This weekNext week
THIS WEEK
2-8 FEBRUARY 2013
SATURDAY
It’s good to talk
A hundred polyglot teachers met in York for the annual get-together of the Independent Schools’ Modern Languages Association, with everything from introducing Arabic to British Sign Language up for discussion.
SUNDAY
How do you like them apples?
Most school libraries contain a few dusty encyclopaedias but pupils at Newcastle-under-Lyme School, Staffordshire, unearthed some 17th-century books by Sir Isaac Newton. It was a find of some gravity.
MONDAY
Name dropping
The National Association for Gifted Children changed its name to the somewhat more cryptic Potential Plus UK. “Our name change is a significant departure for the gifted and talented world,” the organisation insisted.
TUESDAY
To the letter
Can anyone spell “baguette”? The London rounds of the Girls’ Day School Trust Foreign Language Spelling Bee took place in Pinner. Girls demonstrated their ability to spell such tricky words as anticonstitutionnellement.
WEDNESDAY
From strength to strength
Eton College headmaster Tony Little addressed a “character and resilience summit” in London about how to make state-school children as mentally tough as private school ones.
THURSDAY
Food group
Obesity is never off the menu these days: the Westminster Food and Nutrition Forum held a seminar on the subject, with Richard Cienciala, the government’s deputy director of health and well-being, as guest speaker.
FRIDAY
Twinkle, twinkle
The cosmic census begins. The Campaign to Protect Rural England and the British Astronomical Association’s Star Count Week asks volunteers to count the number of stars they can see in the Orion constellation.
NEXT WEEK
9-15 FEBRUARY 2013
SATURDAY
Man with a plan
Plan B, the rapper who mentored East London schoolchildren and praised the education he received at a pupil referral unit, will appear in concert at the O2 Arena.
SUNDAY
Snake, rattle and roll
It’s out with the dragon and in with the snake. Chinese New Year will be celebrated around the world with music and dancing in the streets and joyous feasting. Time for a compulsory Mandarin lesson?
MONDAY
Seen and heard
The week-long Imagine children’s literature festival begins today at the Southbank Centre in London. Expect poet John Hegley, Where’s Wally and a smorgasbord of literary treats.
TUESDAY
On the flip side
Impress the Ofsted inspectors with a batch of pancakes smothered in syrup. But don’t forget how it fits in with your religious studies curriculum: Shrove Tuesday kicks off 40 days of fasting.
WEDNESDAY
Positive feedback
The world is expected to go gaga today in celebration of World Radio Day, which highlights and promotes the role radio plays in helping poor and isolated communities to access information.
THURSDAY
The joy of sex?
It’s Valentine’s Day and the patron saint of strippers, Peter Stringfellow, will be speaking at the Cambridge Union. The debate? “This House believes that sex has lost all meaning.”
FRIDAY
Combat fatigue
It’s the tenth anniversary of the Iraq War protests, when millions took to the streets to wave placards and mock Tony Blair and George W. Bush. It didn’t stop the fighting but it made people feel good at the time.
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