NEWS Bringing the wonders of lambing into the classroom
country life into the classrooms of thousands of schools, providing compelling real-time viewing for children and a valuable resource for teachers to support the Science curriculum. Recorded footage already available on The Country Trust website includes the first lamb born on the farm this season and some fun footage of a litter of lively one week old piglets and their mum running around their sty and outdoor pen. Jill Attenborough, Chief Executive of The
Country Trust said “This is a first for the charity and something we are immensely excited about. We are acutely aware that there are
Every year education charity The Country Trust brings the working countryside alive for nearly 25,000 disadvantaged primary school children through day visits to real working farms. Now, thanks to support from one of its host farmers, a video camera has been installed in the lambing shed on Romshed Farm in Kent to capture fantastic footage of some of the farm’s 150 pregnant sheep as they deliver their lambs. The webcam means that for the first time the charity can bring the reality of farm and
many thousands of children who aren’t yet able to take part in our farm visit programme. The webcam opens up so many wonderful possibilities for us to bring the farm into urban homes and classrooms. Springtime on the farm is full of new life and as well as lambing we plan to show swallows nesting, piglets in their sty and calves being born too. Our mission is to bring the countryside alive for those children who are least likely to be able to access it and our LambCam is a great step forward!”
uwww.countrytrust.org.uk/webcam
Maths talent is counting on success
A Reigate sixth-former had to answer maths questions in front of an audience to win first prize in the prestigious Who Wants to be a Mathematician contest. Connie Bambridge-
Sutton, who studies at Reigate Grammar School, qualified for the final round back in the autumn term, and since then she has been preparing for the final, which took place in front of an audience of several hundred maths students. Connie was one of only six UK students to qualify for the final round of the contest, which is organised by the American Mathematical Society.
Reigate Grammar School maths teacher Joshua Evans, who attended the
competition, says watching the final round was a nail-biting experience: 'With only five questions between Connie and the final two competitors going into the last section of the competition, we were all feeling a little tense, but Connie sailed through.' Connie is one of nearly 100 students studying maths in Reigate Grammar's
sixth form. She said: ‘The final was a quite a challenge and I spent a lot of time on preparation, and it really paid off. My fellow competitors were incredibly talented mathematicians, so I’m delighted to have come through.’
uwww.reigategrammar.org April 2017
www.education-today.co.uk 11
Schools cutting everything from staff to stationery to balance budgets
Reducing support staff, restricting stationery and hosting weddings: new findings reveal how more than six in 10 (64%) of the country’s school leaders plan to make essential savings over the next financial year, and how some are taking matters into their own hands to generate much-needed funds. More than two-thirds (68%) of the schools facing budget cuts across
England plan to reduce their number of support staff, while just under half (49%) are restricting the use of basic resources like stationery, according to new survey findings from The Key - an organisation providing leadership and management support to schools. The data – taken from The Key’s annual State of Education report to
be released in May, and weighted by Ipsos MORI – reveals that only 8% of school leaders expect to either achieve a surplus or to balance their budget without making any savings in the next financial year. More than a third (36%) say they will need to save over 5% of their expected costs to balance their budget. The staffing budget is expected to take the biggest hit in two-thirds
(66%) of the schools that need to make savings in 2017-18. It’s not just support staff who are at risk: more than a third (37%) of school leaders facing budget cuts say they expect to have to reduce teaching posts. In the bid to generate additional income, school leaders report letting
school buildings and facilities (42%), building partnerships with local businesses (13%) and even setting up on-site nursery provision (10%). Many are also linking up with nearby schools to share catering or cleaning contracts (25%) or curriculum resources (21%). Others cited sharing staff, furniture and even minibuses – not to mention hosting weddings and using qualified staff to provide fitness classes to the wider community.
uwww.thekeysupport.com/school-budgets-17
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