CSG On Campus To Handle Hazardous Laboratory Waste
CSG is a leading and award winning force within the waste management sector founded in 1934 operating from 27sites stretching from Southampton to Middlesbrough. CSG’s Chemical Specialists division is a market leader in providing waste management solutions to schools, universities, research centres, government departments and pharmaceutical chemical manufacturers. The University of Leeds has handed Fareham-based waste managers CSG a two-year contract to remove and treat all hazardous chemical waste from the university’s laboratory complex. CSG chemists will visit the university campus four times a year to list, label and pack the waste taken from faculties and services across the campus. It will be transported to CSG’s hazardous waste facility at Cadishead near Manchester where it will be treated in readiness for disposal or reuse. The Cadishead site is one of the most advanced facilities of its kind in the UK and has been developed to handle some of industry’s most hazardous by-products including waste from many of the North West’s leading chemical companies. The company recently launched a campaign encouraging facilities producing chemical waste – much of it toxic, flammable and corrosive – to detox their laboratories on a regular basis. CSG operates a mobile facility specialising in the collection and transport of packaged hazardous waste which can often present a high risk to waste producers and requires special handling. Its clients include schools and universities, research centres, government departments and pharmaceutical and chemical manufacturers. Our mobile technical team specialises in the collection and transport of packaged hazardous waste. These often present a high risk to waste producers and require special handling. Our dedicated fleet of vans, ADR drivers and trained chemists are equipped to collect anything from a single bottle up to a drumload. Our site staff are experienced and competent in handling difficult wastes. Typical waste streams and services included: • Aerosol recycling • Asbestos • Battery recycling • Clinical and pharmaceutical waste • Empty paint tins • Laboratory chemical recycling • Laboratory test kits recycled • Light bulb and fluorescent tube recycling • Oily rags recycling • Solvent recovery • WEEE recycling • Chemical relocations – transfer of chemicals from one site to another • Chemical handling and segregation training Technical and legislative advice is just a phone call away. If you require further information or wish to receive a competitive quote, contact CSG today on 0800 011 66 00 or email us chemicalspecialists@csg.co.uk. For further information please visit our website www.csg.co.uk.
Child Bereavement UK – How schools can support bereaved pupils?
Child Bereavement UK supports families and educates professionals when a baby or child dies or is dying, or when a child is facing bereavement. Every year we train over 7000 professionals, helping them to better understand and meet the needs of grieving families. Our vision is for all families to have the support they need to rebuild their lives, when a child grieves or when a child dies. Our mission is to ensure the accessibility of high quality child bereavement support and information to all families and professionals by increasing our reach and plugging the gaps that exist in bereavement support and training across the country and embedding standards in the sector. Most grieving pupils do not need a “bereavement expert” they need people who care. Schools, just by carrying on with their usual day-to-day activities, can do a huge amount to support a grieving child. By gently introducing death and grief into the classroom, the fear is removed and children will develop coping skills should someone they know die now or in the future. Normality For a child, or young person, whose life has been turned upside down, the routines of school life can give a sense of normality. Everything else may have fallen apart but school and the people within it are still there, offering a sense of security and continuity. For young children and adolescents, school can give relief from an emotionally charged atmosphere at home. They may feel overwhelmed by a grieving family.There may be a constant stream of visitors expressing their own grief. Children and young people can find this difficult to deal with. A listening ear Children can be overlooked by family members struggling to deal with their own grief. For a child who wishes to, school staff can provide an opportunity to talk about what has happened with a familiar and trusted adult in relative peace and calm. When a parent or sibling has died, children and young people can try to spare their surviving parent by hiding their own grief and appearing to be OK. School is often seen as somewhere safe to express this grief. The opportunity to be a child Even when deeply sad, children still need to be children. Loss and grief are very grown up experiences. School offers the chance to play, laugh, sing and generally just be a child without feeling guilty. General support Keep in contact with home. Discuss concerns but equally important are successes. The family or carers will find this reassuring. Grieving children and young people can display altered behaviours in different situations. Good communication with home will help school be aware of this and provide a more realistic picture of how the child is coping. Be proactive Have in school a selection of resources on the subject. Refer to the Booklists and Resources factsheets in this pack for ideas. Stories are a wonderful way to gently introduce young children to the concept of death. Novels and poems offer young people a chance to learn through reading, listening and discussion. For more ideas see the schools section of the website www.childbereavement.org.uk. When someone dies in your school community, whether the death is one that affects an individual pupil, or of someone known to the whole school community, how you respond will be remembered by everyone affected, child or adult. The school’s response will depend on individual circumstances and the needs of pupils, staff and wider school community. Have a plan. See the factsheet “Writing a Bereavement Policy” and the example policies (Primary, Secondary and Specialist) on our schools section on the website www.childbereavement.org.uk. Everyone, child or adult, will grieve in their own way. Try not to make assumptions about what they should be doing, how they should be feeling or what is going to help. When not sure, ask them what they would like to happen. Someone from school should liaise with any family. Offer to visit if the family would find this helpful. A card or letter of condolence will reassure the family of your support. Avoiding the subject always makes matters worse. It is better to explain what has happened in a sensitive way to avoid rumours and whispers. Use the correct words “death” and “dead” rather than euphemisms such as “lost” or “gone to sleep”. Suggestions of words to use can be found in the schools section of our website. With a death that has affected your entire school, communicate with staff first and then pupils as quickly as possible. At this stage you probably need to say very little other than expressing sadness and who has died. Correct any misconceptions and say that you will give more information when you have it. Some schools decide to explain in an assembly, others that each teacher individually tells their class. When the death affects an individual pupil, if possible discuss with the bereaved child what you are going to say before doing so. The child may or may not wish to be present. Consider with the family how giving the news to the school community should be done. The parent, carer or child may wish to write a letter to be read out in school. Staff and pupils may wish to attend the funeral. Check that this is OK with the family before making arrangements. Think through practical considerations such as how are pupils going to get there, and cover for staff. For more information: Follow on twitter: https://twitter.com/cbukhelp View on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/user/childbereavementchar Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/childbereavementuk
Schools offered free service to help manage Ofsted inspections and improve results
Schools across England are being offered a high-tech solution to prepare for Ofsted inspections and improve results free of charge. Bluewave Education is offering its award-winning Common Inspection Frame work module for free to schools, as leaders face increasing budgetary challenges in the coming year. Managing director of Bluewave Education, Keith Wright, said: “Accurate assessment of a schools strengths and areas for development is an essential requirement for school improvement and school inspection. “For more than a decade Bluewave Education has provided school leaders with the structure, guidance and mechanisms to enable rigorous self-evaluation and facilitate the school improvement process. “With schools facing another year of financial uncertainty, our contribution to the sector is to remove some of the cost burden and to help them move on from the use of outdated systems based around paper and basic Word documents. “Our experience is that where schools make this transition, they rarely go back.” Bluewave SWIFT was developed by a group of education leaders who wanted to find a practical, modern day solution to managing school improvement and dealing more effectively with the processes involved. SWIFT allows schools to: – Create a clear and structured whole school self-evaluation – Identify and put in place key school improvement priorities – with direct links to school improvement plans* – Automatically feed Ofsted SEF/Common Inspection Framework evidence into other reports e.g. Safeguarding, Behaviour, Pupil Premium, Governance* – Include any or all of your staff can contribute to whole-school self-evaluation – Create departmental SEF’s/Common Inspection Frameworks Ofsted facility for academy chains In addition to offering their SEF for free to all schools, Bluewave Education is also offering a facility for academy chains, federations and Multi-Academy Trusts, whereby a Common Inspection Framework can be distributed to their family of schools and the responses can be aggregated for analysis and reporting. Mr Wright said: “This supports so many positive approaches to school-led improvement and it leads to far greater awareness and collaboration around strategic planning. “The only cost is a one-off set up fee determined by the number of schools in the family. “Whether we like it or not, schools have to act more like businesses every day. We help schools to think like a school and where necessary, work like a business. “This is recognised in our BETT award for supporting institutional leadership and management but most importantly in the feedback we get from the schools we work with”. For more help in preparing for Ofsted, see bluewavemosaic.com
UK teachers spend a whole day on marking each week
68% of teachers say they spend too much time marking and not enough teaching Teachers in the UK are spending the equivalent of a whole day every week on marking and reporting. In a new international study1, the UK ranks among the highest in terms of time teachers spend on admin, which could otherwise be used teaching in the classroom. The research, from Canvas, the Virtual Learning Environment for academic institutions and companies worldwide, reveals that one in six (17%) teachers in the UK are spending more than 11 hours a week on marking and assessments. This is significantly more than those in the US (9%) and Australia (7%) where the time spent on teaching is typically higher2. According to the Department of Education3, on average, UK teachers work 57.5 hours a week, but tasks such as lesson preparation, marking, supervising children and other administration result in just 19.3 hours being spent in the actual classroom. With marking and reporting taking up almost a fifth of their working week, teaching professionals say this impacts negatively on classroom time with students (68%). The situation has worsened in the last five years4, with a need for teachers to continually track the performance of their students (78%), further inspections from Ofsted (65%) and increased benchmarking (57%) in schools. And with schools days set to become longer following the Budget, this is likely to be further exacerbated. Technology, including Virtual Learning Environments, can help speed up marking and collating data for reporting – but currently under half of teachers (46%) use the tech in their school as many don’t know how to integrate it effectively. However, among those who do, two thirds (67%) report they find it easier to monitor and track students’ progress, easing their workload. Craig Ring, music teacher at Rooks Heath College said, “Since we started using a learning management platform in our school we’ve seen first hand the positive impact its had on both students and teachers. We have just been marking GCSE coursework and the amount of time it’s saving us is enormous. Plus, all of the feedback is in one place for a student and even throughout the Easter break we have had students updating their work within hours of receiving feedback. We’re also able to collate data at the click of a mouse, which massively reduces our workload. It’s a very useful tool.” Sam Blyth Samantha Blyth, director of schools at Canvas said, “There is no doubt that teachers in the UK do a fantastic job of multitasking; juggling marking, reporting and lesson planning, with face-to-face teaching in the classroom. But there is a growing perception that the sheer amount of admin is leaving them unable to do the job they love – to actually teach their students. “This is where technology can play a vital role – online marking and reporting not only helps teachers, but in turn frees up more time to spend with students. When used effectively, tech then stops getting in the way of teaching and starts to enable it, leading to more engaging lessons and better outcomes for both students and schools.”
UK schools battle it out in Viking Young Inventors’ Competition to win £5000 for their school.
Viking, the school and office supplies channel of Office Depot, a leading global provider of office products and services in the UK are inviting pupils from primary and secondary schools to get their creative juices flowing and take part in Viking’s Young Inventors’ competition. Children 16 and under will be competing with other pupils across the UK in the Young Inventors’ Competition. The competition will be judged in two categories – one for primary schools and one for secondary schools. Pupils can take part by designing an invention for their classroom which fits an eco-friendly, futuristic or fun theme and providing a short description of their invention. Primary and Secondary schools in the UK are invited to take part · Pupils are asked to design an invention for the classroom · The winning pupil will win £5000 for their school to spend with Viking · Closing date 22/07/2016 http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a/bb/School-Shop/N=2%201325287/?tab=3#tabs The competition encourages pupils to utilise their imagination, and expand their vision of the potential advancements to their everyday stationery items in the classroom. The deadline for competition entries is Friday 22nd July 2016, an initial shortlist will be selected and the winner will then be chosen by a representative of Viking in September. The winning school will win £5000 to spend with Viking and the winning pupil will win a digital camera worth £346 (inc Vat). The two individual runners up (one from the Primary School category and one from the Secondary School category) will each receive a Samsung Galaxy Tablet worth £178 (Inc VAT) for themselves and a Swash, Classmaster and Show me bundle worth £250 (Ex Vat) for their school. Andrea Kenna, Director of merchandising at Office Depot and Viking said: “This competition is a great way to encourage children to think about existing products in their classroom and how they can innovate these or be inspired to design new inventions. With the classroom environment evolving so fast we are always looking out for the next new product on the market and what makes it different to what has already been invented. Viking understands the challenges schools face due to budget cuts and we feel it is a great shame that schools are losing out. We wanted to give something back which would help schools keep topped up with their everyday essentials and we’re sure that £5000 will definitely help! We look forward to seeing what inventions for the classroom pupils can create from their imaginations.”
Teacher absence tackled by new partnership between Schools Advisory Service and health app
The Schools Advisory Service (SAS), which provides teachers in the UK with absence insurance, has partnered with a Manchester-based healthcare company to provide members with GP appointments via smartphone. The SAS is working with Now Healthcare Group, utilising their Dr Now mobile app which connects users to a qualified doctor via Skype-style video chat. The partnership is set to begin on 1 April and will be available to the SAS’ 100,000 members nationwide. Dr Now is an ‘mHealth’ app which allows those who need to see a doctor the chance to book an appointment at the touch of a button and speak to one via video call on their Android or iOS smartphone. It can also deliver medicines straight to a patient’s home or office for ultimate convenience. The SAS previously relied upon a GP telephone service for when staff fell unwell, but this is to be Lee Dentith replaced with this new arrangement with Now Healthcare Group. Nearly 3 million teaching days are lost through sickness in schools in the UK every year, and the SAS is aiming to reduce this number by providing teachers with quick and easy healthcare – helping them avoid waiting times at the clinic and the hassle of taking time off to see a doctor. Director of Schools Advisory Service, Les Marshall, said: “Our new service from Now Healthcare Group will be an essential element of trying to prevent and reduce staff absences in schools. This service is just what teachers have been asking us to provide for years and to finally be able to provide a service of the highest quality from the market leader demonstrates why Schools Advisory Service is the UK’s largest supplier of staff absence insurance.” Founder & CEO of Now Healthcare Group, Lee Dentith, said: “Now Healthcare Group is thrilled to be working with Schools Advisory Service through this exclusive partnership. We’re looking to significantly reduce the number of sickness days lost by teachers and education workers by giving them access to a GP immediately through our mobile app platform, Dr Now / Now GP. Our partnership will benefit schools, teachers and children alike as we look to minimise disruption to pupils’ education across the country.” https://youtu.be/rHcdD0YKdbs Download the app from the App Store and Google Play.
Six steps to keeping classroom technology safe
Having technology in the classroom can help enhance student engagement with what’s being taught. Today, many schools have iPads, iPods or other tech devices, and measures should be put in place to keep these expensive products safe from being lost or stolen. Here are six safety steps to consider when keeping technology safe in the classroom, provided by gadget and mobile accessory brand Griffin Technology. 1. It’s important to take necessary precautions against theft in the classroom. Devices such as videocameras, iPads, and laptops should be put away in locked and secured places when not in use. 2. Always establish and enforce classroom procedures for student use of technology. Create a register to check-out and check-in equipment, so it’s always accounted for. 3. If you’re using an iOS device such as iPad or iPod, install the Find My iPhone app on these devices. If these gadgets are ever lost or stolen, the app can easily remotely track it, lock it or even erase data. 4. Invest in proper protection. This will ensure all expensive products are protected with a suitable case to defend against accidental drops. Cases that shield devices against drops and knocks should be purchased, and will add another layer of safety should a mishap occur. 5. Label each device that is used in the classroom. This way, there can be no confusion as to who owns the device. Sometimes, school equipment can be mixed up with pupils’ own devices, therefore it’s good to clearly identify school property. 6. For more expensive equipment and those devices used outside of the classroom, create a process by which supervision of its use must be carried out. This is good practice to roll out for new purchases with a high value, so that a responsible watch is taken over the device and it isn’t lost. For gadget protection and accessories, Griffin Technology provides a range of cases to suit tablets, smartphone and more. For iPads used in the classroom, the Survivor All-Terrain is recommended, as it has been tested to meet military standards making it super tough. When charging multiple devices, the MultDock2 Charging Station 10 and 30Bay provides the perfect security when hosting a number of iPads, tablets and smartphones all at once.
Performance related pay: make it fair and transparent
Recent research released by the Association of Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) and the National Union of Teachers (NUT) revealed that one in 12 teachers have been denied a salary increase since performance-related pay (PRP) was introduced in 2014. With the power and responsibility of PRP being given to schools, Damien Roberts, business development director at Schoolip by Derventio, looks at how teaching staff can gather the right information throughout the performance cycle, ensuring that the process is fair and transparent. Before its introduction in 2014, there was a lot of speculation amongst teachers around the PRP process and how it would work, so these statistics come as no surprise to me. It’s important for schools to examine this reaction and ensure staff understand exactly what needs to be done in order to achieve their objectives for pay progression. Damien Roberts Performance management in schools is traditionally initiated at the beginning of the academic year, but beyond the odd email or discussion in passing, the process often gets lost amongst the preoccupations of teaching, lesson planning and exam preparation. Schools should consider a system that combines the whole process in a central online system which can track progress, store evidence and maintain a constant dialogue between the staff member and their line manager. This will allow staff to highlight achievements or flag issues as and when they arise, as well as altering objectives at any point if needs be. Having an online blog to talk to one another ascertains a very transparent way of ensuring that everything is recorded, and can be used to reinforce outcomes from face-to-face meetings. While the ATL research found that over half of teachers believed that PRP increased their workload, this shouldn’t be the case if a school has an effective and efficient process in place. Removing the need for paper-based evidence and portfolios, and offering technology such as smartphone apps will help to put the power back into teachers’ hands and reduce the overall burden, allowing them to focus on the main priority: teaching their students. Making the process as accessible as possible for staff is also important. Nowadays, most people own a smartphone, and the ability to record evidence digitally using mobiles and upload it directly to an online system can help to reduce laborious paper administration. This way, nothing gets lost throughout the year and can easily be retrieved when staff need to demonstrate how they have met their objectives. Evidence can come in the form of photographs of students work or wall displays; after all, it’s important for OFSTED to walk into a classroom and see that the walls are teaching the students before the lesson has even begun. Evidence can even be shared through video, especially for lessons which may be harder to articulate and visualise on paper, for example, recording students doing coaching exercises during a PE lesson. Not only can this be used as evidence, but also shared as best practice with other teachers. To make PRP as fair as possible for staff, schools should consider software which is able to inform staff and their line managers when they might be missing specific evidence for objectives. This means ahead of the end-of-year review, the teacher knows whether or not they’ve hit their target, so it won’t come as a surprise if they haven’t quite met pay progression. With efficient and simple ways of incorporating all areas of performance management, schools can be completely transparent with staff, enabling them to understand exactly what needs to be accomplished throughout the year. With digital capabilities in place, rather than staff feeling the burden of having to provide paper-based evidence, they can provide as much as they want, confident in the knowledge that they’re meeting both theirs and the schools overall objectives. SchooliP by Derventio brings together the three main elements of school improvement including: performance management, improvement planning and self-evaluation. It helps to improve the standard of teaching and learning within schools by providing the tools to support teachers with organising their evidence for appraisal and pay progression. For more information, visit: www.schoolip.co.uk
RANDSTAD STUDENT SUPPORT PUTS SHROPSHIRE STUDENTS IN POLE POSITION
Randstad Student Support, a leading provider of learning support staff, has taken a group of 15 budding Formula 1 racing engineers to the Williams Martini Racing F1 Factory for a day of innovation, excitement and engineering insight. The lucky group from North Shropshire College included 14 students who fought off tough competition to win the trip, managing to take home the trophy in a competition hosted by Randstad Student Support at the Association of Colleges conference held in November. Randstad Student Support worked with 65 further education colleges and 93 universities around the UK last year, providing vital support for 28,000 students, helping them to achieve their potential. All the students on the tour are currently studying either engineering or mechanics at the college and were given a glimpse into the inner working of the Williams garages. Also attending from Randstad was Victoria Short, Managing Director, Sadie Besley, Operations Director and Karen Guthrie, Further Education Development Manager. Students visited the advanced engineering section of the factory, learning how engineers at Williams use their high-tech, scientific knowledge to solve everyday problems. For example, students discovered that Williams’ pioneering work in cooling down race car engines had been transferred to reducing energy bills in the frozen aisles of supermarkets – creating vast energy savings. This revealed the wide range of professional options available to the students and the versatility of engineering as a career choice. With 431 engineering jobs currently available on Randstad’s website there’s high hopes the visit will have inspired a new generation of expertise.[1] Students also got the chance to prove their racing credentials and try to beat the best of F1 drivers on a BATAK reaction machine. Unfortunately the chequered flag was out of reach – with most posting scores half those of professional drivers. And the final pit stop was to the Williams museum, to check out the trophy collection and see F1 mementos up close. Sadie Besley, Operations Director, Randstad Student Support comments: “This competition was all about inspiring innovation in students – and giving them a glimpse into a potential career in engineering. F1 is the pinnacle of professional racing – and we want North Shropshire students to be at the top of their game. It was fantastic to see the students engage with the experience and fully embrace all the elements that create a successful F1 team. A practical and hands-on opportunity can give students the motivation to further their careers and something to aim for in the future. The skills picked up on the tour are highly applicable and will act as a real motivator for these budding engineers.” A real highlight of the trip was a chance to speak to Williams engineers and learn more about their career paths. Students had the opportunity to ask questions and find out more about future career prospects on offer at Williams. There are a wide variety of ways for students to improve their skills, with many apprenticeships on offer throughout the industry. Sadie Besley, Operations Director, Randstad Student Support concludes: “The best way to get ahead and give yourself the best career opportunities in the engineering sector is to get some hands-on experience. It doesn’t have to be paid work, any time that can be spent learning on the job, gaining practical skills and boosting your experience can give you a great advantage as a candidate. It’s hard to find the right person for the right job and experience and enthusiasm are key for outpacing other applicants. “For further education colleges looking to encourage students to pursue their interests in engineering and technology, the best way is to provide opportunities to see engineers in action. This doesn’t have to be a grand trip to a F1 Factory, it can simply be arranging for engineers to visit and speak to students. Practical advice is particularly important. And nothing is as inspiring as seeing a true professional in action.” https://www.randstad.co.uk/employers/areas-of-expertise/student-support/