Our classrooms need to change because learning doesn’t stop when the end of the school day arrives. Children need a place to communicate their thoughts, process ideas and have their questions answered immediately, not have to wait for the next day to see their teacher. We live in a world that is dominated by the need for instant communication and information at our fingertips; schools can no longer just be a physical place to learn, they need to be up in the cloud as well. Children need to be able to access their work, submit their learning and receive feedback, all on their own time – children are busy curious creatures after all! Up step Edmodo - Social Media for Education. This really was a game changer for my Year 3 flipped classroom. It was dubbed "Facebook for kids," by the children in my class and they love it and the oppportunites that it has provided for them. Edmodo is a 'work flow' solution for classrooms and it allows children to share work online, receive feedback, edit, and publish again.

With the announcement of Microsoft’s purchase of Minecraft EDU, we know that this addictive game is going to be around for much longer now we can access it in schools safely and easily. Many colleagues I’ve met have shunned the idea of using what is ultimately ‘a game’ in the classroom, but after watching how engaged the children who are playing it are, we’ve got to tap into that engagement; haven’t we? Of course we have. I've being playing around with the idea of using MinecraftEDU in school for a while now and this term I'm finally going to start crafting in class. But how can it inspire my children to create, test, explain, solve problems and work collaboratively? I'm lucky to have a 7-year-old son at home who has started this journey with me and together we've come up with some super ideas for how we could use Minecraft at school. I managed to survive my first night on Survival mode and I'm now the proud owner of several diamonds, crafted myself a diamond sword (my son was very jealous), but I did unfortunately die when lava fell on my head - don't mine vertically, lesson learned

Where did we begin? Setting the scene. There are many examples of schools using 1:1 iPads, ChromeBooks etc, but I wanted our 1:1 project to be tailored specifically to our school. One of the main points to consider is - it really needs to be personalised; there is no one size fits all approach here. What our school requires from them will differ greatly from what other schools want out of them. There is no right or wrong way to implement them and the outcome will greatly influence how you proceed with other classes in your school. My Year 4 classroom was the research class for this project for a term and a half and we have a firm plan for September on how we will transfer them to the next teacher. I'm confident that the children were making the most use out of the iPads in my Year 4 class and as Computing leader; I will need to ensure they keep that level of use in Year 5 and beyond. How will they cope at high school, if they don't have a 1:1 iPad scheme? An interesting thought to consider.

Giving children a reason to use technology. I've been striving to make sure that the children have real connected purposes for learning in our classroom this year, as linking as many skills from as many subjects in one project is so very important. I feel this is essential for learning in every classroom, whether in Primary or Secondary schools. Children need to see the point of learning these skills - "what are people using these skills for right now in the world and what can I use them for?" Thinking more about the outcome and then working backwards to find the skills needed, is something we need to do more in our schools. Don't ruin the surprise for the children; allow the learning to be a surprise.

Education is changing, or is it? Education is changing and technology seems to driving this forward in many ways, but we seem to be held back by past decision with our buildings, infrastructure and methods of teaching. The way our classrooms are set out, usually with four walls, a huge window, poor lighting, whiteboard at the front and even rooms with a teacher's desk at the front. Children will face the teacher, the teacher has the knowledge and the children will sit quietly, listen and learn from the teacher. Why do we still do this, when children now have access to more knowledge in their pockets than they have ever done? The introduction of smart phones in classrooms is something that still needs to be developed further in schools. We still ban devices in school when instead we should be using them to learn. Systems need to be put into place to allow children of all ages to utilise the technology, and in most cases it is better than what we have in schools. Yes, the children may text or use Instagram, but don’t we when we’re in the process of learning? Short brain breaks to check the news, weather, or the now unfashionable Facebook? Give the children time in the lesson to do just this and then the technology becomes part of everyday learning, a tool to be used with a multitude of uses in and outside the classroom. We need to start looking ahead and redesigning our schools and what they look like. Believe it or not we could create something stunning by investing in only a few key pieces and taking some risks to try and make our schools more fluid places to learn. Investing in a large hammer, some new plaster, thinking walls, better Internet infrastructure, a watertight e-safety policy and an acceptable use policy. So where do we begin?

Do we buy technology in schools without questioning why? How many times have you been amazed by a piece of technology? If you're like me, then quite often! I love technology, I love the way it has changed the way I work, how it has inspired me and how it has enabled me to publish things I never thought possible 10 years ago. Now, let's look at the children in my class, the digital natives. The technology has always been there, they've never been in a classroom without an interactive whiteboard, laptops, iPads or a projector whirring away in the background. But how much of this technology has been used to improve their learning outcomes? Using technology in the classroom needs a complete change in mindset and rethink of your approach to children's learning.

Pause, Rewind My Teacher: A Flipped Classroom What is Flipped Learning - Is it really a new concept? Have you watched a YouTube video to learn a new skill and then fixed your car, sketched a portrait or baked a cake? How many times did you pause and rewind different parts of the clip? The biggest advantage of flipped learning is that 'You can pause and rewind your teacher.' Flipped learning is not a new concept, nor is it about filming every lesson and publishing it online for the children to view prior to coming to class. Believe it or not we have been flipping our classrooms for years - sending home a passage of text to read, researching a point in history or practising multiplication tables. This is all learning outside the classroom - at home, on the bus, before a dance class or football practise. Flipped learning enables children to complete the knowledge and understanding aspects of a learning journey OUTSIDE of class time. They are then ready to apply, analyse and evaluate the concepts INSIDE the classroom. The traditional method of ‘chalk and talk’ and the perception of the teacher as a ‘font of all knowledge’ is removed completely. The teacher’s role is to engage the children in higher-order thinking. Let’s flip Blooms Taxonomy.

A short user guide or handout for setting up your flipped classroom

Here is a guide to all the venues at The European Championships. Each slide is full of facts and figures for each venue.

The second most popular football tournament is of course the European Championship organised by UEFA. The tournament kick-off is on June 10 and ends on July 10. An assembly guide

The Prime Minister David Cameron has said people should be able to vote on whether the UK should be a member of the European Union or EU. The public vote, which is called a referendum, will happen on Thursday, 23 June 2016. What's Happening? What's a referendum? Which countries are involved? What will the question be? What do people want to leave? Why do people want to stay?

Here is a complete CPD Presentation based around the theory of Flipped Learning Have you watched a YouTube video to learn a new skill and then fixed your car, sketched a portrait or baked a cake?  How many times did you pause and rewind different parts of the clip?  The biggest advantage of flipped learning is that 'You can pause and rewind your teacher.'   Flipped learning enables children to complete the knowledge and understanding aspects of a learning journey OUTSIDE of class time. They are then ready to apply, analyse and evaluate the concepts INSIDE the classroom.

Here you will find a guide to The Olympic Games 2016 Where will it take place? The Opening Ceremony Where has it taken place? First Olympic Games How many Athletes? How many Sports? New sports Venues Tickets Cost Building the Games Olympic Slogan Mascots

Here we have a fully editable assembly based around how chocolate is made - Harvesting - Fermenting - Drying - Roasting - Cracking and Winnowing - Grinding and Conching - Tempering - Moulding - Wrapping

This is a very detailed presentation with 36 customizable slides, including: What is modern slavery? Bonded Labour Domestic work and slavery Child slavery Forced Labour Slavery in global supply chains Human Trafficking Child and Forced Marriage Descent Based Slavery Slavery in the uk