Teacher Zone

The NEN and British Pathe End of Schools Licence

After many months of national negotiations it has been decided that the increased cost for a continuation of the The British Pathe Schools Licence is prohibitive.

As a consequence the British Pathe service will stop on 31st July 2008 after which date schools will not be able to download high-resolution files without charge.

Material which has previously been downloaded may be used for a further year; that is until July 31st 2009. The licence for all British Pathe files expires at that point and all downloaded files have to be destroyed

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Could you be an Oscar-winning film composer, a world-famous orchestral composer or a jazz pioneer?
Well, here’s your chance to make your talents known. Enter the Sibelius Student Composer Of The Year competition and you could get your composition heard by some living legends and win some amazing prizes including once-in-a-lifetime experiences.

After a fantastic start in 2007 our composer competition is back, and this time there are three musical genres to choose from plus an incredible line-up of judges and prizes.

Choose Film, Classical/Contemporary or Jazz and compete in one of two age categories: 10-16 and 17-18. Good luck!
Please note: Entries do not have to be created in Sibelius. Audio/video files created in other programs are welcome.

Hear last year’s winning entries »
More Details »

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We made this video because wiki web sites are easy to use, but hard to describe. We hope to turn you on to a better way to plan a camping trip, or create the next Wikipedia.

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We have come across a few people having problems with MP3 files and Making the News. After altering some of the settings in Audacity we have found a combination that works. Note: other settings may well work but these are the setting we have tested.

Open Audacity. Ensure that the Lame MP3 codec has been setup as per these instructions.
In Audacity.. Edit > Preferences > Quality
Default Sample Rate: 22050
Default Sample Format: 16-bit
All other setting left as Default

In Audacity.. Edit > Preferences > File Formats
MP3 Bit Rate: 64

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An exemplar showing how the use of the Pathe News Archive can be used in interpreting C20th literature by revealing its cultural Context. This shows how powerful simple video editing can be using free content and freely available software.

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Come and join us in the wonderful setting of the Birmingham Botanical Gardens & Glasshouses for the Growing Schools Conference: The Creative Outdoor Classroom, on April 7th.

This event will run from 9.30am (registration and coffee) to 4.30pm and will offer an inspirational set of talks, walks and lectures on how to work with the many ‘Growing Schools’ informal education providers and their resources to help you deliver science, geography, citizenship, art and mathematics lessons.
(Read the article)

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BBC Schools
www.bbc.co.uk/schools
Learning resources for home and school

Bitesize
www.bbc.co.uk/schools/revision
Supports KS1, KS2, KS3 and GCSE exam revision

Learning Zone Broadband
www.bbc.co.uk/learningzone/clips
rich audio visual material for use in primary and secondary schools from the BBC schools programming archive. Recently launched, very much in development and will continue to evolve and increase content over the next 3-5 year.

BBC Blast
www.bbc.co.uk/blast
Inspires, supports, develops and showcases the creative arts for young people aged 13-19. Lots of resources and ideas for pupils and teachers.

BBC News School Report
www.bbc.co.uk/schoolreport
The opportunity for secondary schools to broadcast live news, aimed at 11-14 year olds. Fantastic supporting resources for teachers including lesson plans.

BBC Me and My Movie
www.bbc.co.uk/cbbc/meandmymovie
CBBC me and my movie is a unique film-making initiative inspiring and enabling primary children to make movies and tell their own stories.

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Ever needed to download a Youtube video for classroom use? Or need a Youtube video in a different video format?

iDesktop.tv is a dynamic web 2.0 application, that offers a better way to search and watch YouTube videos. Not only but you can download YouTube videos! You can use the site to search through a huge collection of videos from various video sharing sites and when you find something you like the site will download and convert it to a file type of your choosing all from the same website. You can also use the site to store and group videos for use at your convenience.
http://www.idesktop.tv

Features / Benefits
(Read the article)

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A video round up of some the new developments at BETT 2008.

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This site provides the tools for you to to build up an argument or description of a person, event or issue by placing items into a virtual box. What items, for example, would you put in a box to describe your life or the life of a Victorian Servant? What evidence would you collect if you had to show that slavery was wrong and unnecessary? And what would you include if you had to make the case for or against climate change? You can display anything from a text file to a movie. You can also view and comment on the museum boxes submitted by others.

http://museumbox.e2bn.org/

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C Day Lewis’ 1936 poem read over contemporary newsreel footage. Shows the uncanny power of the Pathe archive to shed light on 20th century culture and what can be done with basic video editing software. Also contains good information on copyright issues.

http://www.cleo.net.uk/resource/newsreal

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Sir Ken Robinson makes an entertaining (and profoundly moving) case for creating an education system that nurtures creativity, rather than undermining it. With ample anecdotes and witty asides, Robinson points out the many ways our schools fail to recognize — much less cultivate — the talents of many brilliant people. “We are educating people out of their creativity,” Robinson says. The universality of his message is evidenced by its rampant popularity online. A typical review: “If you have not yet seen Sir Ken Robinson’s TED talk, please stop whatever you’re doing and watch it now.”

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The Learning Zone provides rich audio-visual material for use in primary and secondary schools and colleges. These short videos have been selected to match the curriculum; they can be used in many ways, from the stimulation and engagement of students to the delivery of very specific learning points. Try searching by subject and topic or by keyword. Link

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Making the News is a free online publishing system for education that enables news to be published, broadcast and accessed over the World Wide Web. Text, images, animation, video and audio can be easily submitted to the MTN website via a simple-to-use submission form.

MTN is very simple to use. Upload video, text, images, podcasts etc through a single clean submission form. Pupils and Teachers will master the process in minutes.

Each school can have its own home page and account and it is all FREE.

MTN Home Page | YHGFL Home Page | Support Materials

Request an account

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Students and teachers have a new way of communicating with the world - by using blogs! After requests for a safe environment from a number of schools and Local Authorities for blogging, YHGfL are piloting their newly created Classblog. See http://shareit.yhgfl.net Specially designed and created to appeal to children and teenagers, the facility allows all students and teachers to safely write a blog from within their school/college - via a username and password.

The blogs will be fully moderated, can be accessed globally and once written, the text cannot be altered by other users. YHGfL have added in the ability to videocast/podcast so that users can download entries to a variety of devices, e.g. mp3 and mp4 players.

Currently, the project is being piloted by Wakefield and Calderdale and it is then to be rolled out across the region.

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Free music downloads are available to all YHGfL member schools, thanks to a unique service via the National Education NetworkThrough the project, teachers and students have access to literally thousands of music tracks of original composition, performances and recordings.

Audio Network provides schools and colleges with free access to rights-cleared, industry-standard, audio files for editing and re-use in school. It can be used for a whole range of creative activities in any subject area and at any Key Stage - but, says YHGfL’s Collaborative Technologies Manager, Andrew Lickley, it is particularly useful for pupils making soundtracks. Audio Networks

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We are delighted to announce that the licence agreement with British Pathe has been extended for a further year. This excellent resource is free to YHGfL member schools and contains 12 million still images and 3,500 hours of video footage.

Ilustrations can be found for projects in all areas of the curriculum and saves hours of time trawling through different sources. www.britishpathe.com

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There are two new video conferencing sessions available at the NCM:
Session 1: Coal Mining’s Contribution to the Second World War - Stories from a Bevin Boy. Meet Jeff, an ex-Bevin Boy as he unlocks his memories of WW2 (KS2 resource)
Session 2: Meet a Miner
Let one of the mining guides give you first hand experience of a typical day in the mine (KS2 resource)

Visit www.yhgfl.net/video-conferencing/national-coalmining/ to find out more!

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The children of Wootton St Andrew’s Church of England Primary school have produced two videos:
1) A contribution to The RE Project: A tour of Wootton St Andrew’s Church.
2) A video covering the development of their skipping activities.
(You may be prompted for your Teacher Zone username and password when viewing these videos

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Please note that LOC8 is currently undergoing maintenance and will be operating as normal shortly.

LOC8 is a FREE mapping system for Yorkshire and Humber schools that allows users to:

See Ordnance Survey maps for the whole of the UK

Broswe maps, enter postcodes or placenames to find a specific location within the Yorkshire and Humber region.

Within the YHGfL region, you can overlay maps with high definition overhead photographs

Compare maps and photographs side by side

Measure distances and areas

See extra information about a location

http://loc8.yhgfl.net

user names and passwords are available form the LA

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