Parents Angry over 'Walk with Hands Behind Back ' at Primary School. By

Is this measure to extreme to control students' behaviour? 

Parents have hit out at a "repressive" new school rule which demands that their children walk with their hands clasped behind their backs at all times.

Pupils at St George the Martyr Primary School in Holborn, central London, have been ordered to adopt the pose -- known as the "University Walk" -- when walking down corridors.

This follows an order from new executive headteacher Angela Abrahams who says the rules will strengthen pupil safety, raise their aspirations and maximise learning time.

However, it has emerged that parents are preparing a petition against the rule and education chiefs at the Town Hall are understood to have been alerted to unrest at the school gates.

Families are even reportedly choosing different schools because of the policy.

Parent Chantal Aster told the Camden New Journal: "I am personally quite against it, I think it's too dictatorial. It's from one extreme to another. My son is in reception and they walk in a conga line. I think it is a pretty poor way to increase their self-esteem."

She added: "I think just having hands by their sides would be more natural. I know it's only through the corridors but I think it's too restrictive and I find it very repressive."

Carly Taylor, who has three children at the school told the Camden New Journal: "The head is bringing over lots of strategies that are not in keeping with the nurturing and caring feel of our school. I think our identity needs to be protected". She added: "Hands behind the backs is associated with a loss of liberty and lack of trust".

Other parents have privately compared the measure to the way prisoners are kept under control when transported between jails.

Parents opposing the rule say their concerns have not been taken on board by the school's governors, and fear that its rules are being cloned from St Clement Danes School, where Ms Abrahams also serves as head.

Ofsted inspectors praised the school in Westminster after observing pupils walking with "heads held high and hands behind their backs". It was marked "outstanding" for pupil behaviour.

The school declined to comment when approached by the Daily Telegraph,

But Ms Abrahams told the Camden New Journal that the school has seen a 93 per cent reduction in the number of recorded incidents since the walk was introduced.

"It was introduced to strengthen pupil safety, further raise the aspirations of pupils and to maximise learning time. Staff report that they appreciate the impact it has had on learning time and pupils continue to be very happy and excited about learning."

Reverend Guy Pope, the school's chairman, told the New Journal: "I think parents are not looking out for the best interests of their children. It (the rule) is helping to make sure children arrive in class in the best possible frame of mind for learning, in a calm and ordered manner."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/11977504/Parents-angry-over-walk-with-hands-behind-back--at-primary-school.html

What is it Like Living in Kent?

Where else offers you the bright lights and bustling atmosphere of London, but is always within easy distance of some of the most scenic countryside and villages in the country? If you live in Kent, you’re able to have breakfast in France but be back home in time for lunch.

Living and working in Kent offers amazing opportunities that you won’t find anywhere else.

Kent is buzzing with its own unique atmosphere – centuries of history nestle alongside big-city stores, funky boutiques, and a cutting-edge club scene. Where else could you travel from the White Cliffs of Dover past vineyards and cider farms, castles and cathedrals, and end up with a spot of shopping in Bluewater, one of the largest retail centres in Europe?

Perhaps the most famous city here is Canterbury, which offers trendy shops and clubs that rub shoulders with the famous cathedral and stunning historical town centre. There are three universities in Canterbury, giving the city a bustling atmosphere and meaning that you’ll never run out of choice when you fancy a night on the town.

Maybe you’d like to head to the beach for some surfing or scuba-diving after work? Kent has a spectacular coastline and there are some wonderful seaside towns to live and work. Folkestone is top of my list as an up-and-coming town with loads to offer. It has an exciting town centre, breath-taking views, and prices are pretty reasonable if you’re looking for a place of your own. It’s also undergoing a multi-million pound regeneration scheme so things can only get better.

If you’re seeking a bit more tranquillity, then Kent is also home to some of the prettiest towns and villages in the UK. They often feature in top ten lists of places to live, and particular favourites of mine are Edenbridge and Whitstable. If you have a car, I recommend a leisurely drive through Kent so you can see what’s on offer for yourself. The sweeping Kent countryside is beautiful enough on its own, and it also conceals hidden gems like market towns, picturesque villages and hidden hamlets. You might also pass by some more familiar sights such as Leeds Castle, Brands Hatch and Chatham’s Historic Dockyard.

http://www.gradskent.com/graduates/living_in_kent/

The Perfect CV

It is imperative when looking for a professional Teaching position that one's CV is perfect.
For a few handy tips check out this short piece from the TimePlan website.

Are you coming to teach in the UK and need to turn some help in creating “the perfect CV”? Or perhaps you are in the UK and looking for a new teaching job. Whatever your situation; if you need to create the perfect CV then TimePlan are here to offer some assistance.

CVs or resumes often differ in their structure and layout from country to country. In the UK, our CVs tend to follow a particular professional template that you should follow if you’re applying from overseas. The three main factors you should keep in mind are:

1) No more than 2 pages long: Be informative but precise.

2) Be professional: Ensure you use formal language and in no circumstances should creative images or text be incorporated into the CV. You will be able to show off your creative flair at the interview stage.

3) Ensure you give a full history: Account for all periods of time, including the month and year. Even if you were unemployed, were travelling or had family commitments that meant you were unable to work, this should be listed in your CV chronologically.

For more information head to the link below!
http://www.timeplan.com/useful-info/the-perfect-cv/

Good Luck!!

Teens and reading skills by Samantha Lewis

Here are some activities you can use with students before, while and after reading a text.

Before reading

There are lots of activities you can do before students read a text to help enhance their comprehension, such as ones that activate the students’ schemata or background knowledge, arouse their interest in the topic or prepare them linguistically.

1. A carousel of ideas
This activity helps Ss find out what they already know about a topic and encourages them to share ideas about topics before they read a text.

Before Ss read a text, choose four topics that relate to the text that would be useful for Ss to think about before reading.

Take a large piece of paper and divide it into four triangles by drawing diagonal lines from opposite corners. Write one of the topics in each of the triangles in the centre of the piece of paper.

Four students sit around the piece of paper and are given a time limit e.g. one minute. They write as many ideas as possible relating to the topic in their triangle. When the time’s up, they rotate the piece of paper and have another minute. This time, they read the ideas already written down and add new ones to it. After a minute, they rotate the paper again and add more ideas. Repeat one last time until all Ss have written in each triangle. They then read all the ideas in each triangle.

2. Ideas continuum
This activity helps Ss think about how much they know about a topic and share ideas with each other.

Draw a horizontal line on the board. At one end write ‘I know a lot about this’ and at the other end write ‘I know very little about this’.

The teacher says topics or ideas that relate to the text. Ss decide how much knowledge they already have about the topics and write them on the line in their notebooks, so if the topic is Australian animals and the student knows quite a lot, they write ‘Australian animals’ towards the ‘I know a lot about this’ end.
Students compare their existing knowledge and those who know a little about one of the topics find someone who knows more than them and they tell each other what they know.

3. Sneak preview
Show the text on the IWB or with the projector for just 20 seconds. If your classroom is low tech, students can open their books and look at the text for just 20 seconds. The idea is for them to get as much information as possible in a short space of time so they scan the text for key words that include the most important information.

Alternatively you could show students a few key words from the text, headings and accompanying visuals and they guess their relevance in the text.

4. Words and pictures
Show students images related to the text and students work together to write down all the words they can see in the images or related to the images. Then they swap their piece of paper with another group and write synonyms or related words in a different colour next to the other group’s words. This activity helps predict words that might appear in the text and extends students’ vocabulary.

5. Peer pre-teaching vocabulary
This is a communicative way of pre-teaching tricky but essential vocabulary. Make a list of words that appear in the text that students need to know in order to understand the text. Write simple definitions for the words and cut them up on individual slips of paper. Divide the students into three groups: A, B and C. Give each group a list of the words they need to understand e.g. if there are nine words altogether, give three different words to each group. Put the nine definitions around the classroom. One student from each group has to go and find the correct definition for one of the group’s words. S/he brings the definition over to the group and they all write it down. Another student goes to find the definition for word 2 and another for word 3. When the three groups have their three definitions, make new groups of three with an A, B and C student in each. They teach each other their words and all students make a note of the words and definitions.

The final stage is to check that all students understand all the words with a quick team game that reviews all the new words.


While reading

Depending on the type of text, students will need to use a variety of reading subskills. Here are some activities you can use to develop the different subskills.

A: Scan Reading

When we scan for information our eyes move quickly around a text from side to side or up and down. We don’t read all the information on the page but look for specific pieces of information that we need. Such information could be a number, date, time, place, name or price. Working on scan reading skills lends itself to exploiting authentic materials such as leaflets, posters, tickets, timetables, flyers, what’s on guides or menus.

1. Noticeboard quiz
Put the authentic materials on a noticeboard and divide the students into teams. One student from each team comes up to the board and the first student to find the answer to a question you ask gets a point. Alternatively you could get students in groups to write a quiz for another group based on the information on the noticeboard.

2. Remove a sentence
This activity helps students think about text genre and the likely content of each type of text. Using the same texts as above, remove one sentence from each text. Students look at the removed sentences and predict which text they think they have been removed from. Then they scan the noticeboard and check their predictions.

B: Skim Reading

When we skim a text our eyes follow the text from start to finish. One of the aims of skim reading is to encourage students to read a text quickly and comfortably in order to get an overall understanding of it.

1. Time limit
Set a realistic time limit for your students to read the text and give them a general question to answer before they read. A typical task could be to choose the best title for a text. To help choose a realistic time limit, time how long it takes you to read the text comfortably and add a bit more time, depending on the level of the students. You could ask students to raise their hand as soon as they know the answer to the task. This is an unobtrusive way of seeing how quickly each student reads the text and which students need to increase their reading speed.

2. Confirm predictions
After a pre-reading prediction task students skim the text and confirm which of their ideas from the pre-reading task are mentioned in the text.

C: Intensive Reading (for detail)

1. Student-generated questions
Students work in pairs or groups and write a few comprehension questions based on the text. They must know the answers. This is a great way of reviewing question forms and helping students write questions correctly. Then, they give their questions to another group and answer the other group’s questions. Finally, they give their answers to the original group who correct them. Students love correcting each other’s answers.

2. Student-generated true and false sentences
After reading the text, students work in groups and write two true and two false sentences about the text. They give their sentences to another group who have to decide which are true and which are false, and correct the false ones. Finally, they give their answers to the original group who correct them. Again, they love correcting each other’s answers.

3. Colour the text
For any intensive reading task, I encourage students to colour or highlight the part of the text that gives them the answer. This trains them to always look for justification in the text to support their answer and helps you see which students are able/not able to find this information in a text. This is a technique they can be encouraged to use in a reading test or exam.

4. Read and tweet
Asking students to summarise a text is a useful skill as it helps them to pick out key information and to develop paraphrasing skills. Students highlight the key information in the text with a coloured pen. A short written summary could take the form of a tweet. To summarise a longer text, ask each group of students to summarise a different paragraph from the text as a tweet. Then collect the tweets, put them on the board and the students read them all and decide which order they go in. Rather than spending lots of time counting a maximum of 140 characters, you could give them a maximum number of words e.g. 25 words. The same activity could be done orally.

After reading

After reading a text, students can integrate the skills by talking or writing about it or could focus on specific language in the text.

Drama
This is a fun activity that works with texts with a lot of action. In groups, students act out the text. If necessary, one or two students could be narrators.

Roleplay
Choose two or three of the characters in the text and students imagine what they would say to each other and carry out a roleplay. This is a good way of developing creativity and imagination as the dialogue goes beyond what is in the text.

Vocabulary
A typical vocabulary activity carried out after reading a text is ‘Find the word in the text that means...’. Students look for words in the text for these synonyms or definitions. This activity can be taken one stage further by asking students to replace the words in the text with the synonyms and make the necessary changes to the syntax and grammar. This helps students develop their paraphrasing skills.

Language
Take a paragraph from the text and take out examples of a similar word type, e.g. all the verbs, articles, prepositions or personal pronouns. Give the students the missing words and they put them back into the text in the right place.

The ideas and activities above will help your learners develop their reading subskills in class and also provide them with the strategies they need to enhance their extensive reading for pleasure outside the classroom.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teens-reading-skills

TOP FIVE WAYS TO ENGAGE STUDENTS IN YOUR CLASSROOM by Dr. Tina Rooks

No matter what subject they teach or what age group their students fall into, all teachers face the same basic challenge: They have to find a way to actively engage students in the learning process. Today’s learners tend to respond best to interactive teaching methods, so many instructors have integrated technology into their lesson plans. Here are five ways to engage students in your classroom.

1. Use responsive technology. Many instructors use PowerPoint slides to present material to students, but to really get students involved and engaged, you need to find a way to turn a lecture into a two-way conversation. Responsive technology can help, allowing you to embed questions into your presentation and enable students to answer using a keypad or smartphone. A good responsive technology solution can enable you to instantly aggregate and display response data in chart form. It’s a great icebreaker, and it can provide incredibly valuable insight by letting you accurately gauge knowledge levels in real time.
2. Make your lesson focused by defining objectives. Almost any project benefits from clearly defined goals, and education is no exception. When creating your lesson plan, outline the objectives you and your students would like to accomplish. Your goals will vary according to your subject matter, but most sessions will have common themes, such as improving students’ knowledge on a topic and their ability to retain key points. Student participation can also be a goal. If you’re using responsive technology, you can adjust lectures on the fly based on how the class responds, spending more time on harder-to-grasp topics and moving on once student responses indicate that they understand.
3. Add context to interactive slides. To get the most out of a responsive technology strategy, it’s helpful to think through your objectives for your interactive slides. The exact wording will depend on your subject matter, of course, but there are three general approaches that can work well for all types of topics. First, you can gauge student’s existing topic knowledge with a pre-assessment slide. Then, you can see how they’ve progressed at the midpoint with a slide that has questions designed to explore how they are applying what they’ve learned. A post-assessment slide can help you understand how students are using the new concepts they’ve learned to solve problems.
4. Keep slides uncluttered and simple. It can be tempting to cram as much information as you can fit onto a slide, but excessive text can be more confusing than instructive. Keep in mind that most learning happens during a discussion of the topic, not from reading the words on a slide, so keep the text to a minimum – just enough so that students can understand the question or subject – and rely on the discussion to flesh out key points. And although it can also be fun to embed graphics and videos into slides, remember that this can distract students from the core of the lesson as well, so only add images and graphic elements that really help to convey your point.
5. Keep your presentation interactive throughout. It’s fairly common for presenters to start off a session with a warm-up question or icebreaker and end with a Q&A portion. That can be a great way to establish rapport and wrap up loose ends. But it’s also important to keep the audience engaged at every point during the presentation. Using responsive technology to embed questions for the class on multiple slides gives students a stake in the discussion from beginning to end. When crafting questions, remember that the queries don’t have to be specifically designed to measure students’ knowledge – sometimes open-ended questions or queries about the audiences’ opinions rather than fact-based questions can spark highly engaging discussions.

For teachers who are seeking new ways to connect with students, creating an interactive presentation can be the key to achieving a truly engaged classroom. A responsive technology solution makes it easy to embed questions and gather and analyze audience responses. A focused presentation with clear goals captures learners’ attention, and gauging learner progress with contextual slides that are simple and clutter-free gives the instructor valuable clues about the effectiveness of the session. But most of all, inviting students to participate in a lesson as a two-way conversation enhances the learning process. If you follow these five tips, you’ll be well on your way to full classroom engagement.

http://www.theedadvocate.org/top-five-ways-to-engage-students-in-your-classroom/

About Us

Who We Are

Established in 1989 TimePlan Education introduced the concept of a professional recruitment service for schools and teachers. Since then the company has expanded to include a network of 9 offices throughout the UK and international recruitment in Canada, America, New Zealand, Australia and Ireland. To date TimePlan has provided 100,000 staff to schools all over the country and has well established links with Local Education Authorities. TimePlan was awarded the Quality Mark when it was introduced in 2003, and has achieved 100% compliance in every Quality Mark Inspection.

What We Do

TimePlan Education supplies highly qualified teachers, nursery nurses and class room assistants for schools throughout the UK, we provide permanent staff as well as cover for day-to-day and long-term positions. Our teachers and School Support Staff (SSS) range from newly qualified to the highly experienced.

Our Hallmark

TimePlan’s success stems from its determination to provide schools, teachers and SSS with a professional service; our educational ethos is our hallmark. Strict checks and vetting procedures ensure that we only take on the very best teachers and SSS. We also match the subject and age specialism of the teachers or SSS to the needs of the schools. This not only provides schools with the right teacher or SSS in the right place at the right time, but also ensures teachers’ and SSS’ job satisfaction. It is TimePlan’s quality control and emphasis on education which sets us apart from other employment agencies.

Our Commitment 

We only recruit qualified teachers and SSS who are adaptable, positive and have proven classroom management skills.

We fully support all of our teachers and SSS and encourage

constructive feed back so that our knowledge base as an organisation is constantly growling. Likewise our close relationships with head teachers have allowed us to adapt and enhance our service to meet the changing needs of schools

What can TimePlan offer?

TimePlan teachers and SSS are there to help you in a variety of ways.

Day-to-day: Staff illness or training may mean that you need a teacher or SSS for one or two days. The teachers and SSS we use to cover these situations are flexible, resilient and authoritative.

Long-term: Maternity leave, long term staff sickness or an unfilled vacancy can leave a gap in the timetable for half a term, a term or even more. In cases such as these you need a teacher or SSS who will fully participate in school life and provide curriculum continuity for your pupils. 

Permanent: Many long-term teachers and SSS become fully-fledged members of staff once a school have assessed their suitability for the role.

For all types of work teachers and SSS are matched to meet your needs. At primary level we differentiate between nursery, infant and junior, and at secondary level we recognise that teachers and SSS are subject specialists.

Where do our teachers and SSS come from?

TimePlan also recruits teachers and SSS from around the world, however most of our overseas candidates hail from Canada, America, New Zealand, Australia and

Ireland. 

Outside of the UK, international advertising draws a regular number of well-qualified applicants. Prior to a candidate being introduced to a school our network of International Recruitment Coordinators take the candidates through our rigorous checking procedures and in depth interviews.

How do we support our teachers and SSS?

We pride ourselves on giving sound, personal support from the moment a teacher or SSS registers with us. On accepting an assignment a teacher or SSS is given a full briefing on what is expected and is also provided with travel directions. We also provide our teachers and SSS with:

Head Teacher Consultants: Mike Kelly our Head Teacher Consultant is able to offer practical advice and guidance drawn from his many years of experience as both subject teacher and Head Teacher.

Training Programmes: we run seminars covering behaviour management, Literacy and Numeracy Hours and all aspects of the national curriculum.

Accommodation assistance: We offer advice and assistance to all our staff seeking both temporary and permanent accommodation.

Airport Collection: TimePlan South East offers free airport collection to all teachers or SSS that will be working in our area and arrive at one of the following airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, Stanstead. We collect teachers and take them to their chosen guest house or permanent accommodation.

Banking: We have an arrangement with Lloyd's Bank which enables us to help our teachers or SSS set up bank accounts.

National Insurance Numbers: We guide all our overseas teachers or SSS through the process of applying for their NI Number.

Healthcare: We explain to our overseas teachers or SSS how to register with a doctor and dentist and provide local lists.

Social Events: We organise regular Social events for our teachers.

If you would like to have a chat about how we can help you give us a call! On 01732 373340 or email us at kent.sussex@timeplan.net

3 REASONS TEACHING JUST MIGHT BE YOUR CALLING by Matthew Lynch

If you’re reading this, you’re probably motivated to become a teacher. You may be so passionate about math, science, or literature that you may want to teach it. Or perhaps you simply enjoy being around and helping children.

Take a second and think about it: Why do you want to be a teacher? The answer, whatever it may be, outlines the reason you are called to teach. A calling implies a deep-seated belief that teaching is the only profession that makes sense for you to pursue, but it is much broader than that. It can be as simple as a nudge toward the teaching profession from a former teacher, or as complex as a lifelong passion for supporting the children of your community. Now let’s take a look at the most common reasons people decide to become a teacher.

A desire to work with young people. A popular reason for going into teaching is a desire to work with children. Some people simply like working with children because of their lively, curious, and idealistic nature, while others want to play a role in building America’s future. If you talk with your peers, you’ll probably find that many of them are entering or switching to teacher education programs because they want to “nurture the future,” in the hope of creating a better world for upcoming generations. Teaching is one of the most direct and effective ways of having a positive influence on future members of society. According to the National Education Association (NEA), roughly 7 of 10 teachers enter the profession to work with young people. The same research also indicates that most teachers remain in the profession because of their desire to improve the lives of their students and other children.
Like the countless number of teachers who came before you, you may have a sincere appreciation for the unique qualities of youth. Teaching appears to be a highly satisfying profession: based on NEA studies, 68% of teachers “certainly would” or “probably would” choose to teach if they had the choice again.

An interest in subject matter and teaching. Some people have a desire to teach stemming from a desire to impart meaningful knowledge to students, which can be incredibly satisfying. Your enthusiasm about a particular subject, because of your inherent passion for it, may turn out to be infectious. Having a passion for what you are teaching will encourage your students to be passionate about it as well, which will assist you greatly in teaching the information. You may also be passionate about the process of teaching and learning in its own right. Pedagogy, the art and science of teaching, may be a personal interest of yours, or you may be interested in working with children who have special needs and offering them better opportunities to participate as valued members of society.
Influence from former teachers and family. Some of you decide to become teachers after one or more positive experiences with a former teacher. Others become teachers because of family influences, particularly when a family member is a teacher or the family holds the teaching profession in high regard. You may have been encouraged to choose teaching by that one special teacher you admired when you were in school. According to a survey conducted by the NEA, 31% of the respondents indicated that the influence of a primary or secondary school teacher was the main reason they chose to become teachers.
Teachers also provide a valuable service to society and hold a respected position. Parents, especially, place great trust in teachers by entrusting their children to the care of teachers for the school day. Because teachers are in contact with many students, recognition of the service they provide is unavoidable. Prominent members of the community, such as politicians, bankers, and doctors, will often publicly laud the teachers, and star teachers are often featured in local news.

What made you feel like teaching was your calling?

http://www.theedadvocate.org/3-reasons-teaching-just-might-be-your-calling/