Happy Christmas to Schools in England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland December 16, 2011
Posted by laburnumhouse in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales.Tags: budget cuts, Department of Education Northern Ireland, Education, Literacy, Scottish Education, Welsh Education
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Everyone at Laburnum House from those that you meet
Or the happy telesales team so eager to greet
And of course the fine folk who pack the 1/2 price books you seek,
Would like to wish every soul in every school Happy Christmas for next week.
A big thank you to all our customers for another fantastic year
In the face of budgets so austere,
Let us embrace 2012 with optimism not fear
And dont forget to buy your dictionaries right here.
Head Teachers Join TUC’s National Day Of Action on November 30th November 12, 2011
Posted by laburnumhouse in News, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales.Tags: budget cuts, Department of Education Northern Ireland, Government austerity measures, pensions, Scottish Education, teachers
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With a further day of industrial action set for November 30th, the National Association of Head Teachers (NAHT) voted in favour of strike action for the first time in 114 years. They will now join teachers and ancilliary staff in the TUC’s day of action at the end of this month withthe Union saying the government’s plans will leave teachers working longer, paying more and receiving less when they retire.
The turnout for the ballot was 53.6%, with 75.8% in favour of strike action, the NAHT said after the union balloted the 24,000 members involved in the teachers’ pension scheme. This will see even more schools closed than last time, as NAHT members hold leadership positions in 85 per cent of primary schools, over 40 per cent of secondary schools and most special schools.
NAHT general secretary Russell Hobby said: ‘In many ways this is an unhappy milestone.
‘I have spoken at length to many school leaders, and not one has been anything other than upset and sometimes downright angry that they have been forced into the situation as the only way to stand up for the profession and standards.’
Thirteen more unions within the public sector are also balloting with a view to joining the November 30th day of action, full details here, suggesting the walkout could be the biggest since the Winter of Discontent in 1979, when local authority trade unions demanded higher pay rises for their members after James Callaghan’s decision to freeze pay to control inflation.
Scottish Schools Set To Strike November 5, 2011
Posted by laburnumhouse in Scotland.Tags: budget cuts, Government austerity measures, Scottish Education
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Members of the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS), the largest teaching union in the country have overwhelmingly backed industrial action, citing concerns over pensions, a pay freeze and budget cuts.
A 54% turnout saw 82% of members endorse a first day of action in Scottish schools for almost a quarter of a century.
Turnout: 54.2%
Total number of votes cast: 29,736
Number voting “YES”: 24,426
Number voting “NO”: 5,276
Spoiled voting papers: 34
In a nationwide mark of solidarity, the day of action will be held in line with other public sector unions across the UK, on November 30 with schools facing possible closure during the one-day strike.
Back to school with a smile then? November 5, 2011
Posted by laburnumhouse in News, Scotland, Wales.Tags: Education, Literacy, Reading, Scottish Education, Wales
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Half term is certainly a thing of the past for Britain’s hardworking teachers, assistants and ancilliary staff. The hill to a literate Britain might be steeper than we feel if Guardian journalist Deborah Orr’s tongue in cheek piece is to be believed. Read all about it: Britain’s shameful literacy crisis points out that the only untouched shop in Clapham Junction (pronounced Cl-a-r-m by an estate agent I once knew) was the Waterstones.
This of course is nothing that a good bedtime story could not cure, with Siân Smith and Helen Williams, from Cardiff Council’s Literary Scheme, illustrating the powering of an hour with a parent and a good book on Walesonline. This would indeed offer better value for money, not to mention improve results, than the Governments reading test for 6 -year-olds that takes a slating in the Daily and Sunday Express .
Perhaps the role of Film and play might help? SecEd explored the role Films can play in nurturing critical analysis whilst play is the way according to Siân Smith and Helen Williams in another article in Walesonline. An initiative from Scotland however, suggests that we can never start too early as the post below will reveal……..
Scottish Schools Enlist Baby Squad in Social Skills & Literacy Battle November 5, 2011
Posted by laburnumhouse in News, Scotland.Tags: Reading, Scottish Education
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Motherwell pupils are among the first in Scottish schools to benifit from a pioneering program to bring babies into school classrooms in order to reduce bullying and aggression in Scotland’s Academy and High schools. Globally, more than half a million children have already taken part in the Roots of Empathy program, prior to it being rolled out to a school in North Lanarkshire, but it is hoped many more schools in the country will be able to benefit from the programme in the future. Pupils at Motherwell’s Keir Hardie Primary will be “taught” how to understand empathy and emotion by a baby and its mother, under a system that was pioneered in Canada.
Developed in 1996 by parenting expert Mary Gordon, Roots of Empathy has been shown to improve children’s emotional literacy and social skills as they learn to relate to the baby and understand its relationship with its mother, said to be “the ideal model of empathy”. During the course of the study Ms Gordon noticed a notable reduction in violence and bullying among those participating in the programme. On average the visits by baby and mother occur nine times a year, with independent evaluators giving the results positive reviews
Scotland Schools Score Success August 4, 2011
Posted by laburnumhouse in News, Scotland.Tags: Exam Results, Scottish Education, SQA
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Laburnum House would like to congratulate all schools North of the border after the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) officially released the 2011 Highers exam results today with the record pass rate of 75.2%, 0.5% up on last year. The Standard Grade (or English GCSE equivalent) pass rate remains at 98.5%, whilst the Advanced Higher rate is 79.3%. The latter sees a very creditable 1.8% rise on last year. The new Scottish Baccalaureate qualification, now in its second year, saw a pass rate of 80.5% with 68 passes and 72 with distinction.
- Standard Grade credit-level passes rose to 46.7%,
- General-level passes stayed at 40.3%
- Foundation-level passes dipped slightly to 11.5%.
- Intermediate 1 level passes rose 3.2%,
- Intermediate 2 rose 1.3%,
- Access 2 dropped 0.3%
- Access 3 rose 1.1%.
Although the results are good news for the vast majority of the 160,000 pupils, 29,000 received a text message confirmation by mistake yesterday.Scotland’s pupils can receive their exam results by post, email or text message. The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) confirmed the mistake, and said it was discussing the source of the problem with the contractor who sent the message.
SQA insisted that the accidental release of the results had not given any pupil an advantage, but apologised for any stress. Scottish education spokesman Ken Macintosh reiterated “This is a serious mistake and will cause concern for the tens of thousands of people who have not had a head start in their results.
“There should be a level playing field, especially because the clearing system is live and searchable from midnight. This should not have happened and pupils and parents need to know what has gone wrong, quickly.”
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