BRISTOL SCHOOL AND UNIFORM SUPPLIER SEND HUNDREDS OF SCHOOL UNIFORMS TO KENYA
The John Cabot Academy in Bristol has teamed up with nationwide school uniform supplier Price & Buckland to send new uniforms to schools in Kenya and South Africa, with the help of British Airways.
The newly opened Academy will donate 250 new Price & Buckland uniform garments to three schools, one in Kenya through the airline’s Operation Simba initiative and two in South Africa.
Operation Simba is BA’s annual appeal for clothing, books and toys that are delivered directly to children’s homes and orphanages in East Africa.
The student council at John Cabot chose a new, distinctive uniform in September, which featured the newly designed school logo that was changed to reflect its new Academy status. The uniform colour scheme didn’t change from its distinctive jade colour, however new garments such as a special manufacture polo shirt with coloured panels and a full zip sweatshirt were introduced and the old school uniform including polo shirts and sweatshirts, were donated.
John Cabot has been working with schools in Africa for over six years and has partnerships with two schools in South Africa - one in Johannesburg and one in Alexandria - along with a partner school in Farafihna in The Gambia. Over the years John Cabot has provided these schools with IT equipment, teacher training and sewing machines, to help improve the quality of education for its pupils.
In teaming up with Price & Buckland and British Airways, John Cabot is able to continue its work with its twinned schools and extend its efforts to Kenya and provide children there with much needed clothing.
Nick Jones, head teacher at John Cabot said, “When we decided to change our uniform at the start of the school year, we wanted to make sure the left over stock didn’t go to waste. Price & Buckland provides us with a stock holding service and they too have also been involved in initiatives in Africa in the past, so encouraged us make the most out of our remaining uniforms.
“We knew donating the uniforms to schools in Africa would really make a difference because from dealing with these schools over the years, it is unheard of for them to receive new garments, so with the help of British Airways the uniforms will be delivered in the coming weeks.”
Price & Buckland supplies schoolwear to over 3,000 schools in the UK and supports a number of educational and charitable projects in developing countries.

2008 Show takes place from 10th – 12th June at the
Business Design Centre, Islington, London.

MADE IN BRUNEL 08 will build on the success of the 2007 show, returning to the Business Design Centre in London from the 10th to 12th June. MADE IN BRUNEL showcases the talent of Brunel University’s final year students from the School of Engineering and Design.

The show, now in its 18th year, showcases many design and engineering projects that have been specifically developed to tackle some of the modern world’s biggest issues; such as climate change, well-being and health, transport, personal safety and security.

MADE IN BRUNEL annually attracts a wide range of industry professionals that are looking to find tomorrow’s most talented designers and engineers. Students displaying their innovations at the show are provided with the opportunity to draw investors to their products, concepts and technologies.

Testament to Brunel’s commitment to global innovation, 2008 sees a greater number of students from partner Universities participating than every before. Students from Tsinghua University of China and The Indian Institute of Technology of Madras will showcase their innovations alongside Delft University of Technology from the Netherlands.

Reasons to attend MADE IN BRUNEL 08:
See 400 commercial ideas before your competitors
Meet 150 students who are shaping the future through innovative design and engineering
Hear from high profile guest speakers on their take of the industry and where it is headed.

Highlights from MADE IN BRUNEL 2007 include the Time Sensor; a sensor fitted inside the lids of bottles, jars and cartons that detects the freshness of the food; I-SAW, a device which warns drivers when motorcycles are nearby; Breathe Air, a cycling helmet that filters congested air; and Eden-5, a kit-in-a capsule that allows families to become self-sustainable to combat famine and poverty.

Schools in Devon, Norfolk and Oxfordshire will benefit from a partnership deal announced today (Tuesday 6 May) by NFU Mutual and the Royal Shakespeare Company.

NFU Mutual is supporting the RSC’s Learning & Performance Network in the role of Rural Communities Partner. The RSC’s Learning & Performance Network promotes and supports creative approaches to the teaching, learning and performance of Shakespeare’s plays through a network of Primary and Secondary schools across England.

The aim of the Network is to provide schools which would normally not have access to the RSC’s work, including schools in rural areas, with a sustained relationship with the RSC. The relationship aims to provide teachers with innovative professional development opportunities and young people with a positive experience of Shakespeare.

The Network currently consists of 157 Primary Schools, 87 Secondary Schools, 6 Special Schools and 2 Pupil Reintegration Units. The RSC estimates that 65,000 students have benefited from L&PN to date and that by August 2010 approximately 150,000 students and over 7,000 teachers will have benefited from the scheme.

NFU Mutual today announces its support of schools in Devon, Norfolk and Oxfordshire. The generous contribution will help bring one school from each area to the RSC’s Courtyard Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon for a special Regional Schools Celebration on 30 June 2008 where they will perform their own responses to a Shakespeare play or to a theme from a selection of his plays.

Ian Geden, NFU Mutual Chief Executive said: As a company with its headquarters in Warwickshire, the rural heart of the country, we are delighted to be the RSC Rural Communities Partner, enabling schools from rural areas to come to Stratford-upon-Avon to showcase their work. We have been sponsoring the RSC since 2004, and to continue this support in 2008 is really pleasing. We are looking forward to our contact with young people across all parts of the country.’

Jacqui O’Hanlon, the RSC’s Acting Director of Education said: ‘We are thrilled to be working with NFU Mutual on our Learning & Performance Network. The Network is an integral part of our education strategy, and the teachers and children we have worked with over the last two years have helped us to produce Stand up for Shakespeare, our manifesto for teaching Shakespeare in schools: www.rsc.org.uk/standupforshakespeare. The aim of Stand up for Shakespeare is to ensure that children and young people have a positive experience of Shakespeare by exploring the text practically, seeing live performances and encountering his plays earlier, ideally from the age of eight.’

For further information, please contact Nada Zakula in the RSC Press Office on 01789 412622 or 07831 766086, nada.zakula@rsc.org.uk

Or Beth Wells from the NFU Mutual Press Office on 01789 202173 or 07966 121608, beth_wells@nfumutual.co.uk

In every class there are always some students who just don’t get the point of the lesson.

In many subjects, students find it is not too hard to make up the bits of the syllabus that they have failed to grasp. Indeed, missing the point of one history lesson, or even a series of lessons, need not be disastrous.

But in maths, it is different.

It is the one subject beyond all others where each new topic builds on the full understanding of what has gone before. Without understanding what a fraction actually is, you cannot possibly understand the multiplication of fractions.

Obviously the teacher can’t go back and repeat all of yesterday’s lesson just for the few who didn’t catch on – but for those students, the chance of grasping today’s lesson is very limited indeed. As a result, maths, more than any other subject taught in school, ‘cries out’ for personalised learning.

It is to solve this problem that ConquerMaths devised its on-demand GCSE maths lessons. Using these animated and narrated brief tutorials, students can go back over any issues they have missed or not found easy to follow. They can do this without any embarrassment through peer-pressure and without slowing down the rest of the class,

Holly Evans, a student in the Isle of Wight commented recently “Now the teacher seems to be speaking English in my maths lessons rather than Japanese!!”

Over 50,000 students worldwide have already used ConquerMaths both in the classroom and in their homes, and these range from those who have simply missed part of the course through illness to students with learning difficulties in special schools.

Contact Conquermaths on 0191 240 1990 or visit the website www.conquermaths.com to see how to make maths less Japanese.

The first IMechE Greenpower Corporate Challenge saw schools giving industry a lesson in the art of electric car racing.

The Pheonix from Seaford College, West Sussex, took the chequered flag on Sunday afternoon ahead of entries from CBBC’s Blue Peter, Bentley Motors and Renishaw plc.

Spectators were treated to a full programme of exciting electric car racing at the Goodwood Motor Circuit. The day kicked off with the Fordingbridge Season Opener which saw new and veteran teams battle it out in a handicapped sprint event. The winners, The Leigh City Technology Academy from Dartford in Kent were delighted as this was their first outing for their car.

The main event, the Corporate Challenge, then got underway in the afternoon involving the top twelve cars from the 2007 Greenpower season and entries from industry around the UK.

After four hours of intensive racing, which included several quick pit-stops for all the teams to change batteries and drivers, it was a veteran team from the 2007 series who won the event.

Barry Shears, founder of Greenpower said “We are delighted with the interest that has been shown the first Corporate Challenge. After nine years of running these events for young people we have inspired budding engineers and created awareness of the challenges they will be facing in the future. Today’s results showing a school team taking on and beating corporate entries, is an example that the future of engineering is in safe hands.”

IMechE Greenpower will be holding this event again in 2009 once again challenging industry to take on the next generation of engineers.

Commenting on tomorrow’s teachers’ strike, which threatens to disrupt more than 6,000 schools, Progressive Vision, the classical liberal think tank, has blamed the government for failing to decentralise Britain’s education system.
Shane Frith, director of Progressive Vision said:
“It is utterly ridiculous for pay deals affecting hundreds of thousands of teachers to be negotiated by union bosses and government ministers in Westminster. How on Earth can a handful of senior trade unionists and politicians credibly decide how much each and every teacher should be paid? With such an antiquated, centralised system, it is a miracle that our children’s education isn’t disrupted on a more regular basis.
“The power to set teachers’ salaries needs to be made at local level by each and every school. This would ensure that hard work and professionalism were properly rewarded and that the best teachers would be retained. It would also stop Britain’s pupils being caught in the crossfire of a 1970s-style industrial dispute. If the government refuses to free the school system from stifling centralised control, it must shoulder the blame for the strikes that will inevitably occur.”

Progressive Vision is a classical liberal think tank, arguing for less government intervention in economic and social affairs. Its website can be found at www.progressive-vision.org  

RSC Playback 2008

Monday 19 May, 1pm – 3pm or 3.30pm – 5.30pm

The Roundhouse – By Invitation only

In May, students from six West London Schools from Chiswick, Hounslow & Middlesex will get the chance to perform their responses to Henry IV parts 1&2 and Henry V at the Roundhouse in Camden, where the RSC is currently performing all of Shakespeare’s History plays. Now in its ninth successful year, the RSC’s Playback is a performance project that encourages students to devise a short piece of theatre based on the themes and characters in Shakespeare’s plays.

On 3 April 2008, an INSET day for teachers was held at the Questors Theatre in Ealing. Led by Project Manager, Kate Hall and the Project Director, Gemma Fairlie, the day demonstrated exercises for teachers to engage students with the History plays whilst identifying themes within the text and giving examples of how Shakespeare’s language can form the basis of the devised performances.

Throughout April & May, the schools are participating in numerous workshops led by Project Practitioner, Rebecca Hemmings, which involve performance skills, devising theatre and learning how to work with Shakespeare’s text. Rebecca has previously worked for the RSC, delivery in-school workshops around Noughts & Crosses. Pupils who have worked with Rebecca previously have felt inspired by working with a black practitioner.

John Lyon’s Charity, which partly funds this project, is dedicated to enhancing the conditions of life and improving the life-chances of young people through education, across several London Boroughs. Through this project it has also sought to develop practitioners from a Black Minority Ethnic background.

As part of the 2008 Playback Project, the students are invited to see a performance of Henry IV part 1 at the Roundhouse in Camden. The project then culminates on 19 May when all the schools will perform their responses Henry IV and Henry V to an invited audience, using the current RSC set at the Roundhouse.

Each year the feedback from Playback is overwhelmingly positive. Teachers and students involved in last year’s project commented:

“Acting out the play made me understand it better”

“It was amazing for us students to get an opportunity to act in a well known theatre”

Facts & Figures from previous Playback projects:

100% of the teachers said their work on the project would positively influence how they taught Shakespeare in the classroom.

96% of participants rated their experience on the performance day excellent or good.

SATs results showed a marked improvement following the students’ participation in Playback. 55% of the group from one school achieved a higher level than was formally predicted.

The six schools participating in this year’s project are:

Lampton School, Hounslow

Chiswick Community School, Chiswick

JFS School, Brent

Springwell Junior School, Middlesex

Strand on the Green Junior School, Chiswick

The Cardinal Wiseman School, Ealing

Workshops will take place at the six chosen schools on the following dates:

Monday 14 April – JFS

Monday 28 April – Lampton School

Tuesday 29 April – Strand Junior School

Wednesday 30 April – Cardinal Wiseman School

Wednesday 30 April – Springwell Junior School

Friday 2 May – Chiswick Community School

Monday 12 May – Chiswick Community School

Tuesday 13 May – Lampton School

Wednesday 14 May – Cardinal Wiseman School

Wednesday 14 May – Springwell Junior School

Thursday 15 May – JFS

Friday 16 May – Strand Junior School

We thought you would like to know about the work of the NOISEfestival.com – a charity aimed at discovering and nurturing young artistic talent in people who otherwise may not get an opportunity to work in this field.
Much of their work complements the work being done in schools and colleges and so would be of interest to teachers as it would add to their work and offer a different dimension to what they are doing in the classroom.
They are now in the submission period for the 2008 festival and as well as displaying the work of young artists they are also launching a number of projects as part of the NOISE Creative Talent Showcase – this is the area we thought you, our readers may be interested.
The festival is unique in the fact it has no physical location but is an on-line festival where young people – under 25’s – can showcase their work from any creative discipline as long as it can be presented digitally.
The judging panel includes: Zaha Hadid (architecture), Tom Dixon of Habitat (product design), Norman Rosenthal of the Royal Academy of Art (fine art), James Sommerville of Attik (graphics, new media and advertising), Damon Gough -Badly Drawn Boy- (music) and Richard Billingham (photography).
NOISE 2006 curators included Peter Saville, Wayne Hemingway, Eley Kishimoto and Fine Artist, Stella Vine.
To give you an idea of what NOISE is all about please have a look at www.noisefestival.com

These are the three NOISE projects making up the Creative Talent Showcase:
NOISE Re-masters a NOISE visual remix project using modern artworks. The project will see NOISE partner with leading art galleries and artists to select original modern masterpieces from their collection to inspire young artists to create an entirely new piece of work. Following on from the projects success as part of NOISE 2006 the NOISE ‘Re-Masters’ is being re-introduced for the 2008 Festival. This year’s NOISE ‘Re-Masters’ will run with the theme of ‘Culture’ and, following the ‘masters’ lead, young people are invited to create new works in a broad range of formats including photography, collage, sculpture, film and painting.
This curriculum–led project will be introduced into schools and colleges nationally.
NOISE is currently approaching galleries and artists to give permission for the use of ‘masters’ from their collections within the Re-Masters project. For more details contact office@noisefestival.com
NOISE Guerrilla Reportage 2008
is a key project for Noise 2008. Partners to date include BBC2 and Radio 1. Young participants submit films, photos etc. documenting their culture. The BBC is providing radio and online promotion, plus 10 work-based mentorship opportunities at BBC TV around the UK, Radio 1 is providing 6 “Guerrilla Reporters” the chance to cover all Summer music festivals backstage. The “Guerrilla Reportage” project culminates in a ‘NOISE channel’ staffed by 50 young NOISE “Guerrilla Reporters”, who will produce a BBC2 series of 4 x 30 minute shows in October/November 2008, an online magazine and radio channel, covering their culture and the Autumn events in Liverpool City of Culture, including the MTV awards and BBC Electric Proms. For more details contact projects@noisefestival.com
NOISE Music Elements 2008
project offers iconic music samples for free download from the NOISE web site by NOISE participants to incorporate into their original music compositions. Artists such as Badly Drawn Boy, Dizzee Rascal, George Michael, Funeral for a Friend etc. will donate samples. The outcome is a live concert where the best young artists get to play their tracks live with the original artists at a venue in Liverpool. At the moment this project is being considered as part of the 2008 Radio1, BBC2 and BBC3 ‘Electric Proms’. For further details contact projects@noisefestival.com
NOISE “Dream Jobs”
They secured 35 work placements in 2006 with MTV Brazil, Hemingway Designs and Hollywood Director Tim Burton’s model-animation company.
To date five of these young people have received permanent work or commissions from these companies. For 2008 NOISE is seeking creative brands and companies to sponsor a NOISE intern for a placement lasting 2 weeks to 1 year. For more details contact office@noisefestival.com

Email info@noisefestival.com to sign up totheir mailing list
Read My NOISE Blog: http://whatsthatnoise.spaces.live.com/blog
NOISE MySpace: www.myspace.com/noisefestival
NOISE Facebook group: NOISEfestival.com
NOISE on Bebo!: www.bebo.com/NoiseFestival2008
NOISE Photos: http://www.flickr.com/photos/noisefestival

Noise Festival
PO Box 4106
Manchester M60 1WW
www.noisefestival.com

Generation Science’s summer tour kicks off this month with Lego Mindstorms, a new, fun and engaging workshop for schools. This hands-on workshop uses the latest NXT generation of Lego Mindstorm robots and teaches primary school pupils how to programme them to perform simple tasks including a hip hop dance routine.
Lego Mindstorms is an adaptation of Lego Robosports which was one of the most popular attractions for kids during the 2007 and 2008 Edinburgh International Science Festivals.
Each robot contains a small computer and has two wheels which can be driven forwards, backwards and can turn 360 degrees. The eye at the front of the robot is a light sensor which is able to pick up areas which are light and dark. Using this sensor the robot is able to perform simple tasks such as following a white line drawn on a dark desktop.
The robot also has an ultrasound sensor which enables it to navigate its way around an obstacle course and tell when there is an obstruction nearby.
This is the first time that Lego Mindstorms will tour to primary schools throughout Scotland. The science communicators who visit the schools, bring 11 laptops and 11 robots with them so that classes of up to 30 pupils, split into groups of 3, are able to programme the robots using a very simple visual programme. New for 2008, it is the latest of 17 shows and workshops provided by Generation Science which are designed to make science fun, exciting and easy to understand and to help teachers cover the school science curriculum. The Generation Science tour reaches over 65,000 primary school children and over 600 schools annually, and is recognized as the largest school science touring programme in the UK.
Simon Gage, Director of the Edinburgh International Science Festival and Generation Science said:
“This is a great opportunity to take one of our most popular workshops during the Festival out into schools, so that children the length and breadth of the country can enjoy a fun introduction to programming and robotics.”
Joan Davidson, Generation Science Manager said:
“We are delighted with the number of bookings we have had from schools for Lego Mindstorms this term. It’s never too early for kids to be introduced to computing and simple programming techniques and this workshop is an excellent way of engaging kids and making science fun and enjoyable.”

Television presenter and engineering enthusiast Dr Adam Hart-Davis will be in Cardiff next week for the official launch of an initiative to inspire the next generation of engineers.

Engineering Explained is a project launched by multi-award-winning Cardiff University spin-out company ‘science made simple’.

It will run interactive shows and workshops for schools and other groups, and will also show the wider public the diversity and excitement of engineering and its impact across the world.

Dr Hart-Davis – whose television series include What the Romans did for Us, What the Victorians did for Us, Science Shack, and Tomorrow’s World - will be the guest speaker at the official launch on Tuesday April 15.

“It’s a real thrill to have Adam Hart-Davis here for the launch,” said Wendy Sadler, founder of ‘science made simple’. “He’s a great supporter of our work in bringing science and now engineering to new audiences, and I’m so glad he can join us for the event.”

Engineering Explained will be led by project coordinator Huw James and will provide shows for schools, festivals and events over the next two years, reaching some 20,000 people.

The shows include:

A Rough Guide to Engineering: a journey around the world to discover what engineers do and how they do it;

Who wants to be a superhero?: a careers-driven show introducing real-life scientists and engineers and what they do;

Engineering for Life – From Cradle to Grave: how engineering improves our quality of life from the moment we’re born through to the end of our lives.

Highlights from the three new shows will be presented at the launch event.

The project also includes an exciting hands-on element in partnership with an existing success story called ‘MadLab’ - a workshop where students and families get to make their own electronic gadgets. Engineering Explained start to tour these workshops across Wales and the South West of England over the next few months.

Engineering Explained will also develop ways to monitor attitudes to engineering and train engineers to communicate their work to others. A competition has been run for schools to find out their definition of Engineering. The winner (who will be announced at the launch) will get their slogan printed on the official Engineering Explained van that will soon be travelling the country.

The initiative is supported by three large engineering institutions; The ERA Foundation, The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and the Institute for Engineering and Technology (the IET).

Anyone interested the Engineering Explained project or other ‘science made simple’ initiatives should visit www.engineeringexplained.co.uk and www.sciencemadesimple.co.uk or telephone 029 2087 6884 or email info@sciencemadesimple.co.uk