News
Ofsted praises city military men
Ernest Cookson Community Special School, West Derby has been elevated from ‘good’ to the highest Ofsted standard.
The West Derby-based school, which provides education for boys aged 7-14 with Social, Emotional and Behavioural Difficulties, drafted in the UK Military School to help promote spiritual, moral, social and cultural development within the school. The Ofsted report stated: “Ernest Cookson successfully employs the services of instructors from an organisation (UK Military School) that promotes pupils’ self-confidence and self-esteem through offering important elements of outdoor pursuits. The emphasis is on working together and gaining social skills.”
UK Military School, which was founded by Wayne Forsyth and Sam Taylor in 2009, has provided specialist interventions and activity days to more than 6,000 pupils across dozens of primary, secondary, pupil referral units, after school clubs and specialist schools across Merseyside.
As part of their inspection, Ofsted observed one activity with Year 9 pupils where they learned about resuscitation and saving lives.
The Ofsted report stated: “Through these and associated activities, including a wide range of trips and visits, British values are reinforced. Pupils gain tolerance and awareness of others. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is outstanding.” Headmaster Ian Moxham said the role of the UK Military School helped to raise attainment using British military values and ethos. It has been a huge success not only with the pupils but with his team of specialist teachers.
He added: “We welcome the Outstanding Ofsted report as a huge achievement by pupils, school staff, parents, and other outside agencies. The UK Military School has provided vital additional support to ensure that the pupils at Ernest Cookson School receive the best possible education. UKMS provides an alternative way of delivering life skill messages in a practical environment in which the pupils thoroughly enjoy. “The UK Military School have helped to give the pupils strong role models whom they admire and respect and teachers an extra dimension of support.”
Hereward kick-start student careers
Hereward College in Tile Hill have hosted a careers event, aptly named ‘Thinking On', to better equip its students and their parents with knowledge about the potential career paths available to them once completing college.
The Thinking On event is the first in a three-tiered structure to take place at Hereward, designed to prepare students for their next steps into further or higher education, traineeships or employment. The second event, Building Up, will be held in March 2015 and the final event, Moving On, is set to be in May 2015. Representatives from local businesses and employment support services offered bespoke advice on university, training opportunities, employment, apprenticeships and local community projects. Amongst some of groups offering guidance were Coventry City Council, Coventry University, Student Finance England and Remploy. In addition to the involvement from external services, the student-run events team at the College carried out essential duties to ensure the event was a success. It wasn't just the students who came away from the event better informed; one parent in attendance said: "Events like these mean that we can support our daughter and prepare her for what the future holds."
Following its great success, Hereward College is now looking for additional businesses and support providers to be involved at future events. For more information please contact Employability Developer Tilly Neill on 024 7642 6185 or email
tilly.neill@
hereward.ac.uk.
Great Torrington School deploys Meru Wi-Fi to support iPad-enabled learning
Meru Networks, a leader in intelligent Wi-Fi networking, has announced that Great Torrington School in Devon has deployed an 802.11ac Meru Education Grade (MEG™) wireless solution to transform the way the academy-status school educates its 750 students. The school uses Apple iPads extensively, with Meru Connect for secure guest onboarding and Meru support for Apple Bonjour to enable use of Apple TV across subnets.
“Our existing six-year-old network was delivering snail-like speeds,” explained Jon Buss, network manager at Great Torrington School. “It was taking up to 15 minutes to log on to a laptop and authenticate it. Now it’s instantaneous. Previously, it could take up to 20 minutes before you could start streaming a video clip. Also, pupils and staff can now move seamlessly from classroom to classroom without losing the connection and having to log on again and again.”
January 2015
With its philosophy of “Dream. Believe. Achieve,” and desire to create an inclusive community of innovative students and educators, Great Torrington School replaced its legacy wireless with an 802.11ac network. The goal of the deployment was to deliver faster speeds for school-owned and BYOD devices and to ensure seamless roaming across the entire school campus. Designed and deployed by Meru Platinum Partner RM Education, an ICT specialist for the education sector, the wireless network includes Meru AP832i 802.11ac access points located throughout the school.
Providing secure guest access using Meru Connect software is critical for enabling outside lecturers, other schools’ teachers, temporary instructors and parents to access school resources online. Meru Connect automates secure network access for school- owned and guest devices, reducing the
burden on IT staff. The software is optimised for both administrators and end users, enabling one-click self-provisioning of client devices for secure wireless connectivity. The school, which plans to deploy a 1:1 learning environment in the future, is using Apple TV to stream video to wireless projectors. Meru support for the Apple Bonjour protocol enables teachers and students to stream video through Apple TV, even across multiple subnets.
“Great Torrington is a perfect example of a school that wants staff, students and parents to work in harmony to deliver the very best results using the very best technology,” said Mark Howell, country manager for UK and Ireland at Meru. “The 802.11ac Wi-Fi is delivering exceptional speeds even on older devices, increasing efficiencies in the classroom for both pupils and teachers and allowing them to focus on teaching and learning.”
www.education-today.co.uk 9
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