easy option, which allows us to continue with an underlying disapproval of others because they are different.

The value(s) of community | Communication and social skills

In his regular column, Dr Graham Haydon suggests that reflecting on your own school can be a good way into raising wider questions about communities and the values they share.

Surviving in a changing world…with a stone-age brain | Communication and social skills

Based on his keynote address to the 2006 PSHE and citizenship conference, Dr Christopher Williams discusses the importance of change.

Making the most of freshers' week | Communication and social skills

Preparing sixth-formers for their first weeks of university life has long-term benefits. Dr Christine Fanthome describes how to make the most of independence.

Discussion and democracy | Communication and social skills

In his regular column, Dr Graham Haydon argues that, despite appearances, PSHE as well as citizenship has a role in education for democracy.

Preparing for peer mediation | Communication and social skills

Peer support schemes can benefit staff and pupils. Jaci Smith describes one initiative and explains how to get started.

Using drama to teach sensitive issues | Communication and social skills

Chris Cowan explains how theatre in education can be a powerful tool in teaching sex and relationship education and other PSHE and citizenship topics.

Helping young children to make good choices | Communication and social skills

Margaret Collins explores ways in which we can help children to think about their responses and their reactions.

Consultation on early years provision | Communication and social skills

The government’s 10-year strategy for childcare, Choice for parents, the best start for children, promised to establish a single coherent development and learning framework for all young children from birth to the age of five. The DfES is currently consulting on the Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), which provides that framework.

Praise for SEN Regional Partnerships | Communication and social skills

The Special Educational Needs Regional Partnerships (SEN RPs) have made a substantial and marked contribution to the government’s agenda regarding provision for pupils with SEN, according to a report* from the National Foundation for Educational Research (NFER).

Decision-making in school: involving pupils with no verbal communication | Communication and social skills

Researchers based at the University of Bristol are examining the support for children with complex communication needs – in both mainstream and special schools – to express their views and make decisions for themselves.

Pupil discussion at CDEC – bullying, fair trade and global citizenship | Communication and social skills

Young people discuss bullying, citizenship, fair trade and social responsibility. Friday 25th February 2005 – transcript.

Global Citizenship across the curriculum at Chantry High School | Communication and social skills

Our theme was 'Rich World, Poor World'. How do we open the eyes of children to equality issues?

Christmas carol concert | Communication and social skills

This seasonal assembly for infants looks at the carol service or carol concert – an annual fixture in many schools

Early Years: signs for success | Communication and social skills

Angela Youngman finds out about a scheme to improve communication in early years settings through the use of sign language.

Primary classroom management strategies | Communication and social skills

Jo Lewis describes some active games and motivational techniques.

NLP - understanding your students | Communication and social skills

As teachers with a new class, we tend to get a good idea pretty quickly about which students are going to do well in our classes, which ones are going to struggle, and which ones are not even going to try.

Remove the blocks to learning | Communication and social skills

Former deputy head Marilyn Tew describes how some of the students she has worked with used TalkiT – a profiling tool that she developed and wrote about previously in Emotional Literacy Update – to overcome the emotional literacy issues that blocked their learning.

Young people need to talk | Communication and social skills

If schools are to help tackle self-harming behaviours, says the final Report of the National Inquiry into Self-Harm among Young People, they need to ensure that young people have opportunities to talk about their fears and anxieties.

Enrichment activity – communication skils, history, creative thinking | Communication and social skills

What name would you give to our present time?

Tooncards: a resource for developing communication and social skills | Communication and social skills

Chris Terrell outlines the benefits of using Tooncards, an exciting new resource for teachers, which he has developed, offering teachers additional possibilities for enhancing communication, engagement and understanding in the classroom.

Call for national communication strategy | Communication and social skills

In its evidence to the SEN inquiry, the charity I CAN calls for a three-pronged strategic programme to actively support children’s speech and language development, comprising:

SENCO's role in helping pupils with communication disability | Communication and social skills

I CAN, the charity that helps children communicate has coined the term ‘communication disability’ to encompass the problems faced by all 1.2 million children and young people across the UK with speech, language or communication difficulties or delays.

Boys: the magic of silence and stillness | Communication and social skills

Many statistics point to the potential risks and disadvantages of being a boy, but how can we help them fulfil their potential? Maggie Dent investigates



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