News
Kidney charities join forces T
wo of the UK’s leading kidney charities have joined forces to help teachers educate young children about the importance of kidney health. Kidney Research UK and Kids Kidney Research fund medical research into the treatment and prevention of kidney disease and have produced a special information pack which aims to teach children at key stages one and two about their kidneys.
The pack, which is available as a free online resource for all schools, contains fundamental information about what the kidneys do, how they function and why they are important.
In addition to activities, games and quizzes, the pack contains links to useful websites and even a short video about a young kidney patient called Martha, who is waiting to receive a transplant. It is hoped that introducing the subject of kidney health to children at an early age and in a way which is both fun and engaging, will have a positive impact on kidney disease in the UK in years to come. The schools pack is available to download for free at:
www.kidneyresearchuk.org or:
www.kidskidneyresearch.org
School pupils fall short of teachers’ revision advice T
LLOYDS TSB rewards TEN SCHOOLS with TEAM L
hree new surveys of school pupils, parents and teachers from O2 Learn released last month, reveal GCSE students across the UK are falling short of teachers’ recommended time spent on revision.
loyds TSB has recognised the achievements of ten schools across the UK during National School Sport Week 2011 with an award of a Team Torchbearer place for ten representatives from each school during the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay. The schools were chosen as winners of the prize thanks to their support of National School Sport Week in June 2011. The ten schools selected as Team Torchbearers (and where and when they will run) are: Minehead Middle School; Rhyl High School; St Maurice’s High School; Perth Academy; Harrogate Grammar School; St Christophers CE High School; Failsworth School; The FitzWimarc School; Bournemouth Girls School; and Brentside High School
St Maurice’s High School, Glasgow and Perth Academy, Perth, were selected by Bank of Scotland, the proud partner of London 2012 in Scotland. Each school had the opportunity to pick the ten Torchbearers for its team using its own selection method, with many of the students selected being actively involved in school sport or individuals who demonstrated the Olympic values of Friendship, Excellence and Respect.
The students will carry the Olympic Flame for approximately 600 metres as a team, with each student having the chance to hold the Torch during its team’s Torchbearer section.
The opportunity for these schools to become Team Torchbearers during the London 2012 Olympic Torch Relay arose because they registered to participate in the Lloyds TSB National School Sport Week 2011, delivered in partnership with the Youth Sport Trust in England and Wales and sportscotland in Scotland, which last year saw more than 4 million pupils take part in the Week, which uses the power of the Olympic and Paralympic Games to inspire young people to take part in sport.
Schools are being encouraged to sign up for National School Sport Week 2012, taking place 25 - 29 June 2012 in England and Wales and 11 – 15 June in Scotland, to be part of Britain’s biggest school sport event in an Olympic and Paralympic year.
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www.education-today.co.uk
The studies, commissioned by O2 Learn and carried out by Edcoms, show that most young people start revision, on average, four weeks or less in advance (76%) of their exams, working under 10 hours per week (9.9). This falls short of what was recommended by teachers surveyed, who suggested starting on average six weeks in advance and studying on average 8 hours per week (7.7), totalling 46.2 hours, 7 more than is currently being achieved. The study shows that this is despite the fact that pupils will benefit from unprecedented levels of support from their families, with well over three quarters of parents (86%) actively involved in their child’s revision. In fact, GCSE students today receive considerably more support than their parents’ generation ever did. More than half of adults (58%) had no involvement at all from their parents in their revision.
In addition, though pupils make good use of traditional approaches to revision, including notes from class (83%) and the use of practice papers (77%), too few students are taking full advantage of the wide range of revision resources now available.
According to the study, just one in three (32%) young people uses online study guides and only one in ten (12%) is turning to online video to support their study.
Experts believe that the parental support that students receive now needs to be matched by adopting a more varied mix of revision methods to be truly effective.
Sir Mark Grundy, the Executive Principal of Shireland Collegiate Academy, said: “There has been research for a number of years highlighting how people learn in a multi-faceted way. The multiple intelligences models have existed for some time, but the resources to support this blend of styles have not been available – until now!
“In the last few years Learning Platforms have evolved and are now capable of acting as the glue to stick resources together and as importantly to present them at precisely the right time. Most students need a framework to support their revision and resources which present the same ideas in many different ways.”
Teachers surveyed considered several of the more innovative online tools and resources available to students to be especially useful for revision purposes including quizzes (56%), video lessons (40%) and audio files / podcasts (36%). Gav Thompson, creator of O2 Learn, said: “As we reach the heart of the revision period, at O2 Learn we want to make sure that young people and their parents are taking advantage of the unprecedented range of online tools and resources now available to make learning easier and more efficient.”
May 2012
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