Education
Brush up your Shakespeare this March

Celebrating Shakespeare’s legacy: 400 years on
EVERY primary school in the UK can book their place on the first-ever virtual school trip to the childhood home of William Shakespeare, as part of an innovative digital launch programme planned for Shakespeare Week in March 2016.
School children from Shakespeare’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon will become tour guides in the digital production, which will be hosted by Baroness Floella Benjamin. There will also be an opportunity to take part in a live Q&A with a panel of experts, chaired by Baroness Floella.
Shakespeare Week was established by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in 2014 as a way to share and celebrate Shakespeare’s creative legacy with every primary school child in the country. This year, more than 1.5 million children in 10,000 primary schools are expected to take part in Shakespeare Week.
Vote for your favourite Shakespeare play
Over the next few months, children will also get the chance to vote for a Shakespeare play they would most like to see, live in their classrooms. Excerpts from the top three plays voted by children will be brought to life by a troop of actors and beamed into classrooms during Shakespeare Week. To help them decide, teachers will be able to download free resources available on the Shakespeare Week website.
Passport to Shakespeare
Children will have access to a free Passport to Shakespeare, containing fun activities for the whole family including information about how to take part in free Shakespeare-themed events at public libraries and cultural attractions near where they live.
Free award-winning resources for schools
Shakespeare Week has recently won Best Educational Initiative in the Museum and Heritage Awards for its resources, impact and engagement – offering teachers a wealth of fun free resources across every curriculum subject, including new KS1 and KS2 resources for 2016.
Jacqueline Green, head of learning and participation at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust said: “As we welcome the world to Stratford-upon-Avon next year in celebration of 400 years of Shakespeare’s legacy, we are taking young William Shakespeare’s world live to classrooms all across the UK. Through Shakespeare Week we will bring his legacy to brilliant life to inspire young minds across the nation.”
Shakespeare Week is a free scheme for primary school children and their families, run by the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. To register, access free resources and take part in Shakespeare Week 2016, visit www.shakespeareweek.org.uk
Education
Teacher’s gruelling challenge to help visually impaired child

TEACHER Sion Jenkins is running 100 laps around a famous Pembrokeshire landmark to raise money to help a visually impaired child in his class.
He is aiming to raise £2,000 on crowd funder platform Go Fund Me by doing laps of Carew Castle and Mill in just 24 hours, about one hundred miles in total.
Sion said: “I decided that I wanted to raise money to help purchase a trike/adapted bike to help a visually impaired child in my class.
“Due to his sight, he isn’t able to ride a bike – and is desperate to gain some independence/confidence and ride a bike like every other child.
“On the back of a challenge set by school, to complete the ‘100 challenge’ as a tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, I decided to tie the two together and have a go at completing this gruelling challenge.
“100 laps of Carew Castle and Mill will total just under 100 miles – in less than 24 hours.”
If you would like to contribute to this epic challenge this is the link:
Education
Schools partnership promotes the benefits of outdoor learning

OUTDOOR learning across the county has received a welcome boost over the past 12 months as a result of additional funding secured by the Pembrokeshire Outdoor Schools (PODS) project, which has covered the cost of a Co-ordinator working directly with schools.
Thanks to financial backing from the People’s Postcode Local Trust and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Trust, the PODS Co-ordinator has been able to help with the delivery of high quality, curriculum-linked learning experiences in school grounds and local outdoor spaces.
Part of the Co-ordinator’s role is also to bring together local and national organisations, including Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority’s Discovery team, teachers and head teachers. Pooling their diverse knowledge and expertise, the partnership seeks to share good practice and promote the benefits of taking lessons outdoors.
Pembrokeshire Outdoor Schools Co-ordinator Bryony Rees said: “Last summer, the Welsh Government recognised the importance of outdoor learning in the post-lockdown return to school. We have been working hard to support this by giving children and teachers increased opportunities to take their learning outdoors.
“We have already engaged with a number of schools across Pembrokeshire and produced some live webinars. Supporting resources for these can be found on HWB. This has made it possible to reach out to even more schools with practical information, inspiration and advice on delivering outdoor learning programmes.
“Several schools have taken the opportunity to develop their school grounds to support outdoor learning and more recently, Neyland Community School has introduced outdoor lessons every Friday.”
During the most recent lockdown, work has continued online and the PODS website has been developed to provide teachers with some learning resources. Outdoor learning ideas and inspiration for teachers and parents are also shared on the PODS Facebook page (Pembrokeshire Outdoor Schools) and on Twitter @PembsOutdoorSch.
Education
Education announcement welcomed by Pembrokeshire County Council

THE LOCAL AUTHORITY has said that it welcomes the Welsh Government’s announcement today (Friday, 29th January) that schools will be the first to reopen when Wales’ current lockdown restrictions are lifted.
First Minister Mark Drakeford has announced that the ‘alert level four’ restrictions will remain in Wales for three more weeks but following that period, there would be a ‘phased and flexible back-to-school approach if coronavirus cases continue to fall’.
He said primary school children would be the first to return, if the public health situation continues to improve, and that students studying vocational qualifications would also be among those prioritised for the phased return to colleges.
Mr Drakeford said: “We’ve seen a really welcome fall in cases of the virus all over Wales, but they are still too high and the NHS continues to be under intense pressure.
“We need to keep the lockdown restrictions in place for a little while longer to help us bring rates of the virus down further. If we can do this, we will create the headroom we need to get children back to school after half term – starting with the youngest at primary schools.
“We will work with teachers, colleges, local authorities to plan for the safe return of children to school over the next couple of weeks and keep parents updated.”
Pembrokeshire’s Director of Education, Steven Richards-Downes, will be meeting virtually with Welsh Government ministers today together with other Education Directors.
Mr Richards-Downes said: “We welcome the Welsh Government’s statement that schools will be the first to reopen, whenever that may be.
“We will continue to work directly with unions, headteachers, governing bodies and other Council services to ensure that schools are Covid-safe when they are re-opened.
“Distance learning will continue for now and parents should contact their schools directly if they have any queries regarding this.”
He added: “Any parent experiencing difficulties with digital exclusion should contact their school directly.
Free school meals payments will continue to be paid to families who have applied for them, as planned. The next payments will be made on Thursday, 4th February.
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