What would happen if you showed a 3D dinosaur to a classroom of children?

Thanks to the team at Twinkl and a new Apple technology called AR Quick Look, you can.

Twinkl has created the largest collection of educational digital models that you can view in the classroom in 3D through augmented reality (AR).

AR brings the real and virtual world together by superimposing computer generated images into real-world environments.

The collection of over 100 models includes planets, animals, parts of the human anatomy and even a unicorn or Santa Claus.

The models are free to access and can be used on the latest Apple devices, on the iOS 12 operating system.

“Teachers can use the models to add another layer of engagement to their lesson,” explained Pete Casson, Chief Technology Officer at Twinkl.

“For example, by showing animals that live in another country in geography, a beating heart in science or a character that the class is completing a writing exercise on.

“A model we are particularly proud of is the one of planet Earth that we have made. We created it using images taken from space by NASA, making it as realistic as possible. Through AR Quick Look, children can now hold a very accurate model of the earth as it turns in their hands.”

There is no need to download an application to use a AR Quick Look model. By clicking on an image using a device, teachers and pupils can view the model in 3D, or click to see it in AR.

The models are interactive as they can be seen from different angles or in closer detail by moving the phone or tablet screen. They include different textures and interact with the lighting of whatever space they’re in. As an example, the eyes of the animals are glossy and reflect the light in the room.

Although the models are ideal for use in the classroom, they aren’t limited to teaching and anyone can use them to enhance learning.

Twinkl plans to expand this catalogue and are working on various projects to support Android devices too. The company’s hope is to make all the models available on as many devices as possible.

“Everything we do at Twinkl is to help those who teach, so we will be creating other models based on feedback from educators about what they need and what will work for their pupils,” said Pete.

“We urge all educators, whether they are teachers, parents, childminders or nursery workers, to try out the models and let us know what they think. AR is an emerging technology, and we can only discover its real potential for education by trying it out with pupils.”

The models can be viewed or downloaded from the catalogue at www.twinkl.co.uk/reality

A full list of the devices that are compatible with the models can be found here: https://www.twinkl.co.uk/help/twinkl-apps/im-having-trouble-installing-little-red

Twinkl is an online educational publisher and creates learning resources used by educators across the world. Every month around 8.1 million resources are downloaded from the Twinkl website.

For more information please visit twinkl.co.uk

2018 has seen some major developments around Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education – the biggest being that it was not awarded statutory status on the back of the Department for Education (DfE) consultation on Relationships, Sex and Health Education.

We now know that Relationships Education will be compulsory for all pupils receiving primary education; that Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) will be mandatory within secondary schools; and that Health Education will be compulsory in all schools. And I am thrilled that the decision makes most of the topics covered within PSHE compulsory for all pupils, in all schools, from 2020.

As we prepare for these changes, here are five things we should watch out for in 2019:

1. Early engagement on relationships
We need children to identify with unhealthy relationships and behaviour as early as possible in their young lives so that we can switch the focus to forming positive relationships. By doing this we can ensure children have the knowledge and skills to manage the language used when communicating with others, better understand issues around appropriate touch, and who to speak to if they are worried about a particular relationship they might find themselves in. By providing children with the vocabulary, skills and knowledge as early as possible we can give them the confidence to manage situations they may face now and in the future. There must also be an equal focus on relationships which children may form online, as this is now more common than ever before.

2. Better sex education guidance for primary
Whilst the DfE has provided information about what should be covered within sex education at primary level, schools would benefit from even more information on delivering sex education lessons effectively. At secondary level, the guidance is better developed. We cannot provide children with too much information to ensure that they are ready for adult life in our society. Although many children will not be affected by some topics, such as female genital mutilation, they need to understand these areas and different cultural trends. This can only help inform them of any decisions they may have to make in the future, or anyone close to them who they may need to support. Of course, sex education teaching must be age-appropriate at all stages of learning.

3. Primary to secondary building blocks
The building blocks to making sure children can thrive in society must first be visited during the primary years and secondary schools should then build on this set of skills and knowledge. This is not a one-size-fits-all. Unlike any other subject, children will all have a very different experience of these topics which are covered. Teachers need to not only find relevant and age-appropriate resources but to understand that within a particular age group the range of needs will differ. More importantly, teachers need to manage difficult questions and answers to provide a suitable, safe setting and to engage all children with a range of resources for different learning styles. I also think that more is required on financial education for post-16 students to help them manage money effectively.

4. Access to high-quality resources
Schools should be provided with the funding to access high-quality resources to reach the expectations outlined within the DfE guidance. The guidance sets out the key areas in which children should become more knowledgeable within, but schools would benefit from being signposted to organisations that have been producing resources for this area for several years. As these new statutory changes come in there will be many organisations attempting to provide schools with resources to support the new changes. Ideally, schools should be able to access a portal which hosts links to relevant programmes that have been kitemarked against the new guidance.

5. Investment in teacher training
To enable schools to take this guidance and build age-appropriate content for students they must have the skills and knowledge to deliver effectively. It is of high importance that before teachers design their curriculum content they receive the correct training to allow them to do so. Teachers should be able to access high-quality training to ensure that they can deliver these statutory changes to the best of their ability. For other statutory subject areas there is high-quality training available. The subjects which are covered within Relationship, RSE, and Health Education can positively affect children now and in the future. Training is essential to reach the expected outcomes for all children. Schools should also be signposted on how to access local statistics to enable them to build resources to suit their local area – they should not be left to tackle this agenda on their own.

Hayley Sherwood is creator of 1decision, part of Headway learning resources

Principals by CH&CO, in partnership with Northdown Primary School, Margate, is hosting a Christmas pop-up restaurant for the school and local community during the festive period.
Taking place on Thursday 20 December, pupils of the school and their families, plus members of the wider community, are invited to come along and share a delicious lunch with friends and neighbours and enjoy some seasonal fun.
Principals by CH&CO, the catering partner for Northdown Primary School, is providing lunch and its on-site team and people from the wider business will be giving their time voluntarily to prepare and serve hot and wholesome food. Guests can look forward to a delicious menu featuring sausage and mash with onion gravy, salad, or homemade soup and freshly-baked bread, followed by a traditional dessert of apple crumble and custard. Tea, coffee and cakes will also be available.
Guests will enjoy the tasty lunch in the school hall, which, along with the tables, will be decorated in keeping with the season. Local businesses have kindly supported the Christmas pop-up restaurant by donating decorations and gifts for the event.
Peter McKenna, the sales director for Principals by CH&CO, said: “The team at Northdown Primary School is very excited to be hosting the Christmas pop-up restaurant. We’ve worked with the school for 12 years and in this time, we’ve become part of the school community. Our involvement and contribution to the school goes beyond serving nutritious, tasty lunches during term time, we’re committed to sharing the joy and benefits of good food and mealtimes with pupils and parents beyond the classroom. So, when the team was asked to give up their time to help bring this great initiative to life, they jumped at the chance!
“Food is a wonderful way to bring communities together, and what better time of year than at Christmas. We can’t wait to see the pupils and their families sharing a wholesome lunch and enjoying the festivities. It’s great that we’ve also been able to include members of the wider community, it’s going to be a truly magical and uplifting event.”
Sheila Todd, the head teacher at Northdown Primary School, said: “The Christmas pop-up restaurant is a fantastic way to bring the school and local community together and spread a little festive cheer. It’s going to be a joyous event for everyone, and our pupils won’t recognise the school hall.
“It’s been great to work with our catering partner, Principals by CH&CO, on this event. They’ve played a big part in bringing this to life and been very generous in providing and creating the delicious lunch and giving their time on the day. I’d also like to thank all the local businesses that contributed by donating decorations and gifts.”

Author: Donna Tandy, Academy Improvement Partner at Focus Trust, a charitable multi-academy Trust based in the North West of England made up of schools from across West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester.
_______________________
It has recently been reported that as many as 2,000 schools will still be underfunded in seven years’ time and, with backlash from teachers following Chancellor Philip Hammond’s comment that schools would receive just £400m for ‘little extras’, it’s clear that, as a nation, more must be done to solve the school funding crisis.
The Pupil Premium, additional backing provided to publicly funded schools in England, is designed to support the learning and well-being of disadvantaged pupils, essentially allowing for the gap to be closed between them and their peers through accelerated progress. Unfortunately, however, the ongoing funding crisis has meant that many schools are being left with no other option than to use significant proportions of their pupil premium allowance to sustain their core provisions – which prevents the funding being used for its intended purpose
It should go without saying that the pupil premium should not be used as the only driver to improve outcomes for eligible pupils. Research shows that the strategies that make the most difference to learning do not require any additional funding but are features of quality first teaching. These include high quality feedback, metacognition, mastery teaching and collaborative learning (EEF toolkit). In times of financial strain in schools, it is important that these are exploited as much as possible before looking at specific spending strands. If these approaches are fully embedded in schools, then all children will benefit. This is important because some children identified by school leaders as being disadvantaged are not those who are in receipt of the funding. Guidance also clearly states that Pupil Premium funding can be used to support any child who is deemed to be at an educational or social disadvantage by the school.
Speaking from experience, having seen first-hand the struggles schools go through to not only establish best use of any funding they are given but also to effectively evaluate its outcomes for ongoing improvements, we – as a Trust – have implemented a strategy to ensure the money spent will benefit identified pupils, the school as a whole and, where possible, the wider Trust.
Since its introduction in 2010, the pupil premium initiative has received its fair share of backlash and criticism, with confusion over spending allocation, even more confusion when navigating the ways in which each individual should benefit whilst maintaining a culture of ‘fairness’ and, ultimately, whether or not any headway is actually being made towards decreasing the ‘gap’.
As a Trust, we have worked collectively to raise the profile of disadvantaged pupils and ensure the pupil premium funding is used effectively. Each academy has an identified Pupil Premium Champion, often a senior leader, who has oversight of these children and supports all staff to ensure their deficit of learning or experience is closed.
The Trust now has a Pupil Premium Charter which clearly outlines the Trust-wide vision on disadvantaged pupils and our commitment to them. A key feature of this is the development of excellent teachers and support staff to ensure all pupils have access to the most effective strands of research. My role is to oversee this and support leaders in the evaluation of the impact of their spending.
In essence, the benefit of a Trust system is that resources or training developed by one school can be shared with all schools within the trust, meaning that the success of one school’s pupil premium funding can be felt throughout the constituent schools.
With a cohesive strategy and vision we ensure the high profile of a significant group of children in our care. Across our 15 schools, the percentage of eligible pupils ranges from 13% to 41%. As the context and needs of the disadvantaged children differ from school to school it is important that, while we have a vision, key principles and high expectations that underpin our approaches, academies have the autonomy to interpret these to best fit the needs of their pupils.
However, with the current status of funding crisis amongst UK schools it’s understandable why any funding provided – pupil premium or otherwise – is quickly used in attempts to alleviate the crisis and its immediate effects, often without taking into consideration longer term issues that the pupil premium was introduced to tackle in the first place.
As part of the 2018 Autumn Budget, £400m in extra capital funding has been allocated to be spent on core provisions including equipment and maintenance and, although deemed ‘inadequate’ and ‘a drop in the ocean’ by many, the overall Department of Education budget has, for now, increased to £5.6bn.
The question is, to which the answer remains somewhat unknown, how can schools balance their ability to spend enough on running the school itself whilst safeguarding its pupils and staff, and how far will the current funding stretch to ensure that disadvantage is not a barrier to lifelong success?

For further information about the trust please visit www.focus-trust.co.uk

• Twitter: @focustrust1

Young adult novel The Year I Didn’t Eat by Samuel Pollen will be launched by ZunTold Publishing in March 2019, as part of their new Fiction as Therapy arm, and coinciding with charity Beat’s Eating Disorders Awareness Week.
Drawing from author Pollen’s own personal experience of anorexia, The Year I Didn’t Eat brings to market a brand-new voice in the YA fiction world. Ideal for fans of John Green, Holly Bourne and James Dashner, this is Pollen’s debut title.
Focussing on 14-year-old protagonist Max, the novel is an uplifting story showing the highs and lows of life with an eating disorder, and the effect on family and friends as well as the individual.
Published by the new Manchester-based publishing house ZunTold, The Year I Didn’t Eat will be the first novel in the publisher’s new Fiction as Therapy division. Working closely with mental health professionals, Fiction as Therapy will be publishing a tranche of new titles with therapeutic value, with an aim of supporting young people and their mental health. The Fiction as Therapy offering will also be supported with guided reading resources for educators and mental health professionals.
Founder and MD Elaine Bousfield has a strong background in mental health and counselling, successfully running and selling XenZone Ltd in 2017.
She said: “I’m absolutely delighted to be publishing The Year I Didn’t Eat this spring. Sam is a brilliant writer and is really bringing something new and vital to the YA market.
“Men’s and boy’s mental health has been hitting the headlines over the past year, so it’s so important to address these issues and help young people to talk about their problems. Our Fiction as Therapy series will hopefully help do just that, and support young people with their own voyage of discovery.”
The Year I Didn’t Eat is available from 1st March 2019, £7.99, 9781999863357.