Welcome to the October 2009 Newsletter. Please feel free to forward this newsletter to any of your colleagues that you think would be interested in any of the items below. All prices quoted are exclusive of P & P and VAT. If you have any comments or suggestions on this newsletter, or indeed any special requests for special software offers, please email them to kim.conway3@btinternet.com

News

BrainPOP UK - BrainPOP UK is the new, highly engaging website which contains hundreds of animated explanations and interactive quizzes suitable for primary and secondary schools covering concepts from across the curriculum. All the movies on the web site have been made in response to questions received from pupils so why not challenge your pupils to email Tim and Moby a question that could result in a movie being made. New movies are being added all the time. Take out a 30 day free trial to BrainPOP UK, just go to www.brainpop.co.uk

SMART Showcase Schools - Prior to SLF, SMART Technologies hosted the Smart Learning Matters Seminar - ICT Strategies for Success. Those attending enjoyed an interesting and entertaining presentation by John Davitt entitled Old Learning New Tools - an exploration of where ICT gold lies buried for active learning, assessment and collaboration, followed by a presentation from Jason Cone, Zurich International School. A presentation was made to three schools - Isobel Mair School, St Thomas of Aquin's High School and Bo'ness Academy who have achieved SMART Showcase status. It should be noted that there are only five schools across the UK who have achieved this status, three of which are in Scotland. For more information contact anne.forrest@steljes.co.uk

SUMS Maths PSP Loan Scheme - Following on from the success of the SUMS Maths initiative for Glow, SUMS Online have made available a number of sets of 5 Sony PSPs with SUMS Maths and SUMS Phonics software to further support schools. Under the SUMS Maths initiative for Glow, two authority nominated Primary schools in each Scottish authority receive the SUMS Maths Learning Platform version free of charge on a perpetual licence. For more information contact kim.conway3@btinternet.com

Special Offers

Save over £270 on Sherston's Mega Deal - For a limited period of time Sherston are offering 114 of its award winning titles suitable for use in Early Years and Primary. Supplied on an external USB hard drive, you can download the titles as and when you need them. Included in this deal is unlimited access across the school. Normal price £1099, special price £824.25.

*Software Savings from LT Scotland - Learning and Teaching Scotland has negotiated agreements with a number of the leading software publishers, including Microsoft, Apple and Adobe, to sell their products through software licensing schemes. These schemes are unique to Scottish education and can help schools and authorities make substantial savings. www.ltscotland.org.uk/aboutlts/resources/software

*Co:Writer 6 - Learning and Teaching Scotland can confirm that they will be supporting the launch of Co:Writer 6, the latest version of Don Johnston's hugely popular word prediction program designed to support struggling writers. Co:Writer 6 has many exciting new features including a much simplified interface, a new text to speech engine and new spell checking facility. LTScotland will have exclusive pricing for Scottish education, with prices and details on the new software being released in October. Contact our customer services team for more information. Enquiries@ltscotland.org.uk

*Mediaroots Training DVDs now available from LT Scotland - LT Scotland have negotiated a money saving licensing scheme on the Mediaroots training DVDs. These training DVDs teach you everything you need to know to get the most from your software, from Beginner through to Advanced User. All training DVDs teach not only the individual tools and techniques of an application, but also how to apply these to real life projects. Titles available include Photoshop CS4 and Flash CS4. For full product listing, costs and further information on the scheme contact the Customer Services Team at LT Scotland 0141 282 5000 www.mediaroots.co.uk

New on the Software Services 4 Education Website

SS4E Showcase - this month's showcase is the Sherston Learning Platform content suitable for use in Glow Learn.

Case Study - The Glow miniBook trial (and Bob too!) - A case study from RM on the use of miniBooks in a primary seven class at St Andrew's RC Primary School, Dundee.

FREE Resources

Microsoft Songsmith now free to UK teachers - To celebrate the first anniversary of the UK Innovative Teachers Network, Microsoft Labs Songsmith is now available as a free download from the Innovative Teachers website. http://uk.innovativeteachers.com Further information can be found on the Innovative Teachers Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/teachers/

*available only in Scotland

If you require further information on the above please click on the appropriate web link. Please feel free to circulate this newsletter to any colleagues who may be interested. Feedback on this newsletter is welcome, please email kim.conway3@btinternet.com with your comments. If you wish to stop receiving this newsletter, you can remove your address from the distribution list by sending a blank email with the subject 'unsubscribe' to kim.conway3@btinternet.com