News

Two exciting new opportunities have come up that enable colleagues to benefit from Philosophy for Children training. We are now able to extend this opportunity of L1 P4C training to experienced teaching staff, as well as to NQTs.

Both of these are completely FREE through the DfE’s ‘Bercow – 10 year on initiative‘.

Philosophy for Children, Community and Colleges (P4C): Level 1 training for NQTs

Keele and North Staffordshire Teacher Education is offering Level 1 training in P4C for NQTs who are starting work in Stoke-on-Trent in September 2019 and more experienced colleagues who would benefit.

This is a two-day course on the 8th and 9th of July at Keele University Campus. Delegates will gain certification at Level 1 from SAPERE on completion of the course.

Bookings close on the 1st of July. More information on the course and booking can be found here.

Tools for Thinking Together

Keele and North Staffordshire Teacher Education are offering training for teachers in all phases and sectors of education who have undertaken P4C Level 1.

The course will run for three afternoons on the 5th, 11th and 20th of June at the Keele University Campus. It will give teachers the opportunity to develop their P4C practice and renew their engagement with the P4C framework for developing children’s caring, collaborative, critical and creative thinking skills.

Bookings close on the 31st of May, more information on the course and bookings can be found here.

Live contract opportunity

We have launched a new tendering opportunity to deliver a school holiday activity programme in Stoke-on-Trent, running from summer 2019 until end of summer holidays 2020.

For more information, please contact Mary Bentley: mary.bentley@stoke.gov.uk or access the council procurement site, here.

Closing date: 20 May 2019.

Live contract opportunity.

This project links to the Opportunity Area delivery plan target to ‘improve outcomes in English, maths and science’.

This contract opportunity will evaluate the impact of the Primary Maths School Improvement Offer, led by the Maths Excellence Partnership in the city.

Working with schools, partners and stakeholders, the successful bidder will determine the extent to which the project:

• improves pupil outcomes in maths in Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3 and especially for the most disadvantaged learners.
• improves quality first teaching of maths acros Years 3 to 8 and across the transition from primary to secondary school.
• improves the leadership of maths in primaries, and leadership capacity in maths.
• ensures learners make a successful transition in maths between KS2 and KS3.
• improves the recruitment of maths teacher specialists.
• improves parental engagement in maths learning.
• develops an effective co-ordinated and collaborative system leadership approach that is sustainable for the future.

Closing date: Wednesday 8 May, 17:00

For more information, please contact Mary Bentley at mary.bentley@stoke.gov.uk or access the council procurement site, here.

The most comprehensive way to engage young people in leadership is through action

We are funding the City Youth Ambassador Network (CYAN) who have recently produced a Youth Ambassador Handbook.

This is full of information on the great work that CYAN is doing within Stoke-On-Trent, including offering a FREE programme for all secondary schools. In Stoke-On-Trent, the project supports the development of leadership skills, social engagement and “voice” amongst the city’s young people. This will include stronger youth representation in local decision making on issues that affect them.

Assembly workshops have proven to be a perfect introduction to the programme and are tailored to fit the needs of each individual school. CYAN work with each school to find the best time to engage and inspire their Year 7’s.

So far there have been three assemblies and they have all exceeded expectation – 112 students from Ormiston Horizon are now interested in the social action programme.

Assembly workshops will run until Friday, 29th of March.

Please contact, Caitlin.Grainger@ymcans.org.uk, if you are interested in the programme.

Keele and North Staffordshire Teacher Education is offering training for teachers in all phases and sectors of education who have already undertaken P4C Level 1.

The course will run over three afternoons (14:00 – 17:00) on the 5th, 11th and 20th June 2019 at the Keele University Campus, and will give teachers the opportunity to develop their P4C practice, and renew their engagement with the P4C framework for developing children’s caring, collaborative, critical and creative thinking skills.

The course is offered at no cost to delegates; funding is through the DfE’s ‘Bercow – 10 years on’ initiative, which is promoting SLC across the school age range.

Further details – including how to apply for a place – are contained in the flyer, which you can access here  Tools4ThinkingTog- 2019-Bercow

Bookings will be taken on a first-come-first-served basis and will close on 31st May; a waiting list will be held if the course is fully booked.

 

 

Keele and North Staffordshire Teacher Education is offering Level 1 training in P4C for NQTs who are starting work in Stoke-on-Trent in September 2019.

The course will run over two days, on 8th and 9th July 2019, at Keele University Campus, and will cover:

• an introduction to the theory and practice of P4C;
• a framework for developing children’s caring, collaborative, critical and creative thinking skills;
• developing children’s capacity to ask meaningful questions.

Delegates will gain certification at Level 1 from SAPERE on completion of the course.

The course is offered at no cost to delegates; funding is through the DfE’s ‘Bercow – 10 years on’ initiative, which is promoting SLC across the school age range.

Further information, and a link to the application form, is contained in this flyer P4C Level 1 2019-Bercow-NQTs_

Bookings will be taken on a first-come-first-served basis and will close on 1st July; a waiting list will be held if the course is fully booked.

Space 2018 evaluation report – now available

The Space project, led by the Staffordshire Commissioner, provides positive activities for young people in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire. Last year, the programme ran throughout the summer holiday period July to August 2018 and is going from strength to strength with attendances increasing from just over 13,000 in 2015 to almost 30,000 in 2018.

As the evaluation report indicates, there’s been a significant decrease in police recorded youth-related incidents of Anti-Social Behaviour during the summer holiday period 2018, down 41% compared to the same period in 2017.

The Stoke-on-Trent Opportunity Area is one of the partners that has contributed to the delivery of this programme in 2018 via a direct funding contribution and as part of the ‘Essential Life Skills’ programme.

Read the evaluation report direct here or via https://staffordshire-pfcc.gov.uk/space/#staffordshire-space-report

The Geographical Association and Association for Science Education TLIF offer

The Geographical Association and Association for Science Education have been awarded a TLIF contract to provide fully funded CPD for primary and secondary teachers from November 2018 to develop the critical use of evidence in geography and science classrooms. The target group of schools for this offer are those that are in Ofsted category 3, but schools who are Ofsted rated 1 & 2 may be able to get involved.

The aim of this provision will:

• strengthen teachers’ subject knowledge and build confidence and capability in curriculum planning and teaching
• help teachers teach reformed geography and science qualifications and curricula effectively, focusing on knowledge application, the critical use of data and evidence, construction of arguments and geographical and scientific investigation
• make more efficient use of teacher planning time through provision of practical planning tools and quality-assured curriculum plans and resources.

DfE information can be found here: www.gov.uk/guidance/develop-the-critical-use-of-evidence-in-geography-and-science and further information on the Critical thinking for achievement project here: www.geography.org.uk/Critical-thinking-for-achievement

The ‘Opportunity Areas: Building the foundations for change’ document published last month provides a snap-shot of activity in each Opportunity Area across the country. This includes our very own Stoke-on-Trent case study on the Better Together project that will ensure every primary and secondary school in the city is linked with a social worker and educational psychologist to identify children and families at risk of running into difficulties. Follow this link to access the case study document.