• NEW EMIR CATALOGUE
• Efficiencies that save £1000s a year.

NEW EMIR CATALOGUE

www.emir.co.uk
Emmerich (Berlon) Ltd, Kingsworth Industrial Est, Wotton Road, Ashford, Kent TN23 6JY

Email: enquiries@emir.co.uk
Phone: 01233 622684
Fax: 01233 645801

EMIR the UK’s leading solid beech workbench manufacturer will release its new catalogue on its stand at the Birmingham NEC D&T Exhibition on the 17th – 19th November. If you cannot collect and discuss your needs at either of these venues, please contact us at enquiries@emir.co.uk or telephone us on 01233 622684.

Efficiencies that save £1000s a year.

www.admin.org.uk
School of Education Administration, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct, Earlstrees Rd, Corby, Northants NN17 4HH

Email: prospectus@admin.org.uk
Phone: 01536 399 007
Fax: 01536 399 012

When the School of Educational Administration launched its Certificate in School Efficiency programme no one quite knew which efficiencies schools would report.

But now we’ve seen it in action, and the savings schools are making are really extraordinary.

Among the most dramatic savings being achieved through efficiencies are those made to school meals arrangements, the way photocopying is organised, IT provision, school cleaning contracts and the movement to an automated text system.

The next 10 week Certificate in School Efficiency course (taught by distance learning) closes its intake of students on 14 November. The course commences on 21 November.  It costs £249 plus VAT.

Composing seems to be one of the most difficult parts of the music syllabus in the National Curriculum and yet it is a basic element of the course. Many primary school teachers are not trained and experienced in music itself, let alone in teaching pupils how to create it.

And yet classroom composing is an activity which helps develop listening skills, attention, memory and analysis. It is a useful focus for group work. And all this is quite apart from being fun and creative in itself.

So the issue can be quite fundamental. How to begin to teach composition? How to work with such a mixed ability class? How to evaluate what has been composed?

David Stoll is a well-known composer of concert, theatre and television music who has spent considerable time looking into this subject and has written Key Stage 2 Composing – the complete scheme of work. Though full of strategies and tips for teachers with a music background, the book is specifically written for teachers who have no knowledge of music theory at all and little confidence in teaching music.

In simple, non-technical language the book explains how to use two basic models for making up a piece of music: patterns and stories. A simple and immediately recognisable method of graphic notation is introduced and classes will be making up, writing down, reading and playing new pieces of music within a couple of weeks.

Key Stage 2 Composing covers every aspect of primary school creative music making. Each lesson in the book is broken down into five and ten minute blocks, with each step fully detailed and accompanied by explanatory notes for the teacher. As well as a complete set of lessons there are several short- and long-term composing projects for the pupils to work. The book is copiable throughout which means it can be shared by KS2 teachers throughout the school.

David Stoll was commissioned by the DfES to run a project investigating how composers may work with teachers in primary schools, and to write a handbook for schools and composers: Building music (DfES 2005). David regularly runs composing workshops and delivers INSETs in schools and for LEAs around the country.

Sample pages of the book may be downloaded from http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/primary/T1752.pdf

Publisher’s catalogue number T1752emn; ISBN: 978 1 86083 714 2

Prices

• Book or CD: £24.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Book plus CD: £31.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Download from the on-line shop: £16.95

Methods of ordering – please quote catalogue number T1752emn

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House Mailings plc, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
• By fax on 01536 399 012
• By phone with a credit card or with an official school order number on 01536 399 011
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=48_98&products_id=666

When one pauses to think about it, the answer must be “quite a lot”.  Colleagues who are motivated, who enjoy their work in the school, and who are willing to go the extra mile, are bound to get more out of their pupils and students than those who are not so motivated.

Enthusiasm, drive and determination are infectious.  If a teacher feels good about the job and everything around it, then obviously that will encourage those in the classroom to do more work.

Such observations are easy to make.  But it is nevertheless the fact that the overwhelming majority of schools in the UK don’t engage in any sort of programme that focuses on raising teacher morale and then maintaining it, once a high level of morale has been achieved.

Rather, the dominant view has come to be, “teachers are professionals and we expect professionals to work hard and do their best.”  In other words it is generally not considered the school management’s job to consider the morale of teachers.

Although this is a widespread point of view the fact remains that, in organisations where the morale of the professional staff is considered, results increase.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems is that it is not immediately obvious to most school managers exactly how one goes about raising teacher morale.  After all, one doesn’t want to pry into a colleague’s private life, and one certainly doesn’t want to make overt statements to colleagues which suggest that morale in the staffroom is not as high as it might be.

And yet there is a whole range of strategies available for raising teacher morale which have been used with success in a number of schools and which can be introduced into any school.

These strategies, along with a detailed study of the issues that affect teacher morale and how a broader policy of maintaining high morale can be achieved, are all detailed in the volume “Raising Teacher Morale in a World of Change.”

The volume comes in copiable form, so that several managers can consider the approaches at once and then meet together to discuss them.  It is also available on CD so that again it can easily be shared with colleagues.

Publisher’s reference: T1600emn; ISBN: 978 1 86083 648 0

Sample pages can be viewed on:  http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1600.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £49.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights £49.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £56.94 plus £3.95 delivery

Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the book…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By phone with a credit card or school order number to 01536 399 011
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=31&products_id=440

This 150 page book will be invaluable to any student of the Second Reich at Advanced level. It provides a comprehensive, narrative chronological structure which is a prerequisite of any study of the period. Personalities and events are recounted in considerable detail and are clearly set in context.

However the book goes beyond most standard textbooks in the way it prepares students to produce competent essay responses to exam questions and provides practice in handling documentary source.

• Students are given key questions to consider and are encouraged to test continuously the theories of historians against their own findings.
• Essay style questions are set at each stage in the book, all drawn from past exam papers.
• Documentary criticism skills are continuously tested.
• Frequent historiographical references remind students to read beyond this text to gain a greater understanding of the subject.

What’s more, the materials are available as a photocopiable book and as a CD which can be put onto the school’s network and shared among all students for whom it is relevant.  Thus all students may use the material with the purchase of just one copy.

ISBN No: 978 1 86083 564 3 Order code: T1649EMN

Sample pages are available to download free of charge from http://pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/history/T1649.pdf

• Photocopiable book: £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD: £29.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD plus photocopiable book: £36.94 plus £3.95 delivery

You can order… Please quote the order code T1649EMN

• By post: Write to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Rd., Corby, Northants NN17 4HH
• By fax: To 01536 399 012
• By phone: quoting a credit card number or a school order reference number: 01536 399 018
• On line: Go to http://shop.firstandbest.co.uk/product_info.php?cPath=22&products_id=473 - you will need a credit card to complete the order

• Developing Number Knowledge
• CASIO, LOGIK , TEXET and SHARP calculators for your students

Developing Number Knowledge
Assessment,Teaching and Intervention with 7-11 year olds
Robert J Wright, David Ellemor-Collins and Pamela D Tabor

http://www.uk.sagepub.com/books/Book235091
Sage Publications Ltd, 1 Oliver’s Yard, 55 City Road, London, EC1Y 1SP

Email: orders@sagepub.co.uk
Phone: 020 7324 8703
Fax: 020 7324 8700

Following the great success of the earlier books, this fourth book in the Mathematics Recovery series equips teachers with detailed pedagogical knowledge and resources for teaching number to 7 to 11-year olds.

Drawing on extensive programs of research, curriculum development, and teacher development, the book offers a coherent, up-to-date approach emphasising computational fluency and the progressive development of students’ mathematical sophistication. The book is organized in key domains of number instruction, including structuring numbers 1 to 20, knowledge of number words and numerals, conceptual place value, mental computation, written computation methods, fractions, and early algebraic reasoning

The book costs £22.99 (which includes a CD)

CASIO,  LOGIK , TEXET and SHARP calculators for your students

www.signposteducational.co.uk
Signpost Educational Ltd., PO Box 999, London  E14 6SH

Email: signpost@talk21.com
Phone: 020 7515  1797
Fax: 020  7515  4420

Did you know ……….  ?

Not only can you order your basic and scientific calcs from Casio, Logik, Sharp and Texet, but you can also equip your students with geometry sets  (in clear cases and in metal tins) as well as our handy clear plastic zip wallets.

Basic calcs from only £1.29, GCSE calcs from only £2.97 (ex vat)

(available at these prices while stocks last).

Casio FX 83GT Plus, FX 85GT Plus, FX 991GT plus the full range of LOGIK scientific calcs, all with a THREE year guarantee.

You’re welcome to give us a call on 020 7515 1797 or view our website:
www.signposteducational.co.uk

We look forward to hearing from you.

Shocking figures from Beatbullying claim that as many as 1 million children are bullied each week both inside and outside of school and that 70% of all young people have experienced some form of bullying.

More worryingly, at least 20 children every year commit suicide due to bullying.

Whilst successful initiatives such as Anti-Bullying Week (14^th – 18^th November) help to raise awareness during that time the question remains: how can the momentum be maintained throughout the year?

Indeed many schools have found that by using bullying posters in their classroom, the focus can be maintained, making the students stop and think about their actions and what they can do to help themselves if they find they become a victim.

Further we have also found that where the school rotates its series of posters and puts up a new one every two weeks or so, the process has an even greater effect.

With this in mind we have produced our series of six Anti-Bullying posters which cover topics such as cyber bullying and how to deal with a bully.

The posters can be purchased individually or as a set and can be supplied plain, laminated or in a frame.  There are details on our website (or at www.ieied.co.uk and follow the links).

You can also order our “Take a Stand” posters in any of these ways:

• On our website at the above web links
• By phone on 0870 2405879
• By fax on 0844 358 1667
• By email to info@ieied.co.uk
• By post to Inform, Engage, Inspire Ltd, Unit D, Home Farm, Hall Road, Cromer, NR27 9JG.

More and more Local Authorities are delegating responsibility for maintaining school buildings down to the local level. As part of this move some of you will have been provided with your Property Handbooks.

If you don’t already know, these are the guides that hint at all the maintenance items you’re supposed to have been doing or receiving as part of your service packs.

I’ve spoken to over 200 schools in the last six months, and here are some of the most common school comments about these guides:

–“There are a lot of items we didn’t know we were supposed to be doing.”

–“We thought the LA was doing all this for us.”

–“We don’t know what’s already been done.”

–“The book doesn’t include all the past inspections and documents, where are these?”

–“My LA can’t provide me with evidence that they’ve been doing this for us in the past.”

–“We can now shop around and look for the best deals knowing what we have to do.”

–“Now we know what should be done we can manage our school our way.”

Some might say these are the fortunate schools; at least they have a handbook.

However, rather than a single book that sits on a shelf in the office, what is really needed is an interactive online version of this guide, a system that makes the administration of your school premises much simpler, smoother and safer.

Our solution, PropertyPrefect^TM, is an online premises management tool enabling schools to manage their properties more effectively, whilst ensuring that statutory requirements for compliance and governance are visible and completed.

At its simplest, PropertyPrefect^TM has been described as the interactive online equivalent of the Property Handbook. Amongst other features it contains a list of maintenance activities that should be completed, reminds the school of when they are due, allows for upload of certificates and reports, and includes an issues log for the day-to-day problems as well as reports for meetings.

Since launching in March, PropertyPrefect^TM has been adopted by over 500 school users and here are some of the school comments about it:

–“It provides me with the peace of mind that we’re doing everything that should be done”

–“It’s the answer to my prayers, helping us to manage the H&S and maintenance more effectively.”

–“It has everything in one place and will save me a lot of time, effort and hassle.”

–“It scratches an itch that every school has.”

–“It’s user friendly, summarised everything on a single page and produces reports quickly and easily.”

If you’d like to know more about how it can help your school, book an online tour at a date and time of your choosing at www.propertyprefect.com/onlinedemo.

Yours sincerely,

Adam Watson
Founding Director

Office: 08456 80 70 32| Fax: 08456 80 70 39 | Email: adam.watson@propertyprefect.com

What is the most effective way of teaching personal development skills and positive attitudes towards others?

According to a survey conducted by MTa Pass in September this year over 75% of secondary schools in the UK run team and interpersonal development skills courses and positive attitudes towards others.

The respondents however also revealed that there is a great divergence between schools as to which part of the curriculum is used to develop these skills.  The most common area is PSHE and PSHCE, but with other areas include mentor and tutorial groups, enterprise and business studies, drama and sports lessons.

Most schools that responded to MTa’s questionnaire answered that they had either developed their own materials or had no specific materials for this type of work, just devising items for each lesson.

There is of course a lot to be said for developing one’s own resources in schools, but having a set of resources that draw on ideas and experiences from many sources and have been tested in other schools can add to the variety of the lessons. An external approach might also reach some pupils who are not fully engaged by the school’s current materials.

Consequently the ideas and content of MTa Pass for schools came from a wide range of sources inside and outside the UK. It is a collection of resources which develop team and interpersonal skills and develop positive attitudes towards and a respect for others.

Of course having developed these materials we tried and tested them thoroughly to make sure they lived up to our high expectations.  Here’s some recent feedback from a school that used MTa Pass earlier this year:

I would just like to say that I used the MTa Pass Learning equipment for the very first time yesterday with a group of year 9 students in Birmingham. The results were AMAZING!! Thank you so much for producing such a fantastic resource.

I asked some of the students to write their thoughts about the course and this is what they put:

“It was excellent, I really enjoyed it, I very much liked it”

“It was good, I enjoyed the team work. I want the course to build up my confidence”

“It was fun and interesting”

“It showed me how to change your life even at the most hardest of times.”

“It was a good experience and gave me more confidence. I liked the activities”

“I thought it was really good and can’t wait till next session”

You can find out more about MTa PASS in the following sections on our website or by calling 01937 844800.

Or is there?

The old free lunch adage might be true for free lunches but when it comes to getting rid of unwanted IT equipment, there really is something free on offer.

In fact the free-ness of the offer includes not just removing unwanted IT equipment free of charge from school but also data wiping and ensuring that all disposal is environmentally friendly.

Our service runs 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year.  We have our own fleet of trucks that travel the country retrieving unwanted IT equipment, from computers to telecom equipment, from monitors to cables.

Of course we need more than trucks to do this, which is why our trucks come with a handy bunch of lads who will do the picking and loading at your end, and the unloading at our end.

The only requirement we have is that you have at least 30 items for collection at one time and that they are all gathered together in one easily accessible place for our driver to pick up.

We can take PC base units, CRT monitors, TFT monitors, servers, laptops, server racks, switches, telecom switches and printers.

Indeed as long as you have 30 of these items to take away, we will take away other IT equipment at the same time, such as keyboards, calbing and telecoms.

At the end of the process we issue you with free certification evidence so you can see the correct procedures were complied with.

For more information please call 0800 840 9195 or  visit our website at www.prmgreentech.com for further details of the free IT disposal and recycling service we offer.

The Effective Leadership and Pupil Outcomes Project from the DSCF has reported that managers in improving schools are particularly good at motivating colleagues and maintaining their enthusiasm over a long period of time.  However many managers have had little training in motivational techniques.

This report fits in with a report that came out a couple of years back in which it was argued that teacher motivation was one of the simplest ways of obtaining a high level of departmental  improvement without it costing anything.

The argument is simple: in most organisations, motivating the staff is a central part of the work of the senior management.  No matter how professional ones colleagues are thought or expected to be, it is realised that they are also human – and all humans can have ups and downs.  We all like to be told we are doing well, we like hear about how our work is contributing to the overall well-being of the organisation, and when we are asked to take on new work, we like to be thanked.

In many ways the application of this to schooling is obvious.  When the choice is between the highly motivated individual with the personal drive to make a difference, or the teacher who lacks that drive and for whom teaching is what happens between holidays, there is only one answer.  We want the motivated teacher.

And yet we all of us observe the teacher whose level of motivation declines.

Teacher Motivation: the low-cost high gain approach to school improvement is a report which has been used in hundreds of schools across the UK as the model for improving motivation among teachers.

It is provided both as a CD (which can be loaded onto the virtual learning environment) and as a photocopiable book, so that individual sections can be copied and handed to colleagues, who then return for a short in-school seminar on the particular topic being reviewed.

A sample of the book is available on line at http://www.pdf.firstandbest.co.uk/education/T1573.pdf

Prices

• Photocopiable report in a ring binder, £49.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• CD with school-wide rights: £49.95 plus £3.95 delivery
• Both the Ring Binder and the CD £56.94 plus £3.95 delivery
• Prices include VAT.

You can purchase the report…

• By post to First and Best, Hamilton House, Earlstrees Ct., Earlstrees Way, Corby, NN17 4HH
• By fax to 01536 399 012
• On line with a credit card at http://tinyurl.com/lxcq8b
• By phone with a school order number or a credit card to 01536 399 011

When ordering the book please quote the reference T1573EMN