openit - issue 01

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S u m m e r

t e r m

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Think of a Question

We take them or granted as part o everyday

communication but how important is it orchildren to be able to ask good questions?

New School Year – New

Funding Initiative

Open Futures is epanding into our new regions.To launch these programmes 13 schools have beenselected to become centres o ecellence within

the net two years. Hear about the qualities theyall have in common.

Getting Your Garden Through

the Summer HolidaysIt has taken hard work and patience but justas your school garden is reaching the height osplendour along comes the long, hot summerholidays. How do you maintain your school

garden through the dry weather?

How to Use Summer Produce

Delicious ideas and recipes to make the most othe produce that is coming out o school gardens

this term.

8 Hart of Excellence!

Hart Plain Infants become the latest Level 3 school

12 The Open Futures National Conference 2011

Hear what you missed!

14 Talking Objects

A creative lesson idea for developing visual literacy

15 Embedding Film-making in the Curriculum

One headteacher’s approach

openitOpen Futures © 2011

Joseph Sivell - Editorial and Design

Sheri Hill - Design, Editorial, Layout and Illustration

Anna Hodgson - Contributor and Editorial

Includes some photographs by Chris Butler at

The Photography Lounge

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In this issue...

2 openit Summer term 2011

Welcome to openit, the termly newspaper or the Open

Futures programme.

In each issue we will bring you creative lesson ideas,practical advice and useul inormation together with thelatest news about Open Futures.

I you would like to receive uture copies o openit eitheras a printed newspaper or sharing in the sta room or inelectronic ormat to circulate to your colleagues, or both,

please register your interest at:www.openfutures.com

About Open Futures

‘Raising attainment through bringing learning to lie’.

Open Futures is a skills and enquiry-based curriculumdevelopment programme, linking learning and lie. Itwas developed by The Open Futures Trust to help childrendiscover and develop practical skills, personal interests,and values which will contribute to their education andhelp to enhance their adult lives.

Open Futures supports the curriculum by providinginspirational contets or learning. It builds on the beliethat creative reection is essential to deep learning –whether o skills (‘know how’) or o acts (‘know what’).Creative reection and enquiry defne the Open Futures curriculum. The programme integrates our strands thatenable children to:

Make choices and eective decisions - askit

Grow their own ruit and vegetables - growit

Cook or themselves - cookit

Work with new media to produce flms – flmit

Open Futures introduces schools and children to a new wayo learning and teaching in a way that osters discovery andcuriosity.

I you are interested in fnding out more about howto become an Open Futures School or would like tohear more about the programme please contact us:

[email protected]

The Open Futures Trust is a registered charity, No 1136095.



Sandra Rayner, Culinary

Project Ofcer at Focus on

Food, explains how to make a

cookit session cross curricular.

T here are not many childrenwho do not like the instantly

recognizable pizza. FriendshipPizza uses resh spinach andtomatoes, and with a base made

using yeast, it gives that ‘eat me,eat me now’ smell o resh breadbaking.

Having worked with schools over

the last 3 years, it is clear that thereare many curriculum links, whichall within all o the our Open

Futures strands. So you should be

clear rom the outset what youwant the learning outcomes o acooking session to be. I suggest

you have 2 clear objectives, frstlythe cooking skill being taught orpracticed, and secondly what is themain curriculum link?

The bread base o the pizza issimple to make but has good linksto the science curriculum. It is a

good demonstration o what livingthings need to grow: ood, waterand a comortable temperature. Anirreversible change can be shown i

a little sugar is creamed with someresh yeast. As the yeast beginsto eed o the sugar it grows

and changes rom a paste likesubstance to a liquid. It is worthnoting that some supermarketswith ‘bakeries’ will give you resh

yeast or ree or only charge a ewpence. To make the pizza doughit is best to use a packet o theast acting dried yeast, now a

‘convenience’ ingredient used orbread making.

When cooking with yeast we needto use a ‘strong’ plain our. ’Strongour is our with a high glutencontent. When kneaded the glutendevelops in the dough and gives it

the elastic quality that allows theend product to hold its shape oncethe yeast has worked it’s magic

and doubled the size o the product you are making.

A group o 6 or 8 children is the bestsize or your teaching group. It is

best to make 1 batch o bread doughand work as a team to do this, which

develops cooperative working; one

Pizza’s Place in the Primary Curriculumchild could add the yeast, another stir it in, a third add

the oil to the water, perhaps 2 to help add the water and2 more to take turns to stir the water in (it always helps isomeone holds the bowl steady whilst doing this). Once

the dough is made show the pupils how to knead it. 3actions, push, old, and turn.

At this stage, divide the dough so everyone gets theirown piece to knead and turn into their own pizza. This

is also the stage where you can teach the principlesbehind ractions - although the pupils will not see itas that. Remember those pieces o dough need to beeactly the same size, dierent sized pieces equals at

least one unhappy child! Question your pupils abouthow they can get even sized pieces and then work it outtogether, 8 pieces are oten easier or them to achieveequality with rather than 6. With older children you

could weigh the ball o dough and then ask them to seehow close they can get the dough to 6 even pieces byeye. You can demonstrate halves and quarters and even

thirds with older pupils.

Continued on page 4

3openit Summer term 2011

Image © Focus on Food



FOCUS ON FOOD’S FRIENDSHIP PIZZAMakes 1 large pizza or 4 – 6 people.

How to make it

1. Put the our and yeast in the miing bowl. Add the water and oil and mito a sot dough with a wooden spoon.

2. Knead the dough until smooth. Roll it out to a 20cm - 25cm round, thenplace the round on the baking tray. Heat the oven to 2200C/Gas 7.

3. Spread the cooked cherry tomatoes over the dough. Scatter the garlicover the tomatoes.

4. Place a circle o the Mozzarella cheese in the centre o the pizza.Around it, place a ring o spinach, ollowed by another ring o cooked redpepper. Add the sliced tomatoes.

5. Leave the pizza to stand or 5 – 10 minutes. Bake or 15 – 20 minutesuntil the cheese has melted and, when lited with a spatula, you can seethat the pizza base has cooked.

6. Serve warm, cut into slices.

Ingredients

For the base:

• 225g strong plain our

• 1x7g sachet easy-bake (microne) yeast

• 1 tablespoon olive oil

• 150ml warm water

For the topping:

• 300g cherry tomatoes – cooked to apulp in a little olive oil, skins removed idesired

• 1 garlic clove – peeled and crushed

• 250g-350g spinach leaves – stalksremoved and lightly steamed

• ½ red pepper – de-seeded, choppedand lightly cooked in olive oil

• 100g-150g Mozzarella cheese – sliced ortorn

• 2 tomatoes – thinly sliced

• basil leaves – torn

Equipment

• mixing bowl

• kitchen scissors

• measuring jug

• tablespoon

• wooden spoon

• our dredger

• rolling pin

• chopping board

• sharp knife

• saucepan

• baking tray

Continued rom page 3

When they all have their own piece o dough, they can knead it and eel the

change in the dough as the gluten develops. Kneading could be the maincooking skill or younger pupils with the topping all ready or them, or knieskills with older pupils as they prepare the tomatoes or the topping.

O course the really good bit comes when you can sample what you havemade!

We would like to take thisopportunity to welcome all o our

Open Futures Schools to this, ourfrst edition o ‘openit’ but arepleased to etend an etra specialwelcome to our newest Open

Futures schools:

Oyster Park Primary, WakefeldSandal Magna CommunityPrimary, Wakefeld

Birkenshaw CE (C) First andNursery, BradordSt Joseph’s Catholic Primary,Castleord

Christ Church Primary, BatterseaElm Grove First, Worthing

Southwater Junior, Horsham

Welcome to our New

Open Futures SchoolsMoulsecoomb Primary, BrightonSouthwater Infants, Horsham

Maidenbower Junior, Crawley

We are delighted to support thecontinued growth o our networksin the Leeds, Wakefeld and ourSouth Coastal areas, and are really

looking orward to developing the

Open Futures Programme withineach o our new areas, including

Battersea in the coming months!

Open Futures continues to grow anddevelop nationally. For news andinormation about the availability

o the Open Futures Programme

in your area, please contact:[email protected]


Brightening your Future!Open Futures to unveil its programme

o CPD events…

With CPD high on the agenda or headteachers, we are pleased to announceplans or our orthcoming programme o short courses, to be deliveredthroughout the 2011/12 academic year.

Please sign up to receive an advance preview o the programme, which will

be available or distribution early in the Autumn term, by registering yourinterest with us at www.openutures.com (Current Open Futures schools willreceive this inormation automatically).

Courses will be available to participants rom all eisting and registeredOpen

Futures schools, and o course please remember that in addition, CPD pointsare also available to those attending Open Futures Conerence, Seminarsand Events. A great kick start to your ongoing personal progress or the new

academic year!

Please keep a look out or urther inormation about the Open Futures

programme o CPD in the net issue.



There’s been a huge amount oresearch on questioning in theclassroom, both pupil and teacherquestioning. Steven Hastings,

writing in the TES (4/7/2003),shared some pretty remarkablefndings – that teachers ask around400 questions each day (work

that out as a career total!) but upto 60% are little or nothing to dowith learning; that questioning

is second only to eplanation inthe time devoted to it; and that

most questions are answered in

Industry says that schools shouldbe teaching. Employers havetold them that the things thatthey’d like to see in their potential

employees are, amongst others,reective learners, people who canwork with others, good listenerswho are able to question eectively,

creative thinkers who can applywhat they know to solve problemsand good negotiators. It’s a big ask

and one that would probably be

Think of a QuestionIn these days of austerity and job losses, it’s even more important than ever that we

prepare our children for an ever-changing market place. Nick Chandley, askit Project

Ofcer, takes a look at one way we might do that.


best kind o dialogic teaching andthey begin to develop as a truecommunity – working together tomake more sense o concepts that

actually mean something to them,truly linking learning to lie.

Because the askit strand helpsdevelop good thinking, its reach

is ar and wide – certainly intothe other three strands o cookit,

growit and flmit but also into

the curriculum. It develops skills

o creative thinking - developing

less than a second. We all knowhow important it is to develop

our pupils’ questioning, with theNational Curriculum littered withquestion-based objectives (suchas Science – ‘ask questions that

can be investigated scientifcally’

– QCA 1999). We’re also aware othe impact on learning our ownquestions can have, especially

those o a higher order thatencourage pupils to, or eample,predict, generalise and reason. Guy

Claton said that ‘good learningstarts with questions, not answers’and the logical etension o this isthat better learning results rom

better questions.

As with many things though,this is a skill we need to help our

pupils develop, as are the kind oskills the Conederation o British

impossible to meet without some

kind o coordinated approach todevelop these essential lie skills(strangely called ‘sot’ skills bymany – I’d argue they’re anything

but sot!).

It’s precisely this big ask that ledto the askit strand o the Open

Futures programme. Through thisenquiry-led approach, pupils learnnot only the importance o askingquestions, but also what makes

a good question. They listen tothe contributions o others anduse them in ormulating their

own opinions – a bedrock o the

new ideas and linking themto eisting ones - and critical

thinking - testing these ideas out,all done in an atmosphere o caringthinking – respecting others andtheir opinions – and collaborative

thinking, as they build upon the

ideas o others. It’s easy to seehow all this can be applied to any

subject. Some are more obvious,such as Literacy, History, RE etc,but even PE can make good useo them, as pupils eplore the

concepts o winning, airness, bestand teamwork.

This kind o thinking isn’t confned

to older children though. Sean,rom Nursery, seemingly in somekind o deep thought, wouldn’tanswer to his name when I asked

him a question. Ater severalattempts he snapped out o it and

said ‘I’m sorry, Nick. I’ve beenthinking so hard I orgot my name!’Another girl said that it’s importantthat she does lots o thinking now

as she won’t have time to thinkwhen she’s grown up and one boystopped the conversation during

dinner at home by announcingthat the uneamined lie isn’tworth living – he’d obviously takento Socrates!

Through the askit strand o Open

Futures, thereore, our childrendevelop eactly those kind o ‘sot’skills that will become so valuable

in later lie. One day, perhaps, theymight achieve due accord in thecurriculum, but until then, thank

Socrates there’s Open Futures!

One of the aims of askit is to develop questioning skills

in our children and this is a nice little game to support

this. It involves holding a conversation using only questions,

with points gained if your opponent responds with a statement

or repeats a question. It’s always popular played as teacher-

against-class but I’ve also split the class into pairs, giving

them some time to practise and then holding a competition to see

which pair can keep going the longest. It’s great to see the whole

class engaged in focused talk and they’ll still keep going even

if you ask them to turn it into a piece of writing. I had one

class make poems where each line was a question,

following on from the previous line – great

fun and really effective.

The question game



The Open Futures 2011

Curriculum Development Partnership

PARTNERSHIPSFrom September 2011 The Open Futures Trust will be sponsoringour new School Partnerships in Newham, Hull, Birmingham and

Manchester. Each Partnership will consist o three schools (our inManchester) who will work intensively with Open Futures ProessionalPartners and Trainers. The aim is that each school will become a ‘Centre

o Ecellence’ within two years. The our areas were chosen ater anetensive awareness raising campaign during which an invitation toparticipate in the 2011 Partnership was sent to thousands o schools inchallenging urban areas across England.

The response was enormous, indicating yet again the increasingconcern o headteachers, governors and teachers that the PrimaryCurriculum should provide pupils with lie enduring and lie enhancing

skills alongside academic achievement.

CENTRES OF ExCELLENCEChoosing the our areas and the 13 schools was not easy.

The starting point was to assess how ar each application matchedthe ollowing 13-point description o a potential Open Futures Centreo Ecellence

THE THIRTEEN SCHOOLSThe our areas with the most applications were Newham, Hull,Birmingham and Manchester. These were targeted by members o the

Open Futures Curriculum Team. They visited the Headteachers o allschools that strongly matched the criteria and, where appropriate,

consulted with Governors, Parents and Pupils. Thirteen schoolshave now been identifed as 2011 Curriculum Development Partners.

All are willing to work closely with each other, to share trainingopportunitiesand to host conerences and other events and

are ecited about meeting and working with eisting

Open Futures Schools.

New School YearNew Open Futures Initiative

John Story, head of the Open Futures Curriculum Team, talks about the latest development of the OF

programme which extends it into four new regional areas. He discusses how these areas were chosen and

what lies in store for the new schools over the next two years.

Hull:• Thoresby Primary School

• Neasden Primary School • Chiltern Primary School

Manchester:• Camberwell Park Speicalist Support School • Temple Primary School

• Cheetham CE Community School • Cravenwood Primary School

Birmingham:

• Benson Community Primary • Foundry Primary School • Matthew Boulton Community Primary

Newham:• New City Primary • Manor Primary • Gallions Primary

THE OTHER SCHOOLSWe are aware o the disappointment elt by many Heads, Governors andPupils. There were dozens o impressive applications rom outstanding

schools. Unortunately only a limited number could be chosen.

I you are a Headteacher o one o the many schools who responded toour invitation but were not included in the 13 be assured that we will

maintain regular contact with you and provide a range o subsidisedoers which will help to support the development o a skills andenquiry curriculum in your school. These will include invitations to

participate in workshops, short courses and conerences eclusivelyavailable to schools registered with Open Futures.

Full details will be available net term.

The Open Futures team are pleased to be working in these

our new regions and helping to support more newschools with their curriculum development.




An enthusiastic, supportive

and committed staff which is

interested in developing a skills

and enquiry-based curriculum.

An interest in working with

others and supporting similar

developments in neighbouring

schools

The willingness and capacity

for teaching staff to undertake

training in all four strands, with

training to at least Level 1 in the askit strand.

A commitment to providing

high quality resources and

equipment to support children’s

learning in all four strands.

A committed and supportive

governing body.

High quality leadership with a

Headteacher willing to becomean Open Futures Ambassador.

A willingness to contribute a

small percentage of the cost of

the Programme to demonstrate

commitment.

A willingness to share

development experiences as an

Open Futures school through

the Open Futures online

community

The capacity to communicate

the Open Futures Learning

Programme regionally and

nationally through conferences,

headteacher meetings,

publications and newsletters.

Facilities for hosting visits

from other schools and other

interested parties.

A willingness to work with

Open Futures staff and partners

to identify and support the

recruitment of new schools or

clusters of schools.

Capacity to develop a regional

base from which the training

of other schools can be

coordinated and supported.

A willingness to cooperate with

an external evaluator to evaluate

the impact and benets of

the Open Futures Learning

Programme.

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an Open Futures Centre

of Excellence will have

Qualities




Hart Plain joined Open Futures in September

2007. The then Headteacher, BeverleyCooper, had already started to develop

a skills-based curriculum with her colleagues

and she saw in Open Futures the opportunity toetend this work urther. She appointed teacherAle Murray as Open Futures Co-ordinator andteaching assistants Katie Lander and Diane

Mugridge as ‘growit’ and ‘cookit’ championsrespectively.

In three and a hal years, school sta, governors

and the local community have worked togetherto create a beautiul and productive schoolgarden rom an area o disused land at the ronto the school, together with a ully-equipped

cooking area, converted rom an old lobby andcloakroom space. At the same time, the school

has introduced askit , under the guidance o

The Hart of Excellence!Congratulations to Hart Plain Infants School in Waterlooville, Hampshire on becoming the latest Open Futures’

Centre of Excellence. Hear how they transformed their curriculum.

By Bob PavardCURRICULUM CONSULTANT


‘a beautiful andproductive school

garden from anarea of disusedland’



Quality Mark

The Quality Mark was developed during the project phaseof Open Futures in response to headteachers request for

guidance in introducing (Level1), embedding (Level 2) and

securing (Level 3) the four strands within school improvement

and development.

Criteria were identied under six school improvement

headings and assessment against them agreed as being self-

assessment (Level 1), peer-assessment (Level 2) and external

assessment (Level 3).

champions deputy-head Lynn Thurley-Ratcli and teacher Naomi Anderson,and flmit championed by HLTA Sandra Dawson. All children in the schoolnow garden, cook, make flms and have enquiry sessions regularly, with the

outcomes immediately evident throughout the school.

In July 2010, Head teacher Beverley Cooper retired and Lynn Thurley-Ratclibecame Acting Headteacher or two terms. The development o Open

Futures continued under Lynn’s leadership to the etent that she and Ale

judged that the school was working within Level Three o the Open Futures Quality Mark.


“Open Futures has been the main engine for developing a more creative curriculum, which is

designed to engage children and offer relevance in

their learning. To achieve this Alex Murray, Naomi

Anderson and Lynn Thurley-Ratcliff have worked

systematically to embed the strands in all classes by

focussing on training for all staff and integrating the

strands into the curriculum. There is a passion for

‘real’ learning in the school”.

Professor David LeatNEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY

So it was that Proessor David Leat (Eecutive Director o the Research Centreor Learning & Teaching, Newcastle University) spent a day towards the end oMay in Hart Plain Inants veriying the schools evidence that it had met each

o the Level 3 criteria. By this time Ruth Kenny had taken up her headship othe school and Ale Murray (OF Co-ordinator) had recently taken maternityleave, being replaced by Naomi Anderson as Acting OF Co-ordinator. Despitethese changes in key personnel, David’s judgement was that Hart Plain was

a Level 3 school, becoming the ninth such Centre o Ecellence – a testament

to the quality o the work achieved by everybody at the school.

Well-done Hart Plain Inants!

Hart Plain Infant School



Schools that harvest all theircrops rom the garden bythe third week o July don’t

have to worry about wateringover the long summer holiday.However, with a bit o thought andpreparation, you could return inSeptember not to a weedy garden,but one ull with tomatoes,sweetcorn, beans, pumpkins,parsnips, leeks and carrots to getthe taste buds tingling at the starto a new school year.

O course, you could get all othese crops in the ground and cross

your fngers or a wet summer, but

despite my own damp holidaysunder canvas, this is never likely toprovide adequate moisture and istoo risky an option.

The best solution is to provideregular, heavy watering (eactly

how requent depends on soiltype, temperature, wind, aspectand whether you are growing incontainers and raised beds or theopen ground). This may be possible

on a rota basis, with sta or parentsagreeing to cover certain days orweeks and the provision o anoutside tap and a hose. However, i

this is difcult to organise, the netbest solution would be to invest in aseep hose (a hose with holes along

its’ length that allow water to seepout) and to connect this to a simple

battery timer at the tap. Set thetimer to water perhaps twice a day

Getting your GardenThrough the Six Week

Summer

Holiday

By Paul KettellGROWIT PROJECT OFFICER

(morning and evening are the best

times to water) and lay the seephose out around the crops.

There are other things you can do

that will all help to reduce moistureloss and will assist in getting yourgarden through the summer. Ideally

these will be used in addition toregular watering, but they will stillhelp i you’re not able to providethat and may be just enough to tipthe balance in your avour.

• Move containers to shadypositions or the whole o thesummer, or take them home i

possible.

• Mulch established cropsheavily on top o well wateredground. Mulch should be atleast 10 cm deep, avoid it piling

up against the stem, and canbe made o natural materialssuch as straw, grass clippings,bark or green waste compost.

Consider using slug deterrentsunderneath as mulch can be anattractive sheltering place.

• Alternatively, plant your cropsthrough a weed suppressing

membrane, such as wovenabric or plastic sheeting. Thiswill help to conserve moisture in

the soil during the hot summerweeks as well as reducing

competition rom weeds.

• Water the soil rather than theleaves. Most o the water on

leaves is wasted, whereas soilwater gets down to the roots.

• Better to water heavily and lessrequently as this encouragesroots to grow deeper. Regular

light watering encouragesshallow rooting which is moreprone to drying out.

• Established crops cope better

with drought than seedlings,so try and ensure the garden isplanted up by mid June i youare not able to water regularlyover the summer.

Let me know what methods

you employ this summer, andwhich crops survive through tothe autumn. This will be greatinormation to share with others

or net year.

Images © RHS




As we head into

the summer termSchool gardens

come into their own andprovide antastic producethat can be used as the

base or your cookit lessons.

The un bit is going intothe garden and seeing

what you can use to makea salad. Young spinachleaves can make the base

o the salad i other saladleaves are not at their best.

Broad beans might need tobe cooked, cooled and then

slipped rom their innercasing, but well worth theeort. Radishes, courgette

and grated carrot addteture and dierentavours. Young peas are agood choice and i there is

a bumper crop ‘Green PeaPate’ is a good recipe totry. And don’t orget yourherbs!

There are lots o tastyrecipes that use summer

SECRET GARDEN SALADRecipe serves 4 – 6.

How To Make It.

1.Prepare all the vegetables. Line the serving dish with lettuce leaves or spinach leaves andthen arrange the other vegetable ingredients neatly on top.

2. Make the dressing by whisking the oil and vinegar together in the small bowl. Drizzle the

dressing over the salad.

3. Spoon 1 – 2 tablespoons o yoghurt on top o the salad (optional). Serve immediately.

Ingredients.

• I crisp lettuce (e.g. a Gem Lettuce) – washed and patted dry,or use spinach leaves.

• ½ cucumber – peeled and diced

• 2 tomatoes – quartered

• 1 carrot – grated

• 150g (approximately) turnip – grated

• 400g new potatoes – cooked and cooled

• 50g peas – cooked and cooled

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 tablespoon wine vinegar

• 1 – 2 tablespoons natural yoghurt - optional

Equipment.

• colander

• peeler

• chopping board

• sharp knife

• grater

• saucepan

• tablespoon

• small bowl

• fork

• serving bowl

Ingredients.

• 340g pack shortcrust pastry

• 50g (approx) our for rolling out

• 75g (approx) seedless jam – gently melted

• fresh fruit e.g. fresh strawberries, raspberries, mandarinsegments, apricot halves.

Equipment.

• rolling pin

• our dredger

• 7.5cm uted pastry cutter

• fork

produce. Pink Panther

Salad uses beetroot, asdoes Beetroot and Potato

Salad. New potatoesmake an ecellent PatatasBravas. Spinach can be

used to make Spinachand Cheese Bread,Spanakopitta or Spinachand Cheese Triangles.

One o the recipes schoolsused last year, whichwas very successul is

Secret Garden Salad.Using lettuce, cucumber,

peas and potatoes, it is alovely summer salad. The

dressing is an emulsion sogood links to the sciencecurriculum can be made.

A ew summer berriescan be made to gourther by making FruitMufns, or in a Smoothie,

the Fruit Tartlet recipecan be adapted to usestrawberries or raspberries.

Enjoy using your summer

produce.

How to use

Summer Produce

FRUIT TARTLETS

How To Make It.

1. Heat the oven to 220ºC/Gas 7. Roll the pastry out on a lightly oured surace to 5 – 8cmthickness.

2. Cut the pastry into circles. Prick all over and place them in a greased bun tin. Push

down gently without stretching the pastry. Leave to ‘rest’ or 10 minutes in a cool place.

3. Bake the tartlets or 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

4. Brush the cool cases lightly with jam. Arrange the ruit careully in each tartlet case.(Do drain tinned ruit careully frst).

5. Brush the ruit with jam.

HOT TIPS:

Remember to prick the raw pastry to prevent it rising during the baking.Make sure the pastry cases are cold beore flling with ruit.

• 12 hole bun tin

• pastry brush

• sharp knife

• chopping board

• can opener (if needed)

This recipe makes approimately 12 – 14 tartlets.

These small ruit tartlets are made with shortcrust pastry. Choose resh ruit whenever possible.




Planes, trains and automobiles – all these and

more were used to transport delegates romaround the country to the frst Open Futures

National Conerence in Leeds on the 23rd March.Leeds is a great city or transport links, helpul or

our pilot and partnership schools and also thoseschools new to Open Futures whose locationsreect our growing national programme.

Attendees streamed into the Conerence Centre,ull o epectation or a day flled with inspiringspeakers, workshops and meeting up with

colleagues, old and new. The conerence hallfzzed with anticipation as people gathered andreadied themselves. Lucy O’Rorke, our TrustDirector, etended a warm welcome to everyoneand announced the eciting news that Open

Futures is to be developed in new areas romSeptember 2011 and will establish a urthertwelve Centres o Ecellence.

Proessor Bill Lucas roused delegates with histruly inspiring keynote address centred around‘New kinds o smart; how to cultivate wider skillsand 21st century habits o mind in young people;

practical lessons rom the learning sciences’. Billis one o Britain’s leading educational thinkers,

an inspirational speaker and an accomplished

author. He is currently Co-Director o the Centre

or Real-World Learning at the University oWinchester.

Bill challenged delegates to consider what

constitutes 21st century skills and encouragededucators to cultivate pupils with all the skillsthat they will need. Asking themto call into question commonly

held belies about intelligenceand inorming them o what thelearning sciences say intelligence

is and how it is changingeducation. He eplained that wecan put epansive education intopractice by developing growth

mindsets and recognising thatability is epandable. A delegatecommented that it was a ‘great,inspiring, thought-provoking start

to the day’. Many other delegatessupported her view.

Discussion groups were set up or

delegates to echange thoughtsand ideas with each other,these developed into inormal

networking sessions as the day

developed and gathered its own momentum.

And gather momentum, it did! 108 conerencedelegates dispersed across the conerence venueinto their previously chosen workshops. Each

delegate had selected 2 rom a possible choiceo 9 workshops and seminars. These included an

Conference Report

Open Futures National Conference The rst Open Futures National Conference took place in Leeds in March focussing on

Skills and Enquiry. Through a diverse and exciting programme it explored how pupils candevelop both practical and cognitive skills in order to understand and apply knowledge

and information. In one packed day the Conference provided delegates with a deeper

understanding of how Open Futures involves children in their own learning and makes it

more relevant and engaging.

By Sheri HillPRODUCTION & CONFERENCE MANAGER




Ian amused delegates with his quirky observationsaround the use o language and communicationin his collection o badly worded signs. Making us

giggle at the obtuse use o language, he went onto recount stories rom his own childhood, saying‘I wanted to be a writer all the way through myschooldays, but I wasn’t sure how to go about

it’. As a teenager he wrote all the time and waslooking to broaden his horizons but wasn’t quitesure how. Ian had taken the opportunity to visit

Open Futures workshops during the day andenthused about the benefts o the Open Futures

programme and its mi o skills and enquiry.Seeing Open Futures as a way o giving pupils an

approach to learning that could indeed broadentheir horizons.

Ian then led delegates through a hilarious group

activity to compose a conerence poem, usingliteracy and communications skills in a way thatcould never have been anticipated! Add to this,Ian leaving the conerence room several times to

re enter as dierent characters and the resultingactivity was enjoyed by one and all.

What better way to fnish such an inspiringday than with laughter? Thank you to everyone

who attended and participated in our frst

Open Futures national conerence and helpedto make it such a stimulating, challenging and

entertaining day.

eciting and diverse range o activities such as:interactive role-play and simulations, a guidedtour o the Open Futures online community, top

tips or undraising, assessment and recordingstrategies, cross curriculum learning, a case studyseminar, interactive flmit sessions, cross strandactivities, horticultural skills or enterprise,

planting spring bulbs, and much, much more.

A conerence centre coordinator commentedthat they had ‘never had a workshop in their

conerence centre that involved soil’, ah… butthis was the frst time they had eperienced

Open Futures workshops!

Delegates stopped between workshops or atasty lunch and enjoyed opportunities to meetothers with a shared interest, echange tips

and inormation, and catch up with colleagues.They also valued the ecellent opportunitiesthroughout the day to share practice and developlinks with people rom completely dierent areas

o the country. Attendees rom schools new to

Open Futures ound it useul as well to hear howother schools had set the programme up and

delivered in within their schools.

The aternoon’s activities fnished on the best onotes – laughter, and lots o it! It had everythingto do with Ian McMillan, who was introduced

as ‘This gentleman has come all the way romBarnsley’. Ian is poet-in-residence or EnglishNational Opera and Barnsley FC. He is Yorkshire

TV’s Investigative Poet and Humberside Police’sBeat Poet. Ian also presents The Verb every weekon BBC Radio 3 and has written many poetrybooks or children and adults.

‘excellent opportunities

throughout the day to share

practice and develop linkswith people from completely

different areas of the country’


Open Futures Conferences represent keyopportunities in the diary or teachers tonetwork, learn and share. We have a ull

schedule o Conerences and Events linedup or the coming academic year and hopethat you will be able to join us at one (ormore) o these.

I you would like to be kept up to datewith the calendar o uture events,please register your interest at www.

openfutures.com , or eel ree to call usat the Oord Ofce. We look orward tohearing rom you.



What did the spade say to the soil? Nothing o courseobjects are inanimate and can’t communicatewith each other. Or can they? This activity is a

really great way to use your video or still cameras. It is anactivity that the students really enjoy and it can be used ina number o dierent contets and curriculum areas.

I call it ‘Talking Objects’ and in this world they do! Using

cameras or even just drawing, students make objects tell

stories, swap inormation, argue a point, describea process or give instructions.

So how do you do it?You can start rom a number o dierent points:

• What is the subject matter or curriculum

area? e.g. science or history

• What is the ormat going to be? e.g. story ora set o instructions

• You can even start rom: What types o mediawill this activity use? eg drawing, painting,photos, video.

Whichever types o media you choose, the children can also include tet or sound (or both)to communicate the message. This can result in a variety o dierent end products such as

slideshows, videos, wall displays, interactive posters and comics.

The activity works well with individuals but is even better when done collaboratively in pairs orgroups. I usually have mind mapping, discussion, sequencing, drating or practising activitieseven beore the children start using any digital media. The fnal products o their work can be

presented at the end o the activity to their peers or to other audiences.

These activities are very scalable. You might start with the simplest ormat where the childrensimply use a generic slideshow package to show photos (or even holding up drawings) while

narrating over the top o them, live. Later you could build up to more comple multimedianarratives containing sound and video, developed over a whole term and combining the

results o dierent bits specialist sotware.Check out the eamples shown here, each has the sotware or application it was produced

with.

And oh, FYI the spade said…. I really dig you!


Talking

Objects

By Paul CliffordFILMIT PROJECT OFFICER

Examples of green screen or chroma key

effects using two pictures and paint.net

(www.paint.net)

These can then be saved as jpegs and used

in other software.

Adding speech bubbles to photos (Comic Life

software).

Subtitles created with simple photo manipulation

software (Paint.net)



Carlton J & I School, South Elmsall, Wakefeld

How we embedded flmmaking into our curriculumWhen Carlton J&I joined Open Futures, Kathy

Litton, headteacher wanted to make every stranda success. When ‘flmit’ was introduced, her

strategy was to involve all sta in flm-makingand ensure that they all received training. Kathyhad realised that unless the sta had the skills,knowledge and understanding, then digitalvideo couldn’t be planned or in the curriculum.

Two members o sta initially received trainingthrough the ‘flmit’ programme but it soonbecame apparent to Kathy that to ensure success

throughout the school, she needed a dierentapproach.

To introduce ‘flmit’ to all the sta at her school,

Kathy brought along Denise Evans, an OpenFutures ‘flmit’ trainer, to one o their stameetings. This enabled everyone to receive

‘hands on’ training in the use o the camera andin flm editing.

Kathy also realised that in order or sta toreally get to grips with the skills required, she

needed to give the sta time. She allocated stameetings or everyone to practice and developtheir skills beore inviting Denise back again tourther develop their flm editing skills.

By taking this approach, Kathy knew that all stawere being given time to come together to learncollaboratively. She ensured that each year group

had their own camera and tripod, along with aset o camera tapes or each class. She then seta task or each class in the school to produce

a small flm to share with other Open Futuresschools via the ‘flmit’ web site.

Kathy’s strategy meant that all the children inschool were introduced to ‘flmit’. Sta soon saw

what a powerul tool flm-making was, both inengaging pupils and in being used to enhancemany areas o the curriculum. Children were ableto document and share ongoing project work in

a un and stimulating way. More importantly,‘flmit’ was planned or and frmly embeddedinto the curriculum. The school currently have 82

flms shared on the Open Futures web site.

The spectacular MOSCAR Film Awards came toCastleord on Friday 27th May.

One hundred and fty ecited and elegantly

dressed children arrived wearing dinner jacketsand evening gowns. Food and drink worthy o

any Hollywood party was prepared by cookit andLets Get Cooking, all served by children actingas waiters. As programmes were distributed, thearena was buzzing with ecited chatter; childrenspeculating which categories might be won, by

whom.

The award ceremony was held at Cini Worldxscape to cater or the large crowds and numbero MOSCARS to be presented by Suzanne Collins,

star o stage and screen. South Hiendley J&I,one o our Open Futures Schools, went head tohead with Mill Dam J&I and Kingsland School

in a variety o categories including ‘Best ActionDrama’, ‘Best Special Eects’, ‘Best SupportingRole’ and ‘Best Animation’.

Welcome to the Moscars 2011By Denise EvansFILMIT PROJECT OFFICER

The flms, which crossed several genres,demonstrated the high quality o learning thatflm-making had supported. From thinking

and talking through their ideas, to epressingthemselves in a visual medium, the children’sliteracy skills had been greatly enhanced.Suzanne Collins praised the children or their

achievements saying that flm-making was,“a powerul orm o epression and a growingindustry”.

Film estivals like this enable the children to havea sense o pride and achievement. The childrenwho attended the MOSCARs were well behavedand enthusiastic. They clapped and cheered as

winners were announced and trophies awarded.Many o the winners thanked their teachers andone boy thanked the committee or choosing his

entry.

South Hiendley scooped awards or ‘Best Action

Drama’, ‘Best Animation’, ‘Best Dance and

Movement’, ‘Best Actress’, ‘Best Actor’, ‘BestMulti Cultural Links’, ‘Best Comedy’ and ‘BestSupporting Role’. Thanking people or theirsupport o the flm estival, Lisa Corson, Head

teacher o South Hiendley, said that the childrenenjoyed the event very much and it would be a

long lasting memory or them.




Word Search

Unusual World Food

Festivals

Cheese-RollingCheese-rolling is a quirky English tradition dating backhundreds o years. The premier event is surely the Cooper’sHill Cheese-Rolling and Wake, held near Gloucester, in the

United Kingdom, each Spring Bank Holiday Monday.

At noon, a round o Double Gloucester cheese is rolleddown the hill, and one second later the competitors start

to chase it. The hill, however, is very steep and rough, andmany competitors stumble, tumble and slide down the hillin pursuit o the cheese. Further races ollow, with “uphillraces” in between. I you want to participate, entry is on the

day and is ree.

La Tomatina(Last Wednesday of August)

Do you ancy throwing tomatoes in a crowded street or anhour? I so, Buñol (38km outside Valencia in Spain) is theplace to be, during their annual tomato estival.

La Tomatina kicks o with a climb up a greasy pole to“liberate” a ham rom the top. Around noon the watercannons fre and the ood fght begins. Trucks distribute

over a hundred tons o over-ripe tomatoes. For an hour,the crowd throws these around wildly and enthusiastically,then the water cannons fre again and the fght is over or

another year

GARDEN, COOKIT, EDIT, BLACKBERRY, TROWEL, ENQUIRY, SOUP, AUTUMN, SEEDLING, FILMIT,

PRUNE PUMPKIN COMPOST KALE DIG LEARNING PLAN POT

Record Breaking Vegetables!The world’s largest marrow was grown by Ken Dade o Norolk in 1999 and weighed in at a

whopping 113lbs (65kg) The enormous vegetable entered the Guinness World Records Book bybeating the previous record holder by 3kg! The giant vegetable required two men to carry it.Marrow recipes, anyone?

The World’s Largest Green Cabbage, weighing in at 76 Lbs (or 34.4 kg) was grown in 1998 by

seven times world record or giant vegetables holder, John Evans, o Palmer, Alaska. That’s alot o school dinner greens!

Nobody’s Perfect!

Movie Mistakes for You

to SpotIn ‘The Shining’ - Wendy (Shelley Duvall) hits Jack (JackNicholson) with a baseball bat. But perhaps it’s not thebest weapon as observers will note that the bat bends.

During ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ - Andy wears a suit

belonging to the warden but despite the act that theinmate (Tim Robbins) is much taller than Warden Norton(Bob Gunton), the clothes ft.

‘The Empire Strikes Back’ - This well-loved 70’s movieis ull o mistakes. When Luke (Mark Hamill) has hishand cut o, you can still see his knuckles holding the“stump” under his shirt. And when Han Solo (Harrison

Ford) is rozen, his shirt mysteriously changes, thenchanges back to the original during his return in the net

movie ‘Return o the Jedi’.

In Ben-Hur - Judah (Charlton Heston) takes a ladle ullo water rom Jesus and then in the net shot, takes itagain. In another shot, during the chariot race, one rideris wearing a watch. There’s nothing like being historically

correct!


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[email protected]

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