Using PE to boost cross curricular skills

scameron — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:11:46 +0000

CASE STUDY Combs Ford Primary School, Stowmarket, Suffolk

A Suffolk primary used the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority’s PE and School Sport (PESS) initiative to rejuvenate the entire school and boost the skills and independence of pupils with special educational needs.

Overview

A qualification for life skills development

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 14:19:00 +0000

Marius Frank, Headteacher, Bedminster Down School, Bristol

School context

Using ASDAN to reward PSHE

scameron — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 13:47:36 +0000

As the new curriculum gives back more control to schools on how to design the teaching and learning they provide their students, a framework that first came into being more than one-quarter of a century ago is back in ascendancy. More and more schools are incorporating ASDAN courses into their curriculum because they offer the chance to validate learning that other qualifications might not reach.

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Teaching citizenship in six easy steps

scameron — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 14:33:50 +0000

The eight millennium development goals (MDGs) were established by the United Nations in 2000. They set out a plan of action to improve global social justice – by eradicating extreme poverty and hunger; achieving universal primary education; promoting gender equality; reducing child mortality; improving maternal health; combating HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensuring environmental sustainability; and developing a global partnership for development.
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Primary Assembly: Fairtrade Fortnight

scameron — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 11:01:21 +0000

Resources
Some products with The Fairtrade Organisation label.
If possible, project an enlarged Fairtrade label. For example at www1.salvationarmy.org.uk/images/uki.www_uki/fair%20trade%20logo.jpg
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Positive Thinking: Celebrating success and achievement

scameron — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:02:00 +0000

This positive thinking activity invites students to explore the meaning of success and why it might be important to develop a broad and realistic view of success so that their achievements aren’t left unacknowledged.
Additionally, this activity is intended to help pupils recognise that, by acknowledging daily successes, they are creating a resource to draw on as well as a foundation for building confidence

Encouraging citizenship values through sport

scameron — Wed, 07 Jan 2009 11:57:30 +0000

Like any other international sport, cricket is full of the sort of controversies and drama that can bring a subject like citizenship to life.
Whether examining social and moral responsibilities, facilitating community involvement or developing political literacy, cricket can add contemporary relevance and link abstract concepts to high profile events and real life situations.
The following activity ideas will help children access one particular area of the Key Stage 2 citizenship curriculum – rules and fairness.
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Secondary Assembly: Rights not Wrongs

scameron — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 11:19:35 +0000

Resources
Birthday cake with candles.
Quotations from the UNUDHR are taken from the UN website www.un.org.
Engagement
Leader: We have an important birthday to celebrate this month. [Leader lights the candles]
Would you like to join me in singing... [Leader bursts into song]
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Linking personal and social development to curriculum aims

scameron — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 12:42:17 +0000

Education minister Lord Adonis has said that personal, social and health education is ‘key to the effectiveness of schools in meeting all the national outcomes for children, and that ‘without effective PSHE, a school’s ability to demonstrate how they are contributing to the Every Child matters agenda, addressing pupil well-being and supporting personal development is compromised’.

Developmental process
Personal and social education is a developmental process that includes:
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Secondary assembly: Why do we remember “Black History”?

scameron — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 12:44:01 +0100

Resources
Three readers, playing the parts of the Main Speaker, the Awkward Questioner and the Researcher.
Photo of Joe Clough – to be shown if possible.
Engagement
Main Speaker: Good morning everybody. I am the Main Speaker for your assembly today, and I have a friend to challenge me now and again…the Awkward Questioner.
Awkward Questioner: My job is to make sure that the Main Speaker doesn’t have an easy time.
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Secondary assembly: Proud to be a Brit

scameron — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 10:59:29 +0100

Resources
2 Readers
Engagement
Leader: We are an international group, here in this assembly hall.
[Adapt the following material in the light of the ethnic composition of your school community]
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Promoting healthy eating in children

scameron — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:36:55 +0100

We don’t always have to agree with her, but the first sentences of Janet Street Porter’s column in the Independent on Sunday 24 February 2008 are useful starting points when looking at healthy eating in schools. She suggests that: ‘A whopping number of kids – around a quarter – are now officially overweight before they’ve even started primary school, according to new statistics released by the Department of Health.
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Community cohesion: what does it mean for primary schools?

scameron — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:39:56 +0100

From September 2007 all schools had a new duty to promote ‘community cohesion’. Most schools are already carrying out the role of being a key player in every local community. This role is now being highlighted further by Ofsted, who will be looking at community cohesion in every school in inspections from September 2008. Therefore, primary headteachers will need to review their approach to developing a cohesive learning environment and ensuring that it is reflected appropriately in the school SEF and SDP.
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A careers education lesson: Equal pay

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:28:26 +0100

Equal pay

Written by Claire Harbottle with Genevieve Barlow and edited by David Leat

This activity, Fair play - fair pay draws upon the 1968 strike by a small group of women at the Dagenham Ford car factory as a starting point.

Pupils are encouraged to discuss the strikers' motives, intentions, reactions, attitudes, values and beliefs.

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Secondary Assembly: Charity appeals

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:42 +0100

Resources
A leader and two readers. (The record: Let them Know it's Christmas may be used.)
Sources:
The Times, 22 and 27 May.
The Observer, 17 Oct, 2004, located by the Guardian website.
Engagement
read more

Secondary Assembly: A woman's place is in the lab

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:41 +0100
Resources
a lab coat
three readers
the assembly is based on a news story in the Sunday Times on 11 May 08.
Engagement
read more

Enrichment Activities: Managing sunlight and saving buildings

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:41 +0100
This week's primary enrichment activity looks at global warming and asks pupils to design a sunlight reflector to help cool the planet.

This week's secondary enrichment activity looks at endangered buildings and asks pupils to create a set of guidelines for deciding which should be preserved.

***Primary Enrichment***

KS2: Science

Knowledge skills and understanding

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Secondary Assembly: What is panic and why do we feel it?

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:40 +0100

Summary
This assembly looks at the nature of 'panic' with reference to the recent petrol crisis.
Resources
Four readers.
Engagement
Reader 1: Strike at Grangemouth Threatens Petrol Supplies!
Reader 2: Fuel Shortage!
Reader 3: Petrol will Run Out!
Reader 4: Food Supplies will be Interrupted!

Leader: In what ways could a fuel shortage affect you?
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Primary Assembly: Lost and found – the £2 million violin

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:40 +0100

Assembly Plan

Lost and found – the £2million violin

This assembly highlights the feelings of a person losing something precious and the honesty of the cab driver. It makes the point, too, that both the violinist and the cab driver are immigrants, working hard to make their way in a new land, each adding value in his own way.

Resources

Quint’s website has pictures of him.
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Secondary Assembly: Naturally high!

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:40 +0100

Summary
This week's assembly examines our apparent need for a 'buzz' in life, and how some people achieve this in a positive way, and others in a much less positive way. It challenges listeners to consider the rejection of harmful lifestyle choices and replace them with the idea of getting high on life. It uses a number of recent news items about the drugs and alcohol culture, which seems to have Britain in its grip, from the alleged drug-taking of high-profile musicians to the plan to reclassify cannabis as a class B drug.
Resources
read more

Primary Assembly: Disasters in China and Burma

admin — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:40 +0100

Resources

Map of the world showing China and Burma

Scenes from China

Scenes from Burma

Giant panda
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Primary Assembly: The biofuel debate

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:39 +0100
***Assembly Plan***

The biofuel debate

The cases for and against biofuel are in the media spotlight

The biofuel debate is in the news. Will the practice of using plant material to make biodiesel and ethanol affect climate change or not? It's not an easy question and the arguments are complicated. But children are interested in sustainability and the aim of this assembly is to help them start to think about the issues.

Resources

A potted plant

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Secondary Assembly: Are politicians servants of the people?

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:39 +0100

Resources
Six readers.
Engagement
Reader 1: Gwyneth Dunwoody died on 17 April, 2008. She was recently most reported in her role as chair of the House of Commons transport select committee, but, more significantly, was the longest-serving female member of parliament. MP for Crewe and Nantwich, Ms Dunwoody was elected to parliament as the MP for Exeter in 1966.
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Secondary Assembly: What's democracy about?

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:38 +0100

Summary
This assembly invites students to consider how democracy works.
Resources
Nine students, each holding one letter of the word 'democracy', with the letter itself hidden from the audience.
Three readers.

Engagement
[The nine students are standing in a line at the front of the assembly. As the leader announces each letter, the appropriate student displays his or her letter, until the complete word is shown]
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Secondary Assembly: What is your identity?

sara — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 12:21:37 +0100

Summary
This assembly uses the recent news about the possibility of the introduction of national identity cards to look at our awareness of who we are as individuals. It helps us to reflect on who we are.
Resources
Four readers, four large 'notebooks' and pens.
Engagement
read more

Legal basics: giving your pupils advice on sex and contraception

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:39 +0100

Government plans to bring sexual health services into schools have proved divisive, with ‘pro-life’ groups leading the charge: Rob McDonough, head of West Bridgford school, Nottingham, was accused by anti-abortion activists of conspiring to murder unborn babies — because his school gave the morning-after pill.
But what is all the fuss about? Here, we take a detailed look at new guidance on school sexual health services, placing it in the context of other pupil health initiatives.
read more

Fair Trade Fortnight 2008

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:39 +0100

If your school is running an event for Fair Trade Fortnight we would love to hear about it and publicise it on the site. Please email us with details or simply post a comment below. From an assembly to a Fair Trade Fair – we're keen to hear about it.

If you've nothing organised, it's not too late – check out our Developing Citizenship area where there are lots of examples of school fair trade activities and events to inspire you.

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Young sporting ambassadors

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:37 +0100

The London Olympic Games might still be years away but the work to ensure the Games leave a lasting legacy for young people and sport in this country has already started.

The Young Ambassador programme, managed by Youth Sport Trust and jointly funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, has recently seen 1,000 more young people aged between 14 and 18 be selected to promote the values and ideals of the Olympic and Paralympic movement.

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Creating a generation of lifesavers

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:33 +0100
The revised QCA guidelines for PHSEE KS3 outline knowledge of basic first aid as a core component of personal wellbeing. Educators with little or no experience of the topic need not fear: The British Red Cross has just what the doctor ordered.

Why first aid matters

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African-Caribbean views on slavery

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:33 +0100
The bi-centenary of the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act and QCA’s recent announcement about the inclusion of slavery in the curriculum present teachers with a variety of opportunities to explore the legacy of the slave trade both past and present within society. For students of African-Caribbean descent the topic may be one to which they are particularly sensitive. If taught badly it can create feelings of hurt, alienation and discomfort and students may find themselves silently seething.

Living together in the UK

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Developing 'citizenship-rich' schools

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:31 +0100

Whether one looks to the involvement of young men, born and educated in Britain, in the London bombings, the rise of the far right in local politics or the suggested emergence of an ASBO generation and its close relatives – teenage pregnancy, drug abuse and binge drinking – the need for a clearly defined and well-resourced social curriculum, centred around the challenge of developing citizens, has never been stronger.

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Relevance of storytelling in schools

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:29 +0100

A staffroom announcement that a storyteller is going to pay a visit won’t be met with much enthusiasm at most secondary schools. Certainly, cynics’ corner will mutter that it’s a bit ‘fluffy’ – little more than a headline grabber for the bulletin and a treat for the Year 7s.
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Build skills and stop gang culture

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:29 +0100

All of us crave respect. Most adults spend much of their life building a reputation based on positive recognition of who they are, what they earn and what they do. In a world where success is based on the amount of money accrued, much of the reputation and respect integral to the adult world is based on how much you have.
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Educational equalities: raising the stakes

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:29 +0100

Without doubt the educational attainments of young people have a profound influence on their futures and it is still the case that discrimination has a major impact on educational outcomes.
read more

Education in the Commonwealth

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:29 +0100

For almost five decades, the Council for Education in the Commonwealth (CEC), has concerned itself with improving international, multicultural and development education throughout the 53 member states which make up the Commonwealth of Nations. This aim is being accomplished by liaising with the Commonwealth secretariat and Commonwealth high commissions, cooperating with government departments in the UK and EU and collaborating with NGOs and professional bodies.
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Values education resource: the National Curriculum Statement

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:29 +0100

Official pronouncements and initiatives on values education come and go, and some have much longer-lasting effects than others.
read more

Facing up to loss

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:26 +0100

In the last week of the spring term, I led a SEAL training session on loss and mourning. It was also the end of my last full term before going off on maternity leave. Together with other things that were happening, this led me to thinking about loss and grief.
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Primary assemblies guidance I: Values

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:25 +0100

Assembly is a key event in primary school life. In most primaries it is possible to gather the whole community of children and staff together in one place. Quite often – weekly in many schools – it is also possible to include a number of parents and other community friends. This presents the school’s leadership with the opportunity to set out and reinforce, every working day, the school’s preferred values.
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Human rights education: what should you be teaching?

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:24 +0100

On Human Rights Day, 10 December 2004, Kofi Annan, then United Nations secretary general, said ‘Human rights education is much more than a lesson in schools or a theme for the day; it is a process to equip people with the tools they need to live lives of security and dignity.’
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Talking about cancer with young people

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:24 +0100

Cancer affects nearly all young people. With more than one in three people in the UK diagnosed with the illness at some point in their lives, many young people will know a friend, family member, or even teacher that has cancer. Talking about the subject with students is essential in helping them deal with the issues surrounding cancer, and corresponds with PSHE curriculum guidelines.
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Babysitting: an Irish Red Cross project

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:24 +0100

What is babysitting?

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Informed decision making and IT

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:24 +0100

Anyone working with young people can be sure of at least two things. One, that they are very open to influence by peers, role models and those they admire. And two, that they can be equally resistant to influence by adults interested in their behaviour, attitudes and values. While hardly revelations, they have important implications for the resources used in life skills curricula.

New technologies
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Teaching global citizenship in school

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:23 +0100

The UN Convention of the rights of the child states that: ‘All children and young people have the right to have a say in the decisions that affect them, to access relevant information and to express their feelings. This statement includes all the children in the world.’
read more

Managing loss, grief and bereavement

jlee — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:23 +0100

‘Death neither obeys the school timetable nor appears on it… it enters the classroom without knocking’ (from the website ‘Winston’s Wish’).
A charter for bereaved children can be found on www.winstonswish.org.uk
read more

How well is diversity promoted in the curriculum?

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:22 +0100

Particularly pertinent after the debates surrounding Celebrity Big Brother, the report advises that there needs to be greater consideration by schools of what is meant by cultural diversity, how it can be achieved through curriculum innovation and how it should be linked to teaching and learning.
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The 'fitness and wellbeing' MOT

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:20 +0100

Each year PSHE teaching moves into ever more sensitive territory. Subjects such as drugs, drink and sexual behaviour are met head-on and, following the Jamie Oliver campaign, healthy eating gets similar uncompromising treatment. Now, at Monkseaton Community High School, the students’ physical fitness is to be the subject of serious inspection.
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World heritage - examining the threats

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:20 +0100

One cannot fail to be inspired by the human effort it took to build the Great Wall of China; or to be awed by the sheer power of Victoria Falls in Zambia; or to witness the result of the most destructive force ever created by humankind at Hiroshima in Japan. The care and protection of these World Heritage Sites falls to individual nations that have ratified the 1972 UNESCO World Heritage Convention. Nations have committed to protect, conserve and manage the sites for future generations. But despite all this, damage can and does happen.
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Teaching human rights to combat discrimination

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:20 +0100

2007 marked the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain and the colonies – the first step to outlawing slavery altogether. Such events provide a great opportunity to explore the slave trade in class. There are lots of connections to PSHE. For example, teachers and students can look at discrimination, human rights, responsibility, and how people stand up for what they believe in.
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Community cohesion - will history help?

ewtemp — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 10:20:19 +0100

‘Community cohesion’ may have gone into the Education and Inspections Act 2006 as an afterthought but we can be sure that Ofsted is even now planning how to enforce the obligation.
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Citizenship and PSHE

Developing Citizenship: about the project

Using PE to boost cross curricular skills

A qualification for life skills development

Using ASDAN to reward PSHE

Teaching citizenship in six easy steps

Primary Assembly: Fairtrade Fortnight

Positive Thinking: Celebrating success and achievement

Encouraging citizenship values through sport

Secondary Assembly: Rights not Wrongs

Linking personal and social development to curriculum aims

Secondary assembly: Why do we remember “Black History”?

Secondary assembly: Proud to be a Brit

Promoting healthy eating in children

Community cohesion: what does it mean for primary schools?

A careers education lesson: Equal pay

Secondary Assembly: Charity appeals

Secondary Assembly: A woman's place is in the lab

Enrichment Activities: Managing sunlight and saving buildings

Secondary Assembly: What is panic and why do we feel it?

Primary Assembly: Lost and found – the £2 million violin

Secondary Assembly: Naturally high!

Primary Assembly: Disasters in China and Burma

Primary Assembly: The biofuel debate

Secondary Assembly: Are politicians servants of the people?

Secondary Assembly: What's democracy about?

Secondary Assembly: What is your identity?

Legal basics: giving your pupils advice on sex and contraception

Fair Trade Fortnight 2008

Young sporting ambassadors

Creating a generation of lifesavers

African-Caribbean views on slavery

Developing 'citizenship-rich' schools

Relevance of storytelling in schools

Build skills and stop gang culture

Educational equalities: raising the stakes

Education in the Commonwealth

Values education resource: the National Curriculum Statement

Facing up to loss

Primary assemblies guidance I: Values

Human rights education: what should you be teaching?

Talking about cancer with young people

Babysitting: an Irish Red Cross project

Informed decision making and IT

Teaching global citizenship in school

Managing loss, grief and bereavement

How well is diversity promoted in the curriculum?

The 'fitness and wellbeing' MOT

World heritage - examining the threats

Teaching human rights to combat discrimination

Community cohesion - will history help?