Eteach was proud to sponsor the England Netball National Schools Finals which took place on Saturday the 19^th March. The event took place at the Southampton Outdoor Sports Centre and we supported the event by attending all the festivities of the day.

As one of the most prestigious events in the netballing calendar, expectations were high. This wasn’t a problem as everyone was suitably impressed and a great day was had by all. Eteach made its presence felt throughout the event with several banners being displayed on the playing courts and we were delighted to be involved in the awards ceremony at the end of the day.

An impressive 54 schools competed across three different age categories; under 14s, under 16s and under 19s. There were a total of 25 rounds of action, followed by the semi-finals and then the all-important finals.

The Goals Trophy was won by under 19s Barking Abbey, the Defence Trophy was awarded to under 14s champions Goffs School and the Endeavour Trophy was collected by Millthorpe School from the under 16s category. The awards were well deserved as all the teams played brilliantly and it was easy to see everybody’s dedication to the sport.

Richard Wood, Eteach’s Schools Development Manager for the South East said; “The day was a rip roaring success. He commented that the weather was great and there was top netball action which combined the right amount of discipline and equal amounts of aggression.”

Jacob Lewis, another Eteach representative who attended the event said; “The event was very well organised and 8 hours of netball managed to run within a minute of the stated schedule all throughout the day. “The day was played out well and in great spirit. Although very competitive, the girls were clearly joyous in victory as well as gracious in defeat.”

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With World Book day taking place on Thursday 3rd March this year, we spoke to some schools around the UK who did something special to raise awareness of the cause to their pupils.

World Book Day was chosen by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) to be a worldwide celebration of books and reading and is now celebrated in over 100 countries around the world.

As it has become more and more of a success every year, the day has now become a partnership between publishers, booksellers and other interested parties. All of these groups now work together to promote books and reading to encourage children to explore the pleasures of both.

There were lots of events taking place this year for World Book Day with many different people, schools and businesses getting involved. Some publishers who participated in the day’s events and offered their support include Oxford University Press, Pan Macmillan, Penguin and Scholastic.

We spoke to Priestlands School in Lymington which is a secondary school with approximately 1,200 pupils aged between 11 and 16. To celebrate World Book Day, they held a “Big Book Swap” in their school library. On the day, all pupils and teachers were asked to bring in a book that they no longer wanted and they could then swap that for a book somebody else had bought in. The school actively encouraged all their pupils to leave a little message inside the book they swapped to say what they thought of it.

As well as the Big Book Swap, the English department at the school ran a competition to see who could design the best bookmark to celebrate the day and even the teachers had their own book box of swaps.

Baines Endowed School in Lancashire also had plenty going on during the week of World Book Day. A range of authors including Tom Palmer and Michael Cox visited the pupils at the school, as well as poets John Row and John Siddique.

Other events taking place at the school included a play put on by year 5 pupils, the chance for students to dress up in their pyjamas and the winners of a speaking competition which was held at the school performed for the rest of the pupils and their parents and were then awarded their book prize.

Did you do anything for World Book Day or are you already planning something for next year? Let us know by leaving your comments below.

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With last week being the 11th Annual National Storytelling week, schools and individuals all around the UK were celebrating with various different activities. The special event is aimed at the young and the old and has been designed to awaken the imagination and inspire creativity amongst everyone involved.

We have spoken to a number of people who were involved with National Storytelling Week 2011 so here we share their experiences with you.

Mike O’Connor
The first person we spoke to about their contribution to National Storytelling week is Mike O’Connor, a highly experienced performer and workshop leader.

Mike’s stories range from 5 minute fireside tales to enticing epics and have seen him travel the world from Wales and Southern Africa all the way to Singapore and the Bahamas. With many recordings, radio broadcasts and freelance pieces for journals and popular magazines, it’s hardly surprising that Mike has been awarded an OBE and has been made a bard of the Gorsedd of Cornwall which is where he now resides.
For National Storytelling Week Mike spoke to an audience at the Little Theatre in Padstow to tell them about the tradition of oral storytelling. Attendees have been speaking highly of the event. One audience member commented;

“Last night in Padstow something very special, magical and wonderful took place. The words and music took us to that place between worlds where legends live and the real and unreal are blended to paint remarkable pictures in the mind”.

St Alphege CofE Infant and Nursery School and St Alphege CofE Junior School
Also keen to participate in National Storytelling Week was St Alphege Church of England Infant and Nursery School. With a wide range of activities taking place, there was plenty going on which meant that all pupils had the opportunity to get involved.

A wide range of storytellers which included teachers from other schools, retired headteachers, parents, the local vicar and English and Drama students from local universities all visited the school throughout the week to tell the children stories. These ranged from traditional tales, stories from other cultures, interactive stories, rhythm and rhyme, religious stories, fables and stories from some of the children’s favourite authors.

Year 2 children wrote their own stories and shared them with the Reception children during story-time. They also organised a Bring and Buy Book day for the whole school. Each child brought in a book and 50 pence so they could donate their book and purchase a different one for their 50 pence.

Year 3 pupils had a session involving four A2 Level Drama students re-enacting their favourite stories which included ‘A Walk in the Jungle’. The children thoroughly enjoyed the session and responded well to the stories.

The school librarian, who is an expert storyteller, joined in with the fun and retold the story of ‘Five Tins on Aunt Mabel’s Table’ which again, was thoroughly enjoyed by all the pupils in year 4.

The Nursery class pupils topped off the event with a story character fashion show. The children came to school dressed as their favourite character and in turn the teachers and staff came in dressed as elves and told the children ‘their’ story of The Elves and the Shoemaker.

Overall, National Storytelling Week at St Alphege School was a massive success and everyone involved thoroughly enjoyed the event.

Vanessa Woolf

London based storyteller, Vanessa Woolf tells traditional and non traditional tales to audiences of all ages. For National Storytelling week she visited a small, local independent school where stories were told to the Nursery and Reception class as well as to years 1 – 3. This was a very special event for the school which consists of only 50 pupils and the children appreciated it so much that chants of “Thank you for coming to our school to tell us stories” could be heard afterwards.

The school has truly got into the spirit of storytelling as all the pupils now have reading buddies so they can read each other stories.

Louise Coigley

Louise Coigley is an independent Speech and Language Therapist and in 2009 she was in the top 5 Hitlist of children’s shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

To celebrate National Storytelling Week, Louise paid homage to Chinese New Year by telling the Chinese legend ‘The Eyes of the Dragon’ to children in Primary, Infant and Junior Schools across Wokingham, Berkshire. Children with hearing impairments, autism and Down’s Syndrome took part with mainstream children to create an atmosphere that teacher’s described as ‘stunning’ and ‘fabulous’.

Her method, Lis’n Tell: Live Inclusive Storytelling, has an international reputation. Through Lis’n Tell, children of different abilities, whether they are specially gifted or have additional needs, can take part in a story together creating a very special spontaneous community. Louise regularly travels up and down the UK and has been invited to work in Nova Scotia, Singapore, Australia and Greece. Many thousands of teachers, parents, therapists and children have attended her dynamic and imaginative workshops.

Lis’n Tell has been described by teachers as a “bridge to literacy” and many of the children and teachers didn’t want her to stop telling her stories at the end of the day.

With so many different activities taking place in the duration of the week, National Storytelling Week 2011 was a massive success and highlighted the importance of this activity. If you or your school did something for the event then feel free to let us know by commenting under this blog as we’d love to hear your stories.
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Just returned from the annual European Council of International Schools (ECIS) conference in Hamburg…
ECIS conferences are always very successful professional development opportunities for senior leaders, teachers and support staff

This conference was no exception with over 270 innovative seminars ranging from International Leadership and Management to digital storytelling in the classroom…

I really enjoyed meeting existing Eteach.com members both candidates and recruiters, including schools from Germany the host country PHORMS and the Bavarian International School

As you already know Eteach.com is committed to connecting teachers worldwide… to that aim we sponsored the ECIS conference Cyber Cafe… lots of delegates, many with IB experience joined Eteach.com between surfing the net and checking their emails…

Have you signed up to receive our International Schools vacancy bulletin? Click to join

Stay in touch

Colin

international@eteach.com

And the winner was…

Last week we attended the National Association of School Business Management (NASBM) Awards for School Support Staff in Northamptonshire, as sponsor of the Lifetime Achievement Award.

We joined 300 guests for a tremendous evening, with fine food and fantastic company. Most importantly, all nominated staff received a distinction, and it was really marvellous to see everyone’s hard work being recognised and rewarded.

Eteach was proud to sponsor and be a part of this worthwhile event, and while everyone was a winner, we particularly congratulate Wendy, the winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award. We’d also like to applaud the NASBM, which shines light on often-undervalued support staff – a critical part of the workforce that ensures schools run smoothly.

Eteach plans to continue to work with the NASBM to raise the profile of support staff in schools, and to help them gain further recognition at awards in the future. .

Did you attend the awards or know someone who was involved? Let us know what you thought about the night, and more importantly, the winners!