Bett 2015 preview
Further developments are planned for the spring. Visitors are invited to stand B260 where they are able to discuss how they can use SIMS Assessment to effectively record achievement and review progress of individuals and groups of students to inform lesson planning and support intervention strategies across the school. Contact Group (stand A250), is launching a new range of payment and communications solutions designed to help schools interact with parents, operate more efficiently and significantly reduce administrative costs. Making its debut at Bett 2015 is MoneyPiggy, a new online payment solution designed to help schools side step the costs associated with having a merchant account, benefit from fixed rather than variable transaction costs and remove the need for permission slips for school trips. In addition it dramatically reduces administrative time spent managing payments from parents for items such as trips, clubs and dinner money. Also featured will be the new version of Call Parents, its anytime, anywhere messaging solution which will link with Contact Group’s OurSchoolsApp for parents - an app designed to ‘push’ low-cost notifications regarding news, calendar events and school contact information to their smartphones. Not for profit, world-leading educational publisher Cambridge University Press will showcase its comprehensive range of inspirational, high quality print, digital and online resources for the reformed GCSEs and A levels, as well as for Cambridge International examinations, International Baccalaureate and English Language Teaching on stand B340, all designed to ignite curiosity and foster a love for learning. Headlining on the stand will be a new range of blended digital and print resources, all specifically developed and matched to the reformed GCSE and A level curriculum for first teaching in England in September 2015.
On show for the first time will be GCSE Maths, GCSE English Language and Literature, A/AS Level English Language and Literature, and A/AS level Computer Science. The Cambridge School Shakespeare series and Computing KS3 resources will also be featured on the stand.
Recognising that fresh challenges require new resources and additional levels of support, the UK Schools team has developed a wide range of new teaching and learning materials to support and guide teachers and help them link progression clearly to the new mark schemes.
These print and digital resources provide support, purpose, context and progression around the new assessment objectives.
Educational software company Renaissance Learning (stand C379) will be launching its new STAR assessment software at Bett 2015. The new software has been developed to help teachers and schools assess without levels, and is fully aligned with the new curriculum. The software uses computer-adaptive assessment to track individual students’ progress in maths and literacy. This allows teachers to conveniently test their whole class while monitoring the progress of each pupil. STAR assessment helps teachers understand not only what their students already know but also what they are ready to learn next, via learning progressions. It provides schools with reliable progress tracking for both day to day teaching and Ofsted inspections.
Tracking attainment
Visitors to Bett will have the opportunity to test the STAR assessment software and hear from experts about how schools are already benefitting from the software.
James Bell, Director of Professional Services at Renaissance Learning, said: “Following the decision by the Department of Education to remove levels of learning from the curriculum, we have upgraded the STAR assessment software to help teachers better assess. Using skills tests, the software can accurately measure students’ attainment and track and predict progress over time.”
Renaissance Learning worked closely with the National Foundation of Educational Research (NFER) to map their STAR Assessments in reading and maths to the new National Curriculum, giving teachers advice on pre-requisites and what skills are needed next for individual or groups of students.
ICT support and training providers, Turn IT On! will showcase its full range of services on stand F130, offering free advice to schools about how they can raise ICT standards, save time and money and advance the teaching and learning experience. Experts will be on hand to discuss teachers’ needs for technical support, curriculum training and strategic planning for whole-school development. There will also be on-stand training sessions on creative coding, network building and e-safety, including free giveaways at the end of each session.
For the first time, this year at Bett Turn IT On! is running a special show offer of free training for schools not currently using its services. Simply visit the stand to sign up for a free training event at your school. Also for the first time this year Turn IT On! is offering places on its Bett Bus to teachers who are not currently customers – it’s a free and easy way to get to the ExCeL Centre in London’s Docklands.
Anyone interested in pursuing this year’s overall Bett themes of ‘Women in Stem’ and ‘Women in Technology’ could do no better than meeting Turn IT On!’s consultant and curriculum team member Vicki Price – like many of the company’s team she is a former teacher and so has experience of teaching STEM subjects, as well as having opted for a career change into a STEM area.
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www.education-today.co.uk
January 2015
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