Education On Fire - Sharing creative and inspiring learning in our schools

During the last half term holiday we did a 4 day ukulele challenge with Paul Mansell a ukulele expert and author of the tutor book Ukulele School. It was great fun and Paul gave Carol Aveyard and Mark Taylor (creators of Primary Music on Fire) beginner lessons live online! We started with the very first steps, learned about the instrument and covered 4 songs. To watch and find out more please visit Day 1 ukulele challenge #website   Primary Music on Fire   Show Sponsor           National Association for Primary Education Our aim is to achieve a higher priority for the education of children from birth to 13. High quality learning in the early years of life is vitally important to the creation of an educated society. Young children are not simply preparing for the future, they are living a never to be repeated time of life and the best way to learn is to live.

Paul Mansell   As an author I have a publishing deal with Kevin Mayhew Ltd and my first book ‘Classical Uke’ was published in December 2017. The book has been a great success and subsequently my publisher commissioned me to write a ukulele tutorial book. The result was ‘Ukulele School’ which was published in March 2019. ​In March 2019 I was the first ukulele player to ever be featured on the cover of the world famous BMG Magazine. ​I am a regular columnist for several magazines including ‘Ukulele Magazine’, ‘Ukulele Bonanza’ and ‘BMG Magazine. Several pieces from my new book ‘Classical Uke’ are featured in the VCM (Victoria College of Music) Ukulele exam syllabus.  I am a proud member of The Registry of Guitar Teachers (RGT).  I am an experienced vocalist, songwriter and music producer and have previously been signed to Firestation Records as a singer/songwriter. My songs have been played on Radio 1 and other local BBC stations and, as a songwriter, I have been interviewed by the BBC and featured in PRS magazine. Ukulele School   Ukulele School is aimed at anyone teaching ukulele in primary schools. Using ‘Ukulele School’  you can teach the ukulele to meet National Curriculum requirements for Key Stages 1 and 2. Even teachers who have never played the ukulele before can deliver exciting and rewarding lessons that children will really enjoy! Ukulele School has 12 catchy songs that children will love to play and sing, even if they are complete beginners. It has been carefully arranged by professional ukulele player and teacher Paul Mansell, to take children from playing just one chord, through to more challenging songs. Paul has drawn on his many years’ experience of teaching the ukulele to ensure that you will teach the correct techniques, along with the basics of music notation, whilst using a fun approach. https://www.paulmansell.co.uk   You can watch Paul give Carol Aveyard and Mark Taylor live ukulele lessons as part of the Education on Fire 4 Day Ukulele challenge. https://www.facebook.com/EducationOnFire/   Show Sponsor           National Association for Primary Education NAPE believes in a child centred approach to education with a broad creative curriculum that has a strong emphasis on the arts. As such we are delighted to sponsor the Education on Fire Podcast Network. To find out more please visit www.nape.org.uk

Thank you to everyone who has taken part in this English & literacy season on the Education on Fire Podcast. Here are the links to all the episodes in this series. 087: LitFilmFest English & Literacy Season 6 Launch 088: Tagtiv8 with Bryn Llewellyn 089: Planet Poetry & Xientifica SOS with Daniel Phelps 090: Enchanted Wanderers with Emmy & Taran 091: EducationCity 092: Mr Hunt from the Front 093: Write On! Webb 094: Reading for Pleasure – Prof. Teresa Cremin 095: My education expert discusses English and literacy 096: Purple Mash & 2Simple with Danica Chapman Mark Warner from Teaching Packs has given Education on Fire a coupon code for you to join their membership of Teaching Packs Plus for just £19.50. Please click below for details. www.teachingpacks.co.uk/educationonfire   Show Sponsor           National Association for Primary Education Our aim is to achieve a higher priority for the education of children from birth to 13. High quality learning in the early years of life is vitally important to the creation of an educated society. Young children are not simply preparing for the future, they are living a never to be repeated time of life and the best way to learn is to live. www.nape.org.uk

Danica Chapman is the Regional Professional Development Manager at 2Simple covering London North and East (UK). Danica was a primary school teacher for 23 years and has extensive experience working in educational technology – both developing resources and delivering high quality CPD in her area. She works hard supporting schools with their use of Purple Mash to ensure they get the best value out of their investment.                     www.2simple.com Social Media info: https://www.facebook.com/2Simpleuk https://www.facebook.com/2simplePurpleMash/  (Purple Mash teachers group) https://twitter.com/2simpleSoftware

Peter Cansell talks to me about his thoughts on the English & literacy season so far. Peter is my resident education expert. The person who provides the bigger picture and will tell me that you can’t just play music all day at school other subjects are important too!   Peter has been in education professionally for 35 years, teaching in middle schools in Oxford, doing advisory work, teaching higher education and as a Primary Headteacher at Harwell Primary School. He retired from that post in September 2014, but has continued as Chair of OPHTA (Oxfordshire Primary Headteachers’ Association), was elected to become Chair of the National Network of Chairs of Headteachers’ Groups in June 2014 and was delighted to have become a NAPE council member this year, serving on the editorial board for Primary First. In January of 2015 he co-founded the Oxford School of Thought, an independent education think tank. He is a trustee and chairs the management committee of another charity, Full Circle, which is well regarded for its ground breaking intergenerational work.   Show Sponsor           National Association for Primary Education Our aim is to achieve a higher priority for the education of children from birth to 13. High quality learning in the early years of life is vitally important to the creation of an educated society. Young children are not simply preparing for the future, they are living a never to be repeated time of life and the best way to learn is to live. www.nape.org.uk  

It was my privilege to be at the NAPE Annual Schiller Lecture last week to listen to Prof. Teresa Cremin speak on the topic – Reading for Pleasure: developing readers for life.                                 You can find out more about Teresa Cremin on the Open University website http://www.open.ac.uk/people/tmc242#tab1 https://researchrichpedagogies.org/research/team/reading-for-pleasure   National Association for Primary Education are the sole sponsor of the Education on Fire Podcast Network and it is my pleasure to be able to share one of their events with you to support this English & literacy season.

Melissa’s goal at Write On! Webb is to serve Parent Educators and their elementary and middle school children who long for support in the area of writing — but, not just learning to write well – actually enjoying the process, too!  Through live educational webinars, digital courses, multitudes of writing aids and resources, as well as interacting with a community of like-minded, family-loving, kid-centered moms, Melissa inspires and empowers all who travel down the wild and wonderful parenting path of home study. Melissa Webb: entrepreneur, credentialed teacher, author, and parent. In all of these capacities, I work hard positively impacting the lives of children. Do you feel it is our responsibility and privilege to empower and engage today’s young learners? Me, too, which is why I created Write On! Webb. Since the summer of 2017, through my online community and instructional video lessons, I have been igniting children’s curiosity,  knowledge, and passion for writing. I’ve grown from classroom teacher > homeschool facilitator > homeschool mom > online instructor > home-based entrepreneur Why my heart belongs to devoted homeschooling families Wonderful (simple) ways to develop strong young writers at home Workable strategies to apply to weekly writing lessons  Why I use writing communities to support and encourage homeschooling families Publication of my first children’s picture book – coming Summer 2019.   writeonwebb.com https://www.facebook.com/writeonwebb/ https://www.instagram.com/writeonwebb/  https://twitter.com/writeonwebb Show sponsor               National Association for Primary Education Our aim is to achieve a higher priority for the education of children from birth to 13. High quality learning in the early years of life is vitally important to the creation of an educated society. Young children are not simply preparing for the future, they are living a never to be repeated time of life and the best way to learn is to live.   We have some FREE English & literacy resources for you to download please click the link below to find out more. https://www.educationonfire.com/blog/    

Simon (Mr Hunt from the Front) recently shot to international stardom as the dance floss teacher, although he does teach from time to time! He recently won the Manchester Evening News School Awards in the ‘Inspirational Teacher of the Year’ category. Simon is an SLE and Year 4 teacher at Tottington Primary School. He has also taught in Reception, Year 3 and 6 in his teaching career so far. Through his work on poetry, he has spoken at the Superpod6 conference in Seattle USA alongside the cast and crew of the documentary Blackfish and help change EU parliamentary Law! He also loves using technology to enhance the teaching and learning and shares his thoughts and ideas on his Facebook page @mrhuntsideas. This February, he was a guest on the BBC Live lesson expert panel, talking about literacy in primary education. Mr Hunt from the Front.   Simon Hunt mrhuntfromthefront.com Facebook= @mrhuntsideas Twitter= @simonjameshunt       Show sponsor               National Association for Primary Education Our aim is to achieve a higher priority for the education of children from birth to 13. High quality learning in the early years of life is vitally important to the creation of an educated society. Young children are not simply preparing for the future, they are living a never to be repeated time of life and the best way to learn is to live.   We have some FREE English & literacy resources for you to download please click the link below to find out more. https://www.educationonfire.com/blog/  

Haylie Taylor has 13 years’ experience in teaching, 10 of these in primary education. She is passionate about helping other teachers with their day-to-day jobs and ensuring students’ success. She is driven by her passion to continually develop instructional techniques in the classroom and has experience working with children of many ages and abilities.   Haylie now works for EducationCity who are passionate about providing engaging, educational resources and games for students aged 3-12 years, as well as time-saving tools that support teachers in the classroom and at home. www.educationcity.com Twitter: @EducationCity Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/educationcityuk   Show sponsor             National Association for Primary Education Our aim is to achieve a higher priority for the education of children from birth to 13. High quality learning in the early years of life is vitally important to the creation of an educated society. Young children are not simply preparing for the future, they are living a never to be repeated time of life and the best way to learn is to live.   We have some FREE English & literacy resources for you to download please click the link below to find out more. https://www.educationonfire.com/blog/  

        Two primary school teachers from Devon, Emmy and Taran, make up the Enchanted Wanderers. At their core, they just want to help children to grow; grow with self- confidence and self-belief in their own voice and ideas and to use this to empower their future learning. Contrary to the serious tone of this statement, they to do this in a way that is fun and creative for all involved. With stories and storytelling as the root, the Enchanted Wanderers use art, circus, music and drama to produce a space that immerses children into new worlds. A space in which children can be themselves and express their ideas in ways that suit them best. A space that inspires children to create and combine, learn and grow. Within the workshops, children learnt how to make their own pieces of magical art, conjured up circus tricks that led them through pivotal story moments and added musical accompaniment to deepen the mood and atmosphere of their stories. Throughout the day, the children got to experience new activities, solve problems, make friends, tell stories and be the leaders of their own learning. It all ended with the opportunity to share their stories, creations and/or circus skills in a child led show for the parents. Following their first tour of workshops around Devon and Somerset, the Enchanted Wanderers had acquired a plethora of stories from children who had been inspired to write and they felt that more should be done with these stories to really show the children that what they create is valued and important. Soon followed the next branch of Enchanted Wanderers who have created a platform for children’s stories to reach the world. Teachers, parents and children can all send stories and Emmy and Taran will re-tell them on their YouTube channel. As YouTube’s importance grows, stories need to remain relevant and accessible. There is more to come from the Enchanted Wanderers with books, new workshops and a few extra little secrets sprouting some roots. Schools in Australia are encouraged to contact Enchanted Wanderers throughout 2019 to book their workshop. Schools in England are encouraged to get in touch about availability in 2020. While schools all across the world should email about availability to have their children’s stories read online by these international storytellers. https://www.enchantedwanderers.com https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_SxNfXTRRkJc_8ew9cw0_w www.facebook.com/enchantedwanderers www.instagram.com/enchantedwanderers   Show sponsor             National Association for Primary Education                                   Details about Christian Schiller and his work