The way I see it....with Howard Cheesman

Increase funding for learning outdoors and society will benefit into the future

LG DECLearn18a I watched with interest as two year six students trudged delightedly through the mud in their wellingtons, intent on studying the laminated sheet of bugs and creepy crawlies that they were no doubt about to try and find and identify in the pond area. Their conversation fizzed with excitement.

Last updated 19 November 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Benefits outweigh the risks on residentials – their experiences live with them forever

I would be hard pushed to recall any of the many classroom-based lessons in history that I had in my own school career, but I do vividly remember crawling around a castle in Wales and developing, through the inspired and imaginative guidance of my teacher, a real feel for how day-to-day life must have been for the English soldiers garrisoned to subdue the indigenous population.

Last updated 23 July 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Not following the in-crowd can lead to something really special

A student I remember, let’s call him Daniel, was a bright, creative and sensitive student. He was making considerable progress in learning the clarinet and could clearly have gone on to be an accomplished performer. I was however finding it difficult to get him to come along to our ensemble sessions.

Last updated 18 June 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Activities outside the main curriculum should not be shunted to the sidelines

When you look through a school prospectus, it is almost inevitable that among the illustrations chosen to promote the institution, you will come across pictures of sports teams, musical ensembles, the chess club, a writers’ group or other such activities that give the impression that the school is serious about creating an environment which develops the whole child.

Last updated 21 May 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

We seem to have ‘progressed’ right back to where we were

It’s not so long ago that we were being warned that the funding cuts to the school sports programme would decimate the progress that had been made in the last 10 years through School Sports Partnerships.

Last updated 19 February 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Gifted youngsters deserve specialist support to flourish

I write this article with music playing in the background. It was composed more than 200 years ago and is by someone many would consider to be the supreme musical genius of all time: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Last updated 22 January 2011
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Why are we spending all this money inspecting schools?

As yet I’ve not had a response but I have tried to make my own little contribution to the Government’s Spending Review.

Last updated 25 September 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Getting parents to set up their own schools is nothing new...

One of the more contentious educational issues to hit the headlines recently has been the proposal that parents should be allowed to set up and run their own schools.

Last updated 24 July 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Big ideas for the Big Society, but run by the unelected few

I ended a recent article with the prediction that yet another new model for organising schools would appear after the General Election. I didn’t realise how accurate my hunch was.

Last updated 18 June 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Let women pursue their goals

In 1967 a young postgraduate PhD student noticed what she was later to call some small unexplainable bits of “scruff” on the copious print-outs from the radio telescope she had helped to build at Cambridge.

Last updated 2 May 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

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The following blueprint for how children’s educational experience might be changed may interest you. Children can start school at the age of six but formal education does not begin until they are seven years old.

Last updated 27 March 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Another new model for our schools will be heading our way

You can tell that the major political parties are squaring up for a General Election. Their spokesmen appear on TV and outline the latest ‘solution’ to ensure higher standards in schools.

Last updated 26 February 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Accidents will happen but you can take precautions

By the time you read this, the recent spell of snowy and icy weather will either be a distant memory or it will still have us in its grip.

Last updated 5 February 2010
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

It’s time to talk, and give development of language the centre stage it deserves

I t often felt like a mantra since I must have said it a thousand times but “an effective, interesting and successful group composition comes from a high quality discussion about what you are going to do and how you will do it”. There I go again. And it was usually true. The Every Child A Talker programme will require local authorities to appoint an early language consultant with further funding to provide early language lead practitioners who will have a practical, hands-on input into what schools can do to help reluctant talkers. But even without this specific expertise some common sense measures can be taken by all of us parents and teachers. Apart from not over exposing children to passive stimuli like TV and computer games, it is worth thinking about what actually constitutes our verbal interaction with children.

Last updated 18 July 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Two-thirds of children don’t have a regular story time with their parents. Now read on

Wherever you are reading this article, I want you to settle down, ignore distractions and get yourself comfy. Done? Now I will begin.

Last updated 20 June 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

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You’ve got to feel a bit sorry for Sir Jim Rose. Curriculum change doesn’t have too good a track record and has been so frequent since the introduction of the National Curriculum in 1988.

Last updated 19 May 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk

Successful learning is about much more than just being able to measure progress

We had spent around six weeks on our investigation of the West Indian musical style of reggae. We had played it, sung it, found out about its origins and how it had evolved and isolated the main characteristics that gave the music its own unique sound and identity.

Last updated 21 April 2009
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk