Scroll to view the complete collection of our teacher blog posts. You’ll find posts on a range of topics, from updates on the latest Boomerang products to Growth Mindset tips. Enjoy! Take a look at all of our blog posts here.

A Vital Time for Our Planet

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The COP27 climate summit took place in Egypt in November, with leaders from around the world coming together to discuss a plan to address the climate emergency.

This year, a historic agreement was reached to create a fund dedicated to helping vulnerable countries cope with financial losses brought about by climate change. For a long time, there has been concern that not enough help has been given by wealthy countries (that contribute the most to pollution and emissions) to poorer countries who contribute less to the climate emergency but are more adversely affected by climate change and climate-related disasters.

However, the summit was criticised for the lack of progress that has been made in cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

Is progress being made?

For nearly three decades, the United Nations has brought together almost every country from around the world to a global climate summit – a Conference of Parties (COP).

In November 2021, the UK hosted the 26th annual summit, COP26, in Glasgow, Scotland. Leading up to COP26, the UK worked with every nation to reach agreement on how to tackle climate change.

COP26 was an international summit that had a sense of urgency, and world leaders, tens of thousands of negotiators, government representatives, businesses and citizens arrived in Scotland for thirteen days of talks.

At each COP summit, every country must agree to all parts of the plan for it to be completed, and the resulting agreement of COP26 is known as the Glasgow Climate Pact. Countries that signed it are working to implement it – but many scientists and citizens felt that the Glasgow Climate Pact wasn’t ambitious enough.

What further action is needed?

Many felt that the pact failed to address the need for our planet to stay below 1.5C of warming. This minimum temperature is essential to ensure a habitable environment for humans and animals.

The pact was also criticised for not including the phasing out of coal and fossil fuels. Instead, the wording ‘phase down’ was used. Following this year’s COP27 summit, it’s clear that ‘phasing down’ has not had the impact needed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Young people are taking the initiative

In October 2021, days before COP26, the 16th United Nations Climate Change Conference of Youth, COY16, took place and was one of the largest entirely youth-led global youth climate conferences in the world. The Global Youth Position Statement that was issued following COY16 represented the views of over 40,000 young people worldwide.

And while COP26 took place, Greta Thunberg and over 100,000 young people marched through Glasgow’s streets, calling for change.

How can you encourage youth involvement?

While COP26 significantly increased the public’s level of interest in the climate emergency, biodiversity loss, and other environmental issues, this year’s summit didn’t have the same sense of urgency.

Young people are demanding politicians act with more urgency to prevent a climate catastrophe. Many are joining local climate action groups to campaign for:

  • Greater commitment to phasing out fossil fuels and moving towards renewable energy.
  • More initiatives to preserve and restore natural habitats and wildlife.
  • A faster shift to a more equal and nature focused economic system.
  • A cap to global temperature rise, keeping it below 1.5C.

To assist, educate and inform about this vital subject, Boomerang has created student climate action planners. We’re working with ypte (Young Peoples Trust for the Environment) as our principal content partner, a leading UK charity set up to encourage understanding of the environment among young people.

Plan for a sustainable future

Our student planners contain a wealth of content designed to support teaching and learning. We work to stimulate student interest and help to navigate them through their school year. We also assist in the meeting of Ofsted judgement criteria. Our student diary content is reviewed and refreshed each year to ensure it remains relevant and engaging for students.

Click here to view:

The Secondary Design Planner

The Classic Planner

The Primary Planner

If you’d like to know more about our secondary planner content for 2022/2023, please get in touch on 01252 368 328

Or visit our website, where you can explore the diary content in digital format at https://boomeranged.co.uk/portfolio/secondary-design-school-planners/

Sport in Schools – Why football is such a great sport for girls

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Women’s and girls’ football has been steadily growing in popularity in recent years thanks to higher standards of play and increased TV coverage of games.

This culminated in the Lionesses’ incredible victory at the Euros this year, inspiring countless girls to take up the sport. But how accessible to girls is football as a PE subject in schools?

The history of women’s football

Women playing football isn’t a new development. One of the first recorded women’s matches was a game billed as Scotland v England held at Edinburgh’s Hibernian Park on 9 May 1881.

The popularity of women’s football grew during the First World War when women took on jobs traditionally held by men. Thousands of women worked in munitions factories, and workplace teams were formed.

The most famous of these was the Dick, Kerr Ladies football team. Dick, Kerr and Company was a locomotive and tramcar manufacturer that switched factory production to supply ammunition during the war.

In 1920, 53,000 spectators watched a game between the Dick, Kerr Ladies and St. Helens. But these record crowds were short-lived as on 5 December 1921, The FA banned women from playing on FA-affiliated pitches, encouraging associated clubs to follow suit.

Although The FA stated, ‘the game of football is quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged’, it’s likely there was a financial motivation. Women’s games were generally played for charitable causes, unlike the commercial men’s game, which could bring in revenue for The FA.

The ban remained in place for 50 years, making it a mammoth struggle for women’s football ever to reach the same level as the men’s game.

Football for girls in schools

In 2020, The FA set out a new initiative, Inspiring Positive Change – a 2024 goal for every primary school-aged girl to have equal access to football in schools and clubs.

The FA found that while 72% of girls played as much football as boys in primary school, the figure falls to 44% when in secondary school. Only 40% of secondary schools in the UK offer girls the same access to football via after-school clubs as boys.

The FA commented: ‘at a practical level, this means embedding football for girls in schools, as part of the PE curriculum and in after-school sessions.’

However, the Department for Education has refused to guarantee girls will be given the same opportunity for football lessons in school as boys. The current guidance is
to allow girls equal opportunities to participate in comparable sporting activities, such as
netball, badminton, tennis, and rounders within the national curriculum.

Currently, it’s up to schools to decide which sports they teach.

Benefits of girls playing football

It’s been shown that playing football provides girls with far more than just physical benefits.

Being part of a football team has been proven to boost self-esteem and improve confidence in girls. They feel more motivated and empowered to achieve their goals.

Playing football also develops social skills as girls learn how to work together and develop friendships. In turn, this helps to reduce anxiety.

After their stunning success at the Euros, the England women’s football team has campaigned for all girls to have the opportunity to play football at school. They also called on the government to ensure all girls can access a minimum of two hours of physical education a week.

With the FIFA Women’s World Cup to look forward to next year, it’s likely that even more girls will be inspired to take up the sport.

How we can all help to initiate change

student planner mental welling
Planning to incorporate two hours of physical education into your timetable is as vital as planning an academic schedule.

That’s why our secondary school planners support learning and development with healthy lifestyle and mental wellbeing resource.

The Reference Section at the back of our secondary planners cover all aspects of healthy living, from eating well, exercising and getting the right amount of sleep to exploring the growth mindset and understanding how to improve mental health.

If you want to know more about our secondary planner content for 2022/2023, please get in touch on 01252 368 328 or visit our website where you can explore the diary content in digital format at https://boomeranged.co.uk/portfolio/secondary-design-school-planners/

Lockdown Leavers’ Hoodies – 5 reasons why your school really needs a school hoodie in 2020

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School hoodies are a wonderful way to keep school memories alive, particularly in 2020 – the year of lockdown and COVID-19 – This is the first time any of us have experienced a pandemic of this nature in our lifetimes. 

What will your students remember?

Learning in bubbles, home school, no bonfire night, no school trips, no leavers’ assembly, the constant chant of ‘wash your hands’ and socially distanced playtimes. It’s fair to say that leavers in 2020 and 2021 will have very different memories of their final year at school than any other year this decade.

Schools, along with every other business need to adapt. With normal fundraising events having to be cancelled or ‘Zoomed’, there needs to be a brand new way of running these events with some serious thinking outside the box. 

One thing’s for sure though and that is that the school hoodies of 2020 and 2021 can go ahead unhinged and actually will become one of the most important ways of capturing COVID-19 school memories.

There are 5 reasons why your school needs a school hoodie in 2020 and 2021. Here they are:

1] “I Was A Lockdown Student”

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that hasn’t been seen since the Spanish Flu in 1918. This will most definitely be something to tell their children and grandchildren about. Personalise your school hoodie in 2020 and 2021 to show that your students went to school during lockdown. 

Here are some ways you can personalise your school hoodies during COVID-19

  • ‘Lockdown Leavers’
  • ‘Class of 2020/2021 ‘Lockdown Students’
  • ‘Socially Distanced Class of 2020/2021’

 

2] Baby It’s Cold Inside

One of the ways schools have had to adapt to avoid the spreading of the virus, is to keep windows and doors open to keep the fresh air flowing and any germs at bay. This means that classrooms are cold! It’s difficult to learn when you’re cold. Give your students a team hoodie to pop on. (Or a sweatshirt) Keep spirits and learning high.

 

3] No Zoom Meeting Required, Design Online Now In Your Lunch Break 🙂

Jump online and build your own school hoodie using our Leavers Hoodie Builder. We have some super on-trend colours for the base of the hoodie, more colours for the embroidery and lots of room for personalisation. Whether you want a standard hoodie, a zip up hoodie or a sweatshirt, it’s so easy and quick to order yours with full personalisation right now.

4] Hoodie Sales Can Replace Bake Sale Profits

With school fundraising events being forced to cancel or adapt to digital formats, one particular fundraising event which normally happens throughout the school calendar, is the Bake Sale! It may not bring in a huge amount of profit but the pounds throughout the year certainly add up and this is one event that can not be replicated online. 

Counteract the loss of bake sale revenue by selling hoodies to every student. It won’t replace the taste of a gooey brownie but a bright cool hoodie to wear in school every day may just top even that!

5] We’re In This Together

Our schools are now ordering hoodies for all their students during term time rather than just for their leavers at the end of the school year. Being in the middle of a pandemic requires a level of camaraderie and change. 

The ‘We’re in this together’ spirit can really lift us. Everything is different right now. Being taken to school with mum and dad wearing a mask. Leaving school in a one way system and walking out to face lots of masked parents standing socially distanced apart can feel daunting. 

Rules have changed. The classrooms are cold? Let the kids wear their school hoodies in as bright a colour as you can muster. It’s only November? Pop the christmas tree up and fill it with as many baubles that will fit! Let’s keep spirits high and get by with as much camaraderie as we can.

Everything You Need To Know When Creating Your School Planner

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‘Homework Diary’ ‘Reading Diary’, ‘Secondary or Primary Planner’, the name differs depending on the school. In essence they all mean the same thing but my how they’ve changed over the years. Not simply just a week view diary, the school planner is now a carefully crafted weekly school navigator working in close alignment with the National Curriculum, UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service), stem4 (the Mental Health in Teenagers Charity) and St. John’s Ambulance. 

If you are tasked with organising your school’s planner this year, then make a cuppa, sit back and read everything you need to know about school planners, what to include and how to order. If you have any questions, as always, please do get in touch. We’re all working from home but still going full throttle.

10 Things To Think About When Organising Your School Planner

1] Choose A Core Function Of The Planner

The 3 core functions of the Primary School Planner are generally…

i) The Reading Diary – Key Stage 1 & 2 require national curriculum specific books to be read before the children can decide their own reading material. The reading diary is an important way of checking how quickly the students are progressing.

ii) The Spelling Lists – For the early stages when spelling tests feature every Monday afternoon.

iii) Parent, Teacher communication. 

Secondary students tend to use their planners as more of a diary, with a week to view and a space to set weekly goals and then keep them accountable by ticking them off at the end of the week.

The Parent Teacher communication is also a key component for this age group.

But it’s the extra pages that add the goodness. 

 

2] Teach Kids Ways To Get InformationTo Stick

Include an important section on Learning and Revision.  An abundance of scientific research means that we are well equipped to teach children of all ages how their brains can retain information. Having this knowledge gives all students a head start when prepping for exams. Understanding the simple ‘revisiting and reviewing’ formula can structure their revision accordingly. 

Here is the formula that we include in the Boomerang Revision Help pages:

>> Review your learning an hour or so after a lesson

>> Then review again, within a further 24 hours

>> Then again, a week later

>> Finally review again in a month or so

As well as the scientific proof that will help pop a child’s learning into a compartment in their brain, other useful tips will help. Teaching them how to write efficient notes, different recall methods and how to grasp the bigger picture in terms of where each piece of learning fits in, all give a solid and structured approach to revision and will see your students getting through exams a lot smoother than without.

3] Be Sure To Add Important Guidance On How Students Can Manage Their Digital Footprint

It’s so easy to get swept up in every new hot social media platform. Kids have moved from Facebook and Instagram to TikTok. Where their parents idolised pop stars and rock stars, kids now favour YouTubers with many kids venturing into having their very own YouTube channels. 

Include pages in the planner that will prompt a more cautious mindset when posting online. The knowledge and reminder that digital footprints stick around forever is crucial for kids when they might otherwise be so swept up in posting for ‘likes’ that they forget that their future boss will one day be taking a glimpse before deciding whether to take them on.

4] Open Up The World

Our Boomerang planners have a great section all based on ‘Your Future’. These are the pages that can make a ‘sliding doors’ difference to a student’s entire life. Providing the information that we already host on our Oodles site clearly maps out all the potential paths that secondary year school can lead to. Whether they want to continue with study, work or do a combination of both, this section of their school diary provides a helpful starting point. We cover GCSE’s, A Levels, T Levels, UCAS Tariff points and Technical/Vocational paths. We also include important milestones; every year of secondary school when they need to make certain decisions about their path. This section is one of the most valuable sections of the diary. 

Think about how you would like to incorporate this section into your own planners or simply choose a Boomerang secondary school planner and use our already crafted pages.

 

5] Give Your School Children’s Mental Health The Recognition It Deserves

Mental Health has thankfully become a ‘normal’ conversation. Helped along by sports personalities, the Royal family and important charities like stem4, ‘not feeling ok’ is now something that adults and children are encouraged to talk about. 

The inclusion of this important subject in your school’s planner provides a consistent reminder that it’s ok to feel anxious and it’s ok to feel low, along with some warning signs to look for and some tips to get through these feelings. We are proud to have worked with stem4, a charity that supports mental health in teenagers, for this brand new section of our planners and homework diaries. Please feel free to use our already designed pages.

6] Promote A Healthy Lifestyle

We can’t provide school planners and homework diaries to the children of today without giving important nudges towards a healthy lifestyle. Prompts to eat well, exercise regularly and get a good night’s sleep can do nothing but good. What would you like to include in your Healthy Lifestyle section? This is a section not to be left out.

 

8] Think Of Some Inspirational Quotes 

“I know the sky is not the limit because there are footprints on the Moon – and I made some of them!” Buzz Aldrin

“The future depends on what we do in the present.” Mahatma Ghandi

“Be kind whenever possible. It is always possible.” The Dalai Lama 

9] What To Include In The Diary Section Of Your Planner

In our Primary Planners we include Recommended Books at the bottom of every Reading Record page. We also include key competitions throughout the year that they may otherwise not hear about;  Song Academy Young Songwriter Competition, Space Foundation International Art Contest and Junior Bake off to name just a few.

We also include generally cool information and learning resources. Where they can learn how to code their own website or animation is amongst our favourites.

10] Primary Reference Section

The primary reference section is how you put all the information from the classroom wall into the pupil’s bag so they have everything to hand whenever beginning a piece of work at home. Fractions and conversions, triangles and quadrilaterals, Nouns and conjunctions. Give them all the tools they need so they can pull it from their bag when they get home.

How To Order Your School Planner 

You may be ready right now to order your planner, in which case give us a ring or send us a quick message and we’ll get right back to you. There is a minimum order of 40 planners so please bear this in mind. 

If you’d like to discuss some customisation options then please visit this page or send us a message. You may want a customised cover. Perhaps a cover designed by one of your students? An art competition works well here 🙂 You may want to include plastic pockets, tearable absence slips and traffic light cards. Have a chat with our Planner team and they can put everything in the right order for you. Happy Planning!

 

7 Marketing Strategies To Sell Your Yearbook – LOCKDOWN SPECIAL

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Now that you’ve spent time putting together the most awesome yearbook ever, it’s time to actually sell it!

Perhaps you’d normally gather your yearbook team in your office and enthusiastically throw around some marketing strategies as your team slowly back out of your office with a little whistle or a sudden much longed for class to attend?

Or you’d simply pop up a poster announcing the yearbooks are ready, cross your fingers and wait for sales with a slight feeling of desperation?

But not this time!

Lockdown yearbook marketing will be digital, clever and water tight, not letting any sales slip away. 


Telling students to buy a yearbook needs more thought, more emotion and more messaging coming from many different angles. We can’t just pull out our inner Yoda and tell parents what to do.

We’ve put together 7 clear actionable marketing steps to work through, to make sure you sell more yearbooks than ever this year. Carve out one week and work through one strategy each day.

In no particular order…

1] Big, bold and free advertising on Facebook 

Most of the school’s we have daily contact with have rather an active Facebook page. When it’s time to start marketing your yearbook, why not refresh your cover photo – the top banner image that sits behind your profile picture.

It can be tricky popping an image directly on here because of the custom dimension constraints but the simplest way to do this is to design the banner in Canva. Sign up for a free account and simply hit ‘Create Design’ and choose ‘Facebook Cover’. Pick a design template from the left or use a blank canvas and create your own. 

This isn’t just an announcement though, make sure you include a clear CTA (Call to action). What do you want your parents or students to do in order to buy the yearbook? Do you want them to pre-order by leaving their name and details or are you ready to sell? There should be simple clear instructions on the banner with exactly what they need to do next.

2] The Sneaky Peek

Pick out some tantalisers and show them off in a Facebook photo album or simply drip feed them through your social media channels. Use captions to tempt parents to purchase. 

>> ‘The coach ride to the best school trip of the year!’ – for all pics of the outing, order your yearbook here

>> ‘The moment before the whole class ended up in the sea’ – to see more of these, order your yearbook here

>> ‘Polly Temple being awarded Kent School’s Athletic Champion’ – for more awards from our talented sports pupils, order your yearbook here

3] Run a Competition

Now this strategy gives you a triple whammy win. 

Create a competition where the winner receives a free yearbook. Use our idea or just the framework for your own idea.

  1. Create a Photo Caption contest
  2. Announce the contest in the newsletter, in the parent email, on social media or if not in lockdown, on flyers and posters around the school.
  3. Contest: Send in any photo and write a caption. A free school yearbook will be awarded to the best entry. The rest will be shown in the yearbook, after being vetted by the yearbook team 😉
  4. Get the students to share their entries on social media using a specific hashtag #farnhamschoolyearbookcontest

Win #1 – You receive some great content for the yearbook

Win #2 – You create a buzz! Students will be sharing the funniest photos and captions with each other and they’ll be desperate to buy the yearbook whether they win or not, just to see all the funny entries.

Win #3 – Using the hashtag will generate a little hub of images on social media all grouped together. Every student will be desperate to see if they have been included in a funny photo caption! This in turn creates more buzz around the yearbook and more buzz equals more sales!

4] Plan a Sequence of Email Messages Leading To Purchase

Particularly since school closures in lockdown, the email newsletter has become the primary link between schools and parents. If your school sends out an email every Friday, make sure you write a carefully crafted email for 3 or 4 weeks as follows:

Week 1 – It’s time to pre-order the yearbook. Click here to pre-order yours now.

Week 2 – Exciting news! The yearbook has gone to print. It includes some amazing school memories that we know your children will treasure forever. Each and everyone of them is included. Have you ordered your copy yet? Click here to Buy Now.

Week 3 – And the winner of the Photo Caption is Bertie Smith with this photo and caption. Congratulations Bertie! You have won a free yearbook. See all the other hilarious entries in the yearbook. Time is running out, make sure you get your order in!

Week 4 – Last call, the deadline to purchase your yearbook is Monday, don’t miss out. 

5] Refresh The School Website

Use the messages from the sequence above to refresh your website. Include a banner at the top of your website with a clear call to action and align the messaging with the messages going out in the parent email or newsletter. You’ll be amazed at how the ‘Last Call’ email and messaging drives those final sales.

6] Create FOMO

‘Fear Of Missing Out’ is a thing. Use this proven marketing strategy well.

Drip feed tit bits across your school’s social media.

Advertise how many people have pre-ordered the yearbook with posts such as ‘297 students have ordered the 2020 yearbook’ This means that 297 will get to treasure moments like this (include a funny photo with caption). It’s not too late to order yours! Click here to Buy Now.


7] You’re on Page 5!

This particular strategy works well for smaller primary schools where the staff know every single student. It takes time but it works!

The most important part of this strategy is that every single student is included in the yearbook.

Cross check each pupil and mark down each page number in the yearbook where that pupil is featured. Then send out an email to each parent telling them that the yearbook is in print and their child is featured on pages 3 and 5. 

What parent will be able to resist?!

If you haven’t ordered your yearbook yet, there is still time! Use our resources to help you. First of all, get some ideas on how to put together the most awesome yearbook ever and then simply use our online yearbook editor to build yours right now. Get in touch with our team now for a free 10 minute demo.

9 Tips For Creating An Awesome School Yearbook

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With your class spending so much time apart already this year due to the corona virus outbreak, giving each student an extra special yearbook to mark the end of their school year is more important than ever.

Image Credit: Pinterest

 

If you’re the one tasked with the job this year we’re going to help make the whole process a lot more fun. If you get ahead now, while in lockdown, you can create a really personalised and fun yearbook and take away any last minute stress.

 

Image Credit: Pinterest

 

So in no particular order, here are 9 tips for making sure this year’s yearbook is the best yearbook ever!

1] Begin with the right intentions

Teachers face so much admin in their lives and as I write this in April 2020, they are also tasked with virtual learning and marking and keeping their students going during UK lockdown.  But it’s important not to tackle the yearbook like any other piece of admin. 

Yearbooks are treasured forever.

 

Image Credit: Pinterest

 

They tell your school’s unique story and every page is special to all your students. Make it funny, memorable and celebratory.

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory”

Dr Seuss

2] See it as historical proof that you did actually teach the future Bieber

In years to come, how will you prove that you taught  the future Prime Minister or the latest Justin Bieber? This is where the yearbook becomes vitally important!

 


3] Pick a cool template and let the pages flow

Don’t be put off by the fact that you may not be the world’s best designer. Jump onto our online Yearbook Editor and start by choosing a template out of more than 300 and off you go. Pick one of the covers, designed by our art editors, or personalise it even further with a school photo or perhaps all your students’ names. Choose from 850 fonts and make use of a bank of emojis and icons.

Some of the awesome Yearbook Covers designed by our Art Editors!

 

4] Make it a Team Effort

It needn’t be just you organising the yearbook and chasing images and quotes. Put a team together with everyone that can help. You can all log in to the online editor at the same time and add images, text, emojis and icons. You have full control over which pages each team member can edit so there’ll be no embarrassment at the end when you realise a student has changed a friend’s photo caption!

Image Credit: Pinterest

5] Ask awesome interview questions

To give your yearbook it’s own special uniqueness, you need to steer the ship. By asking the right questions, you will bring out hilarious anecdotes and cultural relevance which you just won’t get with ‘what’s your favourite colour?’ answers. Make it fun for the kids to answer their interview questions. You want them to look back and laugh hysterically as they hold their dusty yearbook in their hands (they’re old at this point). Get creative. Head to Pinterest if you need some ideas. 


Here are some of our favourites…

1] What’s the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in school this year?

2] If you and your friends could get together right now and do one activity, what would it be?

3] What TV show/ blog/video game is most talked about at school?

4] What was your favourite school dinner this year? Or your favourite packed lunch?

5] If there is someone in your class who’ll end up on TV, who would it be and what would they be doing?

6] Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?

7] If you had to pick one piece of work that you did this year, where you enjoyed doing it and you thought it was great, what would it be?

8] One teacher has to go with you and your friends trampolining and then for milkshakes, who would you pick?

9] What did you love learning about the most this year?

10] What one song from this year will remind you of your friends and being at school?

6] Let the kids lead

Once you’ve allocated roles and individual logins to the online editor, it’s time to sit back and let the kids take the lead. It’s not just the final yearbook that will bring joy, it’s the process of putting it together and you want the kids to enjoy doing it and create yet another memory in the meantime.

Treat the yearbook production as if it were a business. Here are some suggested roles and job titles:

Your role – Staff Rep 

Your job involves selecting which students have access to edit the yearbook, giving final sign off and paying the production bill.

Editor

This job will be deciding what will be included in the book, sorting the copy and ensuring all deadlines are met.

Art Director

This job will involve overseeing designs, deciding the order of pages and coordinating who works on each page.

Photo Editor

This job will be to take photos at school events and encourage other students to supply their photos on time.

Financier

This job will involve collecting payments from students and sponsors, making sure to keep accurate records. 

Sales and Marketing

This job is to sell and advertise your yearbooks to students, using our promotional material to help you.

7] Write GREAT awards

Put some thought into your awards/surveys before sending them to your students to answer. Make use of online survey programs to send out the questions and easily collate the responses. Google Forms  is a nice simple one and it’s free.

Don’t write obvious awards such as ‘The best runner’ – Go a bit deeper to make them more interesting. ‘Who would be able to get away from a cheetah the fastest on foot?’

Others..

‘Most likely to end up in a band’

‘Most likely to end up running the country’

‘Most likely to end up on stage making people howl laughing’

8] Add an ‘A Year In Review’ page

Include a page with all the highlights of that particular year. Especially when that year consists of a UK lockdown due to a virus outbreak. Ask the kids to give you their stand out points in the year since they’ll be looking at life from a different angle.

9] Give prompts when asking students to write their own captions

Encourage your students to write some great captions and give them some ideas to work with. Writing your caption is like writing that first paragraph in your CV. It always makes people feel instantly uncomfortable. Show some really good examples. There are so many on Pinterest. The best ones are the funniest so encourage some uplifting spirit when tackling this one.

Think about using a virtual signing tool like Kudoboard. Great for hosting virtual yearbook signings, where students can say goodbye to each other and celebrate their achievements in a remote & supportive way.

If you want to get cracking on your yearbook right now, get in touch with our team and book in for a quick demo on the online editor. Then simply put together a team and off you go!

Header Image Photo Credit: Image by Bev from Pixabay

 

How Schools Can Benefit From Using A School Planner

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Whether you are a Primary or Secondary school, your Teachers, Students and Parents would benefit from using a school planner for so many reasons.

School planners have evolved into so much more than a simple homework diary and timetable.

They now form the most trusted link between schools, students and parents. 

A weekly goal tracker, help with mental wellbeing, key stage 1,2 and 3 spelling checklists for primary school students and structured financial and careers advice for secondary school students mean that planners have become a supporting chaperon for students and the instant access to school policies, term dates, parents evening prompts and daily link to teachers mean that they are also becoming a parent’s faithful companion.

How primary and secondary schools benefit from having their own school planner

One of the most rewarding benefits for schools when using a school planner is the ‘do it once and it’s done’ method of delivering the most important communication to parents and students. The ripple effect to this is often a significant money saving since there is no need for further consistent printing of communication throughout the school year.

School planners begin with some important reference pages before the diarised pages begin. In fact there can be up to 64 personalised pages at the front of each planner and schools can pick and choose the type of content to go on these pages, whether they design their own, use our own in-house designers to create the perfect pages or in the case of sixth form planners, they can pop in specialised pages designed and supplied by UCAS themselves.

It’s this section that benefits schools the most since it can provide instant access to the most important school information:

  • School Uniform Policy
  • The School and Student Agreement
  • Important Dates
  • Term Dates and Inset Days
  • The School Code of Conduct
  • Responsible ICT (Information and Communication Technology) and Internet Use Policy
  • Parents Evening Prompts
  • Bullying Policy

How parents benefit from their children’s school planner

Easy access to important school information is vital for parents and the way in which we’re now bombarded with digital communication from all areas, makes a physical planner all the more welcoming. No child need ever go to school on an inset day again!

Moving on to the plastic pocket (letter pouch!). A genius idea which means that no parent needs to dive too deep into the bottom of their child’s school bag.

Other benefits to parents of a school planner are:

  • An easy glance at their child’s timetable and homework timetable
  • The Comments/Notes section at the end of each week can be used for regular communication if required and is the most efficient way for teachers and parents to communicate, reducing the time spent at the school gates.
  • Parents evening prompts with allocated space for questions. These allow parents to jot down any questions they have, before their parents evening slot. The teachers can be fully prepared for these situations and can bring along any examples of work or details of noticed behaviour that will help the child and parent where necessary.
  • School Uniform Policy, specifically with items that aren’t allowed despite protestations from their child!

How students benefit from using a school planner

A school planner for both primary and secondary school children is an exciting upgrade from a simple homework diary and can help to motivate and steer children of all ages through their school years.

Used hourly by secondary school students for it’s well laid out timetable, a planner becomes the one thing a student can not leave at home. The weekly homework diary allows plenty of room to record homework, by subject or by day with a ‘due in’ column and ‘done’ column ready to tick. The green, red and amber traffic light columns allow the student to mark whether they found the work ‘easy, difficult or average’ and is a great way for teachers to monitor progress. It’s also great for the students who can gradually steer towards a green ticked column as the weeks progress.

With space at the beginning of each week to set goals with a goal tracker to tick off at the end and a special page to record merits and achievement points throughout each term, the planner quite simply has everything a student needs to stay motivated through the school year.

Primary school students can use their one school planner in place of a separate homework diary, reading diary and spelling list book, with each having its own special section. A school can even pop their unique spellings for the different key stages as a separate page inside the planner ready to be ticked off.

Parents and primary school students are prompted to check their planners daily. Not only to keep track of homework but also for other communication such as:

  • Reminders of things they need to bring to school (eg PE kit, outdoor wellies)
  • Who is collecting the child from school if different from usual
  • Team practises
  • Rehearsals
  • Music Lessons
  • Swimming Lessons
  • Other after-school activities
  • Going home with a friend
  • Birthdays 
  • Parties
  • Sleepovers
  • Holidays

The reference pages at the back of the school planners can be tailored for each age group. Whether a periodic table would be helpful or the human body circulatory system, the reference section is a dependable part of the planner for when students forget such things like ‘calculating the area of a parallelogram’, or the year that Winston Churchill became Prime Minister.

A lovely addition to any of our school planners are the traffic light pages, placed where ever is the most convenient. For a child struggling in a certain topic, who may be too shy to put up their hand and ask for help, they can simply leave their school planner open at the ‘red’ page and the teacher or teacher’s assistant will know they need some extra support. Green means that they are absolutely fine. Another great way to monitor progress.

As a child progresses through primary school to secondary school and sixth form, their school planners will change and adapt as they themselves grow. A trusty and comforting companion to take through school for teachers, students and parents alike.

Keep on top of your workload with our bespoke teacher planners

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Is your desk full of unmarked work? are you drowning in hundreds of ‘to-do’ lists? or, do you just simply feel like you’re swamped with work deadlines and see no way out?

It sounds like it’s time to take back control by organising your day-to-day teaching life, with help from Boomerang!

Here at Boomerang Education we appreciate just how hard it can be to stay on top of your workload as a teacher. So, in a bid to help, we supply teacher planners to teachers nationwide as our way of offering a helping hand.

How they help

Our teacher planners not only provide teachers with the ultimate work organiser, but are completely bespoke to all teaching needs, meaning that teachers able to personalise their planners and tailor them to their exact needs.

A combination of a trusty handbook and diary; our teacher planners provide teachers with the resources they need to stay on top of their workload successfully. Our hard copy planners allow teachers to lesson plan, organise their school days and track their everyday tasks –making way for a more stress-free work life.

And, with completely customisable elements, your teacher planners can include additional information such as school policies and assessment schemes, providing you with your own personal assistant that tucks away neatly in your draw.

Bespoke element

Our teacher planners generally come as A4, A5 or B5 size and are wiro-bound. However, due to their bespoke nature, we’re able to quote for any size or pagination required – meaning you’ve got complete control over what your planner contains and what it looks like.

However, if you’re looking for a standard teacher planner, or require a something more generic, our team can talk you though the extensive range of designs and layouts we have at the ready.

Product details – the basics

Our teacher planners tend to come with the below; however, it is important to remember that they’re customisable! So, should you require additional information, or wish to change what’s in your planner, please do contact a member of our team so we can make this happen.

Product details:

  • 3 portrait sizes – A4, A5 or B5.
  • Secure wiro-binding and outer polypropylene covers for year-round robustness
  • Full colour covers
  • 6, 8 or 10 period daily planner sections or bespoke
  • A range of teacher planner template pages to choose from

If you currently don’t have access to teacher planners at your school, and feel you’re in need of a helping hand when it comes to organising lessons and your workload, call us on 01252 368 328 or email a member of our team at  info@boomerang-ed.com.

Boomerang Education can provide you with the assistance you may need to take back control of your schedule!

#BreakTheStigma – Mental Health Awareness Week 2019

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Mental Health Awareness Week is the UK’s national week to raise awareness nationwide for mental health.

Organised by the Mental Health Foundation (the UK’s charity for everyone’s mental health), Mental Health Awareness Week aims to inspire action to promote the message of good mental health for all.

Now celebrating its 19th year, Mental Health Awareness Week provides an annual focus point and theme for mental health – raising awareness and equipping people with the tools and information they need to take action.

Monday 13th May to Sunday 19th May 2019

This year’s Mental Health Awareness Week will focus on body image, and how issues surrounding this topic can affect all of us at any age, directly impacting our mental health and well-being.

Why is it important?

Last year’s Mental Health Awareness Week focused on stress and results of a 2018 survey found that a staggering 30% of all adults have felt stressed, overwhelmed or unable to cope due to thoughts surrounding their body image and appearance. That’s almost 1 in every 3 people.

New statistics have shown that nearly half (47%) of all 18-24-year olds have also felt this way about their body image, as did 1 in 5 (18%) of people aged 55 and over.

“Body image issues can affect all of us at any age… and during MHAW we will be publishing new research, considering some of the reasons why our body image can impact the way we feel, campaigning for change and publishing practical tools” – Mental Health Foundation.

Wanting to reach more people than ever, The Mental Health Foundation urges as many people as possible to get involved with Mental Health Awareness Week.

Doing your bit to help raise a greater awareness about the relationship between body image and mental health at all stages of life is imperative in making this year’s MHAW a success.

What will Boomerang be doing?

Here at Boomerang Education we’re focusing on being kind to our mind!

In order to help spread positivity in schools across the UK, we will be including a four-page mental health spread in our school planners. This spread will include tips on managing stress, ways to lead a more mentally healthy lifestyle and helplines and mobile apps that may just be invaluable to you and those around you.

This collaboration between Boomerang Education and Rainbow Education Group will be rolled out in all Boomerang Education school planners from September 2019. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled!

Support available

According to the mental health charity Mind, “good mental health means being generally able to think, feel and react in ways that you need and want to live your life”.

 Mental health affects more people than we realise – so, if you know someone who is suffering from poor mental health here are a wide range of support networks across the UK.

Mental Health Foundation – https://www.mentalhealth.org.uk

Mind – https://www.mind.org.uk

Time to Change – https://www.time-to-change.org.uk

Together – http://www.together-uk.org

Centre for Mental Health – https://www.centreformentalhealth.org.uk

Young Minds – https://youngminds.org.uk

Anxiety UK – https://www.anxietyuk.org.uk

If you want to help us support Mental health Awareness Week and be featured on our social media, send us a Tweet explaining your favourite body part to @BoomEdLtd using the hashtag #BeBodyKind.

Additionally, if you want to find out more about the mental health spread in our school planners, contact a member of our sales team on 01252 368 328 or email us at  info@boomerang-ed.com

Deaf Awareness Week 2019 – Doing your bit

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Deaf Awareness Week (DAW) is a unique campaign in which organisations up and down the country strives to participate in, and in doing so can promote their own work within the broad spectrum of deafness – a fine example of organisations collaborating and working in harmony to support a joint campaign.

The History

Founded in 1993, the UK Council of Deafness and the national umbrella organisation for charities working in the field of deafness collaborated to co-ordinate Deaf Awareness Week. DAW aims to not only raise awareness of a huge range of local organisations that support deaf people and their families but works hard to encourage social inclusion in the workplace and wider community.

In the UK alone statistics show that 1 in 6 are deaf or hard of hearing, making Deaf Awareness Week imperative in supporting and promoting all aspects of deafness.

The Event

6th – 12th May 2019.

Coordinated annually, Deaf Awareness Week focuses on a different theme each year, with emphasis this year on ‘celebrating role models’.

This main theme encompasses a specific theme for each day of the week, allowing organisations to publicise their role models in each sector to raise as much awareness as possible:

Monday – Education/Employment
Tuesday – Health
Wednesday – Sport
Thursday – Entertainment
Friday – Family/Youth
Saturday – Technology
Sunday – Politics

Doing our bit

Here at Boomerang Education we aim to support deafness not only during Deaf Awareness Week, but throughout the rest of the year.

As a Hampshire based supplier of school products, Boomerang Education saw an opportunity to support deafness, specifically in young children, via means of a popular school product – school planners.

Ever since our first Primary school planner, Boomerang Education have ensured that all planners have included valuable content such as The British Sign Language Alphabet, in order to provide deaf and able-hearing people with the vital information they need to help encourage and promote social inclusion.

British Sign Language

British Sign Language (BSL) is a vital means of communication using gestures, facial expressions and body language and when used can often bridge the communications gap between deaf and able hearing people.

Much like the English Language, BSL has its own grammatical structure and syntax and if the preferred language of around 145,000 people in the UK alone.

How YOU can help

If you wish to help improve the understanding of all types of deafness, and help further develop communication methods, you can make a donation on the official Deaf Council website.

Alternative, you can Tweet us at @BoomEdLtd, and let us know how you’re finding our ‘Finger Spelling’ spread in our 2019/20 Primary school planners!

To find out more about our school planners, or to request a quote please contact our sales team on 01252 368 328 or email us at info@boomerang-ed.com.