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Children’s brains primarily want to play outdoors. Getting active, climbing, and scrambling are good for the brain. If there is anyone who can talk about this in a clear and engaging way, it is Erik Scherder. That is why, on 10 March at 8:30 p.m., he will host a free webinar for Jantje Beton entitled ‘Why children’s brains want to play’.
The Forgotten Child Foundation has developed a lesson package with Heppie in the Classroom that makes it possible to discuss different home situations in the classroom. As a result, students gain more awareness and understanding of each other’s behavior and backgrounds. The lesson package reduces shame and judgment, and as a teacher you gain a better understanding of what a child is good at and what they need from you. The lesson package consists of 12 simple and cheerful activities that can be carried out with little preparation. The activities are suitable for the upper grades of primary school and years 1 and 2 of secondary education.
Working on a healthy lifestyle at school. How do you do that, especially in these times of the coronavirus pandemic, when the healthy lifestyle of pupils, students and staff requires extra attention? This will be addressed during the online Healthy School NEXT conference on 31 March.
Sense.info has a new podcast series: Sense Talk! In this podcast, young people talk about sexuality. The first two episodes – about the first time and about love and sex during the coronavirus pandemic – are online. Also useful to listen to if you want to start a conversation about this with young people!
Being yourself is essential for pupils and students to feel safe and comfortable. The advisers on social safety in schools at the School & Safety Foundation regularly encounter this as well. One story that deeply affected them was that of 9-year-old Stef, who did not feel safe at school.
When discussing the impact of the measures against the spread of the coronavirus on education, in most cases people talk about learning delays. But that is not the only thing that matters. Children and young people are increasingly experiencing feelings of loneliness, stress and depression. Stichting School & Veiligheid advises paying extra attention to this. In fact, make it priority number 1: mental well-being during distance learning.
IVN Nature Education wants to make classrooms across the Netherlands greener together with its partners. As a first step, the Living Lab BinnenBos is being launched. IVN is looking for 20 primary schools that would like to green the classroom of grades 5/6 in an educational way and further develop the approach together with IVN and its partners. The Living Lab BinnenBos will take place from the second week of March through the beginning of July.
The Primary Education Protocol has been published on the website lesopafstand.nl. This is in connection with the reopening of primary schools on Monday, 8 February, as announced by the government on Tuesday, 2 February. The protocol was drawn up by the PO-Raad, AOb, CNV Onderwijs, FvOv, and AVS, in consultation with BOinK, BMK, BK, OCW and SZW. This protocol is based on further advice from the relevant authorities and has been peer-reviewed by the RIVM. The protocol is a guide for the sector when reopening schools. The government’s decision to reopen the schools is leading: all pupils will attend school full-time, in compliance with the RIVM guidelines.
The primary schools and childcare facilities are opening again. Good news. And yet the reopening of schools and childcare also raises many questions. The Netherlands Youth Institute calls on professionals to give yourself and your children time and peace to get back into this rhythm. The NJI is also looking at what can help.
On Tuesday, 9 March, from 2:00 p.m. to 5:15 p.m., the online annual conference on Gaming and Exercise will take place. The event is an initiative of House of Esports and Arko Sports Media. Gaming forms an important part of the contemporary lifestyle of (many) young people. This lifestyle encompasses a combination of sport, culture, entertainment, games, music, social media, fashion and going out. Gaming has great potential and, if facilitated and positioned in the right way, represents an important means of reaching young people and encouraging them to exercise more. Gaming is increasingly being seen as a sport (esports) and is increasingly being used by governments in interventions.
There is a wide and diverse range of measurement instruments for measuring motor skills in young children. However, there is no ideal instrument. This is evident from research by the Mulier Institute. The selection of an instrument depends on what exactly one wants to achieve with the measurement (for example, screening or monitoring/tracking development) and on the extent to which the instrument meets the specific needs of the setting in which it will be used (for example, that it should not take too much time or that extensive training is not required beforehand). The existing instruments broadly meet these needs, but there is room for improvement.
VeiligheidNL would like to know how child safety is part of your work in childcare and how you experience the services provided by VeiligheidNL. That is why VeiligheidNL is calling on you, as a childcare professional, to take part in VeiligheidNL’s study.
All schools in primary education, special education, secondary education and secondary vocational education in the Netherlands can make use of the third round of the 2021 Water Points Grant for the purchase and installation of a new water point. Only in the event of oversubscription will the Water Points Grant use criteria drawn up by a selection committee. The order in which applications are registered does not play a role in this.
Municipalities must strengthen cooperation with education to improve the position of the 80,000 children in the Netherlands who are growing up in severely socially deprived families where many problems are present at home. This is one of the three recommendations to municipalities from the Het Vergeten Kind Foundation. The three recommendations are intended to break through social isolation. They originate from the research conducted by the Het Vergeten Kind Foundation.
Association Sport and Municipalities presents the magazine ‘COMMUNITY SPORTS COACH. Education’, a publication by Arko Sports Media. The central theme of this magazine is the role of the community sports coach/culture coach in relation to education. It provides insight into what is happening locally to get people moving. This has proved particularly important during this period.
The Netherlands is in lockdown and the schools are closed. Children are being taught at home, sitting at the kitchen table behind a screen. Indeed, sitting. It can be done differently. Especially at a time when paying attention to movement is more important than ever. That is exactly why Wieblie wants to inspire you in two workshops – on 27 January and 3 February – with active teaching methods that can get the children in your class moving, including during your online lesson! Because Movement Learning in your classroom is one thing; Movement Learning during your remote lesson is a different cookie.
Because of coronavirus, the dark days of January are even darker for many people than in other years. This can make you feel down or anxious. These are very human emotions. But when do we speak of depression or an anxiety disorder? And what can you do about it? In the podcast series Donkergrijze cellen (Dark Grey Cells) by the Brain Foundation, partner of Gezonde Leefstijl Op School, psychiatrist Floortje Scheepers explains more about this.
To help prevent the spread of the coronavirus, schools are closed. This means that most children are not going to school. They are receiving their education at home. This requires time and attention from parents and children. The tips below from the Netherlands Youth Institute may help during this period.
The Healthy Childcare programme has existed for four years and is on the threshold of a new programme period (2021 to 2025). What has been done, and what has been set in motion together with childcare professionals? A factsheet provides an overview.
The Dutch Transgender Network has published a booklet to help primary and secondary schools welcome gender diversity. The publication consists of three free-to-download folders containing facts and tips for the various roles in education: from administration and management to teachers.
On Thursday, 10 December, Special Heroes Netherlands, Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen and the Knowledge Centre for Sport & Exercise organised the webinar ‘The joy of movement for every child’. This online event focused on children with motor and/or behavioural delays, who need and deserve extra attention in order to enjoy being active. The organisers collected all the information about this day.
The government must include education staff in the vaccination strategy. This is what thirteen education organisations write in a letter sent to the government on 8 January.
What will physical education look like in 2031? Sebastiaan Platvoet, senior lecturer/researcher in talent identification and talent development at the HAN Academy of Sport & Exercise, wrote a visionary contribution about this for the information platform Sport Knowhow XL.
As of 1 January, the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA) began supervising compliance with the smoking ban. The NVWA answers frequently asked questions about enforcing the smoking ban.
The Special Heroes Netherlands Foundation is looking for students for several days a week to go ‘on tour’ with Vita the mascot and Special Heroes’ inflatable football goal, inspiring pupils in special education and encouraging them to participate in the ‘Vita On Tour Football Battle’ for all Special Heroes schools in the Netherlands.
On Thursday, 4 February 2021, Alles is Gezondheid, together with the Resilience and Education Movement, is organising a webinar on the importance of a healthy lifestyle for children and how primary schools can promote health in practice.
Judith ’t Gilde, a researcher at the Kohnstamm Institute, has published a book together with Prof. Dr. Monique Volman about out-of-school knowledge resources for education professionals. Outside school, students acquire a great deal of useful knowledge and skills that teachers can make use of in the classroom. Out-of-school knowledge resources are people, experiences or stories that are present within their family, community or social network. Out-of-school knowledge and skills can relate to household tasks, technology, cultural practices, art and language, and much more.
The cabinet is allocating an additional 15 million euros to provide pupils in primary and secondary education with a laptop or tablet, so that they can participate in remote learning. School boards will also be asked to make a contribution of 25 percent. The funds can support around 60,000 pupils. The first devices will be made available from the beginning of January.
Identity statements stating that homosexuality is rejected are not used at Dutch schools. This is what Education Minister Slob writes in a letter to the House of Representatives. Last month, a heated debate arose there about these identity statements, which mainly Reformed schools ask parents to sign. The PO Council discussed them with Jan-Willem de Leeuw, a board member of Reformed schools. “The framing that these identity statements would lead either to an unsafe environment or to segregation is simply untrue. That is an image being imposed on us.”
The Smoke-Free Generation Awards are coming up again! Until 31 January 2021, schools can register an initiative that contributed to a Smoke-Free Generation over the past year and in 2019. The Smoke-Free Generation Awards highlight inspiring initiatives that are committed to a Smoke-Free Generation.