Kids Country, an education programme for children from across the East of England and managed by the East of England Agricultural Society, took their popular Autumn Apples half-day workshop into Folksworth C of E Primary School, Kirkstone House School and Bellbird Primary School, to help more children have a better understanding of the field-to-fork journey of their food, and using that information to learn to make good consumer and health choices.

At Folksworth C of E Primary School, near Peterborough, headteacher Michelle Norbury said: “The practical activities combined with the way information is shared makes it enjoyable for children, but they are still learning. The event linked to the curriculum through food and nutrition too.”

Emily Lang, Year 5 teacher at The Bellbird Primary, Cambridge, said: “The children loved it and learned so much. Apples have become very popular in our class!” The event complemented some of our science and PSHE curriculum too.”

The Kids Country team were supported by AMT Fresh Partnership, Co-operative Central England, Sustainable PECT, and a squad of tireless volunteers.

Sandra Lauridsen, education manager at the East of England Agricultural Society, commented: “At Kids Country we love to make everyday and accessible British-grown food exciting, and our Autumn Apples event does just that year after year. An apple a day really does help keep the doctor away through its nutritional benefits, so to help make them and how they are grown exciting to children is great!

“Thank you to our corporate sponsors and partners, as well as our tireless volunteers and farmers, for helping this event happen – we couldn’t do it without you!”

If you would like to be involved in any way in future Kids Country food and farming events, either as a school, corporate or individual volunteer, or to sponsor Kids Country to help more schools experience the hands-on and memorable learning that Kids Country offers, please contact slauridsen@eastofengland.org.uk

To keep up to date with upcoming Kids Country events and the new 2023-24 academic year programme, you can also visit: https://www.eastofengland.org.uk/kids-country/ or follow the East of England Agricultural Society on Facebook, twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn.

The Hub features a host of engaging resources varying from videos to lesson guides, assembly plans and handbooks, organised under six categories: ‘the journey of waste’, ‘food’, ‘clothing’, ‘plastic’, ‘composting’, and ‘take action for the environment’.

The Hub was launched in response to NLWA’s research project in 2022 with Keep Britain Tidy which set out to identify priority areas of interest and gaps relating to waste prevention education in north London. Users are invited to share their feedback about the Hub online, to help NLWA keep pace with schools’ needs and resource gaps.

To celebrate the launch of the Education Hub, NLWA is inviting schools to submit posters around the theme ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’. The top 30 entries will be professionally printed to form part of the construction fencing leading up to the brand new Reuse and Recycling Centre at the redeveloped Eco Park in Edmonton. Schools will also be entered into a prize draw with a chance to win either a £200 voucher or an interactive assembly and Q&A on what happens to north London’s rubbish and recycling once it’s been collected. Details on how to take part in the competition can be found on NLWA’s Schools Competition page.

Councillor Clyde Loakes, NLWA Chair, said: “There’s great opportunity to teach children about their community and how the waste we produce impacts climate change – the objective of the Education Hub is to support local teachers and make waste reduction behaviours part of every north London school’s bread and butter, from a young age.

“The Hub is a fantastic directory that brings together some of the best educational resources out there and promotes interactivity. If every north London school integrated consumption and waste prevention into their curriculum, we’d be looking at a generation who see this as the norm and is empowered by their potential to mitigate climate impacts.”

Resources on the Hub have links to the national curriculum, including English, Science, Geography, Citizenship, and Art and Design, making it easy for teachers and home school tutors to integrate environmental and waste prevention education into the syllabus.

For further information about the Hub, please go to the North London Waste Education Hub.

Please note: the competition is only open to primary schools in the seven member boroughs of the North London Waste Authority: Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Islington, and Waltham Forest.

The event was supported by Marriage’s Flour, Ladies in Pigs, Vine House Farm, Co-op Central England, Thomas Beazley, Park Farm Thorney, and Schöffel Country – who came along as part of their new partnership with Kids Country, to be launched on ‘Black Friday’.

Folksworth C of E Primary school headteacher, Michelle Norbury, said: “We’ve worked with Kids Country many times over the years and know how exciting it is for the children to have this kind of hands-on learning experience brought to them in school. It is so important to get children excited about locally produced food and how it is grown – we are surrounded by farmland at our village school so for children to understand what that land produces, with activities like Farmer Luke’s ‘Metre Square’ is really engaging for our students.”

Children rotated around four activities – Pancake Making, Pig Zone (learning all about pig farming and tasting the difference between free range rare breed pork sausages and typical premium supermarket ones), Tractor Zone with Farmer James from Park Farm Thorney, and the Metre Square with Farmer Luke, where children learn exactly what can be grown in a metre square of farmland and the inputs required to do so.

Joining the Kids Country for the first time was award winning food writer, Jenny Jefferies. Jenny, author of the “For the Love of the Land” and “For the Love of the Sea” books, said: “It was a real privilege to come along to the Kids Country Breakfast Week today. It’s such a fantastic and inspiring initiative, and to see first-hand how school children are experiencing food provenance in an all-inclusive, enjoyable and informative way is both heartening and wonderful. This is what it’s all about!”

Alongside the usual team of Kids Country educators and volunteers, the event also welcomed Charlie Coups and Paul Tomson from Schöffel Country, who are partnering with Kids Country this year for a range of fundraising events – kicking off with their Black Friday event next week. Charlie said: “We were delighted to join the team at Kids Country for the start of Breakfast Week 2022. It was clear from the offset how passionate Sandra and her team are in helping to educate children about food, farming and the countryside. The children were excited to learn and engaged throughout the morning in a variety of hands-on tasks – it’s not every day you get the chance to see a tractor up close or do a taste test on rare breed vs supermarket sausages! I hope that over the next twelve months, Schöffel Country can help to shine a light on these countryside heroes and the incredible work they do in educating the next generation.”

The Kids Country team also took their Breakfast Week event to Fourfields Community Primary School, Yaxley, and Clough and Risegate Community Primary School, Spalding, in the same week, with a second Breakfast Week sold-out in January.

Kids Country education manager, Sandra Lauridsen, said: “Breakfast Week is always such a great event to bring to schools as children all eat breakfast in some form, so it’s really useful to engage them in not only how that breakfast is grown – whether it’s sausages, toast or cereal – but also about making healthy nutritional choices part of their decisions.”

“We are so grateful for all of our volunteers, educators, the companies donating produce and their time, and also to Jenny Jefferies, and Charlie and Paul from Schöffel Country – their engagement helps us to bring more events like Breakfast Week to more schools going forwards.”

To keep up to date with upcoming Kids Country events, please visit: https://www.kids-country.co.uk/events/

Many children experience puberty whilst they are still in primary school, with some girls starting their periods as young as eight. Esteem will not only offer quality lessons and resources to help build their understanding and give them confidence whilst their bodies change, but also crucially offer training to teachers, many of whom say they don’t feel equipped to deliver statutory relationships education and have not received enough training in this area.

Over the next 3 years, Esteem schools’ workers will develop a new relationships curriculum to complement their acclaimed secondary school Esteem programme and will research, pilot and deliver relationships education training to over 300 educators who, in turn, will reach 23,000 children. The course will be accredited by the Open College Network.

As a result of Esteem sessions, acet UK expects the children to have increased confidence to build positive friendships, set and respect boundaries, and recognise what an unhealthy friendship or relationship looks like and what to do in that situation. The sessions will also give them a better understanding about body changes during puberty, the differences between appropriate and inappropriate, or unsafe, contact, and how to stay safe online and recognise bullying and abuse and how to seek help.

acet UK CEO Catherine Healey said: “This grant will enable us to develop and deliver a much-needed primary school relationships curriculum which will have a significant impact on children across the UK – increasing their self-esteem, knowledge and confidence so they can understand their worth.”

Patrick Haverty, Head of Year 9 and Head of Citizenship at Compass School in Bermondsey, where Esteem have been teaching secondary students for many years, said: “Their knowledge and skills in this area have been nothing short of vital for all students.”

Usman Saeed, Grants Officer for Benefact Trust, said: “We’re delighted to support acet with the development of the new relationship curriculum for primary schools. We realise the importance of setting foundations for healthy self-esteem and relationships at an early age, as children are becoming more exposed to a variety of influences. It’s also vital that teachers feel they have the training and resources they need to discuss sensitive and complex topics.”

Benefact Trust is one of the UK’s largest grant-making charities and awarded more than £23 million to churches, charities and communities in 2020. Its funds come from its ownership of the Benefact Group.

If you would like your primary school to be involved, please contact info@acet-uk.com.

]]> https://education-today.co.uk/bbfc-dreamworks-animation-and-universal-pictures-unveil-second-create-the-card-competition-for-puss-in-boots-the-last-wish/ Fri, 14 Oct 2022 08:00:55 +0000 https://education-today.co.uk/?p=14957

The British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), in collaboration with Universal Pictures, has announced their second Create The Card competition. They are calling for UK-based primary school students, aged 4 to 11, to unleash their creativity by designing the official BBFC Black Card for Puss In Boots: The Last Wish – the upcoming sequel and the second instalment of the beloved Puss In Boots franchise.

The winning design will be projected on screen ahead of every cinema showing of Puss In Boots: The Last Wish in the UK. The winner will also be granted the once-in-a-lifetime experience of attending a preview screening of the film with friends and family, a framed copy of their BBFC Black Card, and an abundance of film merchandise. Ten runners-up will also receive a goody bag.

Sarah Peacock, BBFC Compliance and Education Manager, said: “After receiving over 1,000 fantastic entries from secondary school students across the UK for our Create The Card competition earlier this year, we are thrilled to launch this next competition for primary school students. Recognising and understanding age ratings and content advice is crucial for young people’s development. We hope this competition will help to facilitate conversations with children and their educators about the work of the BBFC and the importance of viewing age-appropriate content. The Puss In Boots franchise leans into the wonderful world of fairytales, and we can’t wait to see students across the country draw inspiration from the film series in their creative designs.”

Rob Huber, Managing Director (UK & Ireland), Universal Pictures International UK, said: “We are delighted to be partnering with the BBFC once again, especially following the success of the Jurassic World Dominion competition earlier this year. The enchanting world of Puss In Boots has so many avenues to explore and we would encourage entrants to harness what they already know about the myths and legends in this DreamWorks’ tale when creating their masterpieces. Primary school students have just over two months to submit their entry and we can’t wait to see what they come up with.”

The competition is open for entries today, and will close on Friday 16 December. The selection process will be overseen by a jury panel including industry experts from both Universal Pictures and the BBFC, alongside some very special guests. The young winner will be revealed at the end of January, ahead of the film’s UK release on Friday 3 February.

Young people, aged 4-11, can enter by either scanning and emailing a copy of their A4 landscape design, or posting it directly to the BBFC’s London offices. Competition templates can be downloaded here. For further information and to read the terms and conditions, please visit the BBFC’s children’s website, CBBFC.co.uk. You can also download the BBFC app from the App Store or Google Play.

The proposals for the first primary school at the development of the former barracks at Waterbeach have been announced by Cambridgeshire County Council. The new school will be called Deneia Primary Academy, to reflect the history of the area, and will be a part of Anglian Learning, a multi academy trust based in East Anglia covering Cambridgeshire, Essex and Suffolk.
The school will be built as part of Urban&Civic’s Waterbeach development and, subject to successful final planning permission, will offer education for children from age four through to eleven. Deneia Primary Academy will open from September 2024.

Anglian Learning has been working with Urban&Civic, Van Heyningen & Haward Architects, Cambridgeshire County Council and the constructors of the school, RG Carter, throughout the design stages. The new 630 place, 3 form entry academy will have extensive grounds and will be an environmentally friendly building. The school will be built as a nearly net zero energy building and whole life carbon emissions are minimised within the proposals. These designs will produce a building and grounds that are resilient in the face of climate change.

Provision for each year group at the school will be created using linked classrooms and shared breakout spaces to facilitate flexible and creative approaches to learning. The academy has additional facilities to provide bespoke provision for children with special educational needs.

The school has also been carefully designed into the wider development by providing nearby woodland play areas and a car free zone, so the children can walk, cycle and scoot safely to school. It will also have a shared public square in front of the school for parents to meet and the community to come together.

Jonathan Culpin, CEO of Anglian Learning (pictured), said: “We are delighted to be the sponsors for this new primary school. As a Trust our vision is for dynamic, empowered learners who will thrive and lead within their community. Deneia Primary Academy will be built with an outstanding setting and learning environment, both indoors and outdoors, and this will enthuse the children in their learning and deliver on our ambition.”

Rachael Johnston, Executive Headteacher for Deneia Primary Academy, said: “I am thrilled to be leading the establishment of this new school for Anglian Learning. The eco-credentials of the school build with sustainable and reusable materials, will significantly influence our curriculum. For example, the extensive grounds, including mature woodland, pond and wildlife area will provide the opportunity for outdoor learning through our Forest School whilst the orchard, with heritage fruit trees, will provide pupils with the experience of growing their own food and will be incorporated in lessons on cookery and nutrition.

“As an Anglian Learning school, there will be a strong focus on the arts, due to the formal Memorandum of Understanding that the Trust has with Arts Council England and our commitment to embed arts and culture within all of our academies.”

Caroline Foster, Project Director at Urban&Civic (pictured), said: “This is a significant milestone for the development, and we are really pleased to be working with an Academy Trust that shares our vision for the community. We look forward to continuing to work closely with the County Council and Anglian Learning on the delivery of Waterbeach’s first primary school in an inspirational woodland setting.”

Deneia Primary Academy will be the sixteenth school to join Anglian Learning. Formed in 2016, the Trust spans education from early years through to Year 13 with nine primary schools, six secondary schools including two sixth forms.

The new school will have a Local Governing Body, comprising members of Anglian Learning, the local community and parents. It will be at the heart of the community at Waterbeach New Town, a thriving, diverse community in a sustainable and well-connected location in Cambridgeshire. The development will be delivered in phases with each phase containing the facilities, amenities and services the new community needs – from homes and schools through to green space, play areas, sports facilities, shops, eateries and community spaces, all connected by an extensive network of footpaths and cycleways.

To find out more about Deneia Primary Academy and to register an interest in places at the school, please contact enquiries@anglianlearning.org.

The acquisition of DoodleLearning supports Discovery Education’s mission to prepare learners for tomorrow by creating innovative classrooms connected to today’s world. DoodleLearning complements Discovery Education’s other award-winning digital services, which include Discovery Education’s K-12 platform, Mystery Science, STEM Connect, the Math, Science, and Social Studies Techbooks, Espresso, Coding and Health and Relationships.

“Discovery Education is dedicated to creating a best-in-class edtech ecosystem that supports our mission to prepare today’s students for future success,” said Discovery Education Chief Executive Officer Scott Kinney. “This acquisition is an important milestone in that effort, and we look forward to both partnering with the talented DoodleLearning team and scaling the reach of their innovative, adaptive maths and English products.”

Prior to founding DoodleLearning, Chief Executive Officer Nicola Chilman and Chief Operating Officer Tom Minor taught maths. In 2011, after experiencing first hand technology’s ability to accelerate student learning, Chilman and Minor created an app combining high-quality digital content and educational supports that encouraged children to learn in an engaging and personal way.

Today, DoodleLearning offers four products supporting instruction in maths and English for ages 4-14 that have been used by over one million children in the U.K. and around the world. As part of the Discovery Education family of services, DoodleLearning will continue to apply its educational ability to building and deploying affordable learning solutions for students worldwide.

“The entire DoodleLearning team is excited to join Discovery Education’s efforts to build and scale a powerful edtech ecosystem of digital resources serving teachers and learners worldwide,” said Nicola Chilman, DoodleLearning Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder. “Our team will naturally fit into Discovery Education’s mission-driven culture, and we look forward to working with our new colleagues on our joint mission to prepare today’s students for future success.”

“DoodleLearning is excited to join the Discovery Education team,” said Tom Minor, Chief Operating Officer, and Co-Founder of DoodleLearning. “The company has laid out exciting plans to increase the number of instructional minutes it supports each day, and DoodleLearning is poised to play a significant role in this effort.”

DoodleLearning is Discovery Education’s latest acquisition. In October 2020, Discovery Education acquired Mystery Science and in July 2020, Discovery Education purchased Spiral. In August of 2019, Discovery Education announced the acquisition of Inspyro.

For more information about Discovery Education’s award-winning digital resources and professional learning services, visit www.discoveryeducation.co.uk, and stay connected with Discovery Education on social media through Twitter and LinkedIn.

Launched in 2017 and available to every primary school in England and Wales, Premier League Primary Stars uses the appeal of the Premier League and professional football clubs to support pupils in the classroom, the playground and on the sports field.

Premier League Primary Stars’ range of more than 640 curriculum-linked activities support teachers to build their pupils’ confidence in key areas from Maths and English to PSHE and Physical Education and can be used off-the-shelf or tailored to suit teachers’ needs. More than 58,000 teachers have downloaded and used the free curriculum-linked resources since the programme began.

To mark the five-year anniversary, the Premier League is launching the Active Summer Challenge. This brand new initiative will challenge pupils to find five ways to keep active during the summer holidays, a time when fitness levels can drop. The new resources are now available for teachers to download for free on the Premier League Primary Stars website.

Exclusive content featuring Premier League players, club coaches and experts has been created to support teachers to inspire pupils deliver impactful PE lessons. Nine out of 10 teachers believe that they have seen an increase in pupils’ enjoyment of sport and physical activity linked to the programme.

In addition to PE, English and Maths resources, Premier League Primary Stars also supports teachers to deliver classroom-based discussions and activities on important societal topics such as anti-discrimination, mental health and gender stereotypes linked to No Room for Racism, Wellbeing Stars, and Rainbow Laces. After using the PSHE resources, 72% said that their pupils understand more about how to challenge prejudice and discrimination and 79% of teachers said their pupils have a better understanding of how to look after their own wellbeing.

Natalie Sutton, School Manager at Sandfield Close Primary School, said: “The Premier League Primary Stars programme has opened up so many opportunities and doors to us that we wouldn’t have been able to open on our own. We’ve had such a positive experience since joining back in 2018. It is important to measure progress but for me, it is also important to see our pupils expand their thinking and learn about key subjects in a fun and engaging way. It has all been so positive for us as teachers, but more importantly beneficial to the learning of our pupils.”

www.PLPrimaryStars.com

Let’s Go Zero is the national campaign uniting teachers, pupils, parents and their schools as they all work together to be zero carbon by 2030. Every school that signs up is pledging to work towards a more sustainable future while calling for much-needed government support to help all schools reach their zero carbon goals.

Targets across schools were set to encourage a creative approach towards helping the environment, these targets were set way before the energy price hikes and increases in the cost of living communities have experienced in the last 12 months.

There have been some great examples across the Trust of the types of work being done within schools and the community including meat-free Mondays, litter picking, foodbanks, “Energy Saving Champions”, gardening clubs and recycling.

Helen Rowland, Chief Executive Officer at Focus-Trust, said: “The Lets Go Zero campaign has been amazing in supporting the continuation of our sustainability efforts Trust wide.

“By taking lots of small steps towards being more environmentally friendly, our schools are responding to our children’s demand that we protect our planet and lead the way in our communities.

“We are incredibly proud of all the work children are doing across the schools, all whilst learning about sustainability on the way.”

Focus-Trust is a charitable primary schools trust which is based in the North West of England and West Yorkshire with a vision of providing ‘great schools at the heart of our communities’ where children thrive, achieve and succeed.

These rare samples were provided to school through a project called ‘Borrow the Moon’ by the UK’s Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) which provides educational packs in a bid to inspire young people in Science.

Hundreds of schools, colleges, universities, museums and astronomical societies throughout the UK have enjoyed the meteorite samples and NASA Moon rock discs since the scheme began.

The children were encouraged to reach for the stars and learn more about the Universe around us during a week-long interactive experience of astronomy. They were given the unique opportunity to touch a piece of a space rock as they handled genuine meteorites.

The pack provided by STFC included a 1.2-billion-year-old piece of Mars rock and 4.3-billion-year-old nickel meteorite. It is unlikely that children will ever get the chance to hold an object older than this, as Earth itself was formed 4.6 billion years ago.

The lunar samples that we received were collected in the late 1960s and early 70s during some of NASA’s first manned space missions to the moon.

Jayde Weir, Interim Principal at Birstall Primary Academy, said: “When the opportunity was presented to us at Birstall we leapt at the chance to give out students this once in a lifetime opportunity.

“All the children involved thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were fascinated to be able to touch something that was truly out of this world.”