September 2016

To help spread some positive news in your school, we've teamed up with The Happy Newspaper to send newspapers full of uplifting stories from around the world into 10,000 schools for pupils and teachers to read

Our Reading Planet September Book of the Month is Journeys: The Story of Migration to Britain ((Saturn/Blue-Red band) by Dan Lyndon-Cohen. The book uncovers the stories of people who migrated from their own countries and settled in Britain. In this blog piece,  Dan explores what led him to writing the book and explains how schools are using it to teach the topic of migration.

While much attention has focused on “recovery” in recent weeks, the National Association for Able Children in Education (NACE) is calling on schools to look beyond this – prioritising wellbeing alongside an ambitious, creative, collaborative approach that allows young people to not only recover, but truly thrive.

Today, key partners announced that they are to expand eduu.school, a regional pilot funded by Nesta that supported nearly 2000 pupils in the Midlands after lockdown. The expansion of eduu.school will ensure schools can deliver high quality  remote teaching  and apply a comprehensive blended learning approach, on and offline.

Let’s face it, the return to school this academic year will be like no other. Earlier this year, our children experienced lockdown; being unexpectedly ‘cooped up’ with close family and siblings and suddenly shifted from school to home-school. Dr Kathy Weston shares her top tips on how to support your children with the return to school this autumn term.

Settling into the new school environment may feel overwhelming for some pupils after months of home learning, so we've put together some resources to help pupils develop the skills they need to overcome any challenges they may face in their learning, as well as outside the classroom.

Created in collaboration with health partners, mental health experts and local authorities, the £8 million scheme is designed to provide schools all over England with access to resources and knowledge to help support the emotional response both teachers and pupils may be facing as a result of the pandemic.

We're excited to announce that three of our resources have been shortlisted in 2020 Teach Primary Awards!

The third edition of Switched on Computing is now available for schools to access.  Now in its tenth year and in 6500+ schools in the UK and overseas, the Switched on Computing series has undergone considerable updates and enhancements to reflect current technologies and in response to user feedback, making it more accessible for use in the classroom and beyond. 

Over the past few months, teaching children to read, and more importantly to really read has been more difficult than usual. Teachers have endeavoured to deliver a reading curriculum through remote learning and pupils who have been able to attend school have had some reading lessons. However, long-term; medium-term and short-term plans for reading have been adapted and re-shaped to meet the needs of the current climate.