There will be two sessions aimed at Upper Middle/Upper School staff and two sessions for Lower Middle/Primary School staff. Each session will focus on different aspects.

“Positively MAD (Make a Difference) is an educational training, development and consultancy organisation that specialises in Effective Teaching and Learning.  In the last six years this company has taught close to half a million pupils and thousands of teaches the core principles that make learning fun, engaging and memorable.  Michael Tipper, Positively MAD's Director of Training, is a specialist in the practical application of memory techniques, Mind Mapping, speed reading and accelerated learning and is the author of Superspeed Study Skills-The Secrets of Successful Students and The 77 Habits of Highly Effective Students.  A World Memory Championship silver medallist, Michael has appeared on the Big Breakfast, the Guinness Show, Sky News, Amazing People, BBC and independent radio.  Michael's style is enthusiastic, engaging, humourous and interactive and he will be delivering a morning session that covers the fundamental principles of accelerated learning focusing in his afternoon session on how to improve your memory."

 

Yoga is system of exercises practiced as part of the Hindu discipline to promote control of the body and mind. For centuries, people have turned to yoga to reduce stress, develop focus and enhance inner peace. At this time of the school year an introduction to yoga could be just what you need!

You will need to wear appropriate loose clothing and training shoes.

Tai Chi is a Chinese system of slow meditative physical exercise designed for relaxation and balance and health. It is a physical exercise that focuses the mind, while conditioning the body. Western Science recognizes the following benefits of practicing Tai Chi: increased oxygen uptake and utilization (more efficient breathing), reduced blood pressure, slower declines in cardiovascular power, increased bone density, increased strength and range of motion of joints, greater leg strength, knee strength, and flexibility, reduced levels of stress hormones during and after practice, improved immune function, and heightened mood states.

The session will allow you to experience this activity at an introductory level and feel its benefits for yourself.

You will need to wear appropriate loose clothing and training shoes.

We will be looking at the Easiteach Interactive Whiteboard range of software to support teaching and learning in art. More details.

 

5.   Nine Structures for Speaking and Listening
Nayland Primary staff
A quick tour of nine easy ways to bring speaking and listening into the introductions, main bodies and plenaries of your lessons. The structures are easy to use and the content of your lessons means that each activity is different every time you use a structure. All 9 are suitable for Y2 and up, 6/7 are suitable for Y1 and 4/5 for Reception. All resources provided.

A choice psychology approach to:-
• Managing stress;
• Meeting emotional needs;
• Taking responsibility;
• Improving outcomes and attainment;
• Dealing with challenging behaviour;

Move away from ineffective external control through rewards and punishments, to inner control through understanding how our needs drive all behaviour. Develop skills for solution focussed problem solving, using tools such as self-evaluation and the WDEP system. Get your students to do the thinking!

 

7.   Feedback from the pupil conference
Using De Bono’s Hats, the pupils give their views on: “What makes good learning?” and “What makes for good assessment and feedback?”
David Chiang, GCUS, and Hilary Hall, GCMS

This session will give you a practical introduction to using De Bono’s Hats with pupils. There will also be feedback from the conference: a chance for you to find out what pupils think about learning, assessment & feedback.
Could the pupils’ views make you think about what goes on in your classroom?

Here is further opportunity for you to learn and practice specially designed and targeted physical movements to enhance learning. The techniques improve brain integration and physical co-ordination and they benefit all children across the spectrum of abilities.

 

9.   Music KS1 & Lower KS2
Jane Legrice, Stoke by Nayland Primary
Exploring some of the musical elements.
This will be a practical session, comprising some of the following:
-Introductory activities
-Using story/poem about a train journey to develop composition
-If time: Introduction to improvization using tuned instruments
-Listening skills
This will be a noisy, fun session - working mainly in groups.  You don't have to sing unless you feel the urge!
NB.  There will be a variety of percussion instruments available for use, however, it would help if participants would bring along one tuned and one untuned percussion instrument each.

 

A chance to unwind! Whether you’re and experienced trampolinist or have never been on a trampoline, here’s a chance to let loose!
You will need to wear appropriate loose clothing and socks.

 

Find out about using interactive whiteboards in an upper school environment. Learn about the purchasing and installation of equipment and how to make best use of resources when teaching. Also covers publishing of board work to PDF and the web. More details.

 

For teachers and admin staff who have responsibility for publishing whole school information. How to design and publish a school website: with news, events, letters, photographs, email lists, pupils’ work and jobs. More Details.

 

This session will look at two key areas:
1. What you can do to improve your chances of job promotion through job applications.
2. Future promotion opportunities in school in the light of proposed changes to staffing allowances

The session will consider: what we understand by ‘Gifted and Talented’; definitions and ways of identifying pupils that come into that category; what current provision we make – if any; implications for teaching and learning; possible models of good practice; and sources of information and advice. A key question:: what should we be providing for gifted and talented children that we shouldn’t also be providing for all pupils?

This session is designed to help you get to grips with Excel, particularly accessing and using the school data sheets. How to reduce the amount of data to manageable amounts, how to sort students, by name, teaching group or score; how to cut and paste data from one sheet to another, and how to overcome the more common problems that the novice comes across. Any special requests submitted beforehand will be welcome.

 

This session will be continuous starters from as many curriculum areas as possible. Staff will actually take part in each starter and it is intended that you leave the session with numerous examples that may be adapted for your subject area.

How about a new challenge and learning some new skills? Do you think you can make it to the tope of the indoor climbing wall? You’ll never know unless you have a go!

You will need to wear appropriate loose clothing and training shoes.

 

We will be looking at the Easiteach Interactive Whiteboard range of software to support teaching and learning in the above areas of the curriculum. More details.

19.   Feedback from the pupil conference
Using De Bono’s Hats, the pupils give their views on: “What makes a good learning environment?” and “What makes good teaching?”
Neil Bartlett, GCUS, and Raegan Delaney, Nayland Primary School

This session will give you a practical introduction to using De Bono’s Hats with pupils. There will also be feedback from the conference: a chance for you to find out what pupils think about their learning environment and what makes good teaching. Could the pupils’ views make you think about what goes on in your classroom?

 

Are you on edge all the time? Thinking constantly about work? Never have enough time to ''get it all done''? Perhaps you're suffering from stress! Come and learn how to recognise the symptoms, take positive steps to reduce stress and practise some simple relaxation techniques.

 

21.   Practical DT ideas for Primary and Middle school pupils
Dominic Pattinson, GCUS
The aim is to develop confidence in delivering technology products in an interesting and exciting manner. The session will cover a variety of different ‘design and make’ tasks that can be developed to suit individual needs. By the end of the session you will have a range of different practical technology activities which can easily be used with younger pupils.

 

This session will provide some practical teaching strategies and lesson plans that aim to promote pupils’ independent thinking skills. It will be a hands-on session and the activities can be transferred to many subjects across the curriculum. There are links with literacy and numeracy and some ideas to help challenge high attaining pupils.

Enable students to access your courses outside of lessons. Learn how to publish teaching resources, activities, web links, course outlines and discussions on the GCUS website. If you wish, bring a collection of resources in Word, Excel, PDF or PowerPoint format to publish on the Internet. More Details.

As colleagues we are continually striving to improve the effectiveness of our students learning, our own job satisfaction and motivation. In this hour we will attempt to outline the basic principles and benefits of “peer coaching”. We hope to spark an interest in this flexible process that encourages and maximises peer support.

At GCUS we follow The English Speaking Board exam syllabus, which as well as Raising Standards in English and Communication Skills, we use as a yardstick for GCSE, Vocational Training, AS levels and Key Skills. Su English, ESB Vocational Officer, will give an introduction to ESB, how to maximise its potential and suggest how courses may be set up in a busy school calendar.

26.  Introduction to Using a Digital Camera
Phil Knowles, Stoke by Nayland Primary
 A basic skills session, requiring no prior knowledge of digital cameras.  We aim to cover:
-An overview of the process of taking photographs with a digital camera
-The different types of digital camera available and which may be most suitable for use in school
-Taking photos
-Storing photos electronically
-How you may use your image (storing, sharing, printing from your computer, obtaining professional prints from your digital image
-(If time) Looking at some simple image-editing tools
 Please would all course participants bring with them at least one digital camera and a laptop with a floppy disc drive, if possible

Do you or your pupils use digital video cameras but have unwanted footage? Want to know how to turn ‘raw’ film into an effective final film? Then this session on using the digital editing suite could be the answer you are looking for.

Outline:
1. The use of a digital camera and tripod – visual examples of good and bad practice
2. using the digital camera
3. Uploading the digital footage into Pinnacle 9 editing suite
4. Manipulating and editing digital footage
5. Adding titles

This is a lengthy process and footage will be pre-shot to make best use of time in this session. Learning outcomes: at the end of this training, pupils will be able to shoot a short film, edit it and add titles to it.

 

In this session I hope to share ideas with colleagues that I have used in my Music lessons on the interactive whiteboard and inform them of a selection of Music software that I have tested and would be useful to have.

Part One – Music & IWB
The key topics to be covered are:
• Using pictures
• Diagrams
• Music theory
• Interactive worksheets

Part Two – Music software
The software to be looked at includes:
• Musical instruments CD ROM
• Music Ace
• Music Explorer
• Micrologic
• Personal Composer
• Cubasis
• Finale Print Music
• Finale Notepad
• Sibelius

 

This will be a beginner’s guide to using and producing a PowerPoint presentation.   By the end of the session, you will be able to produce a Presentation and have learnt how to do the following:-

• Create slides and use auto layout slides
• Apply backgrounds to slides
• Insert text, pictures, movies into slides
• Customise and animate text and objects
• Use sound in a presentation
• Apply slide transitions
• Run a presentation manually and automatically

A handout summarising the tutorial will be provided.

 

During this session staff will analyse two imaginary sets of student data. The aim is to help staff identify students who are performing, under-performing and over performing. The second analysis will be reflective. Staff can analyse a set of data for students, who have already completed their exams, to review their own performance and identify areas for improvement.

 

A confidential health screen will be organised by the company, Prevent plc, and timetabled as appropriate for the day.

See the separate leaflet for more information or phone the company on 0870 442 3636.