Sue Fenoughty reviews I Love My World by Chris Holland. Another Devonian, children’s author Michael Morpurgo, strongly recommends this book as being “a must for all”. Chris Holland is obviously passionate, and very knowledgeable about the natural environment, especially plants, and the activities in the book aim to pass on his passion and knowledge to the…
Juliette Green When the children at Kings Norton Primary School, Birmingham, returned from lockdown in March, Year 4 began a cross-curricular theme based on the book The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. Over a period of four weeks, we carried out a range of activities based on the characters, settings and events of…
The Golden Thread – UCET, the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers, has a new report on teacher professional development. It has a section on climate change and the ecological emergency which we covered in a blog last week. The report says that that the entire ‘golden thread’ from the Early Career Framework (ECF) to the National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) is silent on these issues. Meanwhile…
Here’s a further update from Natural England by way of relevant evidence and reports, policy agenda developments, large scale delivery sector initiatives, resources and news items from the UK and abroad, with a focus on schools, education and learning. This supports the Strategic Research Network for People and Nature to develop better coherence and collaboration…
With the appointment of Gillian Keegan as Secretary of State for Education, it is said that the government has signalled its wish to reform 11 to 19 education, and there is talk of a baccalaureate style approach with greater emphasis on work-related learning. The Times ran an Education Commission over the last couple of years…
UCET – the Universities’ Council for the Education of Teachers, has published an analysis of DfE support for the continuing professional development of teachers. The report was developed over a ten-month period building on extensive consultation with over 50 professionals directly involved with CPD provision for teachers in England. It seeks to highlight the strengths, weaknesses…
Robin Duckett, Sightlines Initiative. “We just realised how absolutely brilliant mud is!” The educators at Walkergate Early Years Centre in Newcastle had been venturing into a woodland preschool one recent spring and mud had been a big feature. The ‘mud-ludder’ children jump and squelch in it, getting stuck, feeling it, moulding it, churning it, finding…
Esther Sayers, Head of MA Arts & Learning Programme and Senior Lecturer in Education, Goldsmiths University. How we share and invest in our public spaces says a lot about the society in which we live. A community coming together to invest time in making common land better for everyone is a powerful narrative. This is…
Henricus Peters reviews Funny bums, freaky beaks and other incredible creature features by Alex Morss & Sean Taylor, illustrated by Sarah Edmunds. Have you ever looked at an animal and wondered if someone had played some practical joke with it – it looks so strange! Certainly, the first ever account of the duck-billed platypus suggested that someone…
Sue Shanks reviews Winter Sleep: a hibernation story by Sean Taylor & Alex Morss This book is comprised of two sections focussing on the topic of hibernation. The first section is a narrative story about a boy visiting his grandmother in winter, following an earlier visit he had made in the summer. He recollects that in summer he…