Please see below the link to an application form for travel grants from the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust.
The travel grants "offer you the Opportunity to increase your knowledge and experience through overseas travel in order to benefit others within your community".
Grants are available within several different categories. Please remember that the focus of any application should be on how your travel can benefit others within your community. Look beyond the obvious, how could increasing your knowledge science benefit your school or increased knowledge in mental health support work in your local authority. It may be that some of your students may be interesting in applying.
Click HERE to find out more, including the ability to apply online and via post.
If you do make an application, please let us know and keep us informed about its progress.
Good luck!
John Matthews
Membership & Company Secretary
Building Schools for the Future (BSF)
afPE's vision: Flexible Spaces for Physical Learners - Version 3
23/05/08
Following the afPE conference last year a working group was formed to develop a visioning paper in support of physical education colleagues entering BSF discussions and in particular those with a strategic lead for Physical Education.
This document is intended to support such colleagues in shaping initial discussions with their BSF stakeholder group for physical education and sport.
We would welcome your support in this to inform future versions.
Please send any feedback you have to john.matthews@afpe.org.uk
There will be a session on this topic at the afPE Conference on Thursday, 3rd July.
Flexible Spaces for Physical Learners - Version 3
afPE - BSF Working Group
(Helen Miles, Ken Adamson, John Matthews, Mark Perkins and Alan Lindsay)
afPE Health & Safety Update - May 2008
22/05/08
Glen Beaumont (afPE Health & Safety Officer) looks at Parkour/Free Running and Athletics in this months update.
If you are a member of afPE then you can download the May 2008 Health & Safety update from the members' area. Should you wish to be reminded of your password, please contact simon.leach@afpe.org.uk
Click HERE to login.
afPE comments on Scottish targets for physical education
22/05/08
Once upon a time in West Yorkshire, in the days when Britain had a mining industry and schools had regular sport on the curriculum, the issues for physical education teachers were simple and practical.
As a young Physical Education teacher Margaret Talbot recalls: "When the wind blew smoke from the local coking plant in the wrong direction, you'd to bring the pupils in. Sometimes you couldn't see the kids you were teaching, and got horrible grit between your teeth. Once, through the billow-ing, murky clouds, I saw a bull on the pitch. I was able to usher the kids indoors, and the local farmer came to corall the animal."
Now Professor Talbot, she faces issues less dramatically in her face, but is trying to stop the charging bull of an education system which undervalues Physical Education teachers and is cavalier with pupils' future.
Click HERE for the full article courtesy of The Scottish Herald
Use the force: Why ministers want all pupils to learn to fight
16/05/08
It is said that the Battle of Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton.
But could the wars of the future be won in less salubrious surroundings – a Salford community college? A secondary modern in Kent? A city academy? If ministers have their way, the cadet corps could soon become a big part of state school tradition.
Click HERE for the full article courtesy of The Independent.
Tennis professionals pass tests on and off court
08/05/08The top female tennis player in the world, Justine Henin, has earned almost 20 million USD in career prize money. But she says she'd like to go to university when her tennis playing days are over.
Like a lot of her colleagues on the tour, school studies are something on their minds once they retire from tennis. Serena Williams, for example, while in Berlin for the Qatar Telecom German Open, said "I always loved school. I'd like to take a degree in business."
But some of the players aren't waiting, and are studying while competing at an elite level, which is the subject of the International Council of Sport Science and Physical Education and the DKB-ISTAF's "Degrees of Success - University Education and Elite Sport" symposium, being held May 31st in Berlin.
Ana Ivanovic is currently trying to balance the books, despite the fact that the travel demands of the pro tour means she can't attend classes.
Fortunately, her university permits her to pursue her finance studies through distance education. Ivanovic confessed, "It's hard to focus on school, but it's an important part of my life. I have to travel a lot with my books, and read between competitions and practices."
Her compatriot Jelena Jankovic is enrolled at Megatrend University in Belgrade. Jankovic also admits she is progressing at a slow pace, which is understandable given the rigours of the circuit, and her ever-increasing off-court obligations associated with being a top international player. And while most students attend school to boost their career prospects, Jankovic explained, "I'm not studying to have a job after tennis - just to learn and be a more complete person overall."
Whatever their motivation, it's clear that with such a short playing career, athletes need something to focus on post-sport, even if the reason comes down to a teenage family promise.
Henin explained, "I think a lot about it, because I made a promise to my mom that I haven't yet been able to keep."
Who: ICSSPE and DKB-ISTAF
What: 4th Annual Dimensions in Performance Symposium - Degrees of Success
Where: Estrel Hotel - Sonnenallee 225, 12057 Berlin, Germany
When: 31 May 2008
Why: To discuss issues and challenges facing high performance athletes who attend university
How: Free to attend, register at icsspe@icsspe.org until 16 May 2008
The 4th Dimensions of Performance symposium is also supported by the Universiade Hamburg 2015 Bid Committee.
Professional Development Board for Physical Education (PDB)
07/05/08
In order to ensure there is broad and balanced representation, afPE is looking to recruit new members to the Professional Development Board for Physical Education (PDB) from the following areas of the PESS profession:
• Infrastructure Posts
• ITTE
• Local Authorities
The Board plays an important role in supporting and maintaining high quality standards in professional development and if you are interested in being part of this vital group please will you register your interest? You should supply the following information:
• Description of your current role and its responsibilities
• An overview of your experience in physical education
• A brief explanation of what skills and experience you would bring to the PDB and why you would like to be a member of the PDB
Please will you register your interest, together with the above information to: helen.chadwick@afpe.org.uk no later than Thursday 19th June 2008.
It is important you appreciate that registering an interest does not guarantee that you will be successful.
For more information on the PDB click HERE.
afPE Evidence for Primary Review
02/05/08
afPE have assembled an official response to the Primary Review consultation.
Click HERE to view a copy.
Archive news can be found HERE.