Views & Opinion


In the village square - En la plaza de mi pueblo Comment by ALICIA BLANCO-BAYO, Early Years lecturer and consultant


I do wonder how people’s attitudes towards others change and how the innocence children have is shaped differently as they learn to relate to each other. I often find that observing children interacting


with each other in various environments inspires my thinking. It is when I notice spontaneous responses away from the classroom that I am able to analyse how children relate to each other when given total freedom to express themselves. When they live without the pressures of what is now defined as the modern educational habitat, they are naturally who they want to be.


When connections develop true bonds I often look for moments that bring children together to try to understand how children relate to each other. My research is based on the emotional responses I observe and analyse when I spend time with children and it is those simple moments that inspire a lot of my work. This particular analysis arose from observing a group of children who only see each other occasionally since they live in different countries. However, they have a true natural connection that needs to be celebrated and used as an example of pure innocence and sincerity.


A young girl sang a beautiful song in an


attempt to send a message to a dear friend who lived far away. Although the song was in a foreign language, the group of children who heard it were touched by it and the young girl was sent a message of appreciation. You might have thought that children are children, and this is where the story ends. There is actually no end to this story because these children are still writing it. Here is where the power of emotions shows its impact even when it seems as if a chapter has finished. The village square is a focal point for the community in this little village on the outskirts of Valencia in Spain. It is where children have the freedom to connect with each other and be themselves. When the children in the story were reunited after so many months, the message the song had delivered was reborn. The spontaneous responses that bounced from each other were so natural I chose to watch from a distance to see how the children connected emotionally. Their innocence was at the centre of those connections and the fact that they had not seen each other for a while did not matter because the song had kept them connected. “We loved your song!”, the children from the village said when they approached the


young girl. This is how their reunion began and from then on, their interactions continued as if they had never been apart. Relationships have an impact on how we


develop as social and emotional beings. It is by supporting children so that they can find ways to connect with each other that we are offering them the tools to flourish socially and emotionally. The village square has witnessed these types of bonds being born for generations. What a magical place for children to connect.


Every minute counts Comment by SHARON HEPBURN, Series Producer, Super Movers Campaign at BBC Learning


Recent research shows that less than a third of primary age children in England have met the guidelines for 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per day, including school-based activity, according to the Health Survey for England published in 2016. The guidelines have been unchanged since


2011 but were given fresh impetus and direction in the government’s ‘Childhood Obesity – A Plan for Action’ of January 2017 At least 30 minutes should be delivered in


school every day through active break times, PE, extra-curricular clubs, active lessons, or other sport and physical activity events, with the remaining 30 minutes supported by parents and carers outside of school time. The implication is that exercise needs to be


spread over several different sessions and this is welcome news for schools under pressure to maximise both physical activity and the time spent on the core skills of literacy and numeracy. The BBC’s mission is to educate, entertain and inform, and, my department, BBC Learning,


addresses societal deficit through this lens; so the challenge was to provide teachers with resources to get children more active during the school day without it being just one more thing they had to fit in. During our research, teachers told us they’d be


more likely to use resources that combined physical activity with learning, so we started to look at how we could build small chunks of physical activity into academic subjects in ordinary classrooms. As a result, we have teamed up with the Premier League for a campaign called Super Movers. Super Movers offers 60 free, short videos with


catchy songs and simple movement routines that last just a couple of minutes covering key topics such as times tables, number bonds, punctuation and spellings and featuring famous faces from the worlds of children’s TV, football and music. Teachers can use Super Movers in the


classroom perhaps as a starter, to change the pace within the lesson, to energise children and, if they sign up to our newsletter


20 www.education-today.co.uk


(https://supermovers.edcowebsites.co.uk/) they will keep up to date with our latest


through our prize draw could even win a visit from the Premier League trophy or Scottish Premiership Trophy in Scotland. Through our partnership with the Premier


League, we are working with 101 football clubs across England and Wales many of whom have already blended Super Movers into their school outreach programmes. It is early days yet but already schools are


sharing their stories. Headteacher Emma Burnell from Sandwell said: "Super Movers has brought a whole new dimension to the creative buzz around Tividale Community Primary School. The staff and pupils value and adore the sessions, and we make sure there are plenty of opportunities to do some Super Moves throughout the day...indoor sessions, playtimes, assemblies... The topics covered are so varied and the songs are inclusive, so that everyone can achieve and feel successful - learning and developing confidence as they move and sing!"


April 2018 releases and


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52