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BESA CORNER
This month, in our ongoing feature highlighting the work of members of the UK education suppliers’ trade body BESA, we find out about the CENTURY online learning tool; and we learn how PRITT is supporting children’s mental health.
Pritt supports children’s mental health
JENNIFER THOMPSON looks at the positive impact crafting can have on the well-being of children, and explains how Pritt is supporting positive mental health with a new downloadable crafting booklet.
How Matthew Moss High School is using edtech to manage disruption to learning
Matthew Moss High School is a secondary school with over 1100 pupils located in Rochdale in Greater Manchester and is part of the Watergrove Trust. In this article, Assistant Headteacher ANITA GOCOUL explains to ELLIE CORMACK how her school is using technology to help students and staff overcome ongoing disruption to learning.
The biggest challenge we have faced this year is the staffing shortages from illness and isolation and the impact that has had on teaching. As a school, we decided to become creative and think about how we could use our learning from lockdown and our experiences of AI to continue to provide a rich learning experience for our learners. One solution was to use our open spaces. For example, we converted the sports hall into a classroom, where a teaching member of staff, supported by a Teaching Assistant, could deliver lessons to combined classes. It is vital for us to ensure that staff are able to provide meaningful and purposeful work during these moments. One of the ways we have been able to achieve the right balance in the midst
Crafting can have a positive impact on the well-being of children, whilst supporting cognitive and creative development. In today’s world, taking care of our mental health and well-being has become a priority. It is well known that crafting activities can help to
improve relaxation and mood, increase happiness, and encourage connections with others, all of which promote positive metal well-being. It also creates a sense of accomplishment, which can help to improve self-belief and confidence. Being creative allows children to communicate thoughts
and feelings that they would otherwise find difficult to put into words. Many children are also more willing to communicate when they are relaxed and not so focused on the conversation. That’s why Pritt supports the positive mental health of
young people and has created a downloadable crafting booklet, focusing on activities to promote positive mental health and well-being. Pritt have been supporting child development since 1969
and are passionate about improving the world in which we live, through our global social initiatives supporting young people, and our most recent partnership with children’s mental health charity, Place2Be. The booklet was produced following research through
Pritt’s education customers to find out what teachers really needed. School budgets are tight and teachers time is also very limited, so they wanted something they could download easily and for free. The guide has seven well-being focused activities and it’s
ideal for use in the classroom or at home, with a series of activities to work through that can help children to understand the importance of self-care, expression, and most importantly, encouraging dialogue about mental health topics.
The crafting booklet can be downloaded from
https://www.paperturn-view.com/gimeno/craft-for- well-being-with-pritt?pid=MjE214473&v=1.1
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www.education-today.co.uk
of this disruption is by using CENTURY. Because the technology is so responsive, we have been able to simultaneously differentiate learning for large numbers of students. Thankfully, we put the work into thoroughly implementing the online
learning tool last year, so our learners are now familiar and comfortable with the platform. They understand how to use it, and they are engaged when they work on it. This has helped remove cognitive load for staff and learners – there’s no “oh, but I don’t have my book”, or “we’re not in our normal classroom, I don’t have everything I need”. It’s taken away the complexities of not having their designated teacher available.
Driving engagement The key to our success in driving engagement has been consistency and persistence with our implementation. Whatever online learning tool you use, you need to elevate it to the same standard as every other learning element. For example, if learners would usually get detention for not completing a piece of homework, we apply the same rule if they do not complete their CENTURY learning. Equally, make sure that you are praising students who have gone above and beyond what has been asked, and discreetly intervene if students are not engaging at all. In terms of implementation, we’ve found it helpful to have a ‘CENTURY
Champion’ for each faculty, who initially sets the nuggets for the whole cohort. This has helped us avoid inconsistencies between teachers at the start and ensured everyone is on the same page. We then established check in points every week for both the learners and staff. For example, I could look at the data ahead of faculty meetings and offer additional help to any teacher whose class was not engaging as strongly as others.
Looking to the future What we have learned from the last 18 months is how important it is to be adaptable to whatever the situation requires - whether that's moving learning online, handling staff shortages or helping learners who have been negatively impacted to get back on track. We are confident that we now have the necessary systems and structures in place to effectively support blended learning. What we know for certain, is that we want to continue providing varied, relevant and engaging learning experiences for our students.
Book a demo to find out how CENTURY can help your students to get exam ready this
year.https://
docs.google.com/document/d/1zYCvwMZ3JixJc1g_uxhbEIC 3mulvBo7a_A7qOQW8VSs/edit
April 2022
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