Parents/Carers
23 January 2012
“very interesting and thought provoking and the information was delivered very clearly and concisely”
Northern Grid delivered an in school support session on Parental Engagement to the staff of Ash Trees School in January 2012.
 The focus of the session was how technology can be used to support effective parental engagement.
The aims of the 1 hour session were to:
- recognise the importance of parental engagement
- identify how technology can be used to improve parental engagement
- start the process of planning how to develop your school’s approach to parental engagement.
The session included:
- A review of the current literature and research
- Parental Engagement and the Ofsted Evaluation Schedule and the Ofsted Schools and Parents report
- Becta resources
- Technology and how it can be used
Glenn Atkinson, ICT coordinator at Ash Trees provided the following feedback:
“the staff and myself found your input very interesting and thought provoking and the information was delivered very clearly and concisely. I know you had condensed your usual delivery to meet the limited time available for our staff meeting but I do feel you imparted lots of useful information without the feeling of being bombarded with too much.”
For more information about this session contact christine.jack@northerngrid.org
To find out how else Northern Grid can support your school contact support@northerngrid.org
02 November 2011 How do you measure up on eSafety?
Are you more 'savvy' than your friends?
Do you know as much as your students?
Northern Grid has been providing eSafety support to schools for many years. As well as our own services and guidance materials we are always interested in finding out about resources from other companies. We have been talking to Roar Educate to find out about the resources they offer and how schools can access a free 30 days trials as well as special prices.
Northern Grid has negotiated a special price for all Northern Grid schools. Northern Grid has been receiving some great feedback about Grapple whilst out and about leading eSafety events in schools so we thought it would be a good idea to negotiate an extended offer.
For just £75 you can put Grapple onto your school's website. It's a fun and interactive way for schools to engage with parents about the critically important e-Safety issues facing their children
Did you know once you have purchased the Grapple licence for your school you can distribute copies to parents free of charge so they can engage in the interactive activities with their children?
For more information or to place an order simply fill out the order form, or alternatively please provide your contact details by sending an email ...
12 October 2011 Northern Grid has been working with Northumbria Police to develop teacher resources within a web resource that contains a wealth of crime prevention information and personal safety advice aimed at youngsters. Issues such as alcohol, awareness, drug misuse and bullying are all featured on the site, with information on where to get help and what is and isn't legal.
 More about ebeat
Young people, parents and teachers can now get information about Northumbria Police at the touch of a button after the launch of a new youth website.
Called ebeat, it's been designed with help from school pupils and teachers and features interactive sections, advice and information and a range of educational resources.
Resources available include specially developed lesson plans which teachers can use in school. The first lesson plan, covering alcohol awareness was launched earlier this year, with an interactive tie-in game also available on the site.
The second set of lesson plans have just been added and cover anti-social behaviour.
The new site also contains a wealth of crime prevention information and personal safety advice aimed at youngsters. Issues such as alcohol, awareness, drug misuse and bullying are all featured on the site, with information on where to get help and what is and isn't legal.
There is also advice on a career with the force, including how to go about becoming a Northumbria Police officer.
Web Services Team Leader Ian Sparham, said: "We're always looking at ways of making our information as accessible to as many as possible but...
Also labeled: Bullying, eSafety, Head Teachers, KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, Lesson Plans, News, PSHE & Citizenship, Students, Teachers
30 September 2011or...The Importance of Ownership
A superb eSafety video from Northern Grids' ‘Protecting Adults Who Work With Children’ event.
Also labeled: Bullying, eSafety, Guidance, Head Teachers, Learning Platform, Multimedia, News, NG Services, Northern Grid Created, Presentations, Publications, Support, Teachers, Video
24 August 2011 Facebook has made further changes to the privacy settings and here is a clear and easy to understand summary of the new privacy options and features.
Making It Easier to Share With Who You Want on Facebook Blog
What do you think of the new changes? Leave a comment below!
07 July 2011 Oddizzi is a new, primary school focused, multimedia website. We wanted to find out more so we asked the creators to tell us a bit more about it.
Continued after the jump
Also labeled: Early Years, Foundation, Games, Geography, Head Teachers, ICT, KS1, KS2, Lesson Plans, Literacy, Modern Foreign Languages, Multimedia, News, PSHE & Citizenship, Students, Teachers, Tools
03 May 2011Woodlawn School, North Tyneside
One of Woodlawn's primary aims is to increase their children's participation in and enjoyment of learning. They recognise that that getting parents involved with their child's learning is one of the best ways to ensure that child is successful. Woodlawn School has been involved in the Becta Parental Engagement Project and has developed a wide range of methods for working with parents. As a special school Woodlawn deals with a wide range of special educational needs and all schools can learn from their experience.
This case study gives an overview of what the school did, what the benefits of better engagement with parents were, what they plan to do next and tips for other schools.
03 May 2011Woodlawn School, North Tyneside
 Download this Case Study
About the school
Woodlawn is an all-age school for pupils with broad range of severe or complex special educational needs often linked to a medical condition or a physical disability: other needs include speech and communications problems, sensory impairment and other complex needs. The school is able to cater for pupils who are working below their chronological age as well as those with mainstream ability but with other complex needs.
The school was designated as a specialist special school for communication and interaction in September 2009. It has a national reputation for work with ICT, eSafety and Parental Engagement. Members of staff have participated in a number of Becta projects, the Head Teacher is a member of the Leading Leader’s Network and has spoken at regional and national conferences. The school has won a number of Northern Grid Awards over the last 10 years.
Ofsted November 2010
The school's engagement with parents and carers … [is] outstanding.
The school has established a well-deserved reputation as 'an outward looking centre of excellence', particularly in its use of high-quality information...
01 December 2010 A new press release on the Naace website details how many schools around the country are still continuing their learning through the use of learning platforms, despite the bad weather.
Have you got any experiences to share about the bad weather and your schools? Comment below!
See how North Tyneside Council are using their Learning Platform to show that snow is no barrier to learning
 Have a look at resources to help with your learning platform
 View full Press Release
26 July 2010Many of you will have seen the news headlines, but here is some additional info from CEOP about their new app in collaboration with Facebook.......
CEOP and Facebook have developed a new free application that will make young people safer within Facebook. ClickCEOP is a new app which links the young user and parent directly from their Facebook home page to help, advice and reporting facilities of the Child Exploitation and Online Protection (CEOP) Centre
The 'CLickCEOP' app is a three stage application that asks young people to:
- Add the app - and the ClickCEOP tab will appear at the top of your profile page
- Share the badge - and you can share the app with your friends via their newsfeeds
- Bookmark the app - and an icon will appear on your profile page making it easy for you to access the help and advice from the ClickCEOP app
By adding the app, young people and parents can get support from CEOP on a range of issues - viruses, hacking, dealing with bullying online and they can report someone who is acting inappropriately towards them online.
The app is the outcome of collaboration between CEOP and Facebook who have combined Facebook's expertise in connecting and communicating online with CEOP's expertise in helping young people stay safe.
Once added to their profiles, young users will receive regular messages from CEOP and its partner organisations who operate 'behind the button' to make children safer. CEOP's new Facebook page
ClickCEOP will also contain...
28 June 2010 Student Ashleigh Hall was raped and murdered by a man she met on a social networking site. John Steel, lead improvement officer for children's services at Darlington Borough Council, explains the efforts being made to prevent similar incidents. (From PublicService.co.uk).
Read the full article here
31 March 2010 If you're looking for Special Educational Needs resources, planning documents, commercial products/hardware or just general SEN information then check out our old SEN Mini-Site.
SEN Mini-Site
Also labeled: Guidance, ICT, KS1, KS2, KS3, KS4, Lesson Plans, Literacy, Modern Foreign Languages, Northern Grid Created, Reviews, SEN, Students, Teachers, Worksheets
23 March 2010 Next Generation Learning has published a report investigating parents' involvement in school work at home.
Key Findings
- 83% of parents struggle to support their child with homework.
- Over half of children are confused by their parents when they try to help with school work.
- 81% of parents welcome guidance on how to support their child’s learning better.
View the Full Report
Are you a parent? How do you get involved with your children's school work? Post a comment below!
10 December 2009 Download the presentations and other documents from the Protecting Adults Who Work With Children e-safety event that was held on the 9th December 2009.
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