Wynstones School has taken their children on trips for many years, with key trips throughout the different age groups.

Although they are not set in stone, there is a framework that creates stability and expectation, as well as a bank of knowledge within the staff on how to organise particular trips and what has worked and what can be improved the following year.

The youngest classes do local walks to the woods and fields; by age nine they have regular work mornings on a local farm, and then at the end of the year possibly have a night’s camping on the farm. As they get older, the trips get a bit longer and further from home. They are all related to the Steiner curriculum and age appropriate.

Five UK primary school pupils are reaching for the stars after winning a competition to design a spacecraft for NASA, for the Generation Beyond Challenge.

The young scientists, from London and Surrey, are the winners of this year’s Generation Beyond Challenge - organised by Lockheed Martin and Discovery Education.

The challenge - a UK first - was launched to schools last year as part of a new STEM education programme to inspire the next generation of astronauts. Children were asked to stretch their imagination by designing a habitation module for Orion, the NASA spacecraft which will take the first crew to Mars in the 2030s.

Compass Fostering were delighted to announce the opening of their new Regional Office in Felsted Essex recently. The new office allows Compass Fostering to enhance its local delivery across the East of England. 

As a well-established Independent Fostering Agency, Compass Fostering is a national provider of both Fostering and Residential provision.

Paul Kent is the Head of Fostering for the East at the new Felsted Office. Paul brings a wealth of experience to the role with 28 years’ service working within children’s services for Local Authorities (including 14 years in Norfolk) and seven years working within the private fostering sector in the East of England.

Author Natalie Savvides tells us how she went from writing for the Huffington Post to creating children’s book Meet Henrietta Heartbeat, which promotes kindness and empathy…

What made you decide to write Meet Henrietta Heartbeat?

PLAYSTAGE JUNIOR 

We have been selling quality school plays to English speaking schools around the world for 15 years. Since Playstage Junior started in 2002, our plays have been performed by English-speaking primary schools and youth groups in 43 countries! And we are always reaching new markets

Many of our customers come back time and time again because they know that our plays are fun and audiences adore them. Teachers love the plays because they are so easy to purchase and download and we give teachers and youth leaders full production notes that offer invaluable help with props, sound effects, scenery and costumes.

East London Independent School in Stratford Marsh, which is part of the TCES Group, has extended its site by redeveloping a church that dates back to 1662. The refurbished church now boasts six new classrooms, as well as a double art room and state-of-the-art classrooms for science, ICT and food technology.

There is also a new school hall, two sensory rooms, and an excellent outside space.

To accommodate it all, the single storey church building has been converted to two storeys, retaining all the existing windows that now cast light both upstairs and downstairs.

The group prides itself on uniquely integrating pupils from 7-19 years with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) needs and autism spectrum conditions (ASC).

Architecture Initiative’s new school, Olga Primary School, in east London has opened its doors to over 700 primary school pupils. Designed for Tower Hamlets School Ltd and London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Olga Primary School envisions a ‘garden oasis’ in the heart of the capital city.

The school’s vertical design consolidates 25 classrooms around a naturally-lit atrium with the age of pupils increasing as the building rises. The three-storey, glazed atrium creates a circulation core that separates the structure into two distinct volumes: one accommodates the teaching centre; the other contains the administrative and communal spaces, delivering the added benefit of opening the facility to the wider community outside of generic schooling hours.

A learning environment, or the physical, psychological and instructional atmosphere, can critically affect a pupil’s morale and learning, in the same way that a clean, bright, organised space can positively influence the learning experience.

Therefore, pupils should be encouraged to feel comfortable and confident as learners which is why the design of a classroom is so vitally important.

Scotts of Thrapston, specialists in the manufacture and installation of bespoke timber-framed buildings,has a dedicated design manager who studied classroom attainment and the effect of educational environments on children's behaviour. Everything from light levels to atmosphere and the amount of CO2 present comes under the spotlight. 

As leading school uniform suppliers, we help you stand out from the crowd by designing and producing garments that are tailored to your school. Our overriding principle is a simple one. We want to provide high quality, affordable uniforms, in a socially responsible way, whilst supporting you through exceptional customer service.

A pioneering new research article, on SEN subjects, published in the Journal of Intellectual Disabilities explores the impact of an intervention combining music and technology on children with a dual diagnosis of autism and intellectual disabilities (ID), and excitingly reports positive outcomes, especially regarding social communication (i.e. behaviour regulation and joint attention). Although there has been much academic research conducted on the benefits of music on children with autism, this is the first study to explore the impact of a technology-mediated music-making intervention on the engagement levels and social communication skills of children with autism and ID at school.