LabNotes

In February, Gregor Rae, Chairman and CEO of BusinessLab, gave an inaugural lecture to the International MBA student cohort at the University of Aberdeen. "The Art of the Pitch" is the first of two modules intended to help students improve and finesse their presentations to potential investors and employers. The second module is entitled "The Science of the Pitch".

The future is in Newcastle

Technology Watch website lauds the Microsoft Corporation - ActiveAge presentation at the Gerontological Society of America's annual conference in New Orleans, and cites Newcastle upon Tyne as 'the future' in terms of ageing.

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ActiveAge

The ActiveAge team has started another wave of research into robotics, which will provide the theme for the next ActiveAge publication. A Newcastle partner meeting has also been scheduled for the 26th of January, when plans for the 2011 ActiveAge Summit will be finalised.

Renewables

The BusinessLab research team has been looking into the growing renewable energy sector. The team is particularly interested in the markets and business models that are developing within this area - and the strategies and processes that are being deployed to capitalise on the opportunities.

More Agents for Swansea

The City and County of Swansea Council are training up a new cohort of Signature Agents. A total of 36 new Agents are being trained to deploy the Family Learning Signature with families across the city.

Home Hull City Council

BusinessLab and Hull City Council

How schools and families are using the Family Learning Signature to achieve success

For the last 10 years Hull City Council have been at the leading edge of family involvement in children’s learning. Schools and families across the city have been actively working together, harnessing the potential of the city's unique ICT infrastructure, to help achieve successful learning both in the school and in home environments.

A long standing collaboration between BusinessLab and Hull schools has seen the Family Learning Signature go from use in individual schools to adoption on a city-wide basis by the City Council as part of Hull's strategic family engagement and capacity development programmes.

Today through the vision, leadership and teamwork at Sydney Smith School, Hull is now a major hub for Family Learning Signature deployment and development.

On one level the Family Learning Signature enables schools to engage with families in an interactive and non-threatening manner. The process of completing the Family Learning Signature allows both family and the school to recognise and share the learning strengths and challenges associated with each family. The very act of completing a Family Learning Signature has empowered families to take greater ownership of their learning. Other families are now benefiting from the targeted interventions deliver by the school.

At the strategic level, Sydney Smith School, through the Family Learning Signature, discovered strong linkages between attendance and examination results. For example, families that did not create family ‘time’ for learning had a 37% chance of scoring below the KS2 average. Families that made ‘time’ available for learning had on average 3% higher attendance.

Through the adoption of the Family Learning Signature as part of Hull City Council’s BSF strategy, work has now begun on deploying the signature process across all City schools. With the aim of every family having a Family Learning Signature, city level strategic initiatives and interventions will become possible.