Education chair
The Conservative MP Neil Carmichael has been elected as chair of the House of Commons Education Select Committee. The MP for Stroud will replace Graham Stuart MP, who held the position during the last Parliament. Mr Carmichael gained 294 votes in the final round of voting, beating his nearest rival Tim Loughton MP by 42 votes. The committee’s role is to scrutinise government education policy through hearings and inquiries and to make recommendations to government ministers. Visit: www.parliament.uk/education-committee
Live science
Science teachers are being invited to follow live a symposium being held to inspire the next generation of accelerator scientists and engineers. The event, aimed at sixth-formers, is taking place tomorrow (Friday, June 26) at the Cockcroft Institute. Accelerator science is a young discipline covering skills such as particle acceleration, beam technologies and laser science. Speakers include Professor Brian Cox and fellows of the institute, who will be discussing and presenting their work. Visit: www.cockcroft.ac.uk/symposium-on-lasers-accelerators-for-science-and-society
The parent voice
The incoming chair of the charity PTA UK is calling on schools and government to engage better with parents over education, both locally and nationally. On his appointment, Joe Saxton said: “Parents need to be visible in school life, active in helping to inform changes in our schools and working in partnership with teachers to help our children develop character and life-skills as well as academically.” Visit: www.pta.org.uk
Trip accreditation
The National Centre for Citizenship and the Law, based at the Royal Courts of Justice in London, has been awarded a Learning Outside the Classroom Quality Badge. The centre has been running legal education workshops in London for five years and at the Galleries of Justice Museum in Nottingham for more than 20 years. Visit: www.nccl.org.uk
First World War
The Imperial War Museum’s online memorial, Lives of the First World War, now offers free resources tailored to the key stage 3 history curriculum and ideas for use in the classroom and wider school projects. The website shares stories of more than 7.5 million men and women who contributed to the British war effort in the First World War. Visit: https://livesofthefirstworldwar.org/teachers
Backing the bees
A project enabling schools to play their part in protecting the UK bee population has been launched. The Polli:Nation scheme, run by national school grounds charity Learning through Landscapes, is supporting children across 260 schools to transform their outdoor spaces into pollinator-friendly habitats. Visit: www.ltl.org.uk