Work experience is an opportunity for a young person to experience the world of work first hand. Up until that point they may have heard about the world of work from family, friends or on television but they get to see it for themselves and experience the good and bad side of working.
I once worked with a year 10 student who had always wanted to be a hairdresser. I placed her in a hairdresser, and she called me on the second day to tell me that she wanted to leave. She had not expected to be on her feet all day and thought that she could start styling straightaway. They were in for a shock when they realised that this was not the case. Despite me warning them about the realities of hairdressing they thought that it would a different experience for them. I encouraged her to remain on the placement for the rest of the week and when she came back to school, she told me that she no longer wanted to be a hairdresser. In my eyes this was a successful placement because even though the student no longer wanted to be a hairdresser, the placement had taken them one step closer to deciding their future career option. Without work experience, this student may have chosen to pursue hairdressing in the future and only then realised that it was not for them
These are the further benefits of work experience:
Helps students to understand employer expectations
Students can add the experience to their CV
Students develop their employability skills
Students may get a part time job because of their placement
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Synopsis: Most children are familiar with basic internet safety rules. However, these are simply not enough to keep them safe online. This fantastic pack features all the resources which you could need to raise the awareness among KS2 pupils about online risks, safety and behaviour. It will provide interesting topics for discussions about being online and e-safety. Pupils will learn how to use internet comfortably, safely and responsibly and consider the hazards and risks in their activities online, writes Wanda Gajewski from our Brilliant Learning, Learning Resources Service.
Exploring the topic of e-safety has the potential to inspire your pupils’ ambitions to become the computer engineers and inventors of the future.
Wanda Gajewski Wandsworth LRS
Librarian’sview:
Computer networks have even left Earth and now provide network links in space. NASA astronauts in space even have their own Twitter account.
There are also more than 800,000km of underwater cables carrying Internet data across seas and oceans.
All through history humans have invented things. We create new ideas and technology to help us in our everyday lives. These inventions often lead to huge changes. When William Caxton brought the printing press to England in 1475, he changed the lives of thousands of people, putting reading and education within their reach for the first time. When Tim Berners-Lee invented the World Wide Web over 500 years later, he changed the world all over again.
The digital world offers many benefits for children, helping children to learn virtually, entertaining children and helping friends to stay connected. However, the internet brings significant challenges when it comes to how to keep children safe online.
All evidence indicates that children who are taught how to use the internet safely and correctly gain valuable skills and are more successful at everything they do. It is also critical that constructive online habits are established by the age of 10 or 11 to help prevent sexting, bullying and hurt online.
Birth of the World Wide Web (WWW)
Tim Berners-Lee was born in 1955, when the world was a very different to the one that your pupils know today. People didn’t have computers or game consoles in their homes. Tim loved science and maths, so after leaving school he went to Oxford University to study physics, the science that looks at natural matter and energy.
Tim wrote some computer programs that helped him take information from one computer and put it on to another one. He wondered if all the computers could be linked together so that information could be shared quickly and easily. However, he knew that the computers could not give us all the information that we wanted, but they could help by making the information easier to find. They could even give us the information at the touch of a button.
Tim had to build a framework that would connect all the world’s computers together. He decided to call the framework World Wide Web. In 1991, he launched the world’s first website – http://info.cern.ch. It was a giant stepping stone towards reaching the internet that we have today. Tim Berners-Lee’s idea was so brilliant that it spread around the world quickly. Today it’s hard to imagine a world without it.
Staying Safe Online
The world of computers is often called the digital world. Children sometimes think that the digital world and the real are separate. But they will learn that the digital world and real life are connected. Just like in real life the main danger on the digital world comes from people who are dishonest.
Children will develop their knowledge on how computers and the Internet work together.
Almost all computers use the internet. The internet is a network of computers that covers the whole world. It allows computers to communicate with each other. Children who have a computer, tablet or phone can connect to the internet and socialise with friends, watch videos and play games. They need to be sensible and careful to keep themselves safe when they download and upload information.
Your digital footprint
Your pupils may be surprised by the idea that almost everything they do on a computer adds to their digital footprint. The digital footprint is made up of information about how someone behaves online. It might include what they have searched for on the internet, pages they have visited and even their location. The pupils will learn that someone’s digital footprint makes it possible to build up a picture of what kind of person they are. It shows things they are interested in, how many friends they have and the area where they live. Therefore, children need to be careful what they say online.
Personal spaces
Children will learn that a person’s online identity is not the same as a digital footprint. An online identity contains all kinds of information. Often it is based on popular social networking sites, which allow users to set up a profile.
Children will learn that in order to open their pages to post updates, photos and messages they will have to log in. The most important way of keeping information safe is by using a password. The password should be a mix of letters and numbers. The strong password is a nonsense word that will still be easy to remember. But if someone else guesses or finds their password, they can pretend to be them. This is called identity theft.
Click with care The internet is used by people with widely varying interest. Children will come across materials that are not suitable for young people. Some adult material is sexual, and some of that is pornography. If children feel upset by materials that are not suitable for them, they should close the page and move on. However, they must notify the teacher or parent/carer. If children use a search engine to look for information, they need to read the little block of text about the pages found before clicking on the link.
And don’t be fooled! Facts on websites are not always true or up-to-date, so always be careful when you are searching for information.
Cyberbullying
Your pupils will learn that there are bullies online, just as there are bullies in the real world. Online bullying is called cyberbullying. Although it doesn’t cause physical harm, it is very upsetting because it can happen at any time – even when the children are at home.
Cyberbullying takes many forms. It can be nasty messages sent by phone or e-mail. It can include being abusive or ridiculing someone on a social networking site, perhaps by posting embarrassing photos or videos of them. Deliberately not letting someone join a game or chat is cyberbullying as well.
Children must remember to log out of their account when they finish using a shared computer.
Classroom activities
Classroom activities reinforcing the topic of E-safety
There are several great sites that explore the subject of staying safe online through games and videos, including:
Safer Internet Day is designed to empower children to take control of their digital activities. Internet Safety Day in 2021 was on 9 February www.saferinternet.org.uk
Project Resources
To help your classroom click with care, use books such as:
Let’s Read and Talk about Internet Safetyby Anne Rooney
Keeping Safe Online by Anne Rooney
Computer Networks by Clive Gifford
Understanding Computer Safety by Paul Mason
Chicken Clicking by Jeanne Willis
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Occupational Health encourages you to make good lifestyle choices to improve your health profile and to help prevent chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer
Move More, Sit Less– Get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity every week. That could mean 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Do muscle-strengthening activities 2 days a week.
Eat Health Foods– Try healthy food choices like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats, and low-fat dairy products
Tip: Make half your plate fruits and vegetables
Choose Your Drinks Wisely– Substitute water for sugary or alcoholic drinks to reduce calories and stay safe
Prevention is Better than Cure
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Those are the words of Rochelle Clarke – a young governor at a church school in east London. She spoke in a recent BBC news article about her experience of being a governor and her work to make boards more inclusive.
At Smart School Services, our Children’s Services Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) group have pledged to increase the representation of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic governors, and those with disabilities, on school boards in the London Borough of Wandsworth. We need our governing boards to be representative of the communities that they are in.
A board that begins to think about real diversity is one that is prepared to ask itself difficult questions and to challenge itself—and therefore come up with more thoughtful and original answers—and one that opens itself up to better decision making. It is critical to ensure that you have a diverse group of people around the table to have the most effective governing board. When recruiting a new governor, don’t just think about the skill set that you need, but also the representation of your school communities on your board.
Diversity is a reality that can be created by pulling together individuals from a broad spectrum of differences
Sharon Warmington, Director of the National Black Governors Network, spoke recently to over 50 Wandsworth governors and Heads on “How to diversify your governing board”. She inspired the governors with practical tips on how to increase diversity. Some of her tips (and more) are listed below.
Complete a Succession Plan and consider diversity
Train your board on the importance of diversity
Add a link governor role to champion diversity on the board
Make the selection criteria transparent
If your local community does not have the diversity that you need – look more widely
Don’t rely on personal contacts – this can often lead to more of the same
Actively seek out diverse networks within the professions or skill set you require – look on LinkedIn for Black, disabled, Asian, minority ethnic backgrounds, younger groups within relevant sectors.
Look at your student alumni to recruit younger governors to your board
Contact Faith and Community Leaders
Give value to background and experiences as well as skill sets
If you need any support increasing diversity on your board, please book a Head to Head meeting to discuss how we can help.
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The UK Health and Safety Legislation outlines basic requirements for creating a safe work environment and actions to be taken to reduce to risks to staff, pupils, contractors and visitors.
What should be in place?
Every workplace should provide welfare facilities and a working environment that’s healthy and safe for everyone in the workplace, including those with disabilities.
a healthy working environment – a clean workplace with a reasonable working temperature, good ventilation, suitable lighting and the right amount of space and seating
a safe workplace – well-maintained equipment, with no obstructions in floors and traffic routes, and windows that can be easily opened and cleaned
fire safety measures – each building should have suitable fire safety precautions and a clear emergency evacuation procedure for all occupants including those with disabilities
What to do if there is a problem?
If the right facilities are not provided in your workplace, staff should raise this with their manager or staff representative. If appropriate action is not taken you should contact Smart School Services by booking a Head to Head meeting.
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Why use artefacts (objects) in the classroom? Artefacts can be used in a wide variety of ways to enrich your teaching – they may be easier to understand in 3D or appeal to the senses and generally excite children’s interest. What’s better to remember the parts of the body than by removing them from a model torso? How much easier is it to bring other cultures alive with dramatic, evocative icons and (if appropriate) religious artefacts?
This post from Wanda Gajewski, focuses on ways teachers can use objects for effective classroom teaching. Pupils will develop a wide range of deductive and analytical skills when handling objects and children with learning or language difficulties can participate fully in handling sessions. It will enhance both your teaching and your pupils’ learning and thus provide inspiration and pleasure for all.
Librarian’sview:
Don’t we all just detest those country houses or museums which make it plain to us that we shouldn’t be touching anything? Of course, some objects should be kept behind barriers, but we like touching objects. Even replicas may inspire your children more than discussion or the written word.
Traditionally teaching has evolved around books and reading. However, the value of using real objects has been realised even within the National Curriculum. The History Curriculum requires pupils to use a range of information sources including artefacts. An object can be used for information or as a creative stimulus. Sometimes handling objects is a form of active learning that engages pupils in a way that other methods may be unable to match.
Artefacts are an ideal way to introduce a new topic or new area within any subject. They give hands-on experience and are a wonderful way of exciting children’s interest and engaging them in questioning, thus helping them to develop critical thinking skills for themselves. The questions can lead on to investigation and research as the children discover some of their own answers. For best effect, the artefacts should be presented singly or perhaps two at a time at most. The more active the presentation, the better it will be remembered, and the more questions will be asked.
Artefacts should be chosen with thought and introduced with proper planning. Think carefully how to introduce items as some may invoke laughter or perhaps distaste. For example, some children may find a made-up starched turban strange, others may dislike the bright colours typical of many images of Hindu deities.
Handling objects is a fantastic experience for pupils and it can also help them develop skills such as handling, observing, comparing, deducting and evaluating. A good way to develop close observation is to start with a familiar object. It might be a piece of classroom furniture, such as a chair. Children will be guided by you through the observation and deduction stages and finally they conclude that the chair is made of wood.
Investigate a Mystery Object
One good way of encouraging observation and deduction is to provide pupils with a mystery object. It is not always easy to find something which no pupil will have no seen before. Some objects from the Roman or Victorian period will usually suffice. Holding the objects in their hands helps the pupils to concentrate and reach conclusions based on the evidence.
The idea of sharing a mystery object is for the students to take away the knowledge about what it is called. This exercise helps pupils focus on thinking carefully and reaching conclusions based on their deduction. For the purpose of this post the names of the mystery objects are revealed.
Metal Strigil
In Roman times this unusual artefact was used after a hot bath to remove cleansing oils by scraping the skin.
Victorian Warming Pan
The warming pan was used in beds to warm them, and also to try to remove some of the damp. The pan was filled with hot charcoal or ashes and pushed into the bed.
Bring Ancient Civilizations into a Classroom
Sarcophagus and Mummy
Ancient Rome
Stone Age Flint Tools
Mayan God of Maize
Science and Geography
Chinese Utensils
African Wooden Shakers
Peruvian Musicians
Japanese Warrior
Bolivian Chullo Hat
Giant Compass
Basic Rock Set
Horseshoe Magnet Set
Religious Education
Nativity Scene
The Qur’an Set
Chanukiyah
Buddha
How did it go?
Feedback from schools has been very positive:
‘’Thank you so much for all the artefacts for his term. The prehistoric artefacts were brilliant – the kids got so much out of handling them!’’
‘’We had a very successful lesson looking at some of the Roman artefacts and trying to guess what they were, before doing research to find out.’’
Teachers from two Wandsworth primary schools
Artefact collections are available to borrow as part of subscriptions to our Learning Resources Service. To find out about what is available for your school, book a Head to Head today.
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If we have piqued your interest in Smart School Services, why not meet with our head team to see how we can work together.To arrange your Head to Head, or for any other enquiry, simply fill in the contact form and we’ll be in touch shortly.
We are gearing ourselves up for the summer assessment period, with Primary Statutory assessments back on the table and Secondary exam season results back in the public domain, we have much to do.
Hang on a minute… but what about all the other stuff we have started doing?!
Powered up with Power BI
Part of our growth has been in developing our expertise building tools to help support easy access to intelligence for schools. We have used Microsoft Power BI to pull data sets together and generate interactive dashboards on several intelligence themes. We are planning to embed some of these into the Research & Evaluation Unit website so you can easily find comparative and historic data about your school for specific needs.
Bringing it together
We are so looking forward to pulling the new assessment data together to bring you new presentations of school’s performance alongside established reports, more guidance and training and offer more bespoke solutions where you want them. We are looking forward to seeing comparative progress across Key Stages once we finally have a formula for this using new assessment measures, but we are like that! Join us this year to celebrate the hard work you have put into safeguarding and guiding the learning of children and young people.
Joining up
We have had a busy year developing and connecting more robustly with other teams in Childrens Services, meaning we have a more holistic (data) picture of cross service needs and outcomes. For example, the social care list for schools has been a real step forward for supporting vulnerable pupils.
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If we have piqued your interest in Smart School Services, why not meet with our head team to see how we can work together.To arrange your Head to Head, or for any other enquiry, simply fill in the contact form and we’ll be in touch shortly.
Planned Preventive Maintenance (PPM) is regular and routinely performed maintenance on physical assets, to reduce the chances of potentially serious and expensive equipment failure and unplanned equipment downtime.
It is to manage and extend the lifecycle of equipment, but is also a compliance requirement to satisfy statutory and legal obligations. The work should be scheduled in advance and can range from weekly to annually, depending on equipment and risk.
Failure to deliver compliance can result in service delivery failures, which whilst not as severe as legal failures, it can impact on the operation of your facilities, your core business and cause reputational damage.
Why is preventive maintenance important?
It is important because it keeps equipment and assets running efficiently, and it maintains a high safety level, which helps to avoid large and costly repairs, as well as service downtime.
A properly functioning preventive maintenance program ensures operational disruptions are kept to a minimum.
Specific examples of preventive maintenance include regular inspections of your heating, ventilation or air conditioning systems (HVAC) ensuring they are properly cleaned and repaired and that your water hygiene and electrical systems are also functioning within safety and compliance levels.
How can Facilities Management help?
We can provide the relevant PPM services through our experienced contractors that will deliver a professional planned maintenance function across your school portfolio.
Here are just a few examples of PPM services available to you through Facilities Management:
Boiler servicing
Lift servicing & repairs
Electrical Fixed Wire Testing
Mansafe systems
Legionella Risk Assessments
Water Hygiene inspections
Flushing of infrequent used Water
Water Temp. monitoring
Fire Detection & alarm servicing
Fire Extinguisher servicing
PAT Testing services
Commercial Kitchen equipment servicing
Air Con Servicing
Facilities Management (FM) are now offering our services for your Planned Maintenance 2022/2023 Compliance requirements. To order and buy into this service, you can order or request a quote, before the end of March 2022, via the Smart School services portal.
If your school chooses not to use the Council FM service, you are still required to upload your certification documents to the councils Concerto CAFM system.
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If we have piqued your interest in Smart School Services, why not meet with our head team to see how we can work together.To arrange your Head to Head, or for any other enquiry, simply fill in the contact form and we’ll be in touch shortly.
As part of supporting an individual during periods of ill-health Occupational Health will often advise about healthy lifestyle choices including becoming more active. Adults are advised to do some type of physical activity every day.
Benefits of regular exercise:
Exercise controls weight. Exercise can help prevent excess weight gain or help maintain weight loss. …
Exercise combats health conditions and diseases. …
Exercise improves mood. …
Exercise boosts energy. …
Exercise promotes better sleep. …
Exercise can be fun … and social!
Individuals should talk to their GP first if they haven’t exercised for some time and have a chronic medical condition. It’s important to start gently, setting small achievable goals to build up.
Adults should aim to:
do strengthening activities that work all the major muscle groups (legs, hips, back, abdomen, chest, shoulders and arms) on at least 2 days a week
do at least 150 minutes of moderate intensity activity a week or 75 minutes of vigorous intensity activity a week
spread exercise evenly over 4 to 5 days a week, or every day
reduce time spent sitting or lying down and break up long periods of not moving with some activity
So how about encouraging your staff to be more active? Could you introduce an after-school activity for staff to join in like yoga or a walking group?
If we have piqued your interest in Smart School Services, why not meet with our head team to see how we can work together.To arrange your Head to Head, or for any other enquiry, simply fill in the contact form and we’ll be in touch shortly.
Without warning, the Covid pandemic upended school life across the UK. Overnight, headteachers had to establish remote learning, absorb and implement an avalanche of guidelines and advice, while supporting students, parents and staff academically and emotionally. The scope of the crisis and the subsequent reopening have created distinct challenges, but also highlighted potential opportunities for whole school positive change.
The Future is Now
There is little doubt that the pandemic has stretched resources, accelerated trends and highlighted inequalities across the education sector. But while significant challenges remain, this is also a time of exciting opportunity as we learn the lessons from the largest disruption to education in living memory.
As we step into the ‘new normal’, it is imperative that we allow room for analysis and reflection. To think about the bigger picture. Where joined-up collaborative ideas help to connect a wide range of tailored services to benefit all aspects of a school’s ecosystem.
That takes time.
And we understand that time is a precious resource. Schedules are unforgiving and workloads unrelenting.
It is the main reason behind publishing Lessons for the Future – to start a discourse – to show that if we all collaborate to create and implement best practice, we can alleviate pressure on teaching professionals while realising the best future for schools.
A future, for example, where technology not only supports learning, but helps to realistically reduce workload, increases operational efficiencies, engages students and communities, and provides tools to support excellent teaching, monitors attendance and raises student attainment. In short, creating a smart school.
We hope you find value in Lessons for the Future. We hope it inspires ideas and sparks debate. That it opens a discussion on what is positive and achievable as we pivot to realise the opportunities of post-pandemic education. And we would like to be part of that discussion.
Michael Hallick Assistant Director – Business and Resources Wandsworth Council
Book your Head to Head
If we have piqued your interest in Smart School Services, why not meet with our head team to see how we can work together.To arrange your Head to Head, or for any other enquiry, simply fill in the contact form and we’ll be in touch shortly.
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