Two copies of the summary version of the Factsheets is being sent to all Cambridgeshire schools, one for the Headteacher and one for the Chair of Governors.
To help schools avoid costly mistakes in the procurement and management of resources and support for ICT, a guidance document 'Understanding the risk' has been produced. The document gives electronic links to sources of advice and gives examples of some recent examples of the consequences of unwise purchasing or support decisions. A hard copy of the document is being sent out to all Cambridgeshire schools this week, an electronic version is available via the Education Portal (www.ccceducation.net) by searching for Resource ID 2567.
Story Circles
A number of Starz subscribing schools have participated in collaborative story writing over the past few weeks. Stories are now complete in draft form, and are in the process of being perfected for publishing on the Starz site after Easter. Those schools who did take part, please remember to visit the forum to leave your comments on the projects and suggestions for next year.
Battle of the Poets
Please can we remind the 12 classes who are participating in this year's 'Battle' that a maximum of 2 poems should be submitted to the Starz team by Friday 14th March if they wish for Andrew Fusek-Peters to comment on them in his masterclass. Please send your poems, the theme of which is 'Family', by email to projects@starz.org.uk Andrew Fusek-Peters, 'The Tall Poet', will be holding his masterclass by a flashmeeting web conference on Monday 17th March starting at 1.30pm. If you are taking part in this project, can we ask you please to mark this date in your diaries.
Film Boxes for Loan
A number of 'Film Boxes' are available for free loan to Starz subscribing schools. The boxes contain a range of items, from a Sanyo Xacti Video Camera for shooting films and taking still photos, through to a Praxinoscope and Zeotrope to demonstrate the principles of stop frame animation. Any Starz schools interested in borrowing a box are asked to contact projects@starz.org.uk in the first instance for further information.
Starz Detectives
The next Starz Detective session has been booked for Wednesday 19th March. The theme will be 'Patrolling as a Police Community Support Officer'. The session lasts for just over one hour, during which time children role-play as a PCSO on patrol dealing with a number of different incidents where they advise the control room what is happening and what actions they are taking. Real PCSOs will be present in the control room and will guide the children through the activity advising on why some behaviour is deemed anti-social and how the Police /Law would respond in real case scenarios. For more information about this activity, or to book a place on this month's session please email admin@starz.org.uk
Please note that registration for the event needs to take place at least two days prior to the event taking place to allow for the preparation of the session.
